"Our experience in Europe helped us have a different perspective on what the hardware needs to capture in-play betting"

SBC Summit North America will be held next week on July 12-14 at Meadowlands Exposition Center in New Jersey, and organizers expect 3,000 delegates, including 1,000 operators, 50 suppliers, and a lineup of 250 expert speakers. One of them will be SUZOHAPP, a global distributor and manufacturer of gaming and sports betting products, which is also sponsoring the event and will showcase at booth #111. 

Yogonet recently caught up with Todd Sims, Vice President of Sales, Gaming & Amusement for the Americas at SUZOHAPP, who will also be in the panel titled “Making In-Play Mass Media” next Thursday. He explained that the company's focus in its return to the event, where it showcased its sports betting ecosystem late last year, will be on a number of additions to that ecosystem. The provider is looking forward to showcasing its updated tabletop and new cash redemption terminal aspects of the ecosystem as well as teasing the concepts of a few new additions that will premiere later this year. 

"For us, it's all about how we can help our customers capture the in-play betting," Sims tells Yogonet. "So far, what we've seen in the marketplace for sports betting hardware in a retail setting has not addressed that in-play betting, which is so important and it's such a huge part of the revenue in more established markets like Europe. In the US, it's been primarily podium-style kiosks, so we've taken notice of that. And our experience in Europe, I think helped us have a different perspective on what the hardware needs to be, to be able to capture that in-play betting. So our new devices address that very directly and they're very purpose-built to help capture that in-play betting, and that's what we're most focused on at this show."

Furthermore, another area SUZHOAPP is most focused on in the Americas in the near term is the placement of the hardware, and how it complements online or mobile sports betting, with bar tops as the main example of this. So the company has "worked hard" on its bar-type concept to be able to fit a number of different and new installations. "A bar-type unit and placing bets on a bar is a far more social type of activity than if we're all looking at our mobile devices with our face down in our mobile device placing bets, which is, of course, very convenient. That's where most of the revenue is going to be, and most of the play. But there are times when we want to be more social out at a bar, for example, talking with other folks. So we're looking up and we're having a conversation, and then also able to place those bets on a terminal. Again, more of a social type of event, but still capturing that in-play betting and the spontaneous player as well," he explains.

In addition, Sims notes the need for SUZOHAPP, operators and platforms to watch the retail sportsbook hardware play and then see how that translates or migrates over to the mobile. "And I think what we're going to find is that the retail hardware is going to help drive incremental revenue for the mobile side. It's an easy concept, or it's easier play for a new sports bettor to walk into a bar or a property and place a bet on a terminal. They can get advice from others around them or from the bartender, for example, and then be able to understand how sports betting is working, and then graduate to downloading the app and placing bets online. So I really think that those retail sportsbooks, particularly in these settings like sports bars and OTBs, are going to drive incremental revenue and players to the mobile side of the business."

As the start of the NFL season comes closer, scheduled for September, SUZOHAPP is getting its hardware ready for that competitive sports betting period of the year and beyond. "We've stocked up on inventories. We've got our pipeline filled now. So we're ready to go. If some of these places occur during the NFL season, that'll be even better. But it looks like most things are going to happen around a January 1st time frame," he says, referring to the launch date for a jurisdiction like Ohio, for instance, while he also highlights a potential earlier launch in Ontario for September. 

After SBC, SUZOHAPP also plans to attend OIGA Conference and Trade Show later this summer, on August 9-11 in Oklahoma. "That'll be a great market. We're really excited about Oklahoma. And then for sports betting in general, we're going to continue with our strategy. And so far it's been a winning strategy. I'm really proud of our team for the inroads that we've made into this industry. And we've won some really important new contracts and new jurisdictions. We keep innovating and love to hear from our customers, whatever it is that they're interested in, we want to hear about it because, at our very core, we're a design and engineering firm. And so we want to design those things that make the most sense for the market," he concludes.

Watch the full video interview with SUZOHAPP on our YouTube channel.