Caesars executives bullish over online future amid new icasino launch

Caesars CEO Tom Reeg has hailed the firm’s improvements to its technology in both sports betting and online casino, while praising the new Caesars Palace app.

Reeg spoke to analysts as part of Caesars’ Q2 2023 earnings call and lauded what he labeled a “casino-first” app, which launched two weeks ago in the US and fully integrates with the Caesars Rewards loyalty program.

“In terms of capabilities, bonusing segmentation, proprietary games, live dealer, it is light years ahead of what we’ve been operating under previously,” Reeg said.

“We are fully aware we have significant competition in the icasino space. We don’t expect that we’re just going to come in and run everybody over, but we feel like we’ve got the product to start to build market share. Wrapping that into Caesars Rewards has been and will continue to be powerful for that business,” he added.

The CEO revealed the Caesars Palace app is only awaiting approval in two US jurisdictions ahead of a full launch, with Reeg targeting a significant ramp-up of marketing spend on igaming, albeit at a lower level than was spent on its revamped sportsbook, which launched in August 2021.

“You should expect us to be visible in terms of promoting the app but nothing anywhere close to what you saw when we launched the sports app,” Reeg explained.

“So I would describe us right now in icasino as, and for the last couple of years, invisible from a marketing standpoint, but we’ll become visible in the next month or so,” he added.

Caesars Digital CEO Eric Hession, also speaking as part of the Q2 2023 financial call, was bullish on the contribution of the new Caesars Palace app to Caesars bottom line over its current icasino app, suggesting the Palace app would be a “major contributor” to the business over the long term.

Central to this, Hession explained, is the switch away from a “disproportionately high” percentage of table games than both slots and live dealer gaming, something the firm is rebalancing with the new app.

“Going forward, it’s absolutely going to be a key component of the business. Previously we’ve not had much exposure to that [live dealer]. We haven’t had branded games, we haven’t had dedicated games,” Hession said.

“We haven’t had a lot of the product that’s out there, which we will on the new Caesars Palace app,” he added.

In respect of sports betting, Hession confirmed the transition of Caesars retail sportsbooks in Nevada to the Liberty platform, following the similar transition of the online sportsbook on Android earlier this year.

Praising the app as delivering a significantly improved experience for Nevadans, Hession confirmed the native iOS version of the sportsbook would be fully transitioned in August, welcoming the benefits of improved tech.

“The new native app is receiving consistently higher performance feedback, improved stability and enhanced development speed,” Hession said.

Other technical upgrades confirmed include the introduction of an in-house player management system and shared wallet, which will be introduced on a state-by-state basis in 2024.