Q&A: Eoin Ryan, head of sportsbook product, BetVictor

Eoin Ryan, head of sportsbook product at BetVictor, on the development of its new cash out function on mobile, a feature the operator claims is the “quickest” in the industry

Two of our iOS developers actually built this product in their own time. They presented it to the wider business and the response was fantastic – it was a real wow moment. It’s fantastic that we have developers working for us who are so attuned to our customer’s needs and are so well placed to come up with products like Quick Cash Out. We have big plans for the product and believe it can feature in our above-the-line marketing plans. Quick Cash Out is clearly resonating with our iOS app users and the feedback is extremely positive as you can imagine for a best-of-breed product.

Quick Cash Out is a complementary offering to our standard Cash Out experience. Customers can use both services alongside one another. Essentially, it’s a slimmed-down version in terms of the additional features we offer in our full Cash Out product, but if you’re looking to cash out in a hurry, it’s an unbeatable service. The service will save customers valuable time in their journey to the Cash Out button, with the option to Cash Out appearing in the user’s iPhone Notifications area, accessible from the iOS home screen. In many instances a customer can be Cashed Out just two seconds after making the decision to do so.

Our Cash Out product is 100% in-house developed. This is brilliant but it does naturally present some technical challenges – it’s a big beast. In terms of developing the product, for us it’s about keeping it simple yet innovative. Quick Cash Out is the first in a number of new innovations we have in the pipeline – so watch this space.

We are on two paths at the moment. On the one hand we need to extend our Cash Out offering to additional sports, and on the other we are always trying to innovate, which we see as our big differentiator. We have partial Cash Out in place now and we also support half ball and quarter ball Asian Handicaps, which is a unique industry offering and a very important one for us. Now we have an innovation focused on speed and simplicity, built in a native iOS app. We are pushing boundaries constantly to differentiate ourselves as technological innovators.

Quick Cash Out embodies our ‘Simple As’ messaging ethos perfectly. It is the first of our products that will feature front and centre in our above-the-line and digital communications going forward. Product is key to our marketing activity post 2016 and throughout 2017, and Quick Cash Out is the perfect product to spearhead that new strategy.

 It’s a huge advantage to have the app developed in-house on several levels. We are in complete control of the product and can develop it quickly, almost as soon as the idea is agreed upon and signed off. It’s also great for our developers to have a chance to work on their own ideas and see the fruit of their labours in the hands of our customers – it’s really beneficial to their development.

 We have further innovative products in the pipeline too. We have a forthcoming horseracing innovation that will be launching soon and we are at the early stages of developing new In-Play and Cash Out products. Our native app users will continue to see improvements made to existing products and new innovative launches throughout the second half of this year.