Zona de Azar UK – Virtual Ampersand Assembly: Final Conclusions

United Kingdom.- June 16, 2020 www.zonadeazar.com The second edition of the Virtual Ampersand Assembly took place last May 18 to May 29 . It was a must-see event for the industry, the first edition of which took place last April. This new and unprecedented modality consisted of 25 assemblies, which according to Ewa Bakun, Director of Industry Insight and Engagement at Clarion Gaming, intended to be “informal and fluid conversations, very similar to those you would have during a Coffee Break or networking event of the conferences and exhibitions organized by Clarion Gaming”.

As follows the most important conclusions of the Innovation in online casino in post-Covid world Assembly, focused in terms of customer engagement, payments and driving efficiencies:

• Bonus abuse, perhaps not normally an area for innovation, requires attention as there have been more cases of bonus abuse happening as sports bettors have moved to play casino.
• Responsible gambling, in the face of regulatory clampdown, needs more proactive and user friendly solutions, e.g. AI driven chat bots with advance language processing to communicate with players and point them towards solutions. AI chat bots might be more effective in some instances to tackle responsible gambling issues as players seek anonymity
• Code of conduct in game design – initiative within the GC, but the recommendations aren’t really addressing the psychology of play – more needs to be done in design; it’s more about limiting the spend rather than limiting the problematic behaviours
• 1×2 Network PMB (Probability of Money Back) to get a sense of a player’s gaming style and then react if the players is stepping outside of their usual play to provide support
• Trigger based approach in Switzerland – if someone spends more, customer is asked to provide proof to have the means to play; amounts played are also visibly displayed amounts played so customer can control better
• Lots of inspiration for innovation is coming from streaming and community gaming; community and multi-player gaming is one of the latest trends, likely to grow for online casino. LeoVegas has had some success with streamers in gaming lounges. There aren’t enough tools or platforms yet catering to these new forms of consumption amongst the suppliers to offer this kind of more socially connected gaming
• Tik Tok is also an emerging platform that has been unifying generations as people are confined together; parents are learning to relate with their children by learning about these new platforms
• In-games tools have been the latest innovation in engagement, not much happened since then; sometimes their integration requirement is tricky and continues to be a challenge
• Evolution Gaming´s lounge of craps will be aimed at recreating the offline game – will it succeed despite the lack of social interaction that craps usually enjoy?

Ampersand members have presented more than 90 themes for this event, which have been consolidated in more than 20 assemblies. These were developed with a maximum of 10 members each. The topics covered were be very varied, including: esports, the impact of the pandemic on the industry, game regulation, artificial intelligence, among many others

Edited by: @MaiaDigital www.zonadeazar.com