William Hill sharpens gaming focus for 2017
Hills CIO Kevin O’Connor tells EGR Intel gaming has lacked investment in recent years but will “put much more effort into that”
William Hill plans to improve its back-end platform to provide a more customised gaming experience in 2017, and expects the desktop version of its sportsbook to migrate onto the Trafalgar front-end platform in the “coming months”.
Speaking to EGR Intel, group chief information officer, Kevin O’Connor, said the bookmaker would place a “huge focus” on gaming this year, an area he admitted hadn’t received heavy investment in recent years, as it looked to improve navigation and provide a more customised experience.
Improvements will be made to the firm’s back end-platform to make it more “componentised”, which will enable the operator to “innovate faster” going forwards.
“We have not invested as much in gaming historically as perhaps others have and we will put much more effort into that,” said O’Connor.
“We have over 1,000 games and offer more games than anyone else, but with the number of games we need to improve the navigation because each customer will have a very small subject that they’re interested in.
“What we need to do is customise the experience each user has so that the relevant content is delivered to them and all the other less relevant information doesn’t get in the way. The focus is customisation and ease of navigation.”
O’Connor also revealed plans for the bookmaker to introduce a single wallet across its sportsbook and gaming verticals to create a more “personalised and simple” experience.
“A lot of it is around simplification. We have the content, it’s the rest that we need to invest more in,” added O’Connor.
He also said he expected the desktop sportsbook to migrate onto the Trafalgar front-end platform in the “coming months”, however conceded the move was not the most pressing concern for the firm at present.
“This is a priority, but it’s not our highest priority at this point in time,” he said.