INSIGHT
“ If you ’ re a new player who expects £ 10 or £ 15 to last them half an hour but puts it in a ultra-high-volatility game and loses everything in three minutes , a natural reaction is to put in more money , thinking you ’ ve done something wrong ” Stuart Armstrong , SlotGuru
Promising start It was first launched in Aspers Casino in January and earlier this month the European Casino Association announced it had entered into a partnership with the app provider , with ECA chair Per Jaldung saying “ the product was very well received by our members during a presentation at the recent ECA summer meeting at Resort & Casino Maestral ”.
Armstrong says it is expecting to make announcements in the next couple of months regarding launches into other European casinos , and that the company is in talks with three to four new partners , all of which are land-based .
In part , the land-based focus comes from SlotGuru itself , Armstrong concedes , and with proven results in a land-based environment — for example , research by Aspers found that during its trial 84 % of users said the information was “ useful and informative ” and 79 % asked that it continued to be available — it ’ s no doubt an easier sell to bricks and mortar operators .
But there has also been some reluctance from online providers , he adds . “ The online customers we have spoken to want it but they want it embedded in their platform . They are very scared of people moving to other screens and moving away from the environment , which I think is understandable ,” he says .
“ But the point we make here is that this is about putting the player front and centre and if you start treating your players with a degree of respect they will come back to you . Handcuffing them to a platform is not respect .”
Players access the app via a download code , which is provided by the operator , which pays SlotGuru each time it gives out a code . The reluctance of online operators is therefore perhaps justified – it ’ s a lot easier for a player to use one site to get the app but then play with another than it is in the land-based environment .
Still , it may be a risk worth taking – although pricing is not publicly disclosed Armstrong says the cost to provide it to a player is akin to “ comping a customer a couple of drinks ”, which is certainly less than the typical cost per acquisition of igaming operators today .
Responsible gambling focus There ’ s an added benefit in that there is a strong responsible gaming focus , says Jaldung . “ Many of our members are already introducing technological innovations in a number of areas and an app-based solution for player education that also includes responsible gaming elements is certainly interesting .”.
Armstrong adds : “ A lot of work is going on in responsible gaming to help people acknowledge they ’ ve got a problem . But very , very little has been done to stop people developing a problem and one of the things that we firmly believe in is it starts with education .
If you are not giving people information and they can ’ t make effective choices , how can they be held responsible for their actions ?
“ Let ’ s say you ’ re a new player and you ’ ve got £ 10 or £ 15 , you might put it on a machine and expect it to last you 20 minutes or half an hour . But if you put it in an ultra-high-volatility game and within three minutes you ’ ve lost everything , a natural reaction is for people to put more money in thinking they ’ ve done something wrong .”
Of course the other thing that happens in this example is that rather than chasing their losses , the player simply abandons the game and game provider altogether , which is even easier to do online than in the land-based environment and is certainly something an operator which has paid £ 100-plus to acquire that player wants to avoid .
Whether or not SlotGuru itself could be part of the answer to the eternal
“ It ’ s a lot easier for an online player to use one site to get the app but then play with another than it is in the land-based environment ” challenge igaming suppliers face in bringing down CPAs is not yet clear , but given the UK regulator ’ s ‘ consumer first ’ mantra of late , the idea of educating customers and adopting a transparent approach does seem to be gaining traction in the gambling community .
It ’ s long been the case that many of the most successful affiliates sites are those which educate players — maybe operators are missing a trick by not doing more of the same .
48 iGB Affiliate Issue 64 AUG / SEP 2017