Dirk Camilleri, Chief Product Officer
At iGP, our strategy is highly user-centric. Looking across the industry, an issue we often see is that the information operators are using to ascertain and comprehend player data is usually quite generic and lacking in personalisation. That’s partially because delving deeply into personalised metrics can be a difficult thing to do, and while you may be able to look into things like demographics and data flows, personalised data will have its limitations.
When it comes to personalisation as a concept, we have some way to go as an industry, because there has not been enough innovation to truly personalise the experience. Many igaming industry companies have tried proof of concept, but that does not necessarily mean we are seeing any particular tools to move things along from what we were seeing 10 years ago.
When you compare gaming with ecommerce and the online streaming giants, we are still lagging behind when it comes to learning more about the player beyond basic data. I wouldn’t say there is too much focus on personalisation per se, but we need to focus on doing it in a more refined way with better long-term results than we’re currently doing.
A personalised lobby
One way to try and establish an edge in this area is to create a lobby, almost in the style of a streaming platform like Netflix, which can incorporate not only data from that individual player, but also other players from similar demographics. The combined data can be used to show to the player what they may like to bet on. These recommendations can then be updated as the player’s journey with the operator materialises. This will be the natural progression of how player data is utilised and should ultimately make the playing experience stronger than it is currently.
AI changing the landscape
The next stage of personalisation will be intrinsically linked with artificial intelligence (AI). We are in the process of developing an AI-powered game recommendation engine, which will allow us to learn more about player habits and improve all our stats sources on each player. In 2023, we laid the groundwork for this, ensuring our data was organised and rich enough to be useful to our partners; a step many forget to take.
Automation and predictive modelling are not a completely new concept to the market, but they are tools that we are embracing as an industry more and more. We already have third-party partners in this area, but from late 2024 or in early 2025, we will focus on improving our existing automation and how we can use AI to aid the data-heavy processes that AI can feed off. We select our partners based on their AI capabilities that can support us. While we already have processes in place, the plan is to use AI to enhance those automations and processes. We may have used AI already to make an immediate impact, but the focus is now on working out how to deploy it for our processes and automation.
Predictive analytics tools
As we continue to figure out how to offer better, more personalised gaming experiences, we will have to consider how to effectively utilise predictive analytics tools. This is something that’s been part of our focus recently. At the end of 2023, we completed a project where we set up our in-house data warehouse. We centralised all the data into one location, before putting that data into action at the start of 2024.
We have started building the predictive algorithms that will make the data useful. This will allow us to learn even more about important player information, such as their VIP potential, as well as fraud and risk checks. Crucially, this is a key step towards bringing on board automated and AI-powered solutions.
With the addition of our game recommendation engine and in-house data warehouse, personalisation can be powered in a way that it has not been previously, with all bases being covered. We want to give our partners the opportunity to understand as much as possible about their players across a lengthy period. In 10 years’ time, personalisation will have likely advanced to a point where every single decision and click made by a player will in some way impact how the operator then targets that player with their marketing and the interface they will see after logging in.
This will not be an overnight change, but information will be constantly added to our engine as we work out piece by piece how to provide the most comprehensive and complete data sets for our partners.
How this can work for you
To find out more about our personalisation tools and how we can help you gain a far better understanding of the key data behind your players, please get in touch with the iGP team here. Together, we can work towards enhancing personalisation and improving the igaming experience for all sides.
