British gambling giant Entain has revealed its decision to double its investment in its game development studios because the company wants to enhance its focus on online gambling following the closures of hundreds of high-street betting outlets.
Entain, which currently owns brands such as Ladbrokes, Coral and bwin, also plans to double the number of employees who work at its in-house studios across the UK, India and Italy to around 300.
Jette Nygaard-Andersen, who recently took over the Chief Executive Officer’s position of the gambling group, shared that original online content is expected to form an extremely important part of her strategy as a company’s boss as she is willing to see Entain attract new customers. Ms Nygaard-Andersen told Reuters that the British gambling group is willing to provide its customers with an expanded choice in the markets where the company is already present and add new services in order to reach more people and enhance their experience.
As mentioned above, the closures of hundreds of high-street betting shops that had been operating under the Ladbrokes brand and have been an integral part of British high-street culture, has been a major sign for the gambling industry’s steady shift to digitalisation, which has become even more serious during the 18 months of coronavirus lockdowns.
Entain Willing to Attract Younger Audiences to Its Online Gambling Services
According to reports, Entain managed to add 4 million online customers in 2020. The company is also recovering from the serious collapse experienced earlier this year of a buyout by the US casino giant MGM Resorts International after the two parties failed to agree on the valuations.
As far as the new investments in the game development studios are concerned, the British gambling operator did not unveil the actual amount it was investing. Still, Entain shared that the new content it aims to start offering would include free-to-play slots tournaments, as well as a sports-themed digital product. The new products are expected to be released by the end of 2021.
The newly-appointed Chief Executive Officer of the gambling group also noted that the company is looking to develop some gambling products that would especially target e-sport fans, many of who are millennials, or, in other words, try to come up with a product that would be found attractive by younger audiences. Furthermore, Ms Nygaard-Andersen explained that Entain is willing to expand its reach to some new markets. She said that the British gambling operator is looking at around 50 markets that are getting fully regulated, because it is willing to expand its reach to new territories and consumers on top of the ones the company already offers its services.
According to experts, such an expansion would help the operator compensate for the closures of its UK high-street betting shops that remained inoperable during the coronavirus pandemic closures.
- Author
Olivia Cole
