Industry predictions for 2022: The year of streaming and NFTs

William Woodhams, chief executive of Fitzdares

William Woodhams, chief executive of Fitzdares

This is the year of streaming

As physical bookmakers close and people avoid live events, more and more will turn to in-app live sport. Currently, the costs are prohibitive for smaller operators. However, the industry will soon realise that bookies can drive more revenue for sport with better video product and content. Companies like DAZN have recognised that they need to create great products and events, which in turn enables bookmakers to use them to drive growth. Sports subscriptions should be waived for great punters, the people who truly fund sports and the taxman.

This is the year UK compliance gets clarity

With so much second-guessing of what the UK government might do (and with other jurisdictions looking to ape), we might get clarity and a level-playing field, once and for all. Billions have already been spent gearing up the industry for stronger regulations. Never before has the punter been looked at in such microscopic detail.

This is the year the UK loses its crown as the home of sports betting

We might have the history but the US and Canada will soon steal our crown – as everyone knows, money talks in gaming (only China or India could possibly challenge them). The brain drain has already begun and the big UK industry players are following the money across the Atlantic… including Fitzdares (watch this space)! Sports rights owners in this country had better be prepared for the big operators losing interest in them.

Will Whitehead, associate director, mkodo

Front-end UX investment

I predict we will see a general investment in customised front-end experiences. Over the last five years or so, investment in best in breed, front-end UX has been more of an afterthought when operators chose suppliers. Many have looked for one major supplier who can be a one-stop-shop and provide all elements of the ecosystem required to be an operator, however, we have recently seen a shift where operators are now looking for experts in individual fields such as PAM, platform, data providers, KYC providers and now expert front-end and UX.

The operator market is more competitive than ever, so there is an absolute requirement to have expertise in front-end user experiences to differentiate against your competition. As more jurisdictions regulate, including the US, more operators are entering the fray providing similar products and content. A customised and different front-end experience, therefore, becomes crucial to stand out from the competition and operators will have to invest more, consulting suppliers, to support that strategy.

Quality casino content

There has been an arms race recently to get as much casino content as possible on to operator’s apps and see what sticks – this I believe will shift to focus more on quality, over quantity, partly driven by Apple’s 4.7 guidelines which not only prohibits HTML5 games but also reduces the number of bundled games as to not create oversized apps. Operators will now have to spend more time thinking about what content they really want to feature within their apps and ensure games really engage new users, retain existing and welcome back those that have lapsed, as well as appealing to different generations and demographics. The benefit to this is in how it will focus the minds of casino providers and ensure they invest in quality, develop proper native games and consider the experience, rather than rinse and repeat the same games but with different brands and themes, as we see all too often.

NFTs and the metaverse

Discussions about the metaverse and NFTs are all the rage recently, which will continue in 2022. Although I believe augmented and virtual reality will eventually play an important part in the industry down the line, my prediction is that we are years away from seeing a product that will actually work and have a real impact in this space. Large operators are bound to invest in the next line of innovation and will look to incorporate the likes of wearable technology into the casino experience but, in my opinion, we are looking more toward 2025 for this to become a reality and commonplace.