Poll results: Scale all important in new era of consolidation

Continued consolidation across the egaming industry will make it harder for small operators to compete, according to respondents to this week’s eGaming Review poll.

A majority of readers agreed that increasing marketing costs and the need to compete with industry heavyweights make scale more important than ever, with 58% indicating size will be a critical factor going forward.

Long running M&A sagas involving the likes of Ladbrokes, Gala Coral, bwin.party, 888 and GVC seem to suggest that those who predicted the UK’s PoC squeeze and the increasing prevalence of the dot country model would force a new era of consolidation were right.

However, a sizable minority of 42% said deep marketing pockets, such as those belonging to bet365, Paddy Power and Betfair, wouldn’t be the only factor, arguing that innovative and nimble brands are still in a strong position to grab market share from bigger, slower operators.

Last week BetBright’s CEO Marcus Brennan bullishly told eGR he expected his company to become a household name and soon be capable of taking on the industry’s big guns.

“Without control, flexibility, agility and adaptability great people cannot perform, innovation is stifled and you can’t win in the long run,” Brennan said.

Regardless, finding ways to compete on a seeming unequal playing field will be the primary challenge for small to medium-sized operators over the coming months.