A LOOK BACK


Continent 8 Technologies Michael Tobin, Founder and CEO


s the infrastructure partner of choice for the global iGaming industry, we had to ensure it was very much business as usual during the pandemic, although we did have to adapt to new ways of working. Now that we are post-pandemic, over the last 12 months we have once again been able to travel to events, customer meetings and internal get-togethers. As a global company, operating from over 90 locations, this is fundamental to our business and allows us to deliver on our customer- centric approach. I really enjoyed travelling the world once again and meeting with Continent 8 teams across the globe. Our people make our business a success, so it’s important for me to be able to spend face-to-face time with members of the team. It’s also been great to attend in-person events and meet with customers, peers, and friends.


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Our biggest challenge this year has been deploying our ambitious growth strategy which has covered new locations, products, and members of the team. We’ve been especially focused on the burgeoning US market where we are now live in 25 regulated states with more in the pipeline; each of these connected to our global backbone network. The rapid roll-out of regulation and the


ever-changing regulatory landscape has got to be one of the biggest trends and areas of change since the start of the year. This is certainly the case in the US market where new states are opening up all the time. That is why Continent 8 always ensures that it’s one step ahead so that we and our customers can leverage these new market opportunities. In the US specifically, we aim to be the first to market in each regulated state. It’s also important to touch on consolidation and the arrival of major media companies and brands in the US online gambling market and the impact they’ve had.


We have also enhanced our range of solutions with the launch of the Gaming Exchange, a powerful private internet that offers our customers unrivalled connectivity and security, as well as access to a Premium Portal. Security remains a key concern for operators and


suppliers, and we have strengthened our solutions which include DDoS, WAAP, EDR & MDR and SIEM & SOC, to ensure customers can mitigate the surge in attacks the industry has seen over the past 12 months, and will continue to see. Growing our international reach and augmenting our products and services has only been possible because of the incredibly talented, highly experienced global team we have a Continent 8. I’m extremely proud of what we have achieved together this year. Continent 8 is a constantly evolving business and for 2022 we wanted to fill several key roles across the organisation. This saw us appoint Brian B. Koh as Chief Commercial Officer and Kristian Valetta as Chief Financial Officer. We now have a powerful leadership time in place to drive the company forwards and are in a fantastic position as we head into 2023 which also happens to be our 25th anniversary year.


Sportradar Andy Mace, Head of Casino Personalisation at Vaix, a Sportradar company R


eflecting on the past year, customer acquisition and retention has been a massive challenge for casino operators and the wider gaming industry alike. Although, it is a challenge that will continue into the new year as operators fight to create and maintain a sustainable business model in the face of high customer acquisition costs and low customer retention.


Players have more choice than ever with mobile and online gaming, meaning long-term customer loyalty is especially challenging. Beyond offering an attractive and wide variety of games, casino operators must now make sure new customers have a reason to stay by personalising the user experience to each individual player. Personalisation is a term that we are hearing more and more in conversations with our casino operator clients. For the uninitiated, personalisation is the customising of a content offering based on a player’s interests and preferences. It is very much the next evolution


within the iGaming industry as operators look to innovate the player experience and differentiate their customer offering to remain competitive. The move towards personalisation has gained significant traction this year and delivering a number of successful projects for Sportradar’s casino customers, taking them from integration right through to launch, has very much been a highlight for me. As early adopters, many of our casino clients are already recognising the benefits of a tailored customer experience through greater retention rates and reduced customer acquisition costs as a result of a more efficient acquisition funnel.


Looking ahead, we will continue to invest heavily in Sportradar’s personalisation offering through our innovations in AI-powered personalisation that create scalable, robust solutions and allow operators to provide their customers with an enhanced user experience that drives retention and loyalty.


GIO DECEMBER 2022 15


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