Speaking on the final day of the SBC Summit Barcelona – Digital, Daniel Mitton, head of casino at Dunder and Kazoom, explained that he classifies slot players into two different brackets to simplify the view point on the scope and products.
Participating on the Art of Slot Management panel, sponsored by Synot Games, which focused on what operators can do to make the most out of new additions to slots catalogues, Mitton noted: “I think you have two types of players, if I had to simplify it, who play slots.
“You have a classic casual game player, who comes in for the experience and the fun of the products, loves a cheeky little free spins campaign and these are the type of players you need to target with a medium volatile, feature rich game with the RTP pushed in the medium constant wins.
“Then you have the typical high roller type player who’s coming in for the thrill of the big wins. They look towards the darker themes in their games… sometimes they look past the aesthetics of the game and just focus on the mathematics of the game.
“The other side of things is looking towards localised markets and localised content, for example in Germany you’re looking at high volatile Eypgtian slots, Norway you’re looking at classic Joker slots, Netherlands you’re looking at localised Dutch slots and France is three reelers that really hit the market in those markets. Even in the UK they have UK-branded slots and fruit slots which really hit the mark.
“For me it’s really going back to basics is two different player types and looking into localised selections on top of that when I’m looking at the portfolios.
Agreeing with Mitton’s views, Marco Castaldo, CEO of Microgame, emphasised the ‘fundamental objective is to give the players what they ask for’ and to ‘aim to get a complete portfolio’.
Focusing on the Italian market, Castaldo said: “The first objective to have in our portfolio is to have all the major slot providers who are already in the Italian market as well as the new things that are coming so there’s a very strong me too effect in the market so as soon as an operator sees that somebody has a slot from a producer they don’t know they are really curious and want to have the same thing.
“We’re really trying to look for games that can contribute to the experiences we want to create. It’s all about having a complete set of different cluster types of games in terms of volatility, maths and themes but also looking for games which are positioned to fit certain player segments.
“A couple of segments which are of particular interest in Italy are the younger demographic, they’re a lot of studios coming up with games that have skill components that appeal to the younger demographic.”
Also participating on the panel, which was moderated by Steve Schrier, chief executive sales at Tribe Ltd, was Stefania Mincu, head of casino at Ellmount Interactive, and Sam Brown, chief commercial officer at Hero Gaming, with the latter shifting the attention towards the future regulations in regards to the US market, he emphasised: “Perhaps something controversial but one thing that would concern me is that the current consumption of games in the US is very old fashioned.
“The types of games and content that they are consuming are very old maths, very old titles and models. So my concern is if suppliers want a piece of that action are they going to spend considerable amounts of their time reengineering older and less European focused type games?
“For the likes of us who are operating outside of the US due to the punchy regulations and costs and barriers of entry are we going to suffer with the supply we get in Europe because they focus their energy on a whole new wave of people playing really old fashioned non European mechanics.”
Offering his own opinion on the US market, Mitton, believes providers in the future will aim towards innovation in sportsbook cross sell: “I can very much see providers in the future going towards product innovation aiming at sportsbook cross sell I would say in the USA, looking at another avenue in virtual sport or slots specifically designed to yield results from cross sell campaigns,” he noted.
“Given the fact the mass majority of the revenue from the US markets is yielded from the sportsbook sector, so I can see them focusing mainly on that over the next three to ten years.
“In the gambling industry the landscape is constantly changing with the new regulated markets, Germany just around the corner and tighter regulations from larger markets such as Sweden and the UK.
“The providers themselves are limited in regards to looking at innovation on new products and features inside the games and mechanics and I would say they are mainly held up to catering to those regulation stipulations and making sure those products are compliant to those markets in the coming years.
“I wouldn’t expect too much innovation coming out of those providers with the strict regulations coming into force over the next couple of years.”
Earlier in the session, the panel were asked what the most important aspect in terms of relegation of a slot product with Mincu stating that the most important component is knowing your audience.
“The most important thing for us is knowing your audience, seeing how perceptive they are and knowing their preferences. We did build different profiles for our players based on their value location and their location,” she said.
“We noticed that there are regions, for example northern Europe are less receptive to newer and flashier content and we were careful to provide them with a more classic and land-based feel.”
