INSIGHT
mobile gaming to consumers, encouraging
deposits, lowering attrition rates and
thereby increasing revenues.
provider, more often – but in a way that
means the provider or affiliate doesn’t
have to split the revenue with a
mobile operator.
Your flexible friend
Mobile payments are also versatile enough
to fulfil a variety of objectives for a gaming
provider or affiliate partner including allimportant customer acquisition. A gaming
provider doesn’t have to use mobile billing
to make every bet or deposit as easy as
possible for the end-user – the first halfdozen or so will do.
For a new player’s initial mobile
experience, direct operator billing provides
a low friction solution which allows the
focus to be on the interaction with the
game (not the process) from the outset.
Any interruption or hold-up to that initial
experience is an excuse to stop playing or
opt-out altogether.
Trust in mobile
Then there is the issue of trust. Although
the average Smartphone owner increasingly
spends money via their phone, there is still a
considerable trust barrier to overcome when
asking for credit card or billing details.
When it comes to acquiring new
customers via mobile, affiliates and
providers must earn the trust of the new
player – not just in their initial gaming
session, but for a period of time afterwards.
Customer acquisition is often based on
providing spontaneous game play, therefore,
it’s important to provide a seamless
payment experience coupled with clear and
transparent information and a positive user
experience. Doing so builds up enough trust,
resulting in repeat custom.
Long-term engagement
Once the end users feel comfortable
with the process and are playing the
games and spending money regularly
using mobile billing, the gaming provider
can then convert them to debit or
credit card payments instead.
By offering an incentive (free credit or
gaming chips, for example) a provider can
encourage the user to top up their gaming
account using their debit or credit card,
hopefully with larger sums of money
than what’s possible using only mobile
billing-based payments.
The user is encouraged to spend
larger sums of money with the gaming
with timely SMS promotions and offers
sent to customers, and its ease of use
can be the catalyst to encourage further
spontaneous gaming and spending
among casual gamers.
A fresh perspective
Unfortunately, many in the gaming
community – providers and affiliates alike
– who launch a mobile game or service
still look at mobile with ‘fixed’ online eyes.
Their ideal customer is still the player who
deposits £100 as a lump sum with them
each month. Mobile, however, is different. It
needs a fresh perspective. To properly cashin on mobile gaming, affiliates and providers
need to expand their view of their ideal ‘VIP’.
While a single player spending £100 each
month online from their desktop seems
ideal, let’s not overlook the value of mobile
gaming as a means for gamers to place
smaller bets more frequently – especially if
the gamer gets to use a payment mechanism
that is as quick, seamless and easy to use as
Premium SMS or DOB.
A new mobile gamer might initially
deposit £10, with the intention of using it
there and then and limiting their outlay.
However, the convenience and spontaneity
of operator billing-based mobile gaming
means that they are far more likely to
revisit the game on their mobile device,
deposit more frequently to keep playing
and so end up spending more in a month
than the £100 deposited by the online
desktop player.
A new breed of gamer
Mobile is the ideal channel for a provider or
affiliate to broaden their offering and expand
their appeal to this new breed of gamer.
These customers may not spend as much
as traditional customers, but they play more
often. The mobile phone is the device that’s
always on, always connected, and always
with them. It’s perfect for spontaneous,
spur-of-the-moment gaming by these users –
whether it’s using their phone to stake a few
pounds on the football match that they’re
watching in the pub or playing blackjack on
the train to and from work.
For these casual gamers, a frictionless
one-click user experience on their phone
– including the ability to easily place a bet
or top up their credit – is fundamental to
their ‘little and often’ pattern of game play.
Operator billing-based payment systems fit
this requirement perfectly. Integrate this
A new era
The rise in popularity of mobile gaming over
the last few years has been accompanied
by changes in policy and attitude by mobile
network operators that make today’s mobile
environment a much friendlier and more
lucrative place for gaming providers to do
business. These changes mean that mobile
is now an excellent opportunity for a provider
to broaden its offering, increase its customer
numbers, and boost its revenues. Adopting
easy-to-use, frictionless mobile payment
systems that use mobile network operators’
existing billing infrastructures is an important
step in capitalising on this opportunity.
Mobile operator-based billing does have
its limitations: restrictions by the mobile
operators mean that transactions cannot
exceed a particular price point, or total
transactions exceed a daily limit. These
restrictions vary from country to country
and operator to operator.
That said, it’s important to remember
that an operator’s core business is not as
a payment enabler for other companies,
and raising the limit on daily transaction
limits may elicit regulatory questions
that are more relevant to a