With online gambling and iGaming activities continuing to surge in popularity across the globe, a growing wave of mergers, acquisitions and consolidations of platforms is reshaping the sector as we know it today.
As these different online casino markets become more well-established and mature, larger operators are frequently absorbing smaller entertainment brands, in order to scale up and reduce their overall overheads. It’s fascinating to consider how this growing trend of brand consolidation is changing the very nature of the sector, affecting the competition and innovation on display in the iGaming world today.
To understand this phenomenon in more detail, we reached out to Alexander Korsager, Chief Gaming Officer at Casino.org. With over a decade of industry experience under his belt and a keen understanding of the underlying trends that are shaping the online casino world, Alexander was able to provide some seriously interesting insights into the increasingly frequent merging of major iGaming platforms that we’re seeing right now. Through his work to create Casino.org’s guidance content across numerous leading global markets, Alexander has built a deep understanding of how these different market forces interact, and it was fascinating to hear his thoughts on the future of the industry!
Thanks for joining us today, Alex. Having watched the evolution of the iGaming industry for over a decade, why do you think we are seeing such a sustained increase in mergers and acquisitions?
It’s a pleasure. I think there are a few different factors driving this trend, but it is largely down to the increasing influence of regulation. Ten years ago, when I started out on my career in the iGaming sector, it was generally much easier to launch an online casino platform. The industry was still in its early days, and wider compliance frameworks still had a lot of catching up to do. Fast forward to today, and operators now face major licensing and operating costs, as well as compliance and responsible gambling requirements. That’s a good thing on the whole, as it’s driven up standards throughout the industry – however, it does mean that smaller companies face greater challenges to establish a presence.
Meanwhile, we’re seeing that larger and more well-established operators have realized they can scale up and make their operations more efficient by bringing multiple brands together. It’s a common trend across the business world, so it’s unsurprising that we’re seeing this phenomenon develop in the iGaming sector as well. Brand partnerships, acquisitions and new mergers of major casino brands are happening all the time, as scale is becoming such a decisive factor in the overall success of an online casino brand today. Even for seasoned experts like myself and my colleagues over at Casino.org, it can be pretty tough to keep up with the speed and variety of changes taking place!
As consolidation grows, how is this affecting innovation and variation within the global iGaming sector?
It’s a varied picture. Larger operators have considerable resources, and that means they can invest a lot of money and energy into innovation and new ideas. These major companies have large departments of experienced staff, all working together to improve their operations and boost the overall success of their platforms. That can actually boost innovation, if everything works out – however, we know all too well that larger organizations move a lot more slowly. There’s greater complexity involved, more hoops to jump through, and they’re often less likely to take risks than smaller businesses. It’s an interesting phenomenon, as whilst players have a much wider variety of online casino platforms to choose from than ever before, they’re actually often owned by the same companies, which is changing the nature of the industry quite significantly. Over at Casino.org, we’re just hopeful that the industry can retain its innovative spirit whilst scaling up where it’s needed.
From the perspective of players, can you talk us through the possible benefits of this trend, as well as some of the downsides?
There are certainly some key benefits here for players across the world. As I mentioned, effective regulatory approaches have definitely driven up standards in the industry, and larger operators tend to offer a more sophisticated user experience. Major brands can offer better security and a more reliable offering, whilst players also benefit from improvements to customer support services and payment processing speeds. Typically, consolidation of platforms also enables operators to build stronger infrastructure, which can help to smooth out any performance issues and keep the good times rolling for players.
In some ways, there can also certainly be downsides to this trend for players. For many people, I think there’s a concern that smaller and more independent gaming brands will lose out, causing the sector to become very homogenous and lacking in new ideas. That’s a really valid concern for those who are invested in the iGaming space today, and I think it’s important to uphold that sense of competition and maintain a wide variety of options for players. It’s something that regulators and operators need to keep in mind over the years to come, as I think maintaining a varied market is really important. It’s all about keeping that spirit of creativity alive in this sector that has the capacity to be so exciting!
As the wave of mergers, acquisitions and platform consolidation continues, what do you think the wider iGaming industry could look like in another 10 years’ time?
Great question. I think new technologies are going to be an instrumental part of any changes we see in the next 10 years, especially things like artificial intelligence and personalization tools. I think there will be less operators overall, but I also like to think that the overall variety of the experiences available to players will be far greater than its ever been in the history of the iGaming industry. There’s so much exciting innovation happening in the online casino sector right now, regardless of the increasing wave of mergers and consolidations. The market is definitely maturing, and there’s an exciting decade ahead!
