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“Players Who Feel Safe Are More Likely to Stay with A Sole Operator For Longer”

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3 years ago

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Reading Time: 5 minutes

 

While iGaming brands amass social responsibility fines by the millions allowing unhealthy behavior go unchecked, a better way exists for both operator and player

Responsible Gaming is more than just an industry buzzword or something to look out for. It has real-life consequences for everyone involved: brands, operators and, more importantly – regular people. As the National Council on Problem Gambling marks its Gambling Awareness Month, we stopped to take stock of social responsibility in the iGaming industry – is enough being done? What is holding us back as an industry? And what will the future bring?

 

The Brands & Regulator

Recent years have seen a crackdown by the regulator on many iGaming fronts, specifically social responsibility or as we know it – Responsible Gaming. In 2021 brands amassed more than £15M in fines for failing to meet social responsibility regulations and protect at-risk players. The trend is gaining momentum, just three months into 2022, operators have already amassed over £15M in social responsibility fines, yes, similar to the entirety of 2021. The total sum of penalties in 2019 covering all violations? A ‘mere’ £17M. Operators need to comply and fast to keep the money on their side of the table.

 

The people

The human price of operators’ reluctance to comply with social responsibility regulations is clear. There are degrees of unhealthy behavior, but at its worst, a gambling problem can devastate a person’s life, affect their loved ones, mental health, livelihood, and more. The risk shouldn’t be underestimated, regulatory zeal suggests.

“From my study and understanding these pathways, it seems that the need for entertainment and escapism leads certain players. In other cases, they’re driven by more impulsivity issues and a lack of ability to control one’s behavior,” said Sally Gainsbury, Director of the University of Sydney Gambling Treatment & Research Clinic.

“This doesn’t only affect the individual themself, but also 6-10 people around them. That’s why it’s important to prevent harm before they reach this critical level.”

So what’s stopping operators from simply, you know, following Responsible Gaming regulations? “The biggest hurdle is the lack of understanding of the appropriate KPIs and required actions brought down by regulators to work best towards minimizing gambling harm,” said Gainsbury.

If operators limit their most active players, the VIPs of sorts, it’s only reasonable to assume they’ll suffer massive revenue hit, much higher than any fine. But acting on RG makes more financial sense than one might think. “In the modern iGaming world, which includes land-based casinos, sports betting, digital, and all gaming forms, you don’t have to choose between revenue and socially responsible gaming,” said Michael Pollock, Spectrum Gaming Group’s Managing Director.

“The companies that tend to be the most profitable and the market leaders are the ones that take this responsibility seriously for several reasons: One – if you’re irresponsible, you’re leaving your customers dry. You want the customer to afford what they are spending. That’s the heart of responsible Gaming. Two, if you want the public’s trust and to be recognized as one that can be trusted with their money, RG has to be front and center in your business practices. If not, you’re not going to be a market leader. And three, if you don’t take the responsibility seriously, regulators will prevent your brand from renewing your license,” added Pollock.

 

The solution

Optimove, the leading CRM Marketing platform, has a different approach to Responsible Gaming. It offers a predictive model to identify players-at-risk and recognizes three maturity levels of an operator regarding responsible Gaming:

  • Basic – Providing players the ability to self-exclude at any time. This is typically also the most rudimentary requirement of most regulated regions.
  • Competitive – Exploring the various attributes that players demonstrate before they self-exclude. By creating a segment of customers who self-excluded, operators can identify suspicious attributes to try and mitigate them and reduce the number of players who become at-risk players.
  • Advanced – Implementing a machine learning algorithm that helps operators predict which players are likely to become at-risk ahead of time. Such algorithm also allows operators to differentiate between at-risk and VIP players, who often share a few similar attributes.

 

VIP or At-Risk?

In the UK there has been a clear move by the main Operators towards a mass market/recreational customer. The average player values dropped accordingly and VIP programs have basically came to an end. This has been driven by the concerns around problem gambling and the big overlap between what was previously described as a VIP and what is now understood to be problem gambling issues.

Many companies still have two separate departments, CRM and RG, but the reality is that the result of this operational setup and the contradictions between definitions of success in each field, means that the different teams are not necessarily driving in the same direction when it comes to player care.

 

Use outreach to educate

Instead of creating player journeys consisting of only promotional campaigns, operators should begin putting a heavier emphasis on educational and informative content that encourages players to adopt healthier behaviors and reduce the number of players who become at-risk.

Operators must communicate carefully in the competitive gaming market, where 1-to-1 marketing communications is still an integral part of the experience. By segmenting customers into tiers based on their risk levels and adjusting the informative-to-promotional campaign ratio accordingly, operators can maintain the marketing aspect, and improve their revenue, while instilling more robust socially responsible practices.

 

Metrics to monitor

If traditional CRM marketing focuses on promotional offers to measure incremental Net Gaming Revenue as the main KPI, socially responsible marketing mix needs to measure player migrations from one risk level to another and overall retention rates.

To identify the marketing strategies that work best to maintain a high level of healthy-player engagement, operators should measure their campaigns’ impact on player behavior over time. Similar to A/B/n testing different treatments, entire player-journeys should be tested to evaluate how they affect player behavior and risk-level migrations.

Using different CRM Marketing tools, like Optimove, operators can easily create entire marketing flows and monitor how players migrate from one risk level to another, and adjust their marketing strategies as necessary. Gaining insight into how both campaigns and flows perform can empower operators to optimize their marketing strategy and reduce the number of players who become at risk.

For instance, one gaming operator segmented its customers into tiers based on their low, medium, and high-risk levels. Players with a low-risk level were given the occasional promotional campaign, while players in the medium risk level received 30% of the promotional campaigns, and so forth.

 

The future

On the predictive side of things, there is a huge amount more that operators can be doing to identify behavioural issues at a much earlier point in the customer journey. Once predictive models – which help identify at-risk players – are in place, operators do not need take a manual binary decision on whether to cut the player off or leave them alone, but can begin taking the customer through a RG journey that may first provide instructive content around the issue. If the behaviour doesn’t change, then limits can be brought in before finally cutting the customer off.

In the near future Responsible Gaming will be integrated into all business sides and will not remain a siloed responsibility of few. That means an organizational overhaul around the issue as every department within an operator or platform must be guided by RG principles. For example, in CRM terms, it means CRM Teams will have:

  1. A clear understanding of what RG principles need to be followed.
  2. These principles will be converted to customer attributes that are easily trackable and monitorable.
  3. Teams will have programs in place to foment healthy gaming behavior.
  4. Teams will have marketing tools that autonomously redirect customers to those programs when needed (to prevent and amend situations).

Doing this at scale however is challenging which is why AI should be the lead in predicting, identifying and managing at-risk players. Once a player is identified as being at-risk, the AI algorithm will autonomously reassign them to the appropriate segment, where the messages are less salesy, focusing more on adjusting the behavior, understanding the problem better and taking a step back if needed.

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Industry News

SOFTSWISS Takes Home Four Awards In One Night

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2 weeks ago

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June 23, 2025

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SOFTSWISS, a global provider of iGaming software solutions, has won two prestigious trophies at the EGR Marketing & Innovation Awards 2025. These recognitions come alongside two more accolades at Malta’s iGaming Excellence Awards 2025.

EGR Marketing & Innovation Awards

Hosted annually, the EGR Marketing & Innovation Awards honour the most innovative and effective campaigns and teams in online gaming. Recognising success across marketing, creative execution, customer engagement, and commercial results, the awards are regarded as one of the industry’s top accolades.

This year marks the third consecutive win for SOFTSWISS, following previous victories for its standout campaigns, Bringing the Heat in 2023 and Grab Success in 2024. The judges praised the SOFTSWISS marketing team with the Marketing Team of the Year Award for showing a clear passion for their brand and a creative use of new technologies and data analytics.

In addition to leading the team’s collective success, Valentina Bagniya, CMO at SOFTSWISS, was personally recognised as the best B2B Marketer of the Year for her role in transforming SOFTSWISS’ marketing function into a brand powerhouse.

“Thank you to the EGR jury team for this wonderful recognition. Winning Marketing Team of the Year is an extraordinary achievement that highlights our strength and dedication as a team. Additionally, receiving B2B Marketer of the Year is a deeply meaningful acknowledgement of our collective efforts,” says Valentina Bagniya. “These awards are not about individual achievements; they reflect the creativity, commitment, and passion of our entire marketing team.” 

Malta’s iGaming Excellence Awards

SOFTSWISS also received major recognition at Malta’s Gaming Excellence Awards 2025. Ivan Montik, Founder of SOFTSWISS, was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award for exceptional contributions to the iGaming industry over the course of his career. Meanwhile, Rubens Barrichello, ex-Formula 1 pilot and Non-Executive Director in Latin America at SOFTSWISS, was named Best iGaming Influencer of the Year, celebrating his significant impact through content creation, marketing, and online presence.

Valentina Bagniya comments: “It’s significant that our colleagues Ivan Montik and Rubens Barrichello received recognition at Malta’s Gaming Excellence Awards 2025, demonstrating how our leadership vision is increasingly recognised and valued by industry professionals. Moving forward, we remain dedicated to expanding our expertise and actively contributing to the advancement of our industry.”

On 3-4 July, the SOFTSWISS team will be attending iGB Live in London, ready to share their insights and expertise with interested attendees.

 

About SOFTSWISS

SOFTSWISS is an international technology company with over 15 years of experience developing innovative solutions for the iGaming industry. SOFTSWISS holds a number of gaming licences and provides comprehensive software for managing iGaming projects. The company’s product portfolio includes the Online Casino Platform, the Game Aggregator with over 30,000 casino games, the Affilka Affiliate Platform, the Sportsbook Software and the Jackpot Aggregator. In 2013, SOFTSWISS revolutionised the industry by introducing the world’s first Bitcoin-optimised online casino solution. The expert team counts over 2,000 employees.

The post SOFTSWISS Takes Home Four Awards In One Night appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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Gambling in the USA

Gaming Americas Weekly Roundup – June 9-15

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3 weeks ago

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June 17, 2025

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Welcome to our weekly roundup of American gambling news again! Here, we are going through the weekly highlights of the American gambling industry which include the latest news and new partnerships. Read on and get updated.

Latest News

BMM Innovation Group, a technology conglomerate focused on gaming product compliance testing, cybersecurity solutions and virtual training for the global gaming industry, announced that it is exhibiting at the Perú Gaming Show 2025, June 18–19 at the Centro de Exposiciones Jockey in Lima, Perú. BMM’s local experts will be available at Booth No. 31–32 to discuss the Company’s full suite of testing, certification, cybersecurity and virtual training services for Perú’s growing gaming industry. With a well-established land-based sector and a rapidly expanding online gaming market, Perú represents one of the most dynamic jurisdictions in Latin America. BMM has supported the Peruvian gaming industry for more than 18 years, with a dedicated office in Lima since 2007. The Company’s deep roots and compliance expertise make it uniquely positioned to serve the diverse needs of Perú’s casinos, sports betting operators, lottery providers and online gaming programmes.

Amusnet is set to make a powerful impression at the Peru Gaming Show 2025, taking place on June 18-19 in Lima, by presenting a comprehensive portfolio across its Online Casino, Live Casino, and Land-based verticals. As one of the most prominent and influential gaming exhibitions in Latin America, PGS brings together the industry’s leading providers, manufacturers and decision-makers for two days of impactful business exchange. Amusnet is also sponsoring the LMG Futbol Experience on June 17, held just before the exhibition, showcasing involvement in local events and its engagement in supporting industry-wide collaboration.

International Game Technology PLC announced that its spectacular RISE55 cabinet is now live on casino floors across the US. With robust, performance-focused content roadmaps for the premium-leased and for-sale game segments, IGT’s RISE55 cabinet debuted with the highly entertaining Magic Treasures Gold game. The RISE55 cabinet features a 55-inch ultra-HD curved display that delivers crisp graphics, enhanced audio technology and remarkable player comfort. The RISE55 cabinet first hit casino floors in late May, with additional deployments planned through the summer. As the hardware’s Class III premium launch title, Magic Treasures Gold is a visually stunning multi-level progressive game with features that build upon the success of IGT’s award-winning Magic Treasures game, including a leveled-up version of the Money Ball feature.

Partnerships

Hard Rock Cafe, in partnership with international soccer icon Lionel Messi, launched new merchandise coinciding with one of the year’s most anticipated global soccer tournaments. The collection debuts as part of Hard Rock’s “WE PLAY TOGETHER” campaign, which unites soccer fans to celebrate the sport. The campaign will feature special experiences and exclusive offers, such as bundle deals combining themed Messi menu and retail items, for guests to watch each match and show support for their favourite teams. Lionel Messi announced the collection via an Instagram post, where he donned one of the custom tees now available for purchase.

PrizePicks, the largest daily fantasy sports operator in North America, announced that it has partnered with the Los Angeles Dodgers as the team’s Official DFS Partner. The partnership features several digital and in-stadium activations at Dodger Stadium as PrizePicks continues to strengthen its brand presence in baseball.

The post Gaming Americas Weekly Roundup – June 9-15 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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Affiliate Industry

Meet MegaList: The Rising Force in iGaming Affiliation

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3 weeks ago

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June 16, 2025

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Reading Time: 3 minutes

There are affiliate networks, and then there’s MegaList – a performance-first, hype-last kind of operation built for casino and sportsbook brands that prefer results over buzzwords.

In an industry that sometimes feels like it’s powered by vague metrics and recycled content, MegaList steps in as the “Mega Map” – a practical, data-driven network guiding both players and operators to higher ground. Less “look at our reach,” more “here’s your conversion rate.”

So no, this isn’t just another logo-stamped brand promising traffic and delivering bounce rates. This is a carefully engineered affiliate engine built on smart SEO, qualified leads, and just enough caffeine-fueled obsession with results to make even the most skeptical operators pay attention.

The iGaming Affiliate World: Why It (Still) Matters

Let’s be honest – the affiliate space in iGaming has had its fair share of bad actors and empty promises. But when done right, affiliate marketing is still one of the most effective and efficient ways to connect licensed operators with the right players.

Players want fewer popups, more clarity. Operators want actual ROI, not vague impressions.
 Enter: the data-driven affiliate network.

It’s simple:

  • Informed players make better choices.
  • Strategic affiliates deliver better traffic.
  • Everyone wins. Except, of course, the shady operators who preferred it the other way.

Meet the MegaList Brands

These aren’t vanity microsites. Each MegaList brand has a specific mission, actual humans behind the content, and a reputation for, well… telling it like it is.

MegaCasinoList


Let’s face it – players don’t need another affiliate promising “top 10 casinos” based on whatever ad paid the most. They need honest, transparent, expert-backed reviews.

That’s where MegaCasinoList comes in – a platform that filters out the noise and delivers legit info on licensed casinos, security, fairness, and gameplay. Slots? Live dealer games? Payout speed? Yep, it’s all in there, and it’s all vetted.

They work with reliable operators only, because – and here’s a crazy idea – not every shiny site deserves your deposit.

MegaTipsList

If you like sports predictions that read like a 20-page legal document, you’re in the wrong place.

MegaTipsList is built for bettors who want real insights, fast reads, accurate tips, and actual value. It delivers predictions, sports news, and timely promotions – minus the fluff and with none of that “win guaranteed” nonsense.

Designed for bettors who like to stay informed without needing a PhD to understand the odds.

MegaBetList

For the practical bettor who just wants the facts: which sites are legit, which ones pay fast, and what to expect before placing your first wager.

MegaBetList reviews betting platforms with a clear, no-nonsense voice. It’s not trying to dazzle; it’s trying to help people bet smarter – and it’s doing a pretty solid job of it.

From licensing to promotions to usability, everything is covered – and everything is filtered through what actually matters to sports fans.

Why This All Matters (And Why It’s Working)

The iGaming world doesn’t need more noise. It needs better filters, smarter partners, and affiliates that actually care whether the traffic leads somewhere useful.

That’s where MegaList comes in – not to impress with buzzwords, but to perform, to scale, and to make sure both operators and players are on the same page for once.

And if we may drop in a little vision while we’re at it:

“At MegaList, we believe informed players and strategic operators shape a stronger, smarter iGaming industry.”

For once, a statement that isn’t just inspirational filler.

So the next time someone pitches you an affiliate network, ask one thing: “Do they have a plan, or just a landing page?”

 MegaList has both, and a track record to prove it.

Explore MegaList’s network:
 🔗 MegaAffiliatesList.com

The post Meet MegaList: The Rising Force in iGaming Affiliation appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

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