SCCG Weekly Newsletter Volume 39
Volume 39 | May 6, 2021
WEEKLY EDITION
May 6, 2021
Bridging the Gap: Land Based Casinos and iGaming
by Stephen Crystal
Founder, SCCG Management
There is no comparison between the destination casino gaming experience and an iGaming site -- two different use cases entirely. There is, however, a natural synergy between a local or regional casino and its partner online casino that a pure iGaming play can't replicate.
Lower Customer Acquisition Cost
The first advantage is the reach that the casino has within the customer experience. They already have a lot of knowledge about the customer's preferences and potential value. They also have established marketing outreach with the customer through local advertising, email and SMS marketing, promotions, and events. This relationship allows the casino to convert their casino customers to their iGaming site at a much lower cost than the pure iGaming competitor, with real-world support and handholding available at the casino itself.
Marketing Hurdles for Competing Pure iGaming Sites
The relationship with the land-based gaming site allows for cross-promotion between itself and the casino. Rewards can come in the form of a unified players club wallet, with portable rewards between the casino and the iGaming site. Also differentiated from the pure iGaming site are all the land-based amenities that can be made part of the local casino's iGaming benefits, including tier qualification, access to reserved parking areas, and special onsite events. An additional benefit is the cost efficiency of a shared marketing services team that works together to cross-promote both entertainment opportunities and ensure that rewards and promotional reinvestment remain in line with customer value.
What about Cannibalization of Play?
There are very few examples of locals casino markets with exclusive access to their local population center in the United States. In these competitive locals markets, it is well established that players have a dominant favorite, most frequently with the closest casino to their home, but gives a share of their gaming wallet to two or more other casinos. When you have a local casino with its partner iGaming site, combined with a loyalty program whose marketing and promotions teams are operating as an integrated unit with the casino and iGaming site, the perceived value of consolidating gaming activity within the loyalty program is magnified. Customers tempted to play with a competitor because they were closer to the competitor's casino at that moment could choose to instead consolidate rewards by playing on their iGaming site. The same "cheating" behavior, triggered by having an "unlucky" day at the casino, could move their play online instead of driving to the distant competitor.
How to Keep the Customer Relationship on the Rails
The most successful locals casino marketing operations think of their customers as guests every day of the week, whether they're on the casino floor or not. When they're at the casino, they work to ensure a variety of amenities, events, and gaming experiences that can extend time on site. When they're not at the casino, they use those same tools to reduce the time between visits. The iGaming site allows the business to extend the virtual walls of its operations, making itself available to the customer at all times. This opportunity calls for an omnichannel marketing communications strategy with a higher frequency but a lighter touch. The omnichannel marketing strategy keeps the brand top of mind and opportunistic calls to action ready for the customer, when and where they can engage.
Marketing Automation
Automation is essential to maintain an effective omnichannel marketing presence with customers that now have omnipresent access. Robust tools for campaign automation are now available through vendors with off-the-shelf solutions with little to no customization needed. Cloud-based CRM tools can be optimized for the casino gaming industry by your team, with some professional services for hand-holding at the start.
SMS, Push Notification and in-app messaging, favorites for marketing channels, can be managed through integration. These channels then take specific offers and promotions driven by your marketing team through CRM and marketing campaign automation tools.
They can then extend the power of those messages with real-time content from third-party tools -- Live score data from sports data providers; messaging automation from platforms that use AI to recommend content that is timely and relevant for the specific customer. The magic of microtargeted customer messaging, informed by pertinent real-time events.
Are these considered advanced capabilities? For the gaming industry, yes. Perhaps even for marketing in general. Luckily, we are past the point where this kind of capability would require a significant one-time and recurring investment in custom solutions to make this happen. Everything we've discussed in this article today is available through off-the-shelf commercial solutions.
Would you like to talk about how to make some of these ideas a reality for your operations? Reach out. We're ready to talk.
Client Partners related to Today's Feature Article
SCCG Management works with our clients to bring best in class solutions to the entire gaming vertical, including client partners such as:
Bettorlogic - AI and Data Driven CRM platform that gives bettors a reason to place a bet.
LSports - Realtime sports data API solution.
Scout Gaming Group - Premium social/fantasy sports wagering content and platform.
Triggy - Live score messaging provider.
Picklebet - Full featured online esports betting platform
Shank Marketing - Multichannel digital marketing strategy and traditional advertising services.
Hollywood TV - A network of studios creating live games, deployable in a multi-channel experience.
Spinmatic Entertainment - Online HTML5 casino games with the highest standards for data encryption.
Check out these and our other related client partners below!
Related Client Partners
Liked the article? Check out our Client Partners below.
WELCOME TO YOUR ROUNDUP OF EUROPEAN IGAMING NEWS
Our European weekly iGaming feature article summarizes the thoughts of Jake Pollard, an experienced journalist and editor who has covered the online gaming and betting industry for many years. He has written for the leading media outlets as well as operators and suppliers in the igaming space. His areas of focus are wide-ranging and include regulatory developments in the US, emerging markets in South America and how European countries are adapting to a decade of igaming regulation.
No affordability checks for UK operators?
Could UK operators avoid some of the most draconian reforms that anti-gambling campaigners are calling for as part of UK Gambling Act review? If the press stories are true, affordability checks on gamblers spending more than £100 ($139) a month, a key measure in the fight against problem gambling and addiction according to campaigners, could be side-lined or ‘watered down significantly’ following direct involvement from the Department of Digital, Media, Culture and Sport (DCMS), which is leading the review and has taken ownership of the process from the UK Gambling Commission. The industry will breathe a sigh of relief if the news turns out to be true, affordability checks, with players having to submit pay slips and official documents to prove they could afford their losses, were predicted to lead to up to £100m drops in sector revenues if they were introduced. Operators however are not crowing, they are aware that the redview will include serious criticisms on issues related to their conduct, technical provisions, consumer advocacy and social responsibility.
Regulation enforcement is key to German success
Germany has the potential to be the biggest iGaming market in Europe and for many years the industry has called for the country to regulate online betting and gaming in a way that enables operators to generate profits, whilst paying taxes and advertising openly. After many years of the different autonomous regions (Länder) calling for and implementing regimes that were either ignored or fought in EU and local courtrooms, Germany will be introducing the Interstate Gambling Treaty from 1 July. Most operators are not exactly ecstatic about the new set up, but generally they’re ok with it. However, as part of the new treaty coming into force, the German authorities have ordered operators wanting to be licensed to stop offering online casino games from January until July when the new Treaty kicks in. This has led to significant drops in revenues for all operators such as Leo Vegas, who complain that 70%-80% of German players now play with illegal operators. The hope is that enforcement will be aggressive enough, and if the levels of money leaving the country are important enough the authorities may well get that act together by blocking payments or placing sites on blacklists. If they don’t, it will be another missed opportunity in implementing regulation that enables licensed operators to grow in a major European market.
SCCG Management: New and Upcoming Events
STEPHEN CRYSTAL TRAVELING TO MARYLAND, OHIO AND KENTUCKY
Stephen Crystal is in the process of planning and scheduling travel to Maryland, Ohio and Kentucky, where he will be meeting with clients and partners in May.
If you are interested in reaching out to Stephen Crystal regarding these trips, please contact him directly at stephen.crystal@sccgmanagement.com.
Las Vegas, NV, USA, May 4, 2021 / sccgmanagement.com / — Stephen Crystal, Founder, SCCG Management, announced a joint venture with Vegas Amusement, for a transaction related technology and IP portfolio.
THE TECHNOLOGY AND IP PORTFOLIO OPPORTUNITY
The first set of assets are for technologies with multiple applications in digital card gaming. Two branded products have been developed from this development: SEGO digital playing cards and the MAXLink Jackpot technology.
A potential highest and best use application of the technology is for an innovative integration of the MAXLink Jackpot and the distribution of sports gaming contest tickets. This enables branded jackpot attractions, distribution of sports contest tickets, and global scalability for iGaming applications.