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Branded slots: how important are they for operators?
Branded slots were once a highlight of online casinos, with software providers paying plenty for the privilege of a licensing agreement. However, over the last decade, there’s been a reduction in the number of branded slots being produced, prompting us to ask how important branded slots are in the gambling industry today.
By Pavlos Sideris, director at Double Up Media.
The golden age of branded content
During the high time of branded content, securing a license and creating a branded slot would drive player activity. Branded slots work by using well-known cinematic or cultural references that players easily recognise and are attracted to play. Therefore it proved a legitimate strategy for games developers and casino operators to target players, showcase their games and increase their reach.
Some of the most successful games that instantly come to mind include Playtech’s Marvel slots, Microgaming’s Game of Thrones, Jurassic Park, Bridesmaids (and many more) or NetEnt’s Guns N’ Roses. Still, the number of new branded casino slots being created has reduced significantly in recent times.
A time-limited and risky strategy?
Over the last decade, fundamental shifts have occurred in the iGaming industry. In many ways, branded content was always a time-limited strategy for a studio to gain greater popularity. However, trends have changed, and players are now more attracted to new mechanics and game innovation than a licensed brand. Additionally, as the market competition has increased, more studios and new game releases have increased the pace, reducing the potential exposure of each game and making significant investments into licensing brands a less secure strategy.
There is also the fact that brand licenses are time-limited. The case of the disappearing Marvel Slots is a notorious example of this. In 2009, gaming giant Playtech created its first Marvel-branded slot; the provider created 30 different Marvel-branded titles and became iconic for these slots. The same year, Walt Disney Studios purchased Marvel and made it clear they would not renew the licensing agreement when it reached term. Thus, in 2017, when the contract ended, Playtech had to pull all the games, many of which were the studio’s most popular titles.
This case highlights how licensing agreements can be costly for software providers and high-risk. It also demonstrates the role of the brand, which can be potentially problematic for studios to work with. In this case, Walt Disney didn’t want to be associated with gambling, but in other cases, brand agreements can put other constraints on software developers on how they can employ the brand and the games created. These constraints do not marry well with the modern slots market, which is innovation-driven.
Speaking recently on a panel session at the SBC Summit Barcelona titled ‘Branded slots: tapping the zeitgeist’, CEO of Relax Gaming, Simon Hammon, confirmed this when he said that branded slots are a “bit of a nightmare” and not worth the return on investment compared to the cost. Plus, when coupled with the increased competition in the industry has created a different landscape, operators are “no longer excited about branded games”.
Nicolas Longmuir, CEO at AvatarUX, also part of the panel, added that the constraints of the licensing agreements put limitations on the games creation and creativity process in line with brand guidelines.
The issue of time-limitations is bigger than just contractual terms; there is also the fact that brands, especially those linked to series, will see a drop in player ratings once the airing period ends. According to Hammon, this makes building your own brand far more powerful, like Relax Gaming’s Money Train series. Other examples include NetEnt’s Gonzo character, which has gained cult status and even game themes, like Book of Slots, which transcends studios.
New way forward: building brand loyalty with distinction
As the industry has developed and tech skyrocketed, new studios have increased competition. This has created an ever-worsening bottleneck for casino exposure, leaving providers to turn to other strategies to highlight their games to build brand loyalty.
Generally, these newer strategies are based on the same tactics as releasing branded slots – building hype, getting players to enjoy a taste of a studio and hoping they’ll come back for more – but they are less risky, costly and constraining. Here are some major trends slot studios currently rely on rather than created branded content.
New mechanics
Today’s main currency of successful slots is not blockbuster branding but new mechanics. Big Time Gaming kicked off this reel revolution with their ground-breaking Megaways mechanic, but now every studio is launching multiple new mechanics hitting the market on a monthly basis. This trend has touched every area of modern slots, even jackpot innovation, such as Red Tiger’s Daily Drops or Pragmatic Play’s Drop and Win titles.
High volatility games with big payouts
Alongside new mechanics, players are looking for ever more exciting gameplay and big payouts, with most seeking high volatility math models and big max wins. Nolimit City is another example of a studio championing this, famous for its high volatility math models, big payouts and award-winning slots.
Seasonal slots
Another common strategy is creating seasonal games. Slots based on a specific holiday are easiest to market. They create an uptick in players, can be twinned with bonuses, and mean studios reach new players. Casinos usually market to players based on the season, so games that match this are more likely to hit the casino floor.
Building unique game brands and narratives
The be-all and end-all seems to be if you can create a slot brand in its own right, and we’ve seen plenty of examples of this (we mentioned a couple earlier – Money Train, Gonzo etc.) While this is not easy to achieve, psychologically, it appeals as players engage more when there is a well-developed storyline, which good slot series and branding deliver.
Do branded slots still cut it?
So, how important are branded slots for operators in 2022? The answer is, not very; they are now regarded more as costly marketing options of the past than a route to successful exposure at the casino.
As the market and industry ecosystem has developed, so have software providers, becoming more competitive and proportioning funds to invest in home-grown innovation over expensive and potentially restrictive brand licenses that are ultimately subjective to the brand’s company goals.
However, in the current ever-competitive landscape, where a handful of the most popular providers dominate the front pages of casino lobbies, gaining casino exposure still presents a significant barrier to success for software providers.
Since the beginning of 2024, content aggregator and solution provider Slotegrator has been analyzing case studies and conducting careful research. Why did the company choose this development path? What results have been achieved, and what can be expected in the future? It’s time to take a look at how 2024 is going — and maybe get a sneak peek at 2025.
Since the beginning of the year, Slotegrator has continued to actively present its new and updated solutions, like the company’s turnkey online casino platform and its key modules, including the KYC, BI, and Casino Builder modules, alongside many others. These modules are strategically designed to streamline online casino management, covering tasks like analyzing big data, assessing risks, and enhancing platform performance.
The modules have proven to be very effective, partially because they satisfy clients’ concrete needs. The primary sources of inspiration for these cutting-edge innovations are the company’s internal research and case studies of successful clients.
According to Slotegrator’s internal research, clients reported that the integration of these updates came at just the right time. Customers particularly valued the revamped player segmentation module, offering customization options and personalized marketing options, and a renewed anti-fraud module that utilizes a color-coded risk scale that allows operators to set risk levels.
“This feedback from our customers is a great foundation for Slotegrator’s future report on future iGaming trends in 2025. We’re constantly collecting and updating information on new technologies, game types, payment methods and player behavior, and honest feedback on the new features of upgrades helps us understand the direction of our future development,” comments Yana Khaidukova, managing director at Slotegrator.
Innovation is key to keeping up with the fast-paced iGaming industry. In 2024, the Slotegrator team is focused on enhancing product quality and publishing insightful case studies to better demonstrate the capabilities of its products. So far, Slotegrator has published multiple case studies analyzing its clients’ success. Here are the two latest examples:
- BetSloty’s global expansion strategy in the online gambling industry.
- Alanbase’s experience optimizing affiliate marketing.
When it comes to modern iGaming trends, many of them haven’t changed — we should expect to see more VR integration in esports, AI, blockchain, and cryptocurrency adoption. Also, mobile-first gameplay will be a new standard. The Slotegrator team has also noted an increasing emphasis on responsible gaming throughout the iGaming industry. Slotegrator keeps all of these in mind when entering attractive markets with new partners — especially those in Latin America and Asia.
What about licenses? Slotegrator recommends keeping up to date with licensing conditions. Among the most promising jurisdictions are:
- Kahnawake
- The Isle of Man.
- Anjouan
Faruk Aydin, Chief Revenue Officer of Revpanda, a Slotegrator’s media partner, adds to the list of trends some points about promotion on the iGaming industry: “Within the first half of 2024, we’ve seen that human-written content has made a great comeback, thanks to Google’s recent core update. It has started to remove AI-written shallow content across the entire SERPs, and the SEO community expects this trend to continue. Overall, we can say that the first half of the year strongly demonstrates Google’s effort to fill the SERPs with high-quality, engaging, local, and relevant content, avoiding fluff and providing the most useful resources to people.”
William Sarto, PR & Marketing specialist at CasinoRIX or CasinoRIX team, comments:
“In recent months, Google has undergone several significant changes due to a major update that started in March and ended in April. Then, at the beginning of May, they launched another big update. We’ve already seen many affiliate sites affected by this, particularly those that overused AI-generated content. AI has become mainstream, so it’s important to integrate it into processes based on thorough market analysis and real statistical data.
Moreover, there’s a clear trend towards creating projects that offer additional value for players and partners. It’s crucial to build a brand, not just a network of sites, and to add values into what you create while striving to meet customer needs. We fully agree with the earlier comments that in-depth analysis and staying in tune with trends will lead to success and growth. As we can see, all major and well-known projects are steadily growing with these updates.”
The post Slotegrator’s review of the first half of 2024 in iGaming: results & trends appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
By: Evgeniy Babitsyn, Chief Marketing Officer, Bets.io
The sport industry finds itself amidst its own digital transformation journey with the introduction of new technologies, and at the forefront of this digital shift are NFTs – otherwise known as Non-Fungible Tokens.
NFTs can represent any kind of digital item, and in recent years have commonly been used for quirky collectibles and art work – but they now enter the sports arena in a unique way. The beauty of NFTs is the unique metadata and ownership information which is tracked via blockchain, making them a one-of-a-kind digital collectible that cannot be duplicated. As a result of their collectible nature, it’s only natural that NFTs caught the eyes of eager sports enthusiasts and die-hard fans.
In fact, according to Deloitte research, around 40% of Gen Z and millennial sports fans are at least somewhat familiar with the use of NFTs and fan tokens in sports.
But why is that? And how can they boost engagement?
NFTs are rapidly emerging as a powerful tool for sports brands in driving deeper fan engagement and unlocking new revenue streams. This is because sports fans are, by nature, competitive and eager to own exclusive content from their much loved players, teams and brands. They want to be part of the action.
By playing on this feeling, and reinforcing loyalty among fans in this way, sports brands have a huge opportunity to take their revenue streams to new heights and gain a competitive advantage over other brands.
Imagine an athlete releases a limited-edition NFT that represents the most iconic moment in their career, such as the winning shot or a record breaking performance. Fans who own that NFT can then access exclusive content related to that moment including behind-the-scenes footage or interviews.
There really is no limit to these tokens, and depending on the asset, they can be much sought after. As more and more sports fans embrace the digital tokens, sports brands are quickly learning that there is huge potential for fan engagement, if they continue to innovate with this technology.
Taking collectibles to the 21st Century
Sports memorabilia and collectibles have for centuries been a way for fans to feel more connected to their favourite teams and athletes. And now thanks to the advances of technology – more specifically, blockchain technology – fans can collect within the digital realm, gaining access to truly “own” unique digital items and experiences.
Beyond just digital art or collectibles, NFTs can also integrate the idea of gamification, exclusive content and experiences into their NFTs – allowing fans to engage more actively while unlocking new revenue opportunities.
The possibilities are endless, extending far beyond just digital collectibles. They can provide fans with access to exclusive digital or in-person experiences, events and merch as well. Think front row seats or the chance for a meet and greet post-game.
With this, NFTs provide an excellent way for brands to diversify their revenue streams by monetising their content and intellectual property strategically.
It really is win-win, fans can own a piece of their favourite team’s history while supporting their team financially. And sports brands can benefit from more loyal fans.
Transforming the fan experience
Engagement is everything to sports brands. After all, the fans are really the most important stakeholders in the end. And offering NFTs can be a powerful tool in fostering deeper engagement within fan communities. NFTs provide more innovative ways for fans to connect, prove their loyalty and gain recognition for their allegiance.
Let’s look at NBA Top Shot. NBA Top Shot is the perfect example of a blockchain-based platform that allows fans to own and collect officially licensed NBA collectibles digitally. The platform offers exclusive collectibles including videos of the biggest NBA moments and highlights.
And football teams are also following suit. Manchester City, PSG, FC Barcelona have all joined in on the NFT hype – offering their own NFT collections for keen supporters such as worn jerseys, trophies and more.
Sports Betting and NFTs
And when it comes to sports betting, NFTs take the iGaming experience to the next level. Fans can purchase NFTs that represent specific bets, such as the winner of a particular game or the performance of a specific player. These NFTs can then be traded or sold, just like other NFTs, providing a new level of flexibility and excitement for betting.
The use of NFTs in the sports industry is still in its early stages, but has already shown great potential. We can expect more applications to come in the world of sports – including at Bets.io. Watch this space.
Looking ahead, the future is incredibly promising for sports brands who leverage NFTs within their business operations. Those who embrace these new powerful ways to inspire fans and forge deeper relationships with their communities, will see their efforts translate into business value.
The post NFTs and the future of fan engagement: How NFTs can boost engagement with sports brands appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Raketech has announced its Q1 2024 financial results.
Q1 2024 Financial Highlights
- Revenues in Q1 of 2024 totaled EUR 19.0 million (EUR 15.8 million), reflecting an organic growth increase of 20.1% (24.4%), driven by continued strong performance from sub-affiliation partially offset by weaker-than-expected results within affiliation marketing.
- EBITDA, adjusted for restructuring costs, was EUR 5.1 million (EUR 6.1 million), impacted by a weaker performance in Sweden compared to the previous year and soft performance of the Casumba assets following the Google Core update during the quarter. Other regions and products performed well, with sub-affiliation delivering a strong quarter in terms of EBITDA contribution.
- Operating profit, adjusted for costs related to re-structuring, amounted to EUR 2.0 million (EUR 3.8 million).
- Free cash flow before earnouts increased to EUR 6.5 million (EUR 5.6 million) with a positive working capital development from trade receivables.
- Earnouts settled during the quarter amounted to EUR 13.0 million.
Full-Year Outlook
Current trading, including April, implies an adjusted EBITDA of around EUR 20.0 million for the full year. Free cash flow before earnouts for the full year is estimated to come in just below adjusted EBITDA.
Subsequent Events After the End of the Period
On May 14, 2024, the board decided to withdraw its previously announced proposal to distribute dividends in 2024, in line with its commitment to maintaining financial flexibility and supporting the company’s long term growth ambitions. The primary focus is delivering value to shareholders and continuing to evaluate opportunities to enhance shareholder returns in a way that aligns with the Company’s long-term value-creation objectives.
Current Trading
Revenues in April 2024 amounted to EUR 5.9 million (EUR 5.9 million).
Raketech Acting CEO Johan Svensson said: “In the first quarter of 2024, we delivered EUR 19.0 million in revenues, representing an organic increase of 20.1%, primarily driven by Sub-affiliation. Adjusted EBITDA came in at EUR 5.1 million, while EBITDA was EUR 4.3 million, consistent with our trading update published on 1 May. We remain confident in our market-leading product offerings and see promising growth opportunities through our strategic initiatives in sports offerings, exclusive partnerships, and media deals. These efforts will position us well for continued growth in the coming years, and we remain committed to maximizing shareholder value.”
The post Raketech Announces Q1 2024 Results appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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