20 minute read
Casino
by SBC Global
CASINO STREAMERS CAN BRING GAMING COMMUNITIES TOGETHER
DRIVEN BY THE LIVE
STREAMING BOOM, casinos can now bring communities together on-site and in-game. FunFair Games and CasinoGrounds combine to provide the games developer and streamer perspective
The live streaming market is growing at an extraordinary rate. Across all sectors it is projected to more than double in growth by 2021 and generate more than $70 billion. In the casino world, however, it is arguably just emerging as a new and powerful means of engaging players to the huge volume of content available.
Here are the thoughts of FunFair Games COO Lloyd Purser and CasinoGrounds CEO Tobias Svensen.
Purser - the games developer perspective
The impact of casino streamers in the last two years has rapidly grown and today, an increasing number of brands and suppliers are turning to individual streamers or streamer networks to promote their games to a carefully curated and highly engaged, next generation player audience. Many of whom are under 35, and therefore the ideal target market.
With many of us now spending more time at home, we are also online more often across the day and constantly connected via a host of different devices. This has led to a further acceleration in casino streamers’ influence across both traditional online and social channels such as Instagram.
Gen Y and Z players are equally looking for different sources of entertainment and streaming offers a unique and immediate insight into a product, particularly as streamers themselves are within the same age group, often seen as ‘experts’ and crucially as a trusted source.
Streamers have recently led the way in creating engaged communities of next gen players and have woken much of the gaming industry up
Lloyd Purser, FunFair Games COO
to the potential of bringing these communities together.
At FunFair Games, we believe we have the knowledge, expertise and games that will also bring communities of next gen players together, both onsite and in-game.
Our experience in crypto has been vital to this thought process and we have learned a great deal about players and what they want. One stand-out difference is that many
crypto players want a different style of casino game and the same can be said of Gen Y and Z casino players. We call these types of games multiplayer to single outcome, with the most popular example being ‘Crash’, also known as ‘Moon’.
These types of games offer a very different experience to standard single-player games in the traditional casino space, such as slots, or even live casino games. Therefore, we are now in the process of developing both crash-inspired games as well as several alternative concepts based on the core foundations that attract this demographic.
Our aim is to focus on multiplayerfirst content that really builds a sense of community within the games, with other players’ activity on view, both in real-time and historically. In addition, we will include features which allow players to express themselves through emojis, for example.
Much like streamers that have a realtime game display and a simple view of the individual so that they can talk and engage with the virtual audience, we don’t need complex visuals or mechanics to keep players interested. Simplicity and enabling players to choose a single layer of outcome is vital for an audience of under 35s.
In more detail, our games require players to make decisions as an active part of the game. The RNG always delivers the result, however players have still made a choice to win or lose, and by how much. With the added ability to set their own RTP and level of risk, players also have a clear choice, another significant draw for this audience.
And all this is delivered as simply as possible, meaning the mechanics remain highly compelling and exciting, with the entertainment remaining focused on the ‘gamble’ – the core entertainment element.
Streaming has turned slot play on its head, bringing it out of the shadows
as a single-player, solitary experience into a shared one, and multiplayer games are, and will, continue to do the same by driving new levels of community and engagement.
For the time being, the multiplayer sector is relatively untapped, however we firmly believe it has as much, if not more, potential to grow within the casino world as streaming.
Svensen - the streamer perspective
Brick-and-mortar-casinos bring anticipation to the table. This then creates a topic of interest talked about, before and after being there. The events, the highs, the lows, and the stories derived from these experiences help cement landbased casinos as ‘go-to’ places for entertainment.
Then you have the online casinos. The players log in, make a deposit, then play for a bit and that is it. How many of you reading this article ever heard someone say ‘I’m going to play at an online casino this weekend?’
The only time that mainstream media mentions online casino today is
if someone wins or sometimes loses large sums of money. It’s not right. What about the players who log in, deposit and play? What happens when they win big? For some, a big win is 100 times their stake, while for others it’s a thousand times. Where do they then go to brag, who do they tell, and how do they share their stories?
Where is the personal touch in all this? A player might receive an email from a casino with a generic, sometimes ‘personalised’ offer, but given how blasé most are about ads nowadays, it’s a different ballgame, and a completely different world from the ‘good old’ brick-and-mortar venue.
In what may have looked like a barren field of nothing for some, others saw an opportunity. A small group of casino players turned on their webcams in 2016, created a forum and simply started sharing their online gambling experiences with likeminded people.
Fast forward to 2020, and casino streaming has become a platform where the industry, players, viewers, game developers and others all stand on equal ground, sharing experiences.
The earlier reference to the talk around the table, the anticipation and the stories that have come from visiting a brick-and-mortar venue has now been replaced by big win stories shared on some of the world’s biggest gambling communities. The issues, problems and challenges, alongside requests and questions are also brought in front of everyone to see and talk about.
What used to be a good story someone told their friends is now just seconds away from being published, shared and viewed thousands of times within a matter of hours. What used to be an experience you would only share with those close to you is now borderless, and connects with thousands of people instantaneously.
Today, casino streaming is a vessel that puts anyone in the driver’s seat, and a platform that facilitates a level of engagement around brands paramount to other channels. As a streamer, you share your experience, talk about the games you like to play, where to play them, the ‘what’, ‘how’ and ‘why’.
As a player (or viewer) you get a glimpse of what to expect, answers to all your questions, and a community to
Tobias Svensen, CasinoGrounds CEO
discuss all of it with. As a brand – be it a game developer or an operator – you simply have a fast lane to communities where you bridge the gap between yourself and the players.
Real money streaming has a great future and, the more we continue to work with innovative online casinos, we believe its potential to engage and grow communities even further is limitless. •
BGaming Elvis Frog
Basic Info: The 5×3, 25 payline slot has a free spins round which includes an endless potential of respins and a Coin Respin feature which can activate the three jackpot wins and bonus round.
Elvis Frog is a Wid symbol, which substitutes for all symbols in the winning line, except Scatter and Coin symbols.
If the player lands three Star Scatter symbols on reels one, three, and five, they are awarded with five free spins. During the free spins round, the reels two, three, and four make one special reel with spinning Giant symbols.
Moreover, the game includes a Coin Respin feature which is activated when six coins appear on the reels in a single spin. During the Coin Respin feature, a player can hit either a mini, major, or mega jackpot.
Reels: Five Payline: 25
Volatility:
Medium to High RTP: 96% Marina Ostrovtsova, Product Director at BGaming, said: “If we speak about regular expectations of players, this will be huge winnings and frequent bonuses – the game is designed in a way that it keeps players involved and entertained.
“If we are talking about supplementary details for every slot – we would say songs like Elvis did it. This is our personal touch and adaptation of the great legend.
“Elvis became a very stable hit, something you do not need to explain. Players love it, and the title itself is quite clear and understandable.”
Relax Gaming & CasinoGrounds Iron Bank
Basic Info: Three bonus symbols trigger Free Spins, which presents players with a choice between different heist strategies, each bringing varying levels of volatility. When four, five, or six bonus symbols land, a win of 20x, 200x or 2000x the stake is awarded respectively.
Players can then select either Sticky Mystery Symbols, Expanding Re-Spin Wilds and Progressive Multiplier Wilds depending on their risk appetite, while a buy feature can take them straight to the height of the heist.
Reels:
Six
Volatility:
High
RTP:
96.2% Simon Hammon, Chief Product Officer at Relax Gaming, commented: “Working with CasinoGrounds on this project has been a fun and explorative experience that has proven the value in listening to the wants of the player community.
“The team’s enthusiasm was infectious and we’re proud to have brought their ideas to life. The result is a game that is one of the most feature rich slots on the market with high levels of suspense and a captivating storyline that will no doubt appeal to a wide range of player demographics.”
Tobias Svensen, CasinoGrounds CEO, added: “As slot enthusiasts, designing our very own casino game is a real dream come true and we’re grateful to the Relax team for turning our vision into reality.
“They’ve been a pleasure to work with, listening intently to what we wanted and making sure our ideas translated into a game that would meet the expectations of our community. If you’re looking for a slot that is as action-packed as it is fast-moving, then Iron Bank is the game for you.”
Big Time Gaming Chocolates
Basic Info: During the base game, Chocolate Boxes increase the player’s payline, with up to 65,536 during the free spins round. Boxes open to reveal up to four Chocolate symbols.
Meanwhile, all boxes become Sticky Boxes during the free spins and one or more triggering scatters turn into Sticky Boxes. Each reel with four Sticky symbols awards an additional three free spins and up to 12 extra free spins can be awarded in total.
Regular Wilds and Golden Ticket Wilds substitute for every symbol except Scatters and Boxes. A win is multiplied by six for each Golden Ticket Wild that substitutes within it.
Reels: Four Paylines: 2,401 increased to 65,536 with Sticky Boxes in the Free Spins round. Volatility: High RTP: 96% Big Time Gaming CEO Nik Robinson said: “Chocolates is one of my favorite games yet and it’s got all the hallmarks of a hit. We work hard to make each release more engaging and exciting than the last, and fans will love this vibrant new offering.”
Leon Thomas, Commercial Director at Microgaming, added: “Big Time Gaming’s slots are always fresh, innovative and popular with players, and we are delighted to collaborate with Nick and his team on this exclusive launch.
“Chocolates is another great game from a company that keeps on delivering, and we look forward to treating our customers and their players with exclusive early access to this exciting, feature-rich title.”
Gaming Realms and Eyecon Slingo Fluffy Favourites
Basic Info: Lauded as its most ‘eyecon-ic’ slot, the title combines the Slingo grid mechanic and all the original features of the Fluffy Favourites series yet offers a twist by generating wins through the bonus games, rather than through line wins, which are all taken from various Fluffy categories. During the base game, players must complete five slingos to activate the first bonus round. They will then advance up the bonus ladder with each additional slingo they achieve while getting the chance to unlock more bonuses as they go.
As players move up the slingo ladder, players get the chance to play enhanced versions of each bonus which will award more prize picks once triggered by a greater number of slingos. The Toy Grabber and Coin Pusher bonuses offer enhanced prizes when they are triggered by 10 and 12 slingos respectively.
The final bonus round within the title is the ‘Hook-aFluffy’. This awards three or five picks when triggered with seven or 10 slingos, with the player selecting a toy as it floats past the screen with each toy revealing a prize.
Reels: Five Payline: 12 Volatility: High/Very High RTP: 95.5% Mark Segal, CFO of Gaming Realms, said: “This is a hugely exciting time for Slingo Originals and we’re honoured to be working with such an iconic brand. We hope that fans of Slingo and the phenomenal Fluffy Favourites slot will enjoy this new collaboration combining the iconic slingo format with the best bonus games from the Fluffy Favourites catalogue.”
Silverback Gaming Mystery Stacks
Basic Info: The 3×5 reel slot takes its inspiration from the classic fruit machine with cherries, berries, oranges and lemons among the symbols incorporated in the title.
Alongside classic symbols the slot will also have a Mystery Coins circulating the reel. If the Mystery Coin symbol lands on the reel then it reveals a symbol, increasing your chances of landing a winning combination or triggering the Mega Coin, which guarantees wins.
When that Mega Coin appears, the reels will be filled with one randomly selected symbol resulting in a cluster of combinations and the chance to win up to 500x your original stake.
Reels: Five Payline: 10
Volatility:
Medium RTP: 95% Raphael Di Guisto, Founder and CEO at Silverback Gaming, shared: “We’re delighted that Mystery Stacks has been named SlotBeats Slot of the Week. Being recognised by an industry leading publication is the icing on the cake of what has been an awesome week for us here.
“The team at Silverback Gaming is committed to making the most entertaining slots for our players and we are thrilled to see the response. We have a lot more in the pipeline so watch the space.
“Our philosophy is based on creativity, simplicity and elegance – and Mystery Stacks ticks all the boxes. This striking slot might have a classic feel and simple gameplay, but the design, soundtrack and fast-paced action elevate it to another level.”
Yggdrasil and AvatarUX CherryPop
Basic Info: During the base game, players can trigger the free-spin mode if they fully unlock all reels through popping wins, before unlocking three levels of the free-spins bonus, with higher multipliers and more reels possible. Furthermore, players also have the opportunity to gamble their free spins, potentially winning more, using the Gamble Wheel. In certain jurisdictions, players can also go straight to the free-spins round with the Buy Bonus button.
Reels: Five Payline: 243
Volatility:
High RTP: 96.1% Stuart McCarthy, Head of Partner Programmes at Yggdrasil, said: “We’re thrilled to be releasing our third title with AvatarUX. With their innovative Popwins mechanic proving a real industry hit, we’re really excited to launch CherryPop to the market.
“Our YG Masters program continues to go from strength-to-strength and our partnerships have never been stronger with members.” Marcus Honney, Managing Director at AvatarUX, added: “CherryPop takes our mechanic and adds a thrilling theme with impressive win potential, and we can’t wait to see how it is received by operator partners across the globe.
“Since joining the YG Masters programme, we’ve been able to focus purely on our game design which has led to our Popwins titles becoming very popular throughout Yggdrasil’s distribution network. The end-to-end integration through GATI has been effortless, and with a record fast implementation. GATI is the studio developers dream.”
www.bigtimegaming.com
SWEDEN – LIMITED Ardalan Shekarabi highlighted his concerns of ‘continued risks in the area of gambling,’ Sweden’s THINKING? Branschföreningen för Onlinespel - the Trade Association for Online Gambling - has urged the government to withdraw its proposals to extend THE SWEDISH MARKET has been at the forefront of many current restrictions on the online gaming industry. an agenda during recent years, however, following re-regulation at the start of 2019, the period that has followed has been anything but smooth sailing Responding to Shekarabi’s proposals, BOS has hit back at the government’s ‘erroneous’ claim that more players have used online casinos during the This seemed to be exacerbated somewhat during the early stages of 2020, when the country’s government been revealed that an extension to these series of ‘temporary measures,’ such as a SEK 5,000 deposit limit for games at online casinos as well pandemic, and has demanded that the memorandum be withdrawn. Earlier this year, when examining new regulations that entered the sports betting ecosystem, Fintan introduced proposals for further as time limits on play and SEK 100 Costello, Managing Director of restrictions on online gambling as limit on bonus offers, could well be BonusFinder, touched upon igaming a result of the ongoing COVID-19 extended until the end of June 2021. and offered a prediction on what the pandemic. As the Minister for Social Insurance remainder of 2020 could bring. “The ‘temporary restrictions’ aren’t Subsequently, many industry stakeholders urged a reconsideration time and time again, with numerous parties highlighting a sharp increase THE ‘TEMPORARY RESTRICTIONS’ AREN’T GOING AWAY, THAT going away, that never happens,” he said. “And, you know, once somebody has got a taste of victory then you just expand, so you could easily see in black market activity. NEVER HAPPENS this being rolled-out to all products,
In recent weeks, however, it has maybe with the exception of lottery
and horse betting. But that’s a different story.
“So, I definitely see that happening. I think the B2B licensing makes perfect sense; I don’t think B2B licensing fixes the offshore market. There’s plenty of software providers out there that will never get a Swedish licence and will have no exposure to Sweden but will happily service the offshore industry targeting Sweden.
“But I am very pro licensing, and we should all be very transparent on who’s operating in the market and who is dealing with customers. So, I am totally pro that, but it doesn’t fix the channelisation issue.”
Costello pointed to research
previously conducted by the firm earlier in the year as evidence of the detrimental effect he believes such an extension could bring, with the investigation, using Google Trends, showing that the number of searches for unlicensed casino brands targeting Sweden had risen by 305% during the reporting period.
The research also revealed that searches for ‘casino utan licens,’ or without a licence, saw a 710% increase, this was compared to a 173% uplift in ‘online casino’.
“Let’s play the cynical game, if you’re the historical state monopoly and you’re sportsbook heavy, it’s in your best interest to actually introduce, because you already have all the players in your database pretty much, so your marketing costs are pretty limited,” Costello added.
“If you introduce, or lobby, for very strict sports betting rules that forces a bunch of people out of the market, does it really affect your profits? Probably not. Does it lower your marketing costs and your overheads and everything else?
So, personally speaking, if I was a sportsbook operator, I wouldn’t be relying on former state monopolies to protect my best interests.”
The comments came at Betting on Sports Europe, where an expert panel
Fintan Costello, Managing Director of BonusFinder
convened as part of the ‘Betting around Europe’ track to look at the progress - or lack thereof - in the country, as well as what effect these proposals would have for sports bettors and bookmakers.
The 40-minute discussion, titled Sweden – Limited Thinking, took a number of twists and turns, including
YOU COULD SEE THIS BEING ROLLED-OUT TO ALL PRODUCTS, MAYBE WITH THE EXCEPTION OF LOTTERY AND HORSE BETTING
looking at just how short-term the ‘temporary restrictions’ currently in place will actually be, with much scepticism expressed, as well as the level of reliance that operators can place in the hands of former state monopolies.
To kick-things off Victor Schultz, associate at Wiklund Law and moderator for the session, offered an overview of recent developments: “In September of this year the Swedish Gambling Authority announced new regulations for sports betting, targeting match fixing within soccer and prohibiting betting on penalties
Maria McDonald, Partner at Nordic Gambling
and games in lower divisions,” he explained.
“This regulation is to come into effect on 1 January 2021. Further, due to the pandemic, online casino operators have been hit with stricter requirements for player protection. While temporary in shape, the SGA is pushing to make some of these prohibitions permanent.
“That’s a position that will most likely be supported by the gambling market inquiry which is to present its finds in December of this year.
“In addition to this, we have also seen decreasing numbers in channelisation on the Swedish licensed market during 2020, so, all-in-all I think these factors raise questions under the circumstances in which sports betting will be offered on the Swedish market in the upcoming year.
“For example, to what extent
WE HAVE A BLACK AND GREY MARKET WHICH IS GROWING
strict regulation relating to player protection will affect not only online casino operators, but also betting operators.”
What followed was a breakdown
of the market at present by each of Schultz’s fellow participants, dissecting current issues being experienced and identifying problems that they believe need to be addressed.
Asking for a general view on the current state of the market, as well as how it has coped with the pandemic, Maria McDonald, partner at Nordic Gambling, offered her perspective.
She said: “I think we have, from where we were two plus years ago when we anticipated the re-regulation and a very positive inquiry where the market would allow operators to get licensed and be a competitive market, to where we are today where I see operators either giving up their licences or, indeed, withdrawing their licence applications, because they do not see the market as profitable or as positive as we were all initially hoping for.
“I think we have a problematic market right now, we have previous monopolies dominating the market, for whatever reason that may be, but we also have a black and grey market which is growing.
“Both because it’s actually allowed to accept Swedish players as long as you don’t target the Swedish market, but also because we have operators who do not have a licence who offer their services in Swedish to Swedish people.
“But this leaves a smaller and smaller market share for privately licensed operators, and the tough enforcement from the SGA on various rules has contributed to fears from the industry of doing anything out of the ordinary, and it makes it harder to market and to acquire customers.” •
