The United States is gradually opening for gambling online and many game studios around the world are actively looking at the business opportunities that this creates. However, there are different ways to address this market and hence many factors to consider – each of which with their own pros- and cons.
The first, and probably most important decision, is whether to enter the market on your own, or if you should partner up with an aggregator that is already established in the market. There are benefits of both options, and entering by your own accord can be a tempting option. However, partnering with an aggregator, that has necessary licenses, appropriate infrastructure, is integrated with the operators and not the least have a broad- and established contact network also has its clear advantages. The downside with the aggregator route is that they take a share of your license fees for the service they provide and that you will have to fight for attention and priority alongside other game studios.
The business potential in USA is huge and is expected to grow exponentially over the years to come. The operators are actively scouting the market for innovative, high-quality content, but as the online gambling has been banned for so many years, the operators recognize that they have to look at studios overseas. However, for BetMGM, Drafkings or any of the other big operators to do direct integrations with multiple small game studios is highly unlikely regardless of how good the content is. The aggregator route is much more appealing to them as one integration gives them access to a vast range of content where they can pick and choose the titles they feel fit their brand and the profile of their players.
From a regulatory perspective the aggregator route saves much time, efforts and money as you avoid having to become licensed and certified in each individual state and simply can piggyback on the permits and licenses held by the aggregator. Unless you are a studio with deep pockets, a huge product portfolio and time to market is not an issue, the direct route is probably not the ideal way to enter the market.
There are a number of things that you need to consider when selecting your aggregation partner. The number of operators with which they are integrated is clearly a key factor, but equally the licenses and permits they hold in the various states. Furthermore, you need to assess that the aggregator has a technology platform that is able to support the features and functions of the complex games that we are used to in Europe with features such as Feature Buy and high speed autoplay that place huge strain on the systems. It is also easy to overlook that the regulation in the various states differ greatly whereby a game can be compliant in one state but not another and this is another factor where the aggregator platform agility plays a vital role.
At Slotmill we did a careful analysis of the major aggregators and decided to go partner up with Pariplay as we felt that they ticked all the boxes for us – culturally, technically and commercially.
Lastly the specific market player preferences should not be underestimated and you need to be prepared to do adaptations of your games to ensure that well received by the US player community.
We have been working on- and preparing for our US market launch for the better part of a year and we are super pleased over the support and guidance that our aggregation partner has provided us throughout the process.
Good luck on your entry!
Andreas Ternstrom / Director and co-founder Slotmill
Andreas Ternstrom is not an industry veteran (still looking to young) but has been in the industry for around 20 years, building MMO’s, Online Bingo (still love online bingo), running B2C, on- and offshore operators and founded/listed a B2B Fantasy Sports company. Now at Slotmill with my great partner Johan Öhman (industry veteran for sure!) and the best team ever!
