Tablets hold key for further Paddy Power growth

Paddy Power is targeting further mobile growth by increasing its focus on tablet products to make cross-selling into its other apps easier.

After announcing mobile net revenues increased 250% in H1 compared to the same period last year, head of online Peter O’Donovan told eGaming Review Paddy Power now intends to build on the growth by increasing its cross-selling capability within mobile and tablet products.

“We are working on how you launch different apps from within apps,” O’Donovan said. “We benefit greatly from offering a single wallet but there are elements of usability we need to improve.

“Within the confines of a smaller screen we want to allow the customer to consume the primary product they are using but at the same time cross-sell another product as well.”

He added that increased penetration of tablet devices will make this task easier in the years to come. “If you look at the growth of tablet devices you really feel that that’s the next opportunity for growth. Tablet sales are increasing at a pace and represent about 60% of PC sales at the moment, and more tablets will be sold than PCs by 2016-17. That’s the wave we’re trying to catch.”

In its results for the first half of 2013, the Irish operator revealed 36% of customers placed a bet on egaming via a mobile device, accounting to 29% of net revenues.

These increases were driven primarily by the roll-out of new content, O’Donovan said. Some 40 mobile casino games have been released so far this year including 14 of which have been delivered by the company’s games development subsidiary Cayetano Gaming.

The operator has already targeted the growing tablet market through these releases, notably with the launch of its iOS-specific Roller Casino and Paddy Power Vegas apps. Both are native applications for iOS devices and feature a range of real-money games including tables, slots, video poker, and roulette.