Mor Weizer: Mobile is yesterday's story

With the UK market currently undergoing a process of consolidation and major operators increasingly developing more of products in-house, you could be forgiven for thinking the size of opportunity for suppliers will be reduced.

Not so, according to Playtech chief executive Mor Weizer, who after posting a 33% increase in H1 revenues this morning told eGaming Review his firm remained well positioned to profit from the rapidly evolving market.

“I am happy to say that we anticipated and expected this [consolidation] to happen,” Weizer said.

“We have created certain initiatives that make us even more appealing to our customers in the UK given the increased competition and we definitely see consolidation as an opportunity for Playtech,” Weizer said.

Only yesterday Weizer saw two of the firm’s customers Betfair and Paddy Power announce they were to become one, with the revelation coming hot on the heels of a similar announcement from key Playtech customers Ladbrokes and Gala Coral. And more unions are likely.

And in preparation for this, Weizer said Playtech has been focused on strengthening relationships with its UK-facing clients, which includes the offer of its omni-channel Playtech ONE solution, and expects the firm to be an important player in ensuring post-merger integration processes go to plan.

“Integrations are always tricky and the businesses that are consolidating will concentrate on operational synergies and I believe they will rely on Playtech as a strategic technology partner of both companies, in the case of Paddy Power and Betfair, to assist in creating those synergies.

“We also see an opportunity with two businesses that complement each other – one with retail and online and one that is very good with exchange online – so we definitely see those coming together and enjoying the benefits of a seamless journey from retail to web to mobile,” he added.

Weizer pointed to the recent success of Coral’s single wallet, omni-channel Connect card as an example of the growth that can be achieved by gathering and processing additional data derived from an existing customer base and said he expects the industry to move towards an even more data-driven approach.

“We still talk about mobile but mobile is yesterday’s story and people should align themselves with the information age and with data,” Weizer said. “If you look at the Coral numbers, Coral today enjoy, and have for the last few quarters, a very significant increase in its business.

“This is due to certain initiatives to do with information, to do with data, to do with existing customers and their existing business – accelerating growth from existing customers. And we believe this is something companies will invest into in the coming quarters and Playtech has detailed knowledge and more resources than any other company in this space.

“Without referring to specific names, I would say that most bookmakers in the UK saw the performance of Coral and understand the importance of bringing together all the different parts of their business,” he added.

Weizer also said M&A remained a crucial part of the Playtech strategy moving forward although suggested this was more likely to be seen within its burgeoning financials division, which by September is expected to have risen to three acquisitions.

“M&A is a very important element of our strategy and therefore we are definitely active in both gaming and financials but specifically financials,” he said.