Interactive GTECH Interactive stepping stone
Understanding how individual jigsaw pieces within interactive solutions, such as social gaming, fits into the overall puzzle will define the land-based online offer
Matteo Monteverdi Senior Vice President of iGaming, GTECH
GTECH reveaed its new Poker Platform, along with its Mobile Poker for iPad tablets, featuring ergonomic thumb-based game play, at Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas. This new playing experience is offered on GTECH's newly launched Interactive Platform.
The new Poker Platform has been completely re-designed and rewritten to include additional features, with further releases scheduled over the coming months. It is scalable and flexible, giving customers the ability to tailor it to their specific needs and player base. The new platform has all the features of a modern and robust poker platform, and it has been designed to address the changing dynamics of online poker. Special emphasis has been placed on preparing the platform for multiple channels and networks. It is accessible through mobile browsers and through the Apple Store, and is iOS7 and iOS6 compatible.
The regulated iGaming sector in the US currently com- prises three states, Nevada, New Jersey, and Delaware, each moving forward with its own online gaming roll- out at different speeds. At present, Nevada is the fur- thest along the regulation path, but the state is also the most competitive environment for participants and rep- resents a major challenge for solutions providers and operators alike. Delaware is a small market in compari- son to New Jersey, which is the market that's currently attracting the most interest from established online gaming providers, certainly those with a European pres- ence and footprint.
Speaking to GTECH's Senior Vice President of iGaming, Matteo Monteverdi, at the G2E show in Las Vegas, he described the company's current efforts as focused upon jurisdictions where iGaming has yet to be regulated, and where segmented regulation is being driven either by tied licences.
"Our market strategy in the US is to provide our play-for fun platform prior to the regulation of the market for play-for-real gaming," comments Mr. Monteverdi. "Our first objective is to help operators to establish a presence online and enable them to interact with their off-site customer base. Secondly, we are creating synergies between play-for-fun platforms and existing land- based loyalty systems, allowing customers to play poker, for example, and win credits which can be redeemed at the casino for a drink, show, or meal. It's a reinforcement of the land-based business and is a very different model to the establishment of a social casino. We are not looking to monetise interactive players, but instead increase loyalty and create an iGaming relation- ship with players prior to regulation."
iGaming terminology when it comes to monetisation is something of a minefield. The switchover from play- for-fun to play-for-real gaming isn't monetisation, as it's a legislated shift in the gaming offer from a free model to a transactional model. Monetisation, on the other hand, is the process by which a social gaming site converts its freemium players to making in-App purchases, such as the in-game purchases that drive Candy Crush Saga to generate US$650,000 per day.
"Play-for-fun and play-for-real are not social gaming sites and represent totally different business models," underlines Mr. Monteverdi. "The social gaming logic is energy-based, whereby it functions to entice players to extend their play through the purchase of additional chips or gaming currency. Our iGaming strategy is dif- ferent in that while we create synergies between land- based and online play, we see social gaming as canni- balising the land-based gaming sector, keeping players online and monetising them without any link back to land-based."
The social side of social gaming is also something with which Mr. Monteverdi takes issue. "What does social gaming mean?" he asks. "If your plan is simply to mone- tise the player from the outset, how is this a social plat- form? What we are planning to offer is play-for-fun with social features: the ability and functionality to chat with other players, to make Facebook comments direct- ly from the site, and to sign-up via a light-weight regis- tration model. What we don't do is monetise the players with social credits.
“This is a product that does not detach players from the land-based environment. When players go online and play games, they have the opportunity to redeem their credits in the land-based location; they're not spending those credits online as part of some cannibalisation model. This is a completely different strategic approach."
The GTECH partnership with the land-based operator is one that Mr. Monteverdi describes as a stepping stone, with play-for-fun the first step on the route towards iGaming, rather than as a means to itself.
"Our platforms are play-for-fun and real-money gaming in which the switch between the two is as seamless as possible," states Mr. Monteverdi. "The synergy between land-based loyalty programmes and the web experience are the same. The environment might be different, but the experience for the player should be identical. Whether it is the casino or the lottery operator driving the offer, the experience for the play in both the online and land-based environment should be the same - and that's the GTECH offer."
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