Bwin's Bodner: innovation to determine egaming's future

INNOVATION, NOT MARKETING will determine the success of egaming companies over the next decade, Bwin co-chief executive Manfred Bodner has predicted.

Speaking on the packed CEO Panel session yesterday at the EGR Live egaming conference and exhibition, Bodner argued that the brand-building via major marketing investments that has been behind the growth of some of egaming’s biggest players in the last ten years is over.

Bodner said: “The next 10 to 15 years in this industry will be about innovation. The last ten years have been about big branding and being the industry’s Red Bull, but the next ten will be about being an Apple, and offering consumers something new that revolutionises the market. Media spending will not be the answer.”

The Bwin co-chief also said live gaming has changed the nature of online gambling, and predicted that massively multi-player online games (MMOG) such as World of Warcraft offer egaming operators the chance to re-define the online betting experience.

“Live betting has transformed betting from being a transactional interaction into being an entertainment transaction. MMOG offers us room to move [further in that direction] because people spend longer online.”

As reported on EGRmagazine.com, in September Bwin acquired a majority shareholding in UnitedGames, the European MMOG publisher and developer.

Ladbrokes egaming head Ed Andrewes, also on the panel, agreed with Bodner that “betting in-play had revolutionised the product.”

Bodner, Andrewes and other panel members Mark Davies of Betfair, Nicolas Beraud of Betclick and Petter Nylander of Unibet also discussed topics including the future of egaming regulation in Europe.

EGR Live coincided with the EGR Awards 2009, where Bwin was named Operator Of The Year 2009. For more on EGR Live, see today’s EGR Awards Snapshot.