Promoted feature: Delivering excellence in a post-Covid-19 world
Matteo Carli, IGT SVP global PlaySports, ETG and poker, on how IGT’s PlaySports sportsbook platform has adapted to new player behaviors in the US
Over the last several months we’ve been forced to change many aspects of our daily personal and professional lives. Among all this change, however, are some truths that have remained untouched. One such truth: people in the US love sports and they really enjoy betting on them.
With the late-summer return of professional sports in the US came some of the highest sports betting handle numbers that the industry has seen to date. The comeback of sports also ushered a strong desire from PlaySports customers to invest in the best possible user experience for their players, particularly across mobile devices, and a commitment to optimizing their retail sportsbooks through modern technologies that can accommodate the new realities of the post-Covid-19 era.
One way our clients are returning maximum value to their customers is through IGT’s proprietary, fully integrated PlaySports PAM (player account management). Now live with premier sports betting operators in Colorado, Nevada, and West Virginia, the PlaySports PAM is delivering an intuitive user experience that can effectively drive customer acquisition and retention through targeted sports betting promotions — ultimately strengthening the operator-player relationship.
Unlike the igaming PAMs that originated outside the US and were loosely adapted to serve the local betting preferences, IGT’s PAM was built from the ground up, specifically for the unique challenges, opportunities and demands of the US sports betting market. Because it is a modular component of the PlaySports platform, the system’s betting engine, offer creation and rewards availability are second to none. In an increasingly competitive vertical such as sports betting, having a mobile product with a superior user experience is paramount. Additionally, the prospect of a single service provider such as IGT is more attractive than ever to our customers given the added business complexities that we’ve universally endured in 2020.
Similarly, brick-and-mortar casino and sportsbook operators are faced with a list of new challenges that simply did not exist several months ago. Sure, plexiglass, floor stickers, and reduced seating can address some of the on-property social distancing demands, but the sophisticated bettor has the potential to grow tired of this environment. As customers become increasingly more tech-savvy, we cannot expect them to embrace a retail experience void of technology-driven conveniences. This is an area where we can truly help our PlaySports customers differentiate their offering and maximize their PlaySports investments.
Through self-service betting options such as the tablet-based PlaySports Pad, the widely deployed PlaySports Kiosks and the award-winning CrystalBetting Terminal, we can help our customers provide a range of world-class retail experiences that drive growth, bolster player affinity, and adhere to social distancing requirements. Not only do these technologies reduce the need for sports fans to queue in large lines or physically congregate in a sportsbook to place wagers, they enable operators to extend the thrill and excitement of sports betting to in-casino locations such as restaurants, slot floors, lobbies, and more.
In a year when many things have changed, IGT’s commitment to helping our customers drive growth has not. Their success is our success. The fully integrated PlaySports PAM and our vast portfolio of performance-driven self-service betting technologies represent just a few ways that we are helping our PlaySports customers deliver extraordinary player experiences and capture the immense opportunities of the growing sports betting industry.
Matteo Carli is IGT’s SVP global PlaySports, ETG and poker. Carli has been an IGT executive for more than 10 years, holding leadership positions spanning gaming, lottery, and digital, and across diverse disciplines such as product management, finance, industrial planning, supply chain, and integration, in both Europe and the US. Prior to joining IGT, Carli was a senior manager at Bain & Company and a financial analyst at the Italy-based corporate and investment bank, Mediobanca. Carli earned his MBA from INSEAD and currently resides in Reno, Nevada with his family.