Q&A
month in minutes >
Rick Brownlow
> CEO > Bonza Gaming
eGaming Review (eGR): You recently
launched a real-money casino app on
Facebook. What can you tell us about
the new product?
Rick Brownlow (RB): Bonza Casino is
similar in terms of look and feel to our
Bonza Slots product and we are using
the same format in terms of tiles and
navigation so that it’s familiar to our
existing slots customer base. This is
where Facebook differs from the web
because in a way it’s more in line with
mobile in that you have distinct products
– you have smaller apps with smaller
product lines in them which appeal to a
more niche audience.
eGR: Why were the slots and casino
launches done in stages?
RB: It was always our idea to create a
very slots-speci?c application and then
launch a speci?c casino application
which we think will be aimed at different
customer bases. We’ve got a lot of
customers who have come into the slots
application where we were targeting
casino players who have probably come
in, had a little play but thought this
doesn’t really give them the breadth of
product they wanted because they’re
used to playing off-canvas. Now we’ve
got the casino application we can then
drive them to that side. So we’ve got
a cross-sell from our existing base and
we also hope to appeal to a whole new
audience out there.
eGR: So you are essentially trying to
diversify your product offering?
RB: Yes absolutely, but we’ll be doing it
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through two different apps. There will
be commonality and a consistent brand
across the two, and you can log in from
one to the other. But for all intents and
purposes it will be a different application
and we’ll probably run different
promotional offers.
There’s one thing that I’ve seen and
which we want to get away from, is the
complexity of wage and requirements
on casino apps. We’ve been doing some
competition analysis and I feel sorry for
customers in some instances. I’m sure
ours are confusing in a way, but we’re
really trying to make things simple,
particularly to the softer Facebook
audience because we think we appeal to
both the social world and the real-money
world. We’re trying effectively to convert
those customers who play on freemium
sites into real-money, while also taking
players who are currently playing on
[other real-money casino sites].
eGR: With Bonza Slots and Casino both
real-money apps, do you see yourselves
as a real-mon