Aleš Gornjec – Comtrade Gaming – Understanding business & the regulation of sports bonusing

From a platform provider to client perspective, Aleš Gornjec General Manager of Comtrade Gaming details that the industry has to rethink and re-understand its all-round strategy with regards to bonuses and player incentives.

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More than 8.5 million pages on Google are devoted to online gaming promotions, which means that there is both strategy and opportunity when focusing on this aspect of operator business. While operators are thinking in terms of acquiring quality players, players are focusing on the quantity of their bet returns.

According to Gambling.net, “Whether the bonus money can help you overcome a small house edge at the blackjack tables, or allow you to show a profit against tough competition in the poker room, getting a top gambling bonus is often the difference between winning and losing in online gambling!”  Whenever a player gains something, even if occasionally, they should return.

The Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) recent endeavour on countering the labrynth of bonus terms is a campaign against operator evasiveness that purposely choose not to the abide by regulations and/or consumer law. The operators who pride their business on longevity and high player loyalty avoid these marketing ploys as it affects all levels of their online operations and ultimately leads to their demise. Industry-leading gaming sites make sure to substantiate bonusing campaigns with clear terms and conditions, but accountability and consent also falls on the player to inform themselves about what they are agreeing to participate in by reading the requirements and limitations. With the digitalisation of sports betting, bonusing accompanied with gamification is shaping to be one of the defining benefits to the multi-channel experience and a point of differentiation among operators.

Bonusing in its current context can provide considerable benefits to players, especially as platform technology enables adjusted offers according to playing styles and player journeys to optimise the online gaming experience. The Gambling Commission’s emphasis on ensuring licensees act accordingly with bonusing terms also extends to technology providers working in the same sphere. Operators looking to be aligned with the Gambling Commission’s priorities should turn to platforms that are supported by the organisation, as is Comtrade Gaming’s iCore – The Enterprise Gaming Platform.

Not all platforms are created equally and this can create a significant effect on bonus campaigns and the operator’s ability to optimise their business. The advantage of online bonuses are the immediate configuration possibilities to continue a player journey, real-time rewarding, adjustments to acquisition responses and experimentation with campaign variables. Bonusing modules within online platforms serve as a single point for bonus management across multiple brands, suppliers and products and work as the control

Bonusing modules within online platforms serve as a single point for bonus management across multiple brands, suppliers and products and work as the control centre for both acquisition and retention strategies.  Customising them is done most successfully through an i-gaming platform that is capable of handling business intelligence, customer relationship management and multi-channel products.

A recent survey conducted by Talend found that 67% of UK gamblers would be more loyal to a bookmaker that offered a higher level of personalised service. Surprisingly, 72% said they do not feel bookmakers are doing enough to offer this personalization. In this sense, effective bonusing can:

• Attract players
• Provide brand transparency
• Increase player lifetime value

Financial incentives can be bonuses that reward playing time or increase bet size to meet bonus eligibility among a variety of other creative options and ultimately follow a player journey of attracting their interest, rewarding their investments and retaining their loyalty. Reputable gaming platforms create a streamlined bonus creation module that provides the functionality to create highly tailored campaigns that can be tested on player samples before implemented to their target group. The method behind creating a lucrative bonusing campaign should be based on measurable data and predictive modelling as seen on Comtrade Gaming’s Bonus Module on their iCore – Enterprise Gaming.

Instead of focusing on mass-market sign-up bonuses, platforms can divides bonuses based on particular stages in player lifecycle development to trigger or award particular behaviour. Personalised offers are provided based on segmented playing styles and operators take a more relationship-based approach.

• Bring awareness to a new range of games configured onto the product portfolio
• Drive continuous play by multiple bonuses to be triggered by previous bonus redemption
• Reward VIP players to extend player lifetime value
• Cross-sell products to decrease additional acquisition costs

Once players begin their activities, platforms can determine and segment their particular playing style and introduce targeted incentives through real-time notifications, whether they be in-game, device push notifications or targeted e-mails. Not only does this manage player relationships, but shapes the player experience based on their particular activity. Central bonusing works with loyalty campaigns introduced later in a player’s lifecycle with data collected on CRM and business intelligence modules. For example, Comtrade Gaming’s Multi-channel bonusing is scalable and evolves with the operator through real-time activity monitoring and optimised player profiles.

The bonus module on platforms are both an acquisition and retention component and is the foundation to product support. Between real-time rewards that run across any product or supplier and the automated segmentation that supplies operators with the ability to customise their marketing efforts, player conversion workflows are perfected.

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Aleš Gornjec General Manager of Comtrade Gaming

Aleš Gornjec founded the Comtrade Group’s gaming division and serves as Comtrade Gaming’s General Manager. Comtrade Gaming is an independent software supplier to the gaming industry that delivers open gaming platforms, casino management systems and professional services to both online and land-based sectors.