12 September, 2024 | Sports Betting Focus H2 2024

Company profile: Aristocrat Interactive

The value proposition: Dima Reiderman, Managing Director iGaming & Sports at Aristocrat Interactive, examines the key choices that need to be made by operators when choosing a suitable sportsbook and iGaming solution

Long-term value creation is the key to success in regulated online gaming, and finding the right provider is one of the most significant pieces to reach this goal. It’s important to consider a company that has a clear and well-positioned future that can support the growth journey. For example, at Aristocrat Interactive, we’ve blended the backing of a titan powerhouse in the industry with a company proven technology and respected resources to provide operators a wealth of available resources and industry matter experts at their disposal.    

Choosing the right provider is a critical decision and it includes selecting a team that understands the importance of knowing your audience, how to grab attention, and being able to offer a variety of supporting services that operators need to succeed.    

Knowing Your Audience    

As a provider, it is important to offer operators various versions of a sportsbook that are tailored to the regulated markets in which they operate. For example, if you take Africa, where our iGaming & Sports business has gathered key insights over the years, we have learned that that bettors favour high-multiple selections, presented to them in a light browsing, low-data format. However, in the UK, our experience is that bettors are focused on major events and their favourite teams, so boosted odds are attractive in this market.   

Considering the different preferences of players across markets, a high-quality sportsbook solution must be able to offer and display the betting opportunities in the most attractive way for each target audience, whilst encouraging responsible betting.  These types of unique needs require serious investments in technology, and it’s something that we are committed to.    

Grabbing the Attention   

As a provider, it’s important to understand why offering a vast range of content to operators is essential. Furthermore, providers need to be aware of their operators’ customers’ needs and preferences, which varies greatly by each market.    

For example, the NFL is the number one sport across many parts of North America, while March Madness will inevitably grab the attention of millions of customers in the same region. One size does not fit all, though, and it’s our experience that regional variations mean that bettors in Canada are more than likely to prefer hockey to baseball. This pattern also rings true in other areas of the world. In Europe, basketball is a popular preference, but not necessarily in the UK where cricket is a major sport, especially in the summer months.   

Flexibility & Security   

A modern, flexible, and adaptable solution allows operators to benefit not only from a highly localised sports betting offering, but also lets them select from other pieces of the online gaming chain. Bettors fully expect sports betting on a platform to be accompanied by a wide range of content that can include any or all of casino games, instant games, fantasy sports, live casino, virtual sports, bingo, and poker. API-based support can enable custom sportsbook frontends, while an integrate-and-merge multi-feed design allows for the selection of best-in-class data feeds from multiple sources.   

Modern sportsbook solutions also follow a set of key architecture concepts, including – but not limited to – fully scalable micro services, stateless services that are designed to scale horizontally, cloud and on-prem hosting, and state-of-the-art security features without the hassle of dealing with proprietary technologies that are bound to a cloud provider.   

Supporting Services   

Operators are increasingly interested in options that offer a full suite of Managed Services. This includes a wide-range of offerings including round-the-clock customer support, payment and risk management, fraud detection and prevention and AML, while also covering all bases across CRM and marketing, compliance and responsible gaming.   

Modern bettors need to be served with a host of options that help to decrease friction within an online offering, while operators must be allowed to focus strongly on brand-building. As operational experts, a successful platform provider with a proven track record invests in all these areas so that operators do not need to, meaning they are free to focus on brand marketing and acquiring customers.   

Whether it’s land-based or online, Aristocrat Interactive offers operators the full package, backed by decades of experience and success. As a true one-stop shop for all sports betting and iGaming verticals in regulated markets, we play by the rules and present a complete picture of stability, reliability and adaptability to help create value.