iGaming JONAS ODMAN Giving players what they want


Alex Czajkowski, marketing director at Gala Interactive (Gibraltar), discusses the launch of his firm’s new bingo website which has been the culmination of a large-scale, intensive research project involving extensive customer focus groups.


iGAMINGBRIEFS


GALA BINGO’S CUSTOMERS VOTED FOR PETER ANDRE’S INCLUSION IN THE RELAUNCH


BINGO H


ow long has your research project been carried out for? We commissioned the original research back


in April 2011 and after literally thousands of hours of interviews and focus groups, worked out our plan for the re-launch. As we got nearer the completion date, we brought in VIPs from around the UK for their input on the new site. They were unanimous in their enthusiasm for the new site and platform.


What are the key changes you have made to the website?


Like most people, bingo players never like change, so we really worked to minimise any naviga- tion changes to the site. But we


completely swapped out our old bespoke bingo platform for the latest Virtue Fusion platform, and added the complete Playtech casino, in addition to bringing over the most popular games from the old site.


How is the bingo market at the moment?


In a word: competitive! It is the hottest, fastest growing segment in egaming and everyone thinks you can just jump on board, get a white label and make a fortune. As many are finding, that’s cer- tainly not the case... trust is a key factor in getting players in the first


place, and your site’s


‘winnability’ is another key factor in keeping them. We’ve specifi- cally tuned our site to ensure more


chances of winning for everyone and have more jackpots than ever.


What is your target demographic? Why do you think Peter Andre appeals to them?


Online bingo players really run the range from 18 to 65-plus - we have VIP players in every age segment. And while it’s a very female demographic, there’s plenty of guys playing away in our online clubs as well.


The decision to use Peter Andre, like all the decisions about the relaunch, was based on asking over 60,000 of our players about which UK celebrities they’d most like to meet and thought would be best for the brand. Lots of inter- esting answers, as you can imagine, but across all ages and


even player values, Peter Andre reigned supreme.


In what ways do you link your web operation to your bingo halls? Do you also promote your halls through your online bingo operation? Aligning what Gala Bingo does in the clubs and what we do online is a new and very exciting initia- tive. While you could always find your local Gala Bingo club via the website, and still can, we’re bring- ing other aspects of


the Gala


Bingo brand together for really the first time. And it is a great brand - long established and well respected, we’re really looking at driving the Gala Bingo brand forward, wherever you choose to use us: in the clubs, online or even on Facebook.


UK tax rate could force companies out TAXATION C


harles Cohen, CEO of mobile operator Prob- ability and chairman of the newly-formed Hi- Growth eGaming Compa- nies Forum, has welcomed the recognition in the Culture Media & Sport Committee’s recent report that the UK Treasury needs to work with remote opera- tors in order to find a sus- tainable tax rate.


There is a worry from some members of the Forum, which consists of small but innovative online gambling operators and technology


companies,


that the proposed 15 per cent rate of tax may be too high for smaller firms. Cohen commented: “It’s


good to see law-makers recognising that the impo-


6


CHARLES COHEN: ‘NO LEGITIMATE OPERATOR SHOULD BE TAXED OUT OF THE MARKET’


BettingBusinessInteractive • AUGUST 2012


sition of a high rate of tax on the online industry could have negative conse- quences for UK consumers.


It would see legitimate, reg- ulated operators forced to exit the UK market. It is inevitable that the gap they leave will soon be filled by black market operators who have no intention of obtaining a licence, paying tax, or treating their cus- tomers fairly.


technology


“Smaller companies and developers


who are the real drivers in this industry are particu- larly at risk; bigger opera- tors can subsidise lower margin


e-gaming with


profits from other areas of their businesses. Smaller businesses have nowhere to hide. A lot will just go out of business or take their chances


in the black


market either as operators or suppliers.”


Cohen said that the Forum had made submis- sions to the Treasury that it needs to consider alterna- tives to simply applying a flat-rate, high level of duty across the whole industry. “No legitimate operator should be taxed out of the market,” he said. “We’re not asking for no tax at all. We’re just asking govern- ment to consider that when it comes to gambling, you have to consider tax and regulation as two sides of the same coin. As the Com- mittee’s comments suggest, the right solution has to be one that doesn’t see tax work to the detri- ment of the creation of a strong regulatory regime that ultimately protects UK consumers.”


888 UP ON THE Q2 888 Holdings has reported group revenue of US$92m (£59.0m) for the second quarter of the year, an increase of 17 per cent compared to the same period in 2011. Chief executive officer Brian Mattingley commented: “While the second quarter of the year saw a return to historical seasonal revenue patterns, revenue increased 17 per cent year on year supported by targeted marketing campaigns and market- leading customer relationship management. We have the right product offering and back office capabilities to grow and sustain market share, as indicated by the success in building a significant market share in the newly regulated Spanish poker market.”


MOBILE ON THE RISE


Samir Ullah - the owner of mobileslots4u, a website dedicated to mobile slots news and reviews - has predicted that mobile slots are turning into a dominant force within the industry as they gain ground on more traditional gambling habits. He said: “As most business-minded people know, once something proves lucrative, other businesses will jump on the bandwagon and try to cash in - as has been proved with mobile slots. It can only be a good thing that this is happening. With increased competition, we’ll see bigger incentives for people to play at a specific site, as the site in question looks to attract players and stay afloat. This will mean larger bonuses and, perhaps most importantly, bigger jackpots for all players.”


PROBABILITY GETS APPY


In a trading update, Probability Plc said that in first three months of the financial year (started 1 April 2012) Net Gaming Revenue has increased by 44 per cent to £2.26m, with player deposits also 44 per cent higher, indicating a stable operating margin. The company said that its new UK television advertising campaign is performing in line with management expectations and revealed that it has also seen the acceptance of the its free ‘LadyLuck’s’ iPhone software into the Apple App Store for the UK after ‘many, many, months in review by Apple’.


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