This is a guest contribution by Christopher Hirst, COO of FAST TRACK Solutions. If you would like to submit a contribution please contact Bill Beatty for submission details. Thank you.
A decade ago a new product was introduced to the online gaming world. Way back when Online Poker & Sports were the dominating forces in the global online gaming market. Pitching a completely new experience and changing the way players play online casino forever.
The ability to play with physical dealers! In a real location! In real time! All through the comfort of your computer. Welcome to the future. Well, not quite yet.
The product vision in many aspects was way ahead of the capabilities of the technology to hand at the time, and to execute on this vision was tough. The experience was lack lustre with frequent disconnections and video streaming challenges. As a result, Live Casino as a product found itself difficult to break into mainstream.
10 years later things have changed, a lot…
Where there was once only a couple of Live providers, there are now dozens. Today Live Casino is a staple product for anyone looking to operate a successful online gaming site. A number of early adoptee’s, are now reaping the results. With many blue chip operators posting revenues of 20% in Live Casino of total Casino revenue, and it’s still growing. Technology has finally caught up, and Live Casino is not shy about making the most of it.
Launching Live Casino into your Product Mix
If you’re looking to launch a live casino product into your product portfolio there are a few key things to consider:
It will take time for your players to adopt. Irrespective of the main keys for launching successfully such as timing to market, quality of content and promotion. Measuring a successful launch of Live content works slightly different from other casino products. Take RNG based content for example. If you launch a quality casino game to your players, you will see a big spike in activity for that specific game and then a subsequent decline after a period of time, this period of time is typically determined by promotional agenda’s, product positioning & competition. Regardless of these factors, the game will eventually decline in activity and settle at position of activity, usually determined by the quality of the content.
When you launch a Live Casino product the activity curve will work somewhat differently, with steady adoption rates on launch and a gradual increase of this activity over time. This growth curve can be accelerated through a number of external factors, such as marketing efforts & positioning. Nevertheless the underlining point is that it will take time for your existing players to adopt to your Live Casino product. This is down to player trust and player adjustment of experience to expectation.
Understand your Live Casino Players
There are a number of different segments of Live Casino players. However for the sake of opportunity there are two distinct categories of players that we will look at that will likely present the highest propensity of activity in your Live Casino.
1. RNG/Casino players
If you already have a strong player base of Casino players, and you’re either launching a Live Casino product or already have one. Cross-selling players from Casino to Live Casino can be a great way to boost Live Casino activity and your existing player ARPU. I have often heard that promoting Live Casino to existing casino players may be counterproductive, as the margin in live products is lower. E.g. European Roulette & Standard Blackjack have margins of 2.7% and 0.6% respectively, (Blackjack can present much higher margin dependent on quality of play). Whilst when looking at a typical RNG casino game you can expect an RTP of anywhere between 2-7% (dependent on the game). Therefore it’s natural the be apprehensive. However, turnover on Live products tend to be significantly higher per user Vs. slot content. E.g. player generates 1,000 units in turnover on roulette and house takes 27 units in Game Win. Player generates 100 units in turnover on a slot and house takes 3 units in Game Win. In addition to this, as a rule of thumb if there is a demand in the market for a product and the product matches the player’s expectation in quality, your ARPU per player will always increase the more products your player plays.
When cross-selling, give your players some patience. As I stated earlier it will most definitely take time for your casino players to adopt to Live Casino. As technology has improved the Live Casino product, it’s really beginning to match player expectation in terms of quality of experience, so it’s never been easier to cross-sell, simply telling your existing casino players that Live Casino is there can be enough. You will find however that not all your RNG Casino players will want to play Live, in many aspects the two products are very different from a game play & overall experience perspective.
2. Live Casino Only Players
If you really want to catapult your Live Casino into the stratosphere of success, there’s an abundance of Live Casino only players out there. These players have either already adopted to Live Casino and are playing elsewhere or are current land based table game players that haven’t yet made that leap online.
In order to acquire these players, you need to understand what drives them to play only Live Casino, and that’s trust. Ensure your brand and product embodies this.
• Junketeering programs can be a very effective method of acquiring extremely high value VIP’s to your live casino (if you can handle the swings). Begin networking with Junkets offline and soon enough you will find opportunities to bring players online.
• Bring your Live Casino product to the front of your shop window & marketing activities, if players can’t see it they won’t play it.
• Research markets in which trust of game play is number one priority for a player choosing an online casino to play with. There are a number of markets out there that have extremely high acquisition rates for Live Casino.
The Future of Live Casino is Here
To sum up Live Casino is too hard to ignore, if it’s not a focus for your online casino, it should be, or you will really be missing out. Leading operators on the market today are already deriving significant revenues from the product and it will continue to grow.
