SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Companies looking to diversify their offerings in a bid to enter into emerging markets frequently hit challenges in resource, focus and market knowledge.
Ross Haselhurst, Commercial Director at Bede Gaming, explains how partnering with the right platform is essential to unlocking elusive opportunities.
SBC: With more markets regulating, what benefits do you see in a modular approach to integration?
RH: For a business to thrive in a global industry evolving at pace, it needs to be flexible. If it were only as simple as transferring operations from one market to another in cookie-cutter style, those responsible for expansion into new markets would have an easy job.
Unfortunately, most know it doesn’t work like that. With each jurisdiction having its own unique blend of demands, requirements and regulations to meet, the conversations we often find ourselves having with operators is that they struggle to capitalise on new markets whilst they’re still investing heavily in their core markets and that is often just to stand still, especially in the UK.
With more countries regulating and competition intensifying, operators are under mounting pressure to secure competitive advantage. Our iGaming platform ‘HUB’ gives operators the ability to bring to bear a tailored selection of modules and third parties relevant to a given market, such as content, payment providers, identification systems, and fraud prevention tooling as an example.
And, allowing operators to build and layer their own IP on top of our ours provides even more optionality and flexibility.
SBC: In what ways does a digital platform help when entering new markets?
RH: Capacity is frequently a stumbling block for operators in new market entry. Alongside the growing competition, regulatory pressures and the associated costs, many with legacy or proprietary platforms can often find the whole process costly and time-consuming.
Sometimes it is the proprietary platform build that doesn’t quite hit the mark, other times it’s more a question of pulling resource off a new market to concentrate on other challenges causing a dilution of impact in either the core or new markets. Both ultimately hindering the prospects of genuine long-term success.
Adopting a platform like Bede solves these issues by providing a turnkey solution that gives operators global support, while also allowing them to retain total control of their own software and consistently deliver on their USPs. It provides a whole other resource from which operators can draw.
Our platform facilitates the creation of great player experience. The ability to tailor games and journeys, as well as campaigns and responsible gambling measures are all easily adapted according to individual player demands, making the bespoke platform offering a powerful ally when entering a new market.
SBC: What features stand out to make the Bede platform one of the most digitally-advanced in the industry?
RH: We continue to add a host of innovative new features and functionality on the platform, which are informed by a combination of client feedback, industry shifts and experience expertise. As well as all the usual tools you’d expect to find in a platform, it’s our cutting-edge campaign management and ring-fenced bonusing that really sets us apart.
Bede’s campaign manager tool allows for automated or real-time promotion, on an extremely granular level to give players that truly personalised brand feel. This teamed with our real-time bonusing capability that allows operators to cross-sell and promote different verticals will significantly benefit our partners for many years.
Operators aiming to unlock new markets require a localised approach that is fast and adaptable. They need to be able to instantly react to regulatory changes and new developments, as well as release new products to increasingly demanding audiences. Along with a consistent two-week release cycle, the Bede platform delivers great value to customers by giving them the ability to respond rapidly to changes in market priorities.
Our partners have access to a carefully curated selection of over 3,000 games from more than 150 of the world’s best providers, with localised content to target specific markets.
The addition of two premium sportsbook providers, SBTech and Kambi, also enables our partners to select from the best of breed sports betting suppliers via the industry’s most complete, powerful product.
