Gaming’s greatest growth opportunity of the past two decades currently lies in the palms of almost every 18- to 29-year-old, members of a Global Gaming Expo panel said.
Using smartphones for betting, whether on-site at casinos or online from almost anywhere, greatly expands the gaming industry’s position in the American mainstream, said David Briggs, CEO of GeoComply.
“This is a great opportunity to … bring our industry away from the remote way it’s viewed by many consumers,” he said. “It’s much more a part of everyday (life).”
Briggs spoke Monday as part of a panel discussion dedicated to “On-Premise Mobile: The Advantages and Disadvantages of Mobile Gaming.” Also on the panel were Melissa Blau, director of iGaming Capital; Charles Cohen, vice president of sports betting for IGT PlayDigital; and Daniel Kustelski, cofounder and CEO of Chalkline Sports. Gene Johnson, executive vice president of Victor Strategies, moderated.
Johnson cited several statistics showing the phenomenal growth and acceptance of smartphone use:
- This year, content viewed on mobile will surpass content viewed on television for the first time
- Smartphone power, camera usage, cellular data usage, and wi-fi availability are steadily increasing
- 94 percent of 18- to 29–year–olds own smartphones
- The most popular app category is gaming, used by a quarter of smartphone owners.
“Isn’t (gaming) the business we’re in?” he asked. “That’s the promise of mobile. The real question is whether it’s cost-effective or appropriate.”
Cohen spoke of on-premises mobile as the ability to bring casino gaming to additional places on a property, allowing, for example, a customer at a bar to place sports bets, or a roulette player to gamble on slots, all at the same time.
“That’s the basic concept,” he said. “And, like all simple things, it’s extremely difficult to do. And that’s probably why no one is doing it.”
Roadblocks include state legislation and, for tribal casinos, the ban on taking bets from outside the reservation.
“There is a paradox at the heart of this thing,” Cohen said. “People want to bet on mobile because it’s convenient, and one of the reasons they can’t is that regulation makes it very hard.”
Blau said mobile allows for different forms of interaction between casinos and their customers.
“It’s a great way to almost tiptoe to a full, full remote,” she said. “And the ability for players to interact with your product and brand through a mobile device is a very important stepping stone (toward) full remote gaming.”
Kustelski, whose firm provides a free-to-play sports-betting app that mimics the offerings of a normal sportsbook, said a good mobile experience is critical for customer acquisition and data collection. Players are more likely to provide personal information, such as email addresses and phone numbers, if they see value in doing it.
Briggs said if online statewide gaming is not legal, offering it on-premises, if allowed, is “a great way to learn.”
“Most of the systems and processes are the same whether you’re going live on a national level, a state level or an on-property level. The problem is the economics are not the same.”
He said the requirement of geofencing, the pinpointing of the location of a mobile device being used for betting, can be difficult. For example, New Jersey casinos can accept online bets from anywhere within the state, while a Nevada operator might have to geofence all the grounds of a casino, and another state might allow mobile betting only from a gaming floor and not from a casino’s restaurants or hotel.
Cohen said operators considering mobile betting should see the operation through the eyes of customers, because mobile’s speed has created an atmosphere of impatience.
“Nobody has time for anything anymore,” he said. “Nobody gives anything a second chance.
“You have one go at this to get it right with each patron. What (are you) going to do to have the highest chance for success, make it easier, make sure it works. Otherwise, you’re better off not doing it.”
