iGaming Business magazine Gaming Platforms 2018 | Page 13

Gaming Platforms
2018
Should GAMING OPERATORS
RELY ON
IN-HOUSE SOLUTIONS?
Newly minted businesses tempted to keep development close to home
should consider the costs involved and the benefi ts of outsourcing to
experts, writes Jov Spiero
For new entrants to the igaming arena, success is
built on the solid foundation of a platform that
delivers both stability and a wide range of betting
products. From casino and sportsbook management
and CRM to regulatory compliance, a freshly launched
business must consider the full range of services needed
for an effective solution before determining its
operational strategy.
The fi rst question for fi rst-rate marketing fi rms that
want to apply their acquisition expertise to the sports
betting and casino arenas should be: “Which elements
of the business are worth outsourcing and which are
best kept in-house?” The temptation is to in-house
all activities but saving money in the short term and
maintaining full creative control over every facet of
the operation is not guaranteed to deliver sustainable
growth and long-term profi tability.
When the time comes to scale an operation with
additional products or new markets, the in-house
approach eats through profi t margins.
Developing a platform independently, for example, is
hugely expensive, technically complex and enormously
demanding in terms of regulatory compliance. Keeping
everything in-house requires expertise in various areas:
operations, acquisition, analysis, player management,
risk, fraud and payments. Finding staff with the required
level of knowledge can be time-consuming and costly.
And in such a competitive industry, there are few
safeguards for investment in key personnel.
Using multiple third-party solutions for platform,
CRM and affi liation services, meanwhile, is also an
expensive option – often prohibitively so.
For these reasons, more operators are now turning
to platform providers offering front-end solutions that
deliver genuine differentiation as well as robust and
reliable back-offi ce systems proven to optimise player
management and enhance margins. By adopting this
approach, an operator is free to focus on the vital work
of brand-building and securing sign-ups.
Outsourcing enables an operator to tap into the
accumulated knowledge of skilled R&D and data
professionals, vastly reducing both the risk and the
cost of creating – and then retaining – the perfect
in-house team.
In the igaming sector, products can often be highly
commodifi ed. Working with a supplier that offers the
highest quality in terms of its casino compendium and
the widest coverage when it comes to its sportsbook is
therefore fundamental to achieving and maintaining
competitive edge.
It all boils down to selecting the long-term platform
partner that represents the best fi t for the operator’s
own core skills, be it SEO expertise or an ability to work
effectively with affi liates. An operator’s unique mix of
marketing know-how is not only its USP but also its
DNA. By entrusting other aspects of the business to a
specialist supplier, they can focus on the areas in which
they truly excel. Bringing in a complementary skill set
also allows the operator to free up vital resources that
can be put to better use when it comes to daily business
management, improving productivity, enhancing growth
and saving considerable sums of money in the long run.
There are also turnkey solutions out there that
offer the complete package – both the technical
and marketing sides of launching and running a
successful operation.
The benefi ts are numerous. Expert marketers can
concentrate on what they do best, working with a large
provider results in better rates for payment processing
and game royalties, and a centralised system allows
instant oversight of the entire operation and improves
effi ciency and profi tability.
This option is ideal for businesses of all sizes,
from major media companies that want to leverage
their existing brand power across new verticals to
independent entrepreneurs with the vision and ambition
to construct a winning strategy in multiple markets
through a fresh approach to the player experience.
Jov Spiero is vice president
of sales at Aspire Global.
In this role, he manages all
new and existing partnerships
for the company with his team
of customer success and
sales managers. Together
with the above he also
manages the company’s
commercial relationships.
iGamingBusiness | Issue 110 | May/June 2018
83