Operators and suppliers converging their brands, products and services has long been talked about, but with the exception of the offline and online poker worlds, strategies have remained sketchy at best. Tom Victor reports on how the dawn of social gaming in particular has sparked ?rms into increasingly converging products and platforms in order to exploit new revenue streams
n 2006, the Main Event at the World Series of Poker (WSOP) drew a record 8,773 players and an unprecedented prize pool of more than US$82m. However, the following year, the passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) prompted WSOP organisers to rule that “No third-party registrations will be accepted from online gaming sites conducting business with US residents”, and the Main Event turnout was cut by 24% as a result. This marked the passing of a plateau for online operators breaching the offline world. Ever since then, however, as the US has drawn closer to regulation, land-based operators and service providers have kept a close eye on online progress elsewhere in the world with a view to taking their land-based activities online. With regulatory uncertainty still prominent, a growing number of ?rms have looked to converge offline to online, while some have taken this further and incorporated elements of social and mobile gaming. Much of this depends on core markets, with some of those still thriving outside the US – particularly Rank Group and bwin.party – looking to develop mobile and social niches to drive crossover between various elements of their player bases. Rank’s Mecca Bingo brand is one that has looked to exploit overlaps between its online and land-based demographics, recently signing brand licensing deals with X-Factor and Britain’s Got Talent to capitalise on two television shows of interest to land-based and online players. Angus Nisbet, Rank Interactive gaming director, suggests: “The essence of brand loyalty is passé in that people aren’t loyal to brands any more, but they do use brands to ma ?????????????????????Q????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????q%?????????????????`???????????????e?????????????????????????????????????????()$()??????e???????????????????????????????????????L???e??????????????????t????????????()=????????????????)Q??????????????????????UL?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????A????A????e?????????????????????]????A????Q????]AP?????????????? ????????????????e????????????????????????????????????????e??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????UL??????????????????????????????
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