Author: EuropeanGaming.eu

With all eyes on the U.S. iGaming sector over the last couple of years, it is no surprise that Enteractive, the global leader in player reactivation and retention for the iGaming industry, sees a wealth of opportunity in the region, and is expanding its global footprint by setting up shop on U.S. soil in 2022.

Attending SBC Summit for North America, Enteractive’s Chief Business Officer, Andrew Foster, said, “With all the costs for iGaming brands setting up operations in the U.S. and acquiring a strong player base, it will be crucial for operators to avoid churn and keep the players enjoying the entertainment.”

Foster continued, “Retention is an area that currently lacks a robust solution in the U.S. iGaming sector, and Enteractive plans to fill that void with our revenue-generating services to bring active players back to the screen.”

With the U.S. iGaming sector seeing accelerated growth over the last couple of years, and increasing numbers of states legislating to allow online gambling, this nascent market will benefit from the experience that European service providers bring to the table, and Enteractive is no different having established itself as a leader in the field of player retention and activation.

There’s currently little to no support for the U.S. iGaming industry when it comes to loyalty, retention, and generating extra revenues from reviving lapsed accounts to be active players once more.  Enteractive has a somewhat unique proposition for operators in the industry, going beyond the digital CRM offerings to engage with customers on a one-to-one basis.

The company, founded in 2009 in Malta, Europe, has grown in the last decade to provide its player engagement services to iGaming operators, across both iCasino and sports betting in all corners of the world.

Enteractive CEO and founder, Mikael Hansson added, “We’re extremely excited about the opportunity in the U.S. having already secured our New Jersey licence in 2021. So we are hitting the ground running and bringing our unique retention services to both existing American operators, as well as European brands also jumping the pond.”

Enteractive works with operator clients in markets around the globe, including Canada and the U.S., Peru and Brazil, Europe and Asia.

Renewed market confidence, a strong product offering and the opening of new gaming ventures on the UK high street are all combining to help drive the sales of Blueprint digital machines, according to feedback from the brand, which is part of MERKUR UK.

Reflecting on the market dynamics David Purvis, Managing Director of Blueprint Operations, stated: “We went into the ACOS show on the back of a very successful quarter in which sales were 50 percent up on the same stage 12-months ago” he confirmed. ”We subsequently put a lot of care and resource into our presence at ACOS which included holding a virtual exhibition the week prior for those members of the industry who were unable or not comfortable with travelling to London and the investment that we made has certainly paid dividends.

“In the month following ACOS we have continued to take orders across the range. Significantly, customers know that despite the well documented supply chain issues and due to a combination of meticulous planning and the fact that Blueprint machines carry the Made In Germany badge we are not subject to the long transit times incurred when production is in the Far East. As it stands currently we are able to quote the normal delivery times which means that operators are able to invest in their existing premises and perhaps most significantly that new venues can open with a full complement of top earning Blueprint product and start to pay back on the investment made.”

He added: “Analysing the orders processed during and followingmOctober’s exhibition , some 30 percent of the total volume has come from operators launching new venues. Clearly the UK high street is undergoing a period of significant change and low stake, low prize gambling entertainment venues are bringing much needed life and energy to UK high streets.”

Blueprint’s new product offering comprises three cabinets which aim to extend the digital entertainment experience from the home environment into retail venues. The Ultramax Cat C features a seamless edge-to-edge gaming experience courtesy of the two 31.5” screens. The B3 Wave+ and Auroramax+ also feature large screens – the Wave+ has a 43” curved portrait screen with the Auroramax+ boasting two 32” HD screens. Both have a new 15.6” video play deck to deliver a more interactive experience and feature the QXI6000 Quad core PC for enhanced graphical performance and smooth gameplay. David Purvis concluded: “Looking ahead I think there’s a buoyancy and quiet confidence in the market. The high proportion of vacant premises sitting empty on the high street has led to a restructuring of shop rents and the emergence of a more leisure oriented retail experience all of which augurs well for the future.”

Aspire Global’s Pariplay Ltd, the leading aggregator and content provider, has increased its global presence by signing a major content deal with Kaizen Gaming, one of the fastest-growing GameTech companies in Europe.

The agreement has already seen Pariplay’s portfolio of in-house casino games, produced by its newly branded Wizard Games development team, go live in Greece through Stoiximan, Kaizen Gaming’s flagship brand in Greece.

Wizard Games titles will also be rolled out into the key regulated markets of Portugal and Germany through Kaizen’s Betano online betting brand, which recently launched in Brazil – a market of great strategic importance for Pariplay.

The deal will see each of Kaizen’s operator brands worldwide benefiting from Pariplay’s Fusion aggregation platform, featuring thousands of titles from the industry’s leading games developers and a suite of back-office conversion and retention tools that enhance player value.

The new operator agreement is expected to fuel further growth for Pariplay, following on from a number of important new partnerships formed in recent months around the world.

Andrew Maclean, VP of Sales at Pariplay, said: “Pariplay is a company that is never content to stand still and this agreement sees us make great strides in markets that are of great importance. Kaizen Group is an operator that has great geographical reach within the markets that we are targeting right now.

“This is a deal that is a great fit for both parties and we look forward to presenting Kaizen’s players, wherever they are in the world, with a wide range of in-house and aggregated content through our renowned Fusion platform.”

Dimokratis Papadimos, RNG Casino Manager at Kaizen Gaming, said: “We are always looking for new ways to provide the best possible online gaming experience to our customers across every market.

“We have already received very positive feedback after taking Pariplay content live in Greece and we are excited that our customers in Romania, Portugal, Germany, and Brazil will experience all the latest additions that lie in wait.”

More than 250,000 people have chosen to self-exclude from online gambling by registering with GAMSTOP, a significant milestone in the scheme’s three-year history.

GAMSTOP has seen a spike in registrations in 2021 compared to previous years, with more than 67,000 people signing up to GAMSTOP in 2021, compared to 51,000 in 2020.

March of 2021 has been the second highest registration month in the scheme’s history to date, with 7,047 registrations. Of the 250,000 people to register with GAMSTOP, more than 228,000 are currently self-excluding through the service.

With GAMSTOP now in its fourth year of operation, the continued rise in registrations highlights its importance as a safety net to those at risk from gambling-related harm.

GAMSTOP works closely with financial services organisations and treatment providers, including Citizens Advice, Gamcare, the Northern Gambling Clinic, Gordon moody, Peer Aid and Betknowmore. The TalkBanStop project, in collaboration with Gamcare and Gamban, has also helped to raise awareness of GAMSTOP’s services this year.

Several football clubs have pledged their support to raising awareness of GAMSTOP through formal partnerships, including: Crystal Palace, Brentford, Luton, Middlesbrough, QPR, Morecambe, Preston North End’s Foundation, Bolton Wanderers, Milton Keynes Dons and Harrogate Town.

Fiona Palmer, CEO of GAMSTOP, said:

“The registration levels are higher than anticipated this year, though we cannot pinpoint one specific reason for this. We have developed the scheme to make it easier to register and have worked hard on raising our profile to make sure we are more visible to those who might need us. The effects of the pandemic might also have something to do with the rise.

The independent evaluation which took place during the first 3 months of this year showed us how effective our consumers felt the scheme had been to their ongoing recovery. This was very reassuring to the GAMSTOP team, the wider stakeholders and hopefully anyone thinking about registering. We are fully committed to improving the GAMSTOP service to make it even better next year.”

Over the past several months, the BGaming expert team has continued to analyze current trends within the gaming industry to determine the latest and most influential changes to the market. What cryptocurrency has shown the most significant growth across Q3, and which BGaming title has become the most fast-growing slot in the portfolio? BGaming has gathered a few interesting facts below.  

Mobile gaming keeps leading position. According to our company’s statistics, mobile gaming has far and away remained the most popular method of gaming, exceeding gaming on both a tablet and a computer. As a matter of fact, almost 95% of our players choose to play our games on their mobile devices, as opposed to nearly 3% and 2% for computers and tablets, respectively. 

The share of the young adult audience is growing. BGaming team has seen an increase in our young adult audience by almost 6% over the past year. In the current climate, young adults are spending more and more time at home looking for new forms of entertainment. Following that trend, iGaming providers track the most popular demands of this new generation, creating and adapting new games and products to meet the needs of this growing market. 

“When composing the road map of our games, we always rely on the analytics that our team collects. Of course, we strive to meet the needs of different generations, but it is important to be flexible and notice any changes in the market on time. So, for example, we see that the demand for exclusive products is growing. The audience wants to see unique games created according to their requests. And this is what we are working on, producing Brand Exclusive games for operators,” noted Marina Ostrovtsova, Executive Director at BGaming.

Crypto gambling wins the market. This year has seen an explosion in the popularity of cryptocurrency across every aspect of life. As digital money becomes more normalized, there has been a surge in their use across all igaming products. Of course, Bitcoin continues to be the most popular form of crypto; however, Litecoin has shown the most remarkable rise in popularity across Q3, increasing by 49%. In addition, Tether expanded in favor this year. BGaming team calculated a 108% increase in its use across brand’s titles in Q3.

“Being the world’s first iGaming provider to offer cryptocurrencies, we draw particular attention to crypto gambling. BGaming widens its network of crypto projects and we see the results. The number of explosive winnings on crypto projects has significantly rised over the past few months,” highlighted Bogdan Gres, Brand Team Lead at BGaming.   

Aloha King Elvis is the fastest growing BGaming slot of 2021. BGaming has already released 11 games in the past year, including WBC Ring of Riches, Lucky Dama Muerta, and Dig Dig Digger slots. Released in Q3, the sequel to the immensely popular game Elvis Frog in Vegas, Aloha King Elvis, has almost caught up in popularity and shows the fastest growth among other BGaming titles. The game inspired by the talent and magnetism of Rock-n-Roll King shares includes three types of Jackpot and two types of Free spin rounds that make slot especially attractive to players. 

“We wanted to continue the story of cue Elvis which has already become a symbol of BGaming. The game met our expectations. Moreover, new features such as Buy Bonus and Chance 2.5 added in October also stimulated popularity growth,” further noted Bogdan Gres, Brand Team Lead at BGaming. 

BGaming is a fast-growing game provider converting gambling into gaming. Thanks to an expert team and a player-driven approach, the studio creates innovative and engaging products featured on reputable platforms and 550+ online casinos worldwide. BGaming is the world’s first to support cryptocurrencies and offer Provably Fair games. Today the brand’s portfolio includes 70+ products with HD graphics and a clear user interface for every device.

Leading videogame publisher Playstack today proudly announces the launch of its innovative new advertising technology for developers – the ‘Interact’ SDK – which offers real world redeemables that reward players for interacting with (rather than being interrupted by) in-game advertisements.

Advertising plays an increasingly important role in game monetisation, however Playstack believes there can be better, less interruptive ways of integrating ads.

Interact has been designed to offer developers a new way to monetise whilst making gaming sessions more immersive and rewarding; seamlessly integrating brands into games. This lightweight, easy to integrate SDK gives developers three new advertising alternatives; virtual display advertising, full level takeovers and real world rewards. Developers get engagement and revenue, brands get new customers and players get free stuff.

The Interact technology also gives developers a free, powerful and integrated way to cross promote their own games and apps; allowing them to engage even more with their ever growing audiences.

“Serving ads to gamers has increasingly become like the Wild West. Players are seeing ads interrupt their mobile gaming experience, causing people to skip them, ignore them, or even churn from the game completely. We intend to change that,” said Harvey Elliott, CEO of Playstack. “Our ethos compels us to search out better ways to serve both developers and players – so we’re thrilled to launch Interact as a serious alternative for integrating advertising into games.”

The brand partnership team at Playstack have years of experience and an intuitive understanding of how to integrate brands into games from their work with Playstack’s own portfolio of games. They know how to deliver a branded in-game experience which delights and rewards players and generates real campaign value for brands. Through Interact they are bringing this network of partners and campaign know-how to games developers worldwide.

Betegy, the leading sports data and automated content provider, has taken its innovative full-service marketing solution live with leading German operator Tipico, in a move that will further enhance the operator’s retail delivery.

The deal will see Betegy power content generation across all marketing points throughout Tipico’s German and Austrian retail estate, including self-service betting terminals, display screens and more, totalling thousands of contact points for customers.

All displays will be controlled via a singular Betegy-constructed platform, which allows Tipico to instantly generate and adjust all visual content and therefore engage players more than ever before.

Thanks to Betegy’s award-winning technology, Tipico can take the next step forward in its retail marketing operations across its 1200+ German and Austrian betting shops, with the deal marking the latest in a series of partnerships between Betegy and Tipico.

The deal follows the rollout of Betegy’s social media content generation services for the operator in 2019.

Commenting on the deal, Alex Kornilov, CEO at Betegy, said: “Tipico is a huge operator in Germany, and we’re thrilled to sign this agreement that will see us provide our leading marketing solution across its entire German and Austrian estates.

“It is a hugely exciting project as we look to bring tangible value to bettors in every corner of the country, as well as further strengthening our ties with our long-standing partner – we can’t wait to start showing just how much is possible!”

Kajetan Strini-Brown, Head of Acquisition Marketing at Tipico added: “Betegy’s impressive products have allowed us to increase the speed and scope of our retail marketing efforts.

“Having this throughout every retail betting point in Germany and Austria is an amazing improvement in our retail customer experience, and we’re excited to see the results!”

The alliance follows important commercial agreements signed by Betegy, most recently including ESTV, FTN Network, PokerGO, Germany’s Tipico, as well as Parimatch, and Coingaming.io, as it continues to bring its EGR award-winning solution to tier-one gaming and sports betting companies worldwide.