"We are in a new era of data-driven decision making that increases automation and drives revenue"

Gaming Innovation Group is attending iGB Live in Amsterdam this week. What does this return to in-person events mean for the company and what do you expect from the event?

It’s a welcome return to in-person events. Throughout the pandemic virtual conferences have been a necessity, however, nothing compares to meeting clients and future clients in person. Expressing personality is much easier in person; reflecting company values and conduct is important in this industry and that is achieved by face-to-face meetings much more so.

What products and services will the company showcase there?

GiG offers an end-to-end turnkey solution, our products and services are available as a whole or in modules. This event enables us to highlight our state of the art technology, focusing on building revenue and sustainability for businesses, whether that’s through our Core platform, data analytics, marketing and media, or managed services. We deliver solutions that allow operators to focus on their business whilst we provide automation through technology.

Will the company participate in any educational and networking activities within the expo?

Our CCO, Ben Clemes, is taking part in a panel discussion ‘From Brick & Mortar to Click & Order: moving from land-based to online’ on Thursday 30th September at 13.00, in the main conference room. The session will focus on how operators can keep their brand strong and consistent between online & land-based, when embracing an omnichannel approach, along with the common pitfalls and how to avoid them when moving online and who to partner with.

Aside from this, we will endeavour to participate in as much that is relevant to the business objectives moving forward. Educational and networking activities are key to taking part in these conferences, audience engagement is vital to building the right message for our brand. There are so many suppliers, which means differentiation needs to be outlined; we believe that we have many attributes that set us apart from our competitors. 

What are operators’ main demands in the current iGaming landscape when reaching out to GiG?

The main demands are automation, real-time data analytics and speed to market. This industry moves at a fast pace, platforms like ourselves need to constantly be at the forefront of technology providing operators with as much of a frictionless approach to new and regulated markets.

How do GiG’s offerings help improve their operations?

GiG offers real-time data insights, through AI technology, providing operators with the tools to analyse their business from a decision-making point of view, operational factors and regulatory audit reporting. We enable the operator to minimise the headcount operationally, as well as providing data to minimise human risk.

GiG has secured new agreements, such as integrating AretoNet's full suite of products to its platform. How do you assess this partnership in terms of benefit to your current partners?

The partnerships we create across our 3rd party marketplace give options and choices to our existing and future customers. With a technical integration like a CRM system, it ultimately becomes an extension of our offering and therefore we need to take the necessary steps to ensure the potential partner approaches development with similar value to us at GiG, whilst also placing importance on the same elements, like security, for example, as we do. Without this synergy across delivery and outlook, we don’t feel comfortable partnering and simply don’t encourage the integration.

Over the last 12 months, we have had several potential 3rd party partners who have rejected the opportunity to do the necessary work and due diligence to become a GiG partner, citing the process to be onerous and too detailed. Yet, at GiG, we genuinely believe that this process ensures we only have the best 3rd party partners and essentially protects our customers from poorer solutions.

How does data and features such as real-time business intelligence benefit operators today, and what is the growth potential there?

Via our data solution we have been able to offer ‘real-time’ solutions across our platform for some time. However, it was only ‘partially’ available to 3rd parties until the beginning of 2021. That’s when we introduced our ‘Data Broker’, which is Kafka Event Hub, allowing 3rd parties to integrate with ease and action decisions on over 200 data points. As a consequence, the customer journey and experience can be analysed in more depth and iterations can easily be implemented, encouraging a continual improvement of performance and increasing brand loyalty. This takes us away from the days of batch transfers and cumbersome API integrations in order to deliver ‘real-time’ solutions and drives a whole new era of data-driven decision making that increases automation, drives revenue and reduces operational expense.

What is the impact of real-time data on the player lifecycle and how exactly does this affect acquisition and retention?

There are three factors in which real-time data plays a pivotal role. One is player acquisition. Here we look at aspects such as if we have the right marketing strategy to drive traffic to the site, if we are providing the correct tools and back office to allow the player to register easily, and if we offer appropriate rewards to entice the player to deposit in that particular jurisdiction. The second is retention, here we focus on aspects such as loyalty, is the loyalty programme working effectively? Are we engaging with the player and understanding their behaviour in order to offer them rewards, games and play personalised to them? The third is understanding the customer lifetime value, sustainability is at the heart of what we do.

What markets does GiG see as a priority for the next six months?

The key markets for us over the next six months are aligned with our overall strategy as well as that of our clients. We’ve just launched in Buenos Aires City, we are building upon our existing US states (Iowa and New Jersey) such as Pennsylvania. Canada, specifically Ontario, also represents a great opportunity for many of our existing partners and new ones coming on board. We also see a migration towards newly regulated markets in eastern Europe, like Serbia for example. A key strategic market for us and our partners is New Zealand, with new regulation coming in; to be the key player is a huge boost. 

Any comments on the current state of the German market? What is the situation like and what should be done to improve it? How could this impact GiG's operations?

The situation in Germany is ever-changing at the moment, whilst the regulator is being put together, in principle the 13 states have agreed on the online gambling treaty. It may take a further 2 years for the legislation to be fully operational. Therefore, at the moment, there is not enough clarity regarding the measures which must be adhered to. Less interpretation and more direction could improve this situation. GiG continues to operate in Germany with many partners and we support them with compliance-led tools enabling them to operate under new legislation for now and in the future.