Taking a holistic approach
MICROGAME: RIDING THE OMNICHANNEL TIGER MICROGAME CEO MARCO CASTALDO says we will look
back on the last 12 months as a defining era for gaming in Italy, before discussing how its operators must deploy a holistic, from-the-ground-up approach
T
oday, as is the case in most countries, Italian gaming operators are still struggling with widespread shop closures while the acceleration of online growth continues (45% higher GGR year-on-year), so what does this mean for the future? The Italian context has certain specificities that provide us an interesting and possibly different vantage point from other jurisdictions. First, online gaming penetration in the Italian gambling market was only 9.5% prior to the pandemic which is comparatively quite low. Coronavirus accelerated a process with a long growth curve ahead. Conversion to online is, therefore, not a one-time Covid-19 effect. Italy has a long history of multichannel business models, starting with land-based affiliation and service for online players in the late nineties
10 SBC LEADERS • APRIL 2021
to more recent efforts at shop-online betting integration in the last two or three years. In a sense, the pandemic also accelerated another trend where Italy was ahead of other markets - towards omnichannel strategies to use a popular and abused term. We have some perspective here: Microgame is a pioneer in this field with almost three decades of experience and our entire stack and service approach was created to bridge land-based and online gaming. We currently serve over half of the near-100 licensed online operators
IN A SENSE, THE PANDEMIC ACCELERATED ANOTHER TREND TOWARDS OMNICHANNEL STRATEGIES, TO USE A POPULAR AND ABUSED TERM
and over 15 licensed betting shop operators. This gives us a broadbased view of industry and market dynamics which we are happy to share in the interest of the common cause. So, what happened in the last 12 months and where are we headed? It's interesting to analyse the difference between the first pandemic wave and the second. In the first wave, the main driver of online GGR growth was the increase of time available for existing players. It’s not surprising that poker, skill games, and bingo outgrew other verticals during that period with the lack of sports events having a major impact, of course. In the second wave, starting in October, the main effect we saw was a huge increase in the number of players as operators with at least basic multi channel capabilities used the summer “break” in the pandemic to convert betting shop customers to online players. Most of these new players will go back to the shops when they reopen, but they will be different, because only a few will return to being shop customers only. Most have discovered a new, engaging and convenient experience, but will remain loyal to their familiar retailers. They will become omnichannel players. Let’s not forget that all of this is happening against a difficult institutional backdrop, a toughening political and regulatory stance, resulting in restrictions on shop locations as well as on advertising, and probably more to come. The market is hurtling forward while politicians seem nostalgic about a “see-no-evil” past where gambling is hidden away, out of sight and, unfortunately, out of control. But that’s a theme for another article… In this context of accelerated change, what are the challenges for incumbent operators? Onlinefocused operators need to contend with advertising restrictions and must
