MAGAZINE OF THE EUROPEAN LOTTERIES, 2011, SEPTEMBER ...

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GAMBLING TECHNOLOGIES: FUTURE & CHALLENGES ONLINE BINGO – A PORTAL FOR GROWTH Since the mid-1990s, we have all witnessed the dramatic impact the Internet has had on culture and commerce, including enabling a new point of access for lottery players. The key to leveraging the growth potential of Internet gaming is to create an entertaining experience that attracts and retains players, thereby lowering the cost of acquisition and increasing the lifetime value of a player. As Lotteries face ever-rising expectations from sophisticated online players and confront competition from well-funded commercial operators, they are working harder than ever to sustain Internet sales growth. To expand the player base and give players reasons to keep playing, Lotteries must look to increase their online portfolio of games, with offerings that entertain players. DOES YOUR INTERNET CHAN- NEL INCLUDE BINGO? Bingo is one of the fastest-growing segments of the online gaming arena. Since 2004, the online bingo market has exploded, growing from an industry worth u 226 million to nearly u1.4 billion worldwide [*Source: GBGC 2011]. Bingo rooms offer players excitement through jackpots, guaranteed prizes, and side games and by creating a community of players that is largely female. Having an online Bingo offering is a logical extension of any Lottery’s Internet offering. Today, 90% of bingo players in the UK market play Lotto as well. The player base demographic is comprised of 80% women between the ages of 30 to 50 with the remaining 20% male base being in the same age range. Time on a bingo site is time spent communicating with other players in chat rooms moderated by Chat Masters, sharing demographic information, and playing side games like eInstants. This is an entirely different win experience for players and a lucrative second revenue stream from the interactive channel for Lotteries. To find an example of the powerful impact of bingo on a Lottery’s Inter- net portfolio, we need only to look as far as Finland. Having analyzed the success of bingo in places like the UK, Veikkaus saw the potential for tremendous growth in its Internet portfolio. As Veikkaus undertook the massive renovation of the Lottery’s Internet site, it recognized that the inclusion of eBingo would access a missing player demographic of women from 30-40 years of age. A CASE STUDY: VEIKKAUS EBINGO Since 1997, when it launched its first Internet games, Veikkaus has developed one of the most successful Internet channels in the lottery industry. With annual Internet sales of about u 400 million in 2010, Veikkaus operates the biggest Web shop in Finland, measured in revenue. Initially, the channel was fueled by sports betting, predominantly male-oriented game. As a result of this reliance on sport, the Veikkaus Internet channel player demographics became heavily skewed toward male players. Since 2007, draw games have been the fastest-growing game category on the Veikkaus website, and in 2010, for the first time, the total Internet sales of draw games surpassed that of sports betting games. However, player base imbalance persisted. To address that imbalance, Veikkaus had looked back to its history with eInstant games in order to move forward. Veikkaus had already enjoyed success with its electronic instants or eInstants games, which were launched in 2005 on the website. The lesson learned from the eInstants was that it attracted a different player demographic than sports betting games with a considerable number of female players. The other lesson learned was that people played the game at different times than for example sports betting. It was not unusual to see players buy eInstants during their lunch breaks. Therefore, the opportunity to capitalize on even more engaging and entertaining games that could be played at will was apparent to Veikkaus. In 2008, Veikkaus decided to make changes to improve the female to male player ratio. Because of the known appeal of bingo games to GAMBLING TECHNOLOGIES 4 NEWS 37 SEPTEMBER 2011 women players, Veikkaus selected it as a new addition to its Internet portfolio. There were three main driving factors that pushed Veikkaus to go for the Internet bingo game: 1 The disproportionate ratio of male players to female players on the Web channel. 2. The desire to offer games that are more social in nature. The chat feature of bingo supports the community feel of the game. 3. The need to bolster its game suite to include a greater quantity of entertaining games to better compete against illegal and off shore operators. Ultimately, Veikkaus worked to offer the Finnish public a safe and sound state-controlled alternative to the growing cross-border operators. GTECH and GTECH G2 worked closely with Veikkaus during both the business requirements gathering and the final game requirements gathering phases to help equip Veikkaus to enter the Internet bingo business. Veikkaus realized that bingo is not a typical “fire-and-forget” lottery game, but a game that requires active management for both game scheduling as well as chat hosting. Best practices from the commercial bingo world were transposed to meet WLA requirements and put into action at Veikkaus. In addition, GTECH G2 provided extensive training to Veikkaus Chat Moderators staff to ensure success in this very important area of product support. The Chat Moderators are the only direct contact with players other than a 24-hour help line. They ensure that proper behavior is always maintained on the site. As the performance statistics show, the Veikkaus eBingo program is an unequivocal success: • Bingo launched in September 2010 – proceeded by less than a ninemonth implementation project – and in conjunction with a complete redesign of the Veikkaus Internet site. • On a population base of 4 million,
weekly sales are more than 1 million Euros, which translates to u 50 – 60 million in annual sales. • On average, there are 60,000 players a month and 2,000 of them play during peak hours. The revamp of the Veikkaus Internet gaming and addition of eBingo sought to improve contact with customer groups who played infrequently and offer safe gaming options for young adults. Internet gaming increased in popularity within the desired target groups and the proportion of women using the service grew significantly. BEST BINGO PRACTICES Bingo rooms offer players excitement through jackpots, guaranteed prizes, and side games and by creating an active, receptive player community. Lotteries have a huge advantage by already managing an existing player base. This is the starting point for success of online bingo, where liquidity is without doubt a critical success factor for any online bingo room. Bingo rooms thrive off liquidity, giving players more jackpots and prizes. Creating a great bingo site requires the site to have strong headline promotions with big and most importantly winnable jackpots. A strong chat community and compelling chat features and functionality are also essential elements for creating a successful online bingo site. Features such as live presenters and chat functions enhance the experience so bingo players can create personal online communities that help to create a compelling and inviting play environment. Through live-streaming video, online presenters appear on a small screen within the bingo client and boost the entertainment value by interacting with players in the chat room. They host unique chat games, award special cash bonuses and pass on information about upcoming games and promotional offers. The importance of friendly commu- nication in bingo cannot be overemphasized. To this end, GTECH G2 has launched a sleek new chat client and a number of valuable promotion functions that allow players to: - Create a unique public profile with avatar. - Create a personal buddy list and enjoy private chat. - Customize chat font style, color, and size. - Express emotion through animated smileys. - Use useful animated acronyms such as LOL (laughing out loud) and BRB Interactive gaming presents an exciting opportunity for Lotteries to diversify their product lines and appeal to many different player segments with games that are uniquely positioned to meet specific player needs. Each game can be configured with attributes and play mechanics that influence player behavior in this channel so that Lotteries can gain playership from segments that had previously been under-represented in lottery play. If launched properly with the right product, support services GAMBLING TECHNOLOGIES 5 NEWS 37 SEPTEMBER 2011 (be right back). Bingo players demand to be entertained and in response the site ideally should offer all variations of bingo: 75-Ball Bingo (Classic, Variant and Pattern), 80-Ball Bingo and 90-Ball Bingo. To heighten the player experience, an extensive library of side and mini games should be available with a large range of brand games to attract new players to the site. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the site must be user friendly with clear and simple navigation to aid and enhance the customer journey. marketing plan and chat functionality, bingo can open up an opportunity for Lotteries to attract new players. The Internet is part of everyone’s future and looking at the success of bingo in Finland, there is no doubt that this is a potential growth portal for the world’s lottery industry. GTECH G2 is excited to be able to leverage all its expertise to create what will without doubt be some of the best online bingo networks in the world.
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