In recent years, big data has been one of the buzzwords across various industries, including online entertainment. Everyone’s attention to it is well-justified. Data collection and analytics are tremendously helpful for enhancing user experience, optimizing marketing, and maximizing user retention. No wonder that online gambling companies, which have grown dramatically during the pandemic, are using big data for basically all processes, from recommendation algorithms to payments and beyond.
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Improved user experience
The number one reason why all businesses, including online gambling platforms, use big data is to optimize customer experience and, therefore, attract and retain players. Meticulous data collection is what drives this process. By collecting and analyzing big data, online casinos know what they need to change to be even more appealing for their target demographic (as well as winning over new demographics). Sure, this refers primarily to enhancing game selection, bonus systems, and other game-related things.
However, other aspects of user experience can be improved via big data collection as well. For example, the number of casino sites that accept electronic checks has grown over the past year or so after casino operators realized that a lot of players find this payment method convenient.
Enhanced recommendation algorithms
As discussed, thanks to big data analytics, casino operators get to learn basically everything about their customers’ preferences. In the past, to know what players like and dislike, gambling companies had to do extensive market research by asking customers to complete surveys or communicating with them on social media. This is no longer the case.
Now, gambling operators are tracking what people play, when, and for how long. As a result, online casinos know enough about players to tailor everything to their tastes. Among other things, this enhances AI-powered recommendation algorithms. Major gambling platforms are not unlike YouTube in that they know exactly what each player appreciates and offer just that.
Learning from competitors
What is more, big data analytics help casino operators track their industry competitors and adopt the strategies that make them successful (or alternatively, learn from others’ mistakes). This is especially helpful when a gambling platform wants to attract new demographics and diversify its customer base but does not know what to change to do so. By analyzing the approach of the competitors who are popular among the audience of interest, online casinos can make this happen.
Besides, tracking competitors’ performance by collecting big data helps gambling operators to keep up with the industry trends. Players’ preferences are constantly changing. For example, online card games used to be popular in the past but now, slots and sports betting are much more in demand. The more data an operator processes, the earlier it can notice such changes.
Higher security
Online casinos have always been among hackers’ favorite targets. Gambling companies have lost huge amounts of money because they failed to identify and fix breaches in security fast enough. While casinos, as opposed to players, are usually the target, security problems are still problematic for operators’ image and, therefore, to their user retention.
Luckily for them, though, big data analytics facilitates threat detection and ensures a higher level of security. It informs an improved payment infrastructure and helps develop relevant AI-powered fraud detection algorithms. Given how skilled hackers are, they still find loopholes, but the prevalence of frauds is getting lower by the day.
Customer retention
Finally, big data provides online casino operators with tools for maximizing player retention. Given how competitive the iGaming industry is, it is not surprising that online casinos keep losing customers to competitors. The only way to avoid this is by constantly collecting data to track each user’s playing patterns and react once their activity starts decreasing. Casinos that take this seriously never cease to come up with new loyalty-promoting strategies, which helps them retain players and stay on top of their game.
Caroline is doing her graduation in IT from the University of South California but keens to work as a freelance blogger. She loves to write on the latest information about IoT, technology, and business. She has innovative ideas and shares her experience with her readers.
