Karolina Pelc to document journey of disruptive online gaming start-up

Former LeoVegas casino director Karolina Pelc has launched a new start-up called SharedPlay to tap into the online social and community-focused consumption trend accelerated by Covid-19.

Netflix and Disney+ unveiled watch-along capability during the pandemic, which allowed friends to socialise online while watching the same stream of film or television programme, despite being in different locations due to the isolating effects of lockdown.

SharedPlay will aim to do the same, only with online casino gameplay. The product, which is set to be built over the next 12 months, will be able to integrate with either an operator, supplier or gaming aggregator. Their existing games will then be offered in multiplayer mode via SharedPlay.

It will be offered to online gambling firms as a B2B software as a service (SaaS) solution.

“We’re not, at this point, looking to build multiplayer games, but we’re building a platform to change the consumption mode of existing and favoured content,” Pelc told EGR.

Pelc, who is also a podcast host for iGaming NEXT, was keen to stress that SharedPlay will not launch as a fully operational product-ready business, instead kicking off in agile start-up mode.

“The idea is that I want to make this journey public,” said Pelc. “In our industry this is often less visible because usually people launch when their games are ready.

“But because of the nature of this start-up and because of my vision around gender diversity, I wanted to launch it early to build the credibility of the brand and to share the whole journey of building the product, hiring people and growing the business from the very beginning,” she added.

The idea for SharedPlay came to Pelc when she discovered one of her former colleagues used to get together with friends and pool a sum of money before playing online slots and distributing the winnings at the end of each session.

Pelc’s former employer LeoVegas is investing €1.1m (£940k) in the business for a 25% stake through its LeoVentures subsidiary. It has also garnered the support of another strategic industry investor who wishes to remain anonymous.

Pelc is a vocal advocate of women in gaming and will serve as the company’s founder and CEO. She will be advised by Lisa Winning, founder and CEO of Silicon Valley success story HeTexted, as well as Agnieszka Szefer, who is a data scientist at Stitch Fix and a former Amazon software developer.

Tony Plaskow, who has worked for industry giants including Bally’s and IGT, will act as a commercial adviser for SharedPlay while Nicholaas Havenga, formerly of Naspers, will act as an ICT adviser.

The start-up’s tech team will be based in the Polish capital of Warsaw.

Karolina Pelc

Explaining SharedPlay’s early-stage proof-of-concept, Pelc said: “The whole product is inspired by trends observed within other entertainment and technology spaces. The big inspiration for this is also the world of video games and social gaming, so trying to blur the lines with other product genres and build on trends that I think are shaping how people use technology these days.

“The isolated solo use of your computer does not fit the need of the future generations and most definitely not the needs of Millennials and Generation X, so this is a leap forward to try to build on what’s already out there and to try and apply it to the gambling industry and see where it takes us.”

Pelc hopes the business can fill a niche as demonstrated by the popularity of online casino streamers on video streaming platform Twitch, where viewers will often leap at the chance to join the streamer at their virtual table, particularly during live casino gameplay.

“It shows that people like to be in an environment of social interaction where there is more than just themselves and their gameplay,” said Pelc. “They can interact, they can chat and share this with someone else, not just themselves.”

Covid-19 has accelerated the shared consumption of online media and while the pandemic has obviously caused huge problems for society in general, it has also created opportunities for digital businesses.

Pelc told EGR: “This is not something that is a response to player feedback but before the iPhone, people didn’t know they wanted an iPhone. You observe the behaviour to try and see how you can fill that desire.

“In the past, people did not exercise together over Skype or drink wine together over Zoom for example, but I think some of these behaviours are here to stay and if the product can capitalise on that acceleration then great,” she added.

SharedPlay will also look to develop a set of proactive responsible gambling features.