eGaming Review

IN TODAY’S FAST-PACED WORLD, time-poor but increasingly means-rich consumers are becoming ever more expectant, demanding and selective in their choices of how to spend their ‘hard-earned’, a phrase which increasingly signifies time as well as money.

They expect personalised service, with feedback, queries and complaints answered and resolved instantly. And if they don’t like what they’re getting from a company or sector, they quickly vote with their ‘hard-earned’, not just switching their business but sometimes forming their own solutions, such as Zopa in the banking industry.

The pace at which we are moving as a society will only increase these expectations. There is less tolerance of any weaknesses in product or service provision. Consumers now expect to expect to be able to have their say, and be listened to.

Working in the gambling industry, I often wonder whether we have really embraced consumerism in the past, and how we match up now. It’s 20 years ago this June that I started out in the industry, ‘marking the board’ for my local Ladbrokes.

I was a student working as part of a committed and knowledgeable shop team, which knew its regular customers well and met their individual needs as best we could within the confines of tight regulation and a market lethargy born of a lack of true opportunity to compete.

Like its sister industries bingo and casinos, betting shops were simply service providers at the time, and growth was not through focusing on the needs of individuals, but rather through optimum licence acquisition policy and squeezing more out through operational efficiencies. The regulatory environment only facilitated servicing existing demand.

But things have changed. First, the introduction of the National Lottery ensured that existing gambling operators were given the sop of relaxations in their own regulation, which provided some scope for looking at the market differently.

The impact of the first six months of the lottery led the sectors to shake off their lethargies and finally develop new products to meet consumer needs. Second, the internet provided an opportunity to reach consumers on an individual basis, free from the shackles of land-based premises.

Of course, consumers were quick to embrace this new freedom and to subsequently expecting more in terms of service. Today, we are seeing innovation and personalisation of online gambling services to meet those high consumer demands, be it choosing your own odds through odds-comparison sites, setting your own odds via betting exchanges, choosing the look and feel of your slot machine, creating your own poker identity, or automating your customised casino-play activity.

Consumers want recognition and companies are striving to provide it, be it through more traditional high-roller reward schemes or simple interactions and mentions such as those provided by Sky Poker TV or Gala TV. 24-hour customer service is a given.

We seem to be beginning to grasp the needs of the consumer and the fittest in our industry are not only surviving but growing well in a buoyant market. But there is still ‘old think’ abounding. Many industry players still tend to indulge in protectionism first and consumerism second, protecting their current market for themselves first before embracing consumerism to foster proper and responsible growth.

It will be interesting to see which organisations grasp the opportunity of a fully committed consumer-led approach and reap the rewards, and which will be unable to shake themselves from the sloth of reverting to type and doing little more than service existing demand.

Which ones will strive to emulate the best general consumer-facing brands and push themselves and our industry towards the top of the pile? The ability to undertake broadcast advertising in the UK from later this year will enable the best of our companies to really showcase their excellence in consumerism and to build some proper differentiation from the lethargic brands.

Time will tell, and time is short.

Posted: 2007-04-12