Speaking at a media conference following the release of his company’s results Thursday (see previous report), Playtech’s CEO Mor Weizer said the future of gambling is the omni-channel approach, in which mobile, web & retail operations are all linked & integrated using sophisticated technology & organisation.
Certainly that is the route which his company is pioneering, claiming to have an advantage on rivals.
Although Playtech has been diversifying into the CFD & FX sector & has spent over a billion dollars this year on these & other acquisitions, it remains on the alert for further opportunities on which to spend its impressive cash pile, he revealed.
However, Weizer also noted that up to two-thirds of Playtech’s organic growth would come from helping bookmakers redesign their computer systems so that customers can switch quickly & easily from mobile phones to computers, & even to terminals inside betting shops.
The company announced earlier this year that it had hired an extra 600 staff to work on this new omni-channel strategy.
We have an organic revenue growth target of 15 percent a year, he said. Between 5 & 10 percent of that will flow from omni-channel operations – it is very important.
Giving his company’s work with Gala Coral as an example, Weizer said that the Coral Connect card, which allowed customers to bet online or on phones & collect their winnings in shops has proved popular, with more than 200,000 people signed up in the first year.
Similar, & other opportunities in the omni-channel field were being pursued, & Playtech has already had discussions with major retail & online groups including William Hill, Betfred, Paddy Power & Ladbrokes, Weizer said.
I know from conversations I had with these operators that they noticed the success of Coral & they understand the opportunity, he observed.
Weizer predicted that within six to twelve months following their merger, Ladbrokes & Coral will adopt the omni-channel approach, & said that it will likely become standard in the industry over the next two to four years, pointing out that integrating a company’s systems also offers the advantage of more access to customer information to aid targeted marketing.
He claimed that his company has few if any peers in this important new arena:
It will be difficult for anyone to do it without us,” he claimed. “One company out there claims to have an omni-channel approach but you have not seen the numbers flowing through in the results.
Weizer also revealed that Playtech will use the GBP 75 million it will receive on the completion of the Ladbrokes-Coral merger, along with some of its own cash, to acquire a 7 percent stake in the merged companies.
source : www.casinos-online.co.uk
