The iGaming industry has delivered significant growth over the last few years and there’s still plenty of opportunities to enter the market and be successful. The global online gambling market size was valued at USD 53.7 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.5% from 2020 to 2027.
You’re thinking of launching an iGaming business? Sports betting and online casinos can be highly profitable and, as a result, it the iGaming industry is highly competitive. To survive and flourish a number of things have to be present including the right operational, marketing and product development capabilities. However, the main requirement is a robust, scalable and stable iGaming platform – with a great online casino and sports betting product as a minimum.
Here are five factors you need to think about when choosing your iGaming platform provider (also known as an iGaming software provider).
1.Your business strategy and requirements
2.Choosing the right software provider
4.Need for speed – and flexibility, and competitiveness
Your business strategy and requirements
Firstly, from as strategic perspective, you need to have a clear view where and how you’re going to compete, what your market positioning will be and what are your competitive advantages. Your business requirements will include questions such as what sort of iGaming software you will need, how quickly you want to get to market, how much of your operations do you want to outsource and do you want your own license?
Choosing the right software provider
You should seek out a trusted and reliable iGaming solutions provider – find out how established they are, look at the quality and experience of the management team and make sure they have the industry knowledge to help you build your business. You want to know how they’ve been in business. A good reputation and a stable of existing clients are also useful guides when choosing an iGaming platform provider. Working with leading partners and suppliers, including leading payment providers key for your target market, are important factors.
How customizable is the iGaming platform? You will need to differentiate your brand and customer journey in order to compete so the level to which you can do this needs to be checked out.
Look also for as many unique features that the iGaming software supplier offers -these will be another way of differentiating your new business.
Your Content is King
‘Content is king’ according to the saying. This is very true of online gaming and sports betting operators and the range and quality of your online casino and sport betting products can be key to your success. Look for highly flexible betting solutions that enable you to choose from a wide selection of options, sports betting , casino games, and features and let you customise the way you present your product to players.What other iGaming and casino products are included? What is the minimum you need to be competitive? How many casino suppliers of note are included on the platform and how many slots games are available?
Need for speed, flexibility and competitiveness
You need to ensure you choose a iGaming software provider that will be future-proof as you business will grow and your sports betting and iGaming requirements will change as you learn about your market. The overall expertise of the chosen iGaming partner going forward needs to be added to your checklist. The ability to integrate speedily needs to be considered – time is money after all. Flexibility, stability and scalability are other important considerations – you’ll want the iGaming partnership to last a long time and having to switch platforms because they cannot adequately support your organisations growth is costly and disruptive. A platform that becomes uncompetitive will mean a loss of profitability for you – so think long term. Do you need a modular solution? API-based platforms can deliver more flexibility going forward.
Support Services
Other important considerations when choosing an iGaming software provider are the supporting tools and services that they also offer. Do they have an integrated CRM system and will they provide training? Is there marketing support? This can be a great benefit when starting up in terms of a bonus engine and promotional materials. Licensing and legal support is another important consideration. Will your software provider help with licensing or, in fact, do you wish to leverage their license? Risk management tools are important? How effective are the software platform tools? Do you want the iGaming business to do this task for you. Responsible betting solutions are a vital compliance requirement and so check on how effective these are and what other information, insights and reports are provided by your prospective iGaming partner. The subject of responsible gambling is growing more and more important across many markets – and you need to ensure you have the very best solution to ensure player protection. Other services you should look at include data management and reporting products. Insight as to how a player is using your website, what gambling content they are viewing, which is the preferred payment method, what is their preferred game, or their favourites sports can be very useful when considering the future development of your website or mobile offering. So ensure that your iGaming software provider can deliver this level of data.
Summary
So, choose a good iGaming software provider to partner up with, with an excellent reputation, a management team with significant experience and industry know-how. Make sure their iGaming software is fast, stable and future proof – and gives you all the best content you need to be competitive. Ensure that they can support your growth – in terms of development, scalability and flexibility. Ensure their product development abilities are first class and they have a vision of where their sports betting and gaming product portfolio is going.
As an operator, choosing your iGaming software platform will be the most important element of your sports and gaming business preparation so take your time and get the best sports and gaming software solution available for your business requirements.
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