«The Second Day of WGES Main Summit 2017

Today was the second day of the famous and long-anticipated event – Main Summit of WGES. It was filled with ideas sharing, networking and talking with the advanced and senior executives of the whole gambling market. Yesterday we took part at the official conference, followed by BBQ and grand party. We found that the party was good because many people were late for the next conference, which took place this morning.

The Day Two was expectedly more peaceful than Day One. We talked about lotteries, strategies of attracting new gamblers, and then we listened to the final inspiring speech.

We talked to many people, involved in the gambling business during the two days of WGES Main Summit and Marcus Geiss was one of them. Navidad Foundation CEO has been working in the lottery sphere for many years and today he took part in the conference called “Lotteries Don’t Have to Be Boring”. He says that lotteries greatly differ from gambling. Gambling is like entertainment, while lotteries are like dreams, which can come true. He adds that people get older and tend to spend money on dreams instead of entertainment. That’s why lotteries are addressed to people with families, with kids, with dreams.

It’s extremely important to shift the focus to customers, this individual approach is necessary for lottery organization. Unfortunately, it’s not easy, because it differs from traditional lottery business. But still, we hope that in five years we will see individual approach in lottery organizations, and this will be greatly accepted by people. Geiss also underlined the importance of highlighting the winners of big lottery jackpot. He says that it’s hard to win, but winners still exist. People are sure that lottery system is not true and it’s impossible to win any jackpot. That’s why it’s necessary to tell stories of winners and to show people that the winners do exist.

Connie Dorrestijn delivered the main speech about generational change. Holland FinTech’s representative mentioned some points of interaction between gambling world and FinTech. She said that the contemporary gambling industry looks like the banking industry in 2008, when it was dominated by white men and very few women. So, reputation of the majority of banks was not good at those times. According to Connie, the contemporary gambling business has the same reputation. The key to solving this problem is regulation, that is the opportunity, Dorrestijn says. If people don’t know something, they don’t love it. But if you open up, you will be loved.

Dorrestijn recommended avoiding concentrating on special age groups, including “millennials”, because people’s behavior matters much more, than their age. That’s why, on her opinion, the people’s experience is more important, than the offered technique.

According to Connie, the gambling industry is sitting on much money, that’s why motivation to develop and innovate is not high. She underline the necessity of studying the current movements and reported that Blockchain greatly reminds on the internet before browsers, when it was full of challenges and promises.

The best way of attracting new customers, according to Connie, is story telling instead of surveying. She recommended asking customers about their mood, their experience of playing this or that game, their impression on the casino on the whole. She said that such questions would bring more feedback.

Gamevy’s representative, Helen Walton, took part in several sessions as a moderator. She really enjoyed her job at WGES. She closed out the whole event saying that the experience, that all the participants had gained at the WGES session, would help them to develop their business. She underlined that it’s necessary to use the gained knowledge after the summit is over.

Adam Shaw, WGES organizer, confirmed the expected WGES 2018, which would take place in Barcelona. He emphasized that such events are very useful for senior execs in the gambling industry, because here they have an opportunity to talk and exchange their experience in the relaxed atmosphere.