disciplines because the product we are creating is a multi-disciplinary product.
Are the disciplines totally different between running regional and Strip casinos to operating a sports betting brand, online gaming offering, to fantasy sports and mobile betting? What’s the common thread and what differences do you need to juggle?
Tey are completely different, but the same. Everything is about the customer experience and journey. With a physical casino, you can do things that you cannot do online like offering a meal or accommodation. Online you cannot do those things but can engage a customer in a manner that is hyper targeted. In a micro sense, the businesses are completely different. As you pan backwards, they are the same. It’s a customer having an engaging gaming experience, whether its physical or online.
Appreciating the differences and similarities correctly will help us manage both. Te biggest challenge is that most people look at it one way or another and so the whole concept of omnichannel is just getting started. Tere are people that will figure it out the same way as we are. It’s not going to be unique to us, but I do think there aren’t that many people looking at it the way we are currently.
European online gaming is well advanced relative to the US, but physical gaming is not. Tere are many examples of betting shop operators that now have a very strong presence online because of their betting shops. Although there are strong online-only players in Europe, the omnichannel experience is better defined. In the US, we have bigger physical presences, but has anyone been able to convert that to an online experience? I’m not sure. Look at the most developed online state, New Jersey. Te physical and online market leaders are not the same, whereas in Europe a lot of the big online operators have a big physical presence. Omnichannel in the US will be different.
What are you looking for as you staff all these different projects? What are the common traits and the specific disciplines you need to become an omni-channel entertainment, technology, and gaming provider?
We can’t find enough good people. Gaming hasn’t historically attracted the best and brightest of technology. In fact, most gaming companies outsource their technology to manufacturers. Can we attract these people to our company and show them the future is huge when we use gaming, media, and distribution to create a new thing that is a viable, competitive, multidisciplinary, next-generation platform with a wonderful customer experience?
I think when we share this vision, the people we are looking for will want to understand the magnitude of it, are excited by it and want to contribute. We are looking for people – there is not a division in our company that is fully staffed. We have needs across the board. We should attract entrepreneurial people who want to build something new.
One might ask why can’t they go off on their own and do it? We bring unique advantages
P74 WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS
including the licences, brand, distribution, and customer base. Do it here and see it succeed is what I would tell anyone who is interested in joining.
We’ve written multiple articles from B2B brands talking about operators painting themselves into corners by acquiring and operating in-house technology. How do you ensure this doesn’t happen and why is it so important for Bally to own its technology?
Great question. B2B is a different model as it’s ‘let’s create something that works for everybody.’ Let’s look at who we are and what we want to become. We are a company focused on delivering the best media and gaming experiences to our customer base and we intend to lever technology to get there. In the end, if it touches your customer, you want that to be a proprietary experience that is differentiated from somebody else that has your own features built into it.
Let’s say you discover something you know customers are going to be attracted to. Do you really want to share it with everybody? I understand the B2B world, and I think there are times when that makes a lot of sense, but I think the US has certain higher barriers including licensing, specifically the cost and difficulty of
answer on this. Te first thing is that we must be very clear as to what our mission is and share that vision of a 3.0 product. Acquisitions fit into that by helping get from point A to point B on that journey. Finding the right assets and people who you believe can operate within this structure is crucial. We are more decentralised and in so being we are trying to maintain an entrepreneurial spirit.
As we mature and move forward, the groups in the process will become less entrepreneurial and more optimised. Right now, I am trying to maintain our entrepreneurism because we are trying to jump ahead. You are correctly identifying the challenges that we have and what we are trying to do is be very clear in our shared beliefs, ensure everyone has the right resources and the clearance to make mistakes on our journey.
Te nice thing is that we have two core businesses to a degree – the physical gaming and international online gaming businesses. Tey are both great and operating well. One of the things we do is to say ‘let’s not take away from this’. Let these things run the way they are, build our US Interactive division inside of this company by bringing in people, resources, and best practices, but we want to nurture this thing.
“We can’t find enough good people. Gaming hasn’t historically
attracted the best and brightest of technology. In fact, most gaming companies outsource their technology to manufacturers. Can we attract these people to our company and show them the future is huge when we use gaming, media, and distribution to create a new thing that is a viable, competitive, multidisciplinary, next-generation platform with a wonderful customer experience?” Soohyung Kim
attaining a licence, that there is going to be limited competitors. Tere is more upside in creating a differentiated experience.
As such, we believe in one basic rule: if it touches the customer, we should own it, because if it’s all about being a customer experience- focused company, then let’s control the experience. Tat’s why we have made the decision we have, and I believe we are on the right side of history on this. I do see that in Europe a lot of B2B operators have succeeded, but in the US, it feels like more operators are coming to the decision point that we have. Tey’ll start out B2B, but as they look to create a more differentiated experience and gain competitive advantage, they’ll look to own their own technology.
How do you gather so many companies under one umbrella and oversee all those different technologies, different organisational structures, and environments from land-based to online and sports betting - and effectively cohesively manage everything as one entity?
As best you can. We don’t have the number
Eventually we’ll bring it all together, but we will and need to be patient. Some people will argue that if you wanted to do that why not leave them as separate companies? You want everyone to work towards the same goal without them wondering what’s in it for them. Bringing them all under the flag will undoubtedly help us get there, even though it brings a much more challenging start to that process.
What is your vision for the land-based casinos you’ve acquired? Are they to be homogenised?
Great question. Tey will be homogenised to a certain extent into a unified brand and players club. We have a plan to seamlessly integrate many elements of our technology in terms of physical customer management with an online experience. Te leading online players are online casinos, so they don’t care about this. Te leading physical casino companies are starting online efforts but have such a large business on the physical side they are almost afraid of it.
We are in a unique position because we have the third most extensive footprint in America, but also have an online international business of the
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