SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
SBC begins the week by speaking to Simon Westbury Director of Sales for VSoftCo Ltd on virtual gaming’s presence within betting services inventory framework. VSoftCo Ltd is a specialist software development company in the global virtual sports market. Over the past 5 years, the company has developed a highly sophisticated suite of products, largely focused on virtual football.
Westbury gives SBC readers further detail on virtual reality products, partnerships and synergies as virtual gaming grows its presence within gaming’s product arc.
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SBC: Fantastic League has been around for a number of years, but some might not be familiar with it in its latest incarnation. What can you tell us about the product?
SW: Yes, the current format of the game is a Single Game version, which was developed in response to customer feedback. The feedback that we received indicated the actual league format took too long to play out, meaning players lost interest.
Therefore, we are in a process of migrating all our current customers who still use Fantastic League Internet onto the single game format, across online and retail. We understand that it is important to offer the customer the same experience on whichever channel they are acquired.
We are also in the early stages of an entire product update, which we hope will establish Fantastic League as the industry-leading product. We have established that the maths behind the game is sound, in fact we out perform our competitors on the backend but we are looking at enhancing the graphics. There are also some new exciting features, which will include accumulator bets. Feedback has also indicated that a short tournament function would be welcomed by players so we are working on a shortened 20 minute tournament based on the World Cup round of 16.
SBC: Can you explain the link up with Kiron Interactive and Vermantia?
SW: Of course, we recognized a long time ago that an offering of one single virtual sport, albeit football would possibly not be the strongest offering to a customer. Therefore, we looked to identify partners that we could work with to offer the strongest possible product offering.
From this conception, we grew in partnership with Kiron who have an industry-leading suite of virtual games, and Vermantia who offer an excellent satellite service and have bought a number of commercial opportunities to us. We all work closely to identify areas of expansion that are mutually beneficial to our businesses.
On a personal note, I have found the experience of knowledge of my partners at Kiron and Vermantia highly beneficial as I have moved in the virtual sports space.
SBC: What are the key factors that a virtual football simulation needs to take into account?
SW: I think the answer here does not apply simply to football but any virtual sports simulation.
The key factor is what I term as creating a compressed virtual reality, by this I mean a compressed version of an actual event, recreated in a RNG fixed odds betting format.
Virtual sports were originally conceived to fill the void between live sports event. Obviously as the sports betting industry has grown there have been more and more actual live sports events and markets to bet on. So the aim therefore has to be to recreate the excitement of a bet on a live sport in a virtual environment.
My view is that, in terms of football customers find it appealing that virtual football matches only last between one and two minutes. Rather than having to waiting 90 minutes to collect on their bet, they can do so after only two minutes with a virtual football match. Increasingly, people are looking for instant gratification They don’t have the time to wait for a full sporting event to play out, making the virtual equivalent more attractive.
In essence it is what I would term Match of the Day qualia, we watch Match of the Day to see the highlights, the moments of skill, controversy and excitement. Virtual Sports are the equivalent; by compressing the game, we offer a short overview of a game on which a player has bet on focusing on the high-octane moments that influence if the player wins or loses.
As the range of sports that are popular in particular territories grows so does the appeal of these products. Players want to bet on sports that are familiar to them. Additionally, potential returns can then be significantly higher due to the exponentially higher number of betting opportunities.
SBC: Where do you see the growth in the virtual sports market?
SW: I think the obvious areas that we are working in currently are North America and Asia. Additionally, we are currently assessing opportunities in Latin America. We also have entered into an agreement with our partners Vermantia and Kiron to distribute our virtual football product through their new satellite channel for Africa.
We are also looking to expand or online footprint, until now our focus has mainly been on retail, which has proved both successful and profitable. We are now looking to increase our online client base. I am very confident that our virtual sport offering will be as popular as it is in the retail environment. One of the reasons for this is the higher frequency of games. You can run various virtual events in parallel online, where in shops it is traditional to run events in sequence. This creates many more betting opportunities.
Due to the larger number of events online (live sports and virtual) it provides players with a larger number of attractive betting options, especially through multiple and combination bets. Players find them fast-paced and entertaining and they are simpler to play than live sports.
SBC: Vsoftco sponsored Sheffield United recently. What is the link between the two? Are there any synergies?
SW: The link between VsoftCo and Sheffield United, put simply is that we are part of the same extended family. Kevin McCabe who is the co-chairman of Sheffield United also owns VsoftCo limited. Obviously, the gambling sector and football have many synergies and I am looking to assist the commercial team at Sheffield United get the best deal for the club in and around gambling activities.
We were delighted to be the shirt sponsor for such a historic club and we were allowed to use the benefits of being associated to a football club to aid our business growth. It is most boys dream to be involved in football in some capacity and although for my sins I am a Spurs season ticket holder, to be involved in and around a club such as Sheffield United is truly an honour.
However, VsoftCo fits into the wider Scarborough Group, and since I joined I have benefitted from the extensive contact list and sphere of influence the group has. The owners and the group are amazing and I am looking forward to building on the synergies the group offers on a wider basis as VsoftCo grows.
SBC: Is virtual established enough now to be considered one of the staples of a sportbetting site?
SW: Totally, the numbers do not lie, on average a sportsbook can covert circa 20% of their customers to playing virtuals and with proven increase of revenues of between 10% and 15% at margins of 10% to 12% the numbers simply do not lie.
Operators like the high margin product which comes with no management risk. It is also cost-effective and complements live sports, as well as being a great cross-over between casino and sportsbook. And when those players arrive they complement sports book revenues rather than cannibalising them.
The only surprise I do have is that some sportsbooks do not have virtuals integrated as they are a risk free proven revenue generator.
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Simon Westbury – Director of Sales for VSoftCo
