Like a great British soap opera, 2018 left us on a cliff-hanger after a rollercoaster year of highs and lows. As with all soaps we’ve seen families coming together, in the form of mergers such as SkyBet and The Stars Group, GVC and Ladbrokes Coral, Mr Green and William Hill and FanDuel and Paddy Power Betfair to name a few. There was new life and reason to celebrate as the US market opened up to sports betting, while England’s exciting World Cup run led to sustained betting interest. Elsewhere, instant pay-out options are now providing punters with winnings immediately. Read our blog on the Rugby World Cup.
Happiness is mixed with several challenges for its residents, each affecting people in different ways. 2018 saw scheme fee increases from both Visa & Mastercard, while the UK government announced a reduction of the FOBT transaction limit to £2 and followed that up with a 6% RGD increase from April 2019.
Of course, there’s always a human interest storyline at the centre of public discussion. 2018 was no exception and, in the gambling industry’s case, player protection really came to the fore. Sweden turned the screw with their new licence requirements, where there is a heavy focus on player protection. Italy closely followed when they announced a full gambling ad ban from Jan 2019, or 30th June 2019 for operators with existing deals. The year was rounded off by UK gambling companies agreeing a pre-watershed, whistle-to-whistle advertising ban – expected to take effect midway through 2019.
All of this has left us on the edge of our seats as we wonder what will happen next.
Old storylines will rumble on. Operators will be feeling the pinch with tax changes. This is especially the case in the UK and Italy, who recently announced that increases from January 1st, 2019 for online casino revenue from 20 – 25% and 22 – 24% for sports betting.
Estranged family members will appear in the form of expanding into previously-unconsidered or, in some cases, closed markets. Not to mention new life making an appearance in the shape of certain LATAM countries, India and Africa potentially.
Whole new characters will be introduced and take up more airtime as the year progresses. It’s possible that we’ll see eGaming grow from strength-to-strength. Meanwhile, personalisation will be more important-than-ever as companies seek to differentiate themselves. This could also be the year where one of the big operators takes a chance on crypto/ blockchain technology.
Speaking of main characters, there will almost certainly be another marriage as M&A will continue throughout the industry.
Let’s not forget, in all of this, that the audience is key and without them there is no show. Player protection will continue to increase. It’s likely that we haven’t seen the last of full advertisement bans, though I don’t think that the whistle-to-whistle ban will have that big of an overall effect on operators’ total processing. Pay-in and pay-out processes will continue to get quicker and easier, thanks to new payment methods and instant withdrawals.
In true soap fashion we end on one final twist, in the plot of a long-running story – which is how operators and their customers will adapt to Strong Customer Authentication as a result of PSD2. This will require two forms of identification using what a person has, knows or is. How will the story end? That’s yet to be written.
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