What do you get when you combine an iCasino, a sportsbook, and a video game? North American audiences are about to find out.
Soft2Bet, the European gaming operator and tech provider, is bringing its products across the Atlantic, beginning with Ontario later this year and New Jersey by 2025. The company, which offers B2B and B2C products, is looking to attract a new audience to its platforms, which combine traditional sports bets and casino offerings with personalized “gaming narratives” that act like an interactive, customizable video game.
Soft2Bet Chief Business Development Officer Martin Collins spoke with Covers’ Ryan Butler to discuss his company’s business model, gameplay structure and plans to stay competitive in the growing North American gaming market.
Ryan Butler: Soft2Bet has spent nearly a decade establishing itself in Europe but is still a relative unknown in North America. What was the background of your company and how have you developed since?
“As with the majority of B2C startups, we started about as a third-party platform but quickly realized that the scalability that we were looking for didn't really exist with a third party, and quickly built our own technology. We continue to invest and reinvest in technology in order to improve the experience and the ultimate KPIs that are really important to any game in business.”
“Five years ago, we started doing B2B, which has resulted in growth from both sides. So from both the B2C and B2B side, I would say that our USP is really built upon the UI UX and the art and design that can attract any customer within the gaming realm, casino, and sports.”
You’ll enter casino and sports betting markets in North America with a dozen or more competitors that have established brand recognition. How do you look to stand out?
“If you go to any of our sites, you'll see what will stand out as the artwork. It’s really impressive. And it’s really important to us. Ultimately, it increases conversions and increases the customer experience, and the ultimate output.”
“And that leads on to another area where we're really driving innovation at the moment. And that's in terms of gamification and our MEGA (Motivational Engineering Gaming Application) solution. We talk about motivational engineering, and how we motivate the customer to really engage with the brand.”
How does this compare to the established North American approach of attracting players largely through advertising, bonuses, and other promotions?
“You're probably aware of what I call ‘a race to the bottom’ right in the States. What everybody is doing as is that they are awarding crazy promotions, and crazy bonuses to try and obtain customers. It's an unsustainable business model. And when you look at the casualties (among closed US operators) we've had over the last six-to-12 months, you can see that it's not easy for anybody to actually make revenue in this market.”
“Instead, we have taken the sort of key points from casual gaming - a market that has double the size of the gambling market – and the UI UX, and the experience that brings the customer back again, again and again. So we are combining that experience with the gambling component, which, unfortunately, (the industry), is still using the same UI UX that we utilized 15-20 years ago.”
“So then we're trying to bring this in order to create an experience for the customer to drive down the promotional and the bonus cost and drive engagement – and then loyalty towards the brand itself. In Europe, the KPIs that we've seen have been going through the roof.”
Your products feature what you call ‘Gamification.’ What does that look like practically for a customer on a Soft2Bet B2C platform?
"For us, our ‘gamified’ sites resemble civilization builder apps like Clash of Civilizations where you have ‘my empire’ where you build a Roman, Greek, or Aztec empire, but the narrative doesn't really matter. It's about the player trying to achieve rewards and going on a journey. And it also features a currency entirely to itself. And then the players collect these gems, or these coins, or whatever it may be. For us, they earn even more when they’re interacting with the gambling component.”
“So then, if you're making spins or you're placing bets, you're being rewarded to play on the casino site, and then also being rewarded to play on the gamified site. So when you achieve something on the gamified site, you're actually being given bonuses and free spins and rewards to go back to the casinos. It's creating an experience that major operators aren’t really doing in the US.”
Your platforms combine these different elements but also can be customized around a player’s preferred difficulty level and even to his or her favorite sports team or casino game. How does a wide-ranging yet individualized gaming structure like this fit into the industry as a whole, both now and in the future?
“As of now, no doubt (the industry) is driven by the traditional sort of profile on sports and Casino. However, that's changing. There's a whole new generation coming in that actually understands these types of new games.”
“My argument would be that as long as you have the product, as long as you have the features, and you provide something personalized, you can be successful. I don't see casinos, sportsbooks, and gamified sites as three separate experiences. I see them as actually being able to deliver one unified experience to each individual customer.”
