The convergence of physical and digital commerce is an undeniable truth across categories in the life of the modern consumer. The gaming sector is no exception, with an audience who is undoubtedly mobile, multi-channel and expects that the player experience be seamless, personalised and anticipatory. This shift in player behaviour calls for the swift continued modernisation and evolution of land-based casino brands. Your players aren’t limited to brick-and-mortar. Why should you be?
According to a 2014 study by Media Dynamics, the average consumer is exposed to approximately 362 marketing messages per day. Brands strategise to be time- and place-specific with a hope to cut through the clutter. So how can land-based casinos continue to stay top-of-mind and engage with their players? As Rick Mathieson points out in his book The On-Demand Brand: “Success is not about understanding technology, it’s about understanding your customers – and then capitalising on that insight across the platforms that make sense for your audience, in ways that will resonate the most.”
Let’s take a look at some of the statistics regarding mobile usage and social casino players:
At some point in the not-so-distant future, if you’re not capitalising on your customer insights and the ability to live beyond brick-and-mortar it will be more than a missed opportunity. You’ll simply be left behindThe big picture
- As stated in a 2014 techtimes.com article, mobile devices now outnumber humans, with over 7.2 billion active SIM cards.
- 80% of mobile use is apps, and 40% of app use is games.
Social casino
- Social casino revenue is now a $3bn industry with more than half of that revenue coming from mobile.
- 82% of social casino players visited a casino in the past year, and one-third of social slots players visit casinos weekly.
- 70% of social casino players are under 50 years old.
According to a study called “eCommerce Market Convergence in Action: Social Casinos and Real Money Gambling” published in Volume 19 Issue 1 of the UNLV Gaming Research & Review Journal: “Social casino gamers were significantly more likely to also participate in all forms of gambling, compared to real money online gamblers, who participated in a smaller variety of game type (Gainsbury, Russell, et al., 2014). This suggests that social casino gamers are more broadly interested in gambling and do not substitute real-money gambling with social casino games.”
The truth? These are already your players. Social casino players are terrestrial casino players. And with familiarity and loyalty to slot brands, these players are experiencing a seamless crossover from in-casino to social with some of their favourite content. The future? Utilising the technology out there not only to engage but also to tap into the highly trackable nature of the digital world. You have the opportunity to dig into big data that can result in actionable insights about your player and increase your bottom line. Demographic, geographic, psychographic and behavioural player information can lead to strategic decisions about things like featured content, segmented campaigns and more.
It’s the recent convergence of countless innovative minds and four studios (Bally, Barcrest, Shuffle Master and Williams) that are allowing us to answer the demands of the modern-day player and the needs of land-based casinos. With Scientific Games’ SG Universe, a suite of products that enables land-based casinos to deepen their relationships with their players through incremental engagement both on and off the floor, casinos are able to keep their brand top-of-mind between casino visits while increasing in-casino spend.
At some point in the not-so-distant future, if you’re not capitalising on your customer insights and the ability to live beyond brick-and-mortar it will be more than a missed opportunity. You’ll simply be left behind. It’s time to be when and where your customer is with the content that they want. Seamlessly. Intuitively. And in the ultimate singular brand experience that makes the very definition of the word convergence a thing of the past.
