As ZingBrain prepares to launch in the US, the firm’s CEO Vladislav Artemyev has spoken to SBC Americas about their AI products and what separates them from their competitors.
SBC: For those of our readers less familiar with ZingBrain, can you tell us a bit more about the company?
Vladislav Artemyev: ZingBrain has developed an artificial intelligence engine specifically for the online gambling industry that allows sportsbook and casino operators to make recommendations to players based on their own data, behaviors, and preferences. It uses the same cutting-edge technologies behind the likes of Netflix and Youtube, allowing operators to deliver a truly personal player experience for the very first time. This presents many upsides to the operator, allowing them to strengthen engagement, increase wagering activity and maximize the lifetime value of each and every one of their players.
SBC: What’s your unique selling point – what separates you from your direct competition?
Artemyev: There is no other company in the market that is doing what we do. ZingBrain is the first to bring this technology to the online gambling sector, and about time too. If you look at other entertainment industries such as streaming, mobile gaming, and even online dating, consumers receive recommendations based on their previous behaviors and activity. But to date, online gambling operators have not offered this level of personalization to their customers.
Sure, some online casinos recommend slots based on the previous titles the player has played but this is usually based on the developer or the theme. To really match players to games, you need to look at much more than that including the return to player, volatility, features, reels, paylines, etc and also data relating to the player – when they play, how long they play for, do they just play slots or do they also enjoy table games and live dealer, etc.
Based on this, operators can make more accurate recommendations to players not just in terms of games to play but also the bonuses and rewards they give them and even the time of day they communicate and make recommendations. This is a deep level of personalization that is currently only available with Zing AI and those already using Zing AI are generating some pretty incredible numbers that should make others sit up and take note.
Most are seeing on average a 20% increase in turnover, a 30% rise in bet count, a 150% jump in bet count per widget, and a 150% boost to user engagement.
SBC: What prompted your ambitions to move into the US market? Can you describe what the process was like?
Artemyev: North America will undoubtedly become one of the largest online gambling markets in the world so there isn’t an operator, supplier, or stakeholder that does not want to gain access to the market and ZingBrain is no different. Beyond that, we believe that Zing AI is the perfect product for North America as consumers expect highly personalized experiences when engaging with online and mobile entertainment.
Operators that do not offer this will find that consumers do not engage with sportsbooks and casinos at the levels they are perhaps expecting and will instead spend their entertainment hours and dollars elsewhere. Such is our confidence and belief in the power of AI and recommendation engines that we wanted to enter the US market early so that we can support operators making their debuts in states across the US.
SBC: How will you approach the US market given that regulation is applied on a state-by-state basis? What states are you targeting?
Artemyev: We are first going to target New Jersey as it is one of the most established states and has a very healthy market in terms of its population, the number of operators live, and of course, the revenues that are being generated. That both online casino and sports betting are available is another key factor behind our decision to debut in the Garden State. Once up and running there, we will roll out into other regulated states.
SBC: What products do you intend to launch first in the US?
Artemyev: We will be launching with our full suite of products which includes our Zing Sportsbook Recommendation Engine and our Zing Casino Recommendation Engine.
Our sportsbook system has been designed to adapt quickly to new and unknown events – it doesn’t need to be retrained seasonally. It can also recognize different bettor types – casual, regular, accumulator, and adjusts the content pushed to them to ensure the highest levels of engagement. All content pushed to bettors is displayed in the most prominent place on the operator’s sportsbook and adapted to whether the player is playing from desktop, laptop, smartphone, or tablet.
Our casino system uses manually collected data for up to 60 game providers and, via AI, analyses more than 20 criteria for each game. This data is unique and means that we can adapt our recommendation system to any player, even those with very specific preferences and needs.
We know that players spend a lot of time searching for games instead of playing the game itself, so our system offers personalized sorting of all games for each player to ensure they receive relevant content quickly. We also know that players become bored of playing the same games over and over again, so instead of being able to “Favourite” slots, we believe it is important for players to receive notifications of new games that are highly likely to match their preferences.
Our system shows one to four new games that match the players’ preferences which appear as a pop-up as soon as they have closed the current slot they are playing. The system also delivers a personalized “New for You” section with additional games that match their criteria.
Of course, we will continue to develop our suite of products with new tools and features and will roll these out across the US market as and when they are ready to leave our production line.
