The digitalization of the casino market in the US will soon be a top technical need for operators, predicted Adam Gontarz, CEO for web and mobile software developer CrustLab.

As part of an interview for SBC News, Gontarz reflected on the rapid growth of the US gambling industry which has forced casinos and sports betting operators to adjust their strategy. 

“With the series of events in America regarding licensing online sports betting and online casinos, parts of the gambling industry are growing rapidly,” he explained. 

“Many processes are going on, but based on the conversations I have with my partners and clients, the casino market’s digitalization will be a top technical need shortly, having in mind the number of land-based casinos in the USA.” 

Having maintained a core presence in the European market, CrustLab is now establishing a stronghold across the pond. For example, it carried out a series of projects with Sportech – a leading provider of pari-mutuel betting services for countries including the US. 

Gontarz continued: “Recently on our website, we’ve published a case study presenting the scope of work that we’ve done for Sportech – one of the biggest clients we cooperate with. We also created a sportsbook for one of the US markets, but the name of the company wouldn’t be well known to everybody.”

One of the biggest challenges that companies are facing, according to Gontarz, is ensuring that they are in line with new guidelines set out by Apple as part of the iOS 14 update. 

“Understanding these guidelines is essential from the marketing perspective as Apple has limited what can be published in notifications,” he said. 

“A few companies that we cooperate with had marketing campaigns promoting their other services, but not the app’s features. Right now, it’s restricted, so they’ve had to limit their marketing campaigns – on our side changes in the notifications logic were required.

“Apple guidelines are a kind of greatness to our developers. Following them, we guarantee that the quality of apps we deliver is high and competitive.”

Gontarz then expanded on widgets and App Clips, two of the most significant changes as part of the new guidelines. “App Clips are small parts of an app so that users can get what they need right when they need it,” he explained. 

“The feature has not been widely introduced in the market. Most probably, some companies do not know about the potential of the feature. It makes it possible to quickly promote your app, shorten bettor acquisition by opening multiple new channels like messages or dedicated QR codes. We strongly suggest that feature to our customers. 

“With newly introduced widgets, app owners have a great occasion to reduce the number of steps customers would have to perform to place a bet or at least customers should be able to, for example, review top pools, carryovers, or favorite events directly from the main screen. 

“Both things are something companies should use very offensively as they reduce the user journey and improve customer acquisition rate. I believe this is an excellent set of updates that companies should invest in, especially for offensive players spending thousands of dollars a week through multiple channels.”