By Damian Martinez, journalist at G&M News.
How would you describe Ontario’s gaming scene?
If I’d have to describe Ontario’s gaming market in one word, I’d say “crowded.” In more than one word, it’s 50 operators and 80 websites competing for just under 2 million customers. That customer base is growing though, it’s already at approximately 15% of the provincial population. The biggest challenge in Ontario is that money and ad-spend doesn’t necessarily have the same impact as in some other markets. Brand-visibility is a challenge, and if you do not operate with a targeted approach, crashing and burning is inevitable. There’s too many brands talking at the same time, trying to out-shout each other and all it does is make the customer deaf. Ontario requires a targeted, softer approach peppered with strategic impactful statements and it is getting this balance right that makes the market unique.
What changes do you anticipate in Canada’s regulatory environment?
There are two key areas where Canada will see changes: licensing and advertising. Alberta and Ontario will be great proofs of concept, but I don’t anticipate all provinces towing the same line; some will. Licensing success will depend heavily on “Market Size”, where the population size of the province may determine, more than anything else, whether a regulated market works or not. We might get regulated markets with caps on operator numbers, like what we see in some U.S. states. In terms of advertising regulations, I see more tweaks coming in to protect children from exposure to iGaming ads. A part of me is hoping for regulations against non-licensed brands advertising in licensed markets, without consequences. In this sense, the NEO.bet playbook is about patience and perseverance. The Canadian market is a marathon and we’re great at pacing ourselves. We’re not a big company, but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t ambitious. We just have a more measured approach to reaching customers and offering them a new, better experience. As a German-company, we have exceptional developments in place that ensure that when regulations change, we can pivot quickly because of our operational efficiency and in-built processes.
In which way NEO.bet has positioned in the competitive Ontario’s iGaming market?
iGaming is a unique industry where customers are, almost, in a state of “competition against the house.” They are trying to “beat the house” and, in that process, it’s very easy for customers to feel that the house is stacking up the odds against them. That it’s not a level playing field. At NEO.bet, our goal is to make customers feel that the field is as fair as it can be, to create an environment for them to have fun and enjoy themselves. We aren’t out to get them; we’re there so that they can relax and entertain themselves. I always say: you cannot advertise your way out of a bad experience. If your UI/UX isn’t great, if your odds aren’t great, if your product isn’t great, then, customers will leave. The fact that our retention rate and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) are significantly higher than industry figures leads me to believe that we’re doing something right.
How does your company ensure a superior customer experience? Can you highlight any specific initiatives or technologies that you’ve implemented?
Tech-superiority often works in the background and what you see on the site as features are just the tip of a complicated iceberg. Customers may not always experience that background tech-innovation. NEO.bet has a lot of features like vig-free Parlay bets, a custom Cashout Control that allows you to set loss-limits, cashout partially or set a safe win-limit, and even early payouts on single, parlay and live bets. However, it’s not just the technology, features or initiatives that set us apart. It’s how our customers experience them. To me it’s very important that our customers walk away from the site with the same feeling as they would get when spending money on an online store. That comes from the combined effect of the bonuses and how they are customized for each customer, how we present them to the customer, the experience of using our site, or just the overall UI/UX of playing at NEO.bet.
With the increasing focus on responsible gaming, how is NEO.bet addressing this issue? What measures are in place to promote safe gambling practices?
At NEO.bet, we’ve got all the tools required for customers to set their gambling limits on spend, losses, daily budgets, etc. They can lock their accounts temporarily, permanently or simply choose to limit their game play. We offer 24×7 support to assist them in these actions. We’re also upgrading educational resources that help people understand when and how to use these tools, not just in their own lives, but in the lives of loved ones who may display signs of problem gambling. However, our proudest achievement is that we have dedicated personnel whose job is to monitor players’ RG-score and intervene before a problem occurs. We’re extremely exuberant about making interventions early, to the point where we regularly get irate customers who cannot understand why we’re doing this. These limits and our interventions are there to protect them from potential self-harm.
What are your personal aspirations for NEO.bet over the next few years?
My career has been about building businesses from the ground-up. I started a digital marketing agency that grew from a “2-people, 1-room” setup to over 130-people in 7-offices around the world. I sold my digital publishing business after hitting 80,000 subscribers and 300,000 page hits a month. I enjoy the challenge of joining companies in their infancy, and building it up, brick-by-brick, until they become a force to be reckoned with. I joined NEO.bet as the sole Canada-market employee and, today, we have a dedicated marketing, bookmaking, customer support, finance, legal, and compliance team that works with the centralized tech-team in Dortmund. NEO.bet ranks amongst the top 10 companies in Germany and my 3-year strategic plan is designed to emulate that rate of growth and success in the Canadian market. While the operations in Canada are, comparatively, still in their infancy, we’ve already got the foundation in place to grow rapidly. One thing’s for certain: you’re going to see and hear a lot more about NEO.bet in the coming months.