Latest News
Emotions test reveals: The online purchases making us 67% happier!
- On average, online purchases are found to raise our positive feelings by 56%
- Participants reported the biggest increase in happiness when purchasing houseplants – positive emotions soared by 67%
- Gaming console purchases saw the second highest increase in positive feelings (+66%)
- Trainers and fiction books are also among the purchases raising positive emotions most
- Holidays abroad came in last; participants noted high levels of excitement but also reported an increase in concern due to its uncertainty
Thanks to ‘doom shopping’, it was revealed that the UK spends three times more when online shopping compared to the global average, costing the average person a whooping £1,382 per year! Clearly these purchases keep us coming back for more, but how do we enjoy splashing our cash the most?
Interested in online shopping, money.co.uk conducted an emotions test among 2,560 participants to discover which online purchases bring us the most joy!
Participants were asked to complete a variation* of the BMIS test (Brief Mood Intensity Scale) and record the intensity of 10 different emotions after making an online purchase. The intensity of each emotion was allocated a score based on its positivity, with a maximum score of 500 points per item – the higher the score, the better. Participants were also asked to complete the same test before making any purchases to uncover the percentage increase in positive emotions when shopping.
Which online purchases make us happiest?
Money.co.uk can reveal that a houseplant purchase increases our intensity of positive emotions more than any other transaction!
Collecting 478 points out of a potential 500, moods improved by 67% after making a plant purchase. Plants are proven to invoke feelings of vitality by improving the state of mind and lifting spirits – no wonder it scores highly!
With the PS5 still proving hard to get, purchasing a gaming console is the second online transaction that makes us happiest.
As many gamers are left on the edge of their seats waiting to snatch the latest console, it accumulated 475 points out of 500, and purchasing a console was found to raise positive feelings by 66% on average.
In third position are trainer purchases. With the demand for sneakers like Jordan 1s only increasing, those who purchased new trainers reported a 64% increase in happiness, and purchases racked up 472 points.
With bookworms reported to be happier than those who don’t read, the transaction that makes us fourth happiest is a fiction book, improving positive emotions by 64% and collecting 470 points.
Due to the huge surge in personal fitness and wellbeing during lockdown, home gym equipment purchases are found to make us fifth happiest! This transaction led to a 63% increase in positive emotions and scored a healthy 468 points.
To complete the top 10 purchases that increase our intensity of positive emotions:
6. Video game: 466 points, +62%
7. Eyeshadow palette: 465 points, +62%
8. Scented candle: 463 points, +61%
9. Exercise clothing: 461 points, +61%
10. Fashion jewellery: 459, +60%
Coming in last is a holiday abroad with 393 points out of 500 (+37%). Those who plan on jet-setting this year reported high levels of excitement and happiness but were pushed down the table as feelings of worry and nerves due to its current uncertainty.
Interested in the reasons behind our vast improvement in positive feelings, money.co.uk spoke exclusively to Lee Chambers, psychologist and wellbeing consultant, to uncover why shopping makes us happy.
“Online shopping has the ability to make us happy through several different mechanisms. Firstly, even in a world of plenty, we are still evolutionarily designed to consider scarcity. Because of this, acquiring new items, especially when discounted or limited, tends to make us happy, the feeling we have satisfied a need and potentially averted a future threat.
Shopping is also an exercise in control. We select from millions of items precisely what we want, and especially in the uncertain times we live in, we know we will get exactly what we have purchased, and it will be delivered straight to us. This control of selection and guarantee of receipt is powerful, as it becomes a defined event. We also build a level of expectation and anticipation from the moment we press the purchase button, as we believe we now have ownership over the item but have a delay until it is with us physically.
From a cultural perspective, we have been conditioned to see shopping as a reward, either an investment in ourselves or for the satisfaction of others. Shopping is likely to activate the nucleus accumbens in our brain, releasing dopamine and motivating us to repeat the behaviour. Buying printed media taps into our desire to better ourselves, gain knowledge, understand the world around us and provide stories and entertainment that can take us on a journey. And let’s not forget how lovely they look on your bookshelf on a video call, as books have become a decorative symbol over the past year.
And why do we keep buying? Our brain is adaptive, and shopping can relieve stress, provide entertainment when bored and give us a hit of dopamine. The rewarding feeling will keep us finding new things to purchase, especially since our excitement and anticipation fade once we’ve received the item.”
Catherine Hilley, mobiles expert at money.co.uk, said: “Our research reveals how small purchases can increase customers’ emotions in a positive way, something we all need after the past 12 months. With an average 63% increase in positive emotions noted across all top 10 purchases, it seems that shopping online for items such as houseplants, trainers and candles are sparking a lot more joy at the moment, than booking a holiday, which comes with a lot of added uncertainty.”
For more information, please see the blog post for the full rankings and a breakdown by sex, and age: https://www.money.co.uk/mobiles/online-shopping-joy
Latest News
Huge Jackpot at King Billy Casino: C$3,658,306!
King Billy Casino, launched in 2017, has had some impressive players wins during the “reign of King Billy”. A few of them include Live Game winnings of €135,223, daily winnings from 2 or more slots of $164,000, and €250,000 won on a single spin. However, the latest win by a King Billy Casino player dwarfs every big win that has come before this. Actually, it’s bigger than all previous big wins combined for the operator!
Because, we are talking about C$3,658,306.
This amazing six-digit number was the result of a player going on a safari in her (and millions of other players) beloved Mega Moolah progressive slot from Games Global. In an autumn, the player stepped into eternal summer by wagering a small C$6,25 bet and winning 562.816 times her bet! This is the power of Mega Moolah, as evidenced at King Billy.
King Billy people had only warm words for the occasion. A representative of the casino has stated: “We are elated, for this huge big win. We can never forget that our first big win, many years back, was more than 200,000 Canadian dollars, so we have special ties with the region. And it’s now amazing to see our VIP-player making such a cashback and echoing that big win! Congratulations to our player”.
A few words about Mega Moolah. It was an Internet sensation when it was launched with its beautiful graphics and sounds, and immersive gameplay and it is a sensation today, still going strong after almost 20 years. The slot, which has spawned more than 20 variations, and has given millions in cash to players all over the world (including 5 millionaires in 2024 alone) features 4 types of jackpots that make it stand out from the competition.
About Games Global
Games Global is a supplier of the online gaming industry delivering force and direction to gaming with more than 1,300 top class games. The company has made a commitment to deliver the industry’s more disruptive ideas and compelling data-driven gaming experiences. Games Global features a total of 40+ partnered and in-house studios, services 600+ branded websites and boasts record-breaking jackpots with its worldwide network.
About King Billy Casino
Established on St Patrick’s Day in 2017, King Billy is a renowned new generation casino with more than 26 awards and accolades. The casino is available in English, German, French and Finnish, and created a unique user experience, building on the theme of King Billy and his Kingdom. King Billy ensures that all its players, “Citizens” in the casino language, receive the care and attention they deserve.
The post Huge Jackpot at King Billy Casino: C$3,658,306! appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Boyd Interactive
Play’n GO announces landmark partnership with Resorts Digital Gaming
Play’n GO, the world’s leading casino entertainment provider, has today announced its latest US operator partnership, with Resorts Digital Gaming, in the state of New Jersey.
Resorts Digital Gaming was acquired by Boyd Interactive in September 2024, and this announcement sees the group’s players on the www.resortscasino.com and www.mohegansuncasino.com brands in New Jersey gain access to a multitude of classic Play’n GO game titles, such as the legendary Book of Dead, Rise of Merlin, and Rise of Olympus.
Play’n GO entered New Jersey in September 2022, shortly after first launching in the US via the state of West Virginia in July of that year. It has since seen its games live in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and most recently, Connecticut.
Magnus Olsson, Chief Commercial Officer at Play’n GO, commented “New Jersey has been of crucial importance to our US operations for over two years now, so it is with great pleasure that we make this announcement in conjunction with Resorts Digital Gaming.
“The company joins together two instantly recognizable operator brands, and the addition of Play’n GO’s games will be of enormous mutual benefit. We confidently describe ourselves as the world’s leading casino entertainment provider, and partnerships like this one are of great importance to us in establishing that idea. We’re excited to see this partnership flourish.”
Jim Ryan, Chief Executive Officer at Boyd Interactive, added “The whole Resorts Digital Gaming team is excited to bring Play’n GO games to our players. Play’n GO is one of the world’s leading iGaming brands, and we’re confident that our players are as excited as we are to see those Play’n GO titles on both www.resortscasino.com and www.mohegansuncasino.com.”
Interviews
Exclusive Q&A w/ Radek Pšurný, CEO at Match Hype
Match Hype has just won two industry competitions. Talk us through your product.
Match Hype brings engagement from social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram into the sportsbook. Our technology automatically turns raw sports data into short videos full of sports and betting insights. We have the capacity to create up to a million videos daily in more than 30 languages. We also provide hosting and streaming of the videos, and we track everything in the video thanks to our own player. The high level of video experience and the scale make us unique in the market, and we believe that this innovation is extremely needed in the industry—and the judges in the competitions probably agree with us.
What technologies are you leveraging to deliver such a cutting-edge tool/product?
We have more than six years’ experience in developing dynamic video solutions for clients like Microsoft, HBO, and SAP, and a decade in high-end video production for similarly well-known clients. Match Hype is the essence of this. We have developed our own robust cloud infrastructure that enables us to work on a huge scale. We can also leverage the integration of third-party solutions that help us make the video content rich and engaging. The AI boom came at the right time to help us make the experience for the viewer even better.
Who is Match Hype aimed at?
We focus mostly on sportsbook operators, where we think we can bring the biggest value. But we also have clients on the affiliate and media side. Our “competition” at the moment are creative professionals who are able to create one video at a time. To cover hundreds or thousands of events daily, you need huge manpower. With Match Hype, you don’t need that—it’s all automated. Anybody who appreciates this level of efficiency will benefit.
The end users are any sports fans who enjoy engaging videos. So basically everybody.
Has this industry been slow to embrace video content and unlock the potential it offers? If so, why?
It’s hard for us to talk about the whole industry, as we haven’t been part of it for that long. But iGaming feels like a conservative industry where only truly meaningful innovations make it. Fingers crossed for Match Hype being one of them. We are confident because of our track record in other industries, and mostly thanks to the results of our dynamic videos that are already used by significant igaming industry players.
What makes video content so effective at customer acquisition? How can Match Hype be used in this regard?
People just love video content. In the last review, TikTok said that the average user spends around 90 minutes a day on their platform. Platforms like Spotify used to be music and podcasts only; now they are full of videos. You just can’t ignore that. Video killed the radio star, and a static sportsbook is next to die.
And what about retention? How can it be used to keep players engaged and coming back for more?
Imagine that a 30-second video gives you the exact insights to help you make a betting decision without spending dozens of minutes on different resources to gather all the information. People don’t want to read anymore. This is probably an even bigger strength of Match Hype than user acquisition.
What can we expect from Match Hype in the coming months?
We will establish Match Hype as an industry standard for dynamic video content. We’ll bring many more sports like tennis, basketball horse racing and. We are preparing real-time video use cases—for example, half-time updates in football—and new distribution channels like integration directly into streams. The potential is huge. Stay tuned.
Any final thoughts?
For the last year, we have talked with literally hundreds of iGaming experts, investors, and executives. Almost every one of them sees fan engagement as a huge topic in the upcoming months and years. And video will definitely play a key part in it.
Video says more than a thousand words. Give it a go—watch one of our 30-second videos and see for yourself.
The post Exclusive Q&A w/ Radek Pšurný, CEO at Match Hype appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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