While fans across Europe have been gripped with Euro fever, another football tournament has fallen under the radar; a competition which has resulted in two of South America’s heavy weights coming head-to-head in this weekend’s final.
The Copa América has provided thrills, skills and penalty saves galore with Lionel Messi guiding Argentina to the final to hopefully claim his elusive first international trophy. Yet, the little magician will have to overcome the most successful team in footballing history, and his old Barcelona teammate in Neymar and Brazil.
So whilst the magic of football grips Latin America, SlotBeats has been around the globe to investigate what the impact of major sporting events has on sports-themed slot titles. Turning our attention to the Copa América, Habanero’s head of business development Europe, Arcangelo Lonoce, joined us on our deep-dive into sports-themed titles.
He noted, from his own experience, that “sports-themed slots do not necessarily resonate with slot players, or indeed with potential new customers that one is looking to introduce to slots for the first time”.
He added: “If we’re talking cross-selling, then in my view, the gameplay and mathematics is probably more important. It also hinges heavily on the customer you want to cross-sell to.
“It goes without saying that when you have a massive sporting event that everyone’s talking about – and you have a slot that can directly link with that hype – then you’re certainly onto a winner. A Euros-branded slot could work well here, for example.”
Turning our attention to the development of sports-themed slots, Lonoce noted that at Habanero the company “occasionally” witnesses an impact from sporting events and pointed to its Knockout Football which was released for the World Cup in 2018, with the head of business development Europe claiming it went down “a storm”.
Lonoce explained: “This goes to show that there’s certainly plenty of chance that such a title can resonate with players if done in the right way.
“To succeed, it is imperative that the mathematics and the gameplay experience stays at the centre of the whole exercise. Let’s take one famous slot studio as an example, which chose to launch a series of sports-themed slots.
“The highest performer – and in European markets I believe – was ice hockey – well over football or other theoretically more popular sports. Given the absence of any major NHL event, or indeed the game being present in Scandinavian markets – we can reasonably conclude that the game’s success was down to the mathematical model and the gameplay experience, rather than the theme.
“At the end of the day, I believe that this shows that when it comes to generating retention and engagement, we can conclude it’s more about the gameplay and features that capture interest, than any point in the calendar or key fixture.”
Following the conclusion of major events, we asked Lonoce what levels of engagement sports-themed slots still have. The Habanero head of business disclosed that the only thing which makes a game stick with players is “the quality of the maths and the rendition of such maths into the gaming experience”.
“Of course, marketing campaigns and the like can influence the popularity of certain slots during the times of potentially heightened interest, that can work, but for the majority of times, if the game is good, it should stick in its own right,” he continued.
Lonoce also pointed out that while players do not often favour sports-themed slots, has witnessed a few that have stood the test of time.
“One thing we’ve seen particular success around over the years has been club-themed slots,” explained Lonoce. “This can work particularly well on the international stage, as football clubs truly transcend borders when it comes to branding and cultural imagery.”
Whilst sports punters are arguably averse to RNG products by nature, Lonoce pinpointed that the industry “always sees heightened casino traffics” around key events.
He concluded: “People want fun, entertainment and a chance to keep the action going – in effect giving sportsbook customers a new element to try.
“Marketing campaigns around such events are adjusted accordingly, for example, lose out on Ascot but receive 10 free spins on a horse-racing themed slot. However – a word of warning – approaching a campaign such as this, purely for the sake of marketing slots, should be avoided.
“Your aim should be to take players onto the virtual casino floor, carefully choosing content that’s theoretically more suited to the psychology and behaviour of a sports punter, -and give them the chance to test out the many different things on offer cross selling is not a matter of one click. It’s a whole journey and there is science behind it.”
SlotBeats then pressed Lonoce on who he thought would be the winner in the Copa América 2021 final, with the head of business Europe remaining firmly on the fence with an exciting 3-3 draw. Penalties it is then!
