New poll: Can online-retail link provide boom for bookmakers?
Playtech's new FOBT offering could blur line between online and offline betting
Creating a seamless online and retail customer experience has long been a challenge for bookmakers, yet new technology set to be implemented by some of the UK’s largest operators could finally provide a solution to the problem.
The news that Coral is set to install fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) that are linked to customers’ online accounts in their high street stores suggests operators are looking to blur the lines between online and offline customers. A single wallet for use either in-shop or at home is another barrier removed from the customer journey to depositing cash.
Paddy Power has made moves to create a seamless experience from the high street to the desktop in recent times, giving its corporate identity a complete overhaul so branding and logos matched across the two. And should Gala Coral and potentially other UK-focused operators find success with Playtech’s system, many more will no doubt follow suit.
In this week’s poll, we want to know whether you think this could be the start of a successful overlap between retail bookies and their online offerings. Or are the two customer sets intrinsically to far apart for this to provide any major uplift in revenues?
Have your say in our poll at the right hand side of this page.