FUTURE PROOFING THE ONLINE GAMBLING INDUSTRY ASEGURAR EL FUTURE DE LA INDUSTRIA DEL JUEGO WHAT WILL PLAYERS LOOK FOR IN FIVE OR 10 YEARS’ TIME? AND HOW CAN WE BE SURE THE INDUSTRY DELIVERS IT? RAMONA DEPARES SPEAKS TO DAN PHILLIPS.
¿QUÉ QUERRÁN LOS JUGADORES DE AQUÍ A 10 AÑOS? ¿CÓMO PUEDE ESTAR PREPARADA LA INDUSTRIA PARA ELLO? ENTREVISTA DE RAMONA DEPARES A DAN PHILLIPS.
D
an Phillips’ is a known and respected name in the online gambling industry. Besides running NEL Advisory consultancy services, he has held C-level roles with Playtech and the former Gala Coral Eurobet (today better known as Entain). But, quite apart from a wealth of knowledge and expertise, he brings to the table something that is equally valuable – passion. From outsourcing content to futureproofing the industry, we touch upon it all and I have to say, by the time we hang up he has me firmly convinced of his strategy. I start out by quizzing him about a bugbear of mine – outsourced content. My approach is that this is a necessary evil, necessitated by the practicalities of the industry. After all, few operators are in a position to create their own content from scratch, and think of all the game franchises players don’t want to miss out on. Dan’s approach is different and clearly the result of years of experience researching players and operators.
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“We’ve had a mix of in-sourcing and outsourcing of content through the history of the industry. Bet365 and Entain, for example, have their own development studios and produce their own content. But outsourcing helps the industry as there are many excellent game studios offering great content to start-ups that can’t afford to create their own. The ideal situation for an operator would be to find the optimal mix, of course,” Dan says. Does this dilute brand identity? Dan believes that identity is more about the platform, mobile application and how UI/UX are applied, rather than the content itself. “Are you using AI to understand your users? If I come in for the first time, in theory I should be offered something quite generic, because the operator has no idea about where I’ll go next. The next step would be to analyse my deposit and play patterns and customise the mix. Nowadays, your typical operator will offer 1000s of games, especially if using an aggregation platform,” he replies, adding that this doesn’t mean he should be presented with the entire portfolio. Rather, games should be filtered according to the offering he is most likely to enjoy.