## Overlooking a Golden Opportunity
Akiva’s Itsi contends that the American gaming industry is overlooking a significant opportunity by not fully embracing online integration. Consider this: more than 40 states have legislation regulating gambling, and the nation boasts over 1,500 casinos. It seems logical that these physical establishments would want to capitalize on the digital realm, doesn’t it?
However, there’s a catch. A mere three states have actually legalized online gambling. Of course, there’s always chatter about other states joining the trend, but it’s all just empty promises. No tangible strategies, no schedules, nothing concrete.
In the meantime, casinos are eager to establish an online presence. They’re experimenting with social gaming and daily fantasy sports, ventures they can readily launch through collaborations with technology firms.
What’s the motivation? Well, these businesses have diverse objectives. Some aim to generate rapid revenue online, while others seek to entice players back to their physical locations. Some simply want to maintain brand visibility, while others are merely going through the motions to satisfy regulatory bodies.
Regardless of the rationale, one thing is evident: conventional casinos are recognizing that the digital world presents a lucrative, untapped market.
Two main avenues are paving the way for social casino games to leave their imprint. One path involves the straightforward acquisition of established game developers and their loyal user bases, as demonstrated by Caesars Interactive Entertainment and Churchill Downs Interactive Entertainment (who acquired Big Fish). The alternative approach leverages digital games to entice players into brick-and-mortar casinos. This latter tactic is demonstrating greater effectiveness, particularly for well-established American casinos, with many already collaborating with creators to bring this vision to life.
The objective is unmistakable: to cultivate a fluid and customized encounter where users can engage with their preferred games and motifs across physical casinos, online platforms, and mobile applications. By merging information from all these channels, businesses can gain profound insights into their players, uncovering their patterns, inclinations, and routines.
The concept of merging brick-and-mortar gambling with the digital realm, frequently dubbed the “intersection point,” possesses vast possibilities. Executed effectively, this amalgamation enables us to utilize the entirety of our collected data to formulate comprehensive and focused marketing approaches that can genuinely enhance and favorably impact customer actions. This patron-centric methodology empowers businesses to engage with their clientele seamlessly and uniformly across various interaction points. Regardless of whether a customer is registering at the hotel, navigating the casino floor, or accessing an online game, operators can guarantee an exceptional and unforgettable encounter.
Although the technology is readily available, and an increasing number of operators do provide some variation of online gambling to their clientele, it appears many are not fully exploiting the advantages of this convergence. We frequently observe casinos that offer online gambling platforms or mobile applications, yet have not connected their online accounts with their offline reward programs. Moreover, even when this integration is in place, numerous operators neglect to fully utilize the abundance of information acquired through online channels, whether for promotional endeavors or to elevate their customer interactions to an entirely new echelon.
Occasionally, it appears that businesses employ “technological glitches” as a justification for failing to link their virtual and brick-and-mortar gambling establishments. Undeniably, technology can pose obstacles, but we’ve made significant progress! Consider the multitude of companies providing seamless gaming platforms – it’s not an insurmountable challenge.
The crux of the matter? Frequently, corporations perceive online wagering as a distinct entity, a lucrative source of revenue, rather than recognizing its potential to enhance their overall operation. They prioritize maximizing profits from online patrons without considering how to connect them to the allure of the casino floor.
Envision a realm where your online activity elevates your loyalty standing. Imagine arriving at a hotel and receiving a VIP welcome because they are aware of your online gaming background. Contemplate staff assisting you in downloading the casino application and guiding you through the realm of digital games.
That is the potential of genuinely merging online and offline encounters. It’s about crafting a fluid experience for the customer, not merely checking off a “technology integration” checkbox.
Businesses effectively combining their digital and physical storefronts are experiencing a significant revenue boost – we’re talking millions, even tens of millions, each year – solely from their internet sales. The advantages aren’t limited to the online realm either; these enterprises are also witnessing increased in-person visits and greater expenditures at their physical locations. It’s a mutually beneficial situation, so why aren’t more companies embracing this trend?
Admittedly, this might be our first glimpse of online gaming being integrated into a physical casino environment, but the notion of merging online and offline experiences is hardly novel. Consider hotels. Not long ago, they lacked insight into their guests’ spending habits on things like gaming, spa services, dining, or entertainment. However, technology revolutionized the game. It enabled them to connect these disparate pieces, providing a clearer understanding of guest behavior. Today, this information fuels sophisticated marketing and customer engagement tactics.
Here’s the key takeaway: incorporating data from online gaming into a casino’s customer relationship management system should be relatively straightforward compared to other sectors. It has the capacity to reveal incredibly precise and actionable knowledge.
Therefore, if technology isn’t the obstacle, what’s hindering the adoption of a truly unified approach? Examining the organizational framework of many casino operators reveals a recurring theme: the division responsible for online engagement frequently operates in isolation. Could this be the missing piece of the puzzle?
As experienced staff manage daily tasks, these groups shouldn’t operate in isolation. Their efforts must align with the resort and casino’s overarching objectives. Every employee, from reception to culinary services, should grasp how digital services contribute to the broader strategy. This collective understanding guarantees a unified message reaches patrons and reduces uncertainty.
Picture a visitor inquiring about internet gaming options at the concierge desk. In a perfect scenario, they’d obtain useful details, similar to inquiries about the spa or dining choices. Educating personnel across divisions on digital products, even fundamentally, can significantly impact the guest experience.
This incorporation shouldn’t halt at the casino entrance. Numerous resorts depend on external assistance for promotion and client interaction. However, these collaborators frequently lack proficiency in the online gaming realm. This can result in a disjointed strategy, with distinct agencies managing online gaming and conventional marketing. The solution is to identify collaborators knowledgeable in both domains or to guarantee seamless cooperation between different agencies.
Brick-and-mortar gambling establishments are overlooking a substantial prospect by failing to merge their physical and internet-based services. By consolidating everything onto a single digital framework, they could amass significantly more client information and transform it into actionable intelligence. Consider this – they could observe all customer actions, both virtually and in person, and utilize that data to construct a truly comprehensive profile. This would enable them to customize their marketing strategies and provide personalized incentives, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and revenue generation. Moreover, they could optimize their marketing endeavors and reduce expenses by abandoning ineffective tactics.
To genuinely thrive in the realm of internet gambling, casinos must fully embrace it rather than treating it as a distinct entity. They require a robust strategy to ensure organization-wide alignment and an online presence that is equally, if not more, impressive than their physical one.
Upon effectively incorporating the technology, the subsequent obstacle lies in the ability to assimilate the *appropriate* data. This entails moving beyond the mere accumulation of vast quantities of information from various sectors of your enterprise and actually revealing *valuable* knowledge. Although this serves as a solid foundation, it is of paramount importance that it is reinforced by unwavering support from the leadership team to champion the digital strategy. This commitment must transcend mere rhetoric and manifest in tangible actions. Reorganizing the structure to encompass these emerging verticals across all customer-centric departments is a commendable initial step. Delivering comprehensive instruction to personnel regarding the digital offerings is equally critical, ensuring they not only grasp them but also feel confident in advocating for them to clientele.
Itsik Akiva, a seasoned iGaming authority and the driving force behind Boston-based Headway Consulting (www.headwayconsulting.net), possesses firsthand comprehension of these complexities. His organization specializes in crafting and executing marketing and product blueprints, in conjunction with providing invaluable educational initiatives for both real-money and social gaming enterprises. With more than ten years of expertise within the online gaming realm, Itsik stands as an acknowledged thought leader and a frequent presenter at industry gatherings.