Jenny Lu, Director of New Business, Optimove.
Could you describe some characteristics of your company?We are customers’ marketing and data platform. Based in Israel, we have offices in New York, London and Tel Aviv. We started working with gaming in Europe, since iGaming was first regulated there. We collect data directly from suppliers, increasing the value for our existing customers due to our analysis and info segmentation. Now, we collaborate with 350+ companies, not only in the gaming vertical, but also in retail and hospitality. We work with some land-based casinos (they use loyalty cards to gather info about their clients) and also with lottery companies such as the British Columbia Lottery (BCLC), in Canada. In the online gaming arena, sportsbook is easier to work with in terms of data generation and collection. How do you evaluate current scene of the online gaming sector in the United States?
The US iGaming sector is now in the process of regulation, so it’s an exciting time to be here and take advantage of opportunities this market has to offer. We are already working with some New Jersey casinos and the Pennsylvania Lottery, but also went to ICE Boston last May to share with the visitors more info about our company and educate the industry on the advantages of our services. These US clients are happy with our product since they have seen actual results in monetary terms. What’s interesting about sport leagues and sport teams in the US gaming landscape is that there is an opportunity for Optimove to analyze fans engagement levels. We can better understand them, know more about their gaming behaviors and preferences, and share that valuable data with our customers. In which way do you think iGaming will evolve in markets such as the United States and Latin America?
We are interested in Latin America. We visited some gaming conferences in that region and are following the advancement of iGaming legalization in the continent. Regarding the US, each and every week we read some news about new States regulating the online gaming activity. I can’t predict what will happen in the next 18 months, but I’m also seeing that some other States are not accepting yet iGaming and are very determined not to allow that betting modality. There’s a difference between legalizing the activity and having companies already operating; so you have to be careful and do a deep State-by-State analysis. There’s still a long way to go.