Operators and suppliers need to create a “seamless and frictionless” digital experience for Gen Z consumers according to Suzohapp’s President, Sim Bielak.
Bielak offered his insight when he sat down with the Editor of SBC Americas Jessica Welman, at the recent Canadian Gaming Summit.
The Gen Z generation encompasses people born between the late nineties and early 2010s. They are known as the first social generation to have grown up with access to the internet and portable digital technology from a young age.
As a result, Gen Z’s consumer expectations and preferences in the gaming industry differ from previous generations.
“They’re very digital orientated. So I think, irrelevant to what your product offering is it needs to be a seamless experience, and frictionless because that’s what they’re used to,” Bielak said.
He also explained that he has noticed an increase in Gen Z adopting electronic table games, as they closely resemble PC gaming, where players can pick and choose between games rather than slots that are limited to a single game.
“I think you’ll see a natural technological evolution over time. If you look at somebody like in my generation, we know about an arcade game. We went and put quarters in and picked the game we wanted to play,” he added.
“They’re used to getting a little console or a PC and picking what they want to play. I think it has to be, irrelevant of how they’re going to play – whether that’s on a home PC or they’re going to play on their mobile or in a casino – it has to be presented to them in the fashion that they’re used to.”
A challenge for operators and suppliers is trying to include an array of different games in one cabinet when working in regulated environments. To overcome the problem, Bielak stressed the importance of stakeholders working together.
“I think the way we have to start thinking about this is it’s no longer about just your traditional slot machine gaming, but more of a gaming experience encompassing gaming as in PC gaming complete. So this is another form of entertainment. And I think that technology is there.”
“If you look at the traditional slot machine business as it is today, it’s not really sustainable long term. So if you look at what an operator does and what a manufacturer does, they want to make sure that they’re all running as profitable, successful businesses. So I think there’s an opportunity there to help them bridge the gap between the hardware side, and the operator side and to come in with a solution that could create a really digital experience.”
An important part of offering a seamless and frictionless experience is offering different payment options and, thanks to the rise of credit cards and digital wallets, society is becoming more accepting of cashless systems.
“Cash will always exist, but it’ll become a smaller percentage of the overall handle. And as you get into the younger generations, it’ll become more and more acceptable to normalize to accept cashless forms of payment,” Bielak said.
“I think you’ll see a natural migration as the technology gets adopted. Even in the casinos today there are probably, let’s say 50-100,000 machines that are already adopted with cashless, but It’s not the norm today and it differs from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.”
He added that, although regulators are hesitant about casinos going cashless, it may offer opportunities to enhance responsible gambling efforts as cashless payments offer “greater transparency” and you could potentially block transactions from players who are exhibiting signs of problem gambling.
