It’s the time of year when firms reflect on what has happened in their business in terms of growth opportunities and the challenges and innovations that could be the next big thing for 2013.
There is no doubt in my mind, and many others', that social gaming will continue to grab the headlines throughout the forthcoming year, but the reality is we live in still a very depressed economy in Europe which continues to exert pressure on disposal entertainment and gambling spend.
One example of this is the huge growth in payday lenders who offer cash advances and short-term loans to borrowers. These operators target the poor and low-income families across austerity-hit Europe and are falling foul of regulators thanks to some of their business practices. Rightly or wrongly these companies are fulfilling a customer need right now and that need is for money with the potential to solve some of their financial and other problems.
So where am I going with all this, you may well ask. It is well known that this same target demographic spends disproportionate amounts of money on the likes of the National Lottery, hoping to transform their lives by cashing in their dream ticket and winning millions of pounds.
Recent statistics from the Gambling Commission suggest nearly three-quarters of adults in the UK participate in some form of gambling, usually the lottery. Combining this statistic with the National Lottery selling more tickets than ever this year, fuelled by huge jackpots and the Olympics, all suggests consumer demand for low price-point large jackpot prizes is on the up.
Interestingly, Camelot’s aim is to encourage "many people to play but to each spend relatively small amounts,” which includes developing games with a range of themes, prize levels and price points to appeal to different audience segments. Yet it is the large jackpot games on offer which grab players’ hearts and minds, and wallets of course.
Following a jackpot-led product and marketing strategy has already been successful for many of the online casinos such as 888.com focusing on progressive slots with huge jackpots. I believe that traditional sports-led or live event-based jackpot bets, such as the Football Pools, which offers a range of bets and prizes with its product leader being the £3m Classic Pool, will see a continued resurgence throughout 2013. These bets are fulfilling a product need right now and, as the economy is unlikely to bounce back any time soon, means poor to low-income families segments will only continue to grow.
It’s likely we could see the roll-out of more pools-based super jackpot bets on live sporting events or other entertainment events from incumbents, or relatively new entrants such as Soccer Millionaire and others entering the space soon.
Yes large jackpot-style bets are here to stay.
