Dmytro Taran: “Bonusing is changing, we need to adapt and innovate”

Casino Guru News had the chance to plunge into the exciting world of bonusing with Slotegrator COO Dmytro Taran, who walked us through the status quo, the changing landscape for promotions, and the unique angles that companies Slotegrator including are exploring in order to create new "quest-like" experiences. In our conversation with Taran, you will discover insightful remarks about the bonus system and its evolving nature and how operators need to embrace this change as something positive.

Q: Can we start by quickly catching our audience up on where Slotegrator is today, and what has been achieved over the last year?

Slotegrator provides various products for online sportsbooks and online casinos, and last year we introduced some innovative new solutions that we’re truly proud of. We were really excited to present these out-of-the-box solutions to the industry at a series of events, and I’m proud to say they made a big splash at each one! We are also working on a codeless approach, so clients can quickly customize and create their own websites without any former knowledge of coding.

Q: Thank you for the quick intro! Now, Slotegrator is a champion of established concepts such as mobile casinos and bonusing. Can we dive a little deeper into these two aspects of the experience and why they are important to your company?

Yes! So nowadays, just about every company out there is mobile-oriented (or moving in that direction), and Slotegrator is no exception. Even if you look at the customer base, around 80-90% of all players are turning to mobile solutions to play. Basically, we’re following this trend, and trying to make the best mobile-friendly products possible. We’ve made sure that the websites we build are adaptive, with a responsive design, so the mobile experience is as comfortable and intuitive on mobile as it is on desktop.

It’s just so hard for online casinos to be efficient or profitable without offering incentives like bonuses, which is why our team is focused on helping our clients offer the best bonuses possible. It has been a very interesting project for us. We have released some further features that have helped with retention and engagement as part of our bonus experience as well.

Essentially, bonusing is necessary for gamification. If you ask me, it’s very hard to create gamification without bonuses. We have an ambitious roadmap that is directly tied to bonuses and tournaments, and we will offer more details when the time is right.

Q: Now that you mention bonuses, we really are keen to find out – as are our readers — how bonusing in gambling has changed over the past decade. Where do you see Slotegrator’s role in providing new opportunities to players?

I think the bonus system is changing to become more like a "quest," where players compete for some rewards but sometimes, they may not even know what the rewards are – sort of like a Wheel of Fortune model (which is why we used exactly that model for one of our bonus features). This was on our minds when we developed the Quest solution part of the Casino Builder Module. In this type of bonus feature, we focus on providing long-term objectives rather than short-term bonuses.

We also see a lot of interest in tournaments – there are different ways to implement tournaments, and they can be the sort of long-term bonuses we are talking about. Overall, this type of bonusing leads to better player retention and engagement. All of these aspects help increase GGR for casino brands and operators.

Q: And in light of this evolving bonus ecosystem, do you expect to see a big change in consumer habits and how brands respond to this?

So, I think in the next several years, the desktop player base will disappear completely. The number of people who use desktop websites will decrease or altogether disappear in the midterm. Everyone has a smartphone today, and the trend is that when you play games, you use your phone. It’s a bit of a private activity. People just prefer to do it on their phones – it’s also very convenient.

Q: Okay, we have discussed bonuses quite a bit, but one question remains – do players trust bonuses? These days there are many casinos that have done away with the welcome bonus altogether and rely on VIP and loyalty experiences, and even cashbacks instead. What do you think about this?

Yes, so look: I don’t really think bonuses will disappear from casinos, because — as we agreed – casinos cannot be successful without bonuses. I think that even if some bonuses disappear, typical bonuses like welcome bonuses or no-deposit bonuses and so on will remain intact, more or less.

What we see is a change in the bonusing strategy overall. So, in the future, casinos and providers will compete to create innovative types of bonuses that are very interesting for players. Whatever the bonusing strategy, it should be developed carefully and transparently, but it should also account for certain risks that impact not only players, but also operators.

Bonus hunting, for example, is one of those dangers that operators need to address as well. There are also some visible trends that are already impacting the bonusing experience.

For example, you have bonuses that function like loot boxes, as well as the progress bar that we ourselves have implemented. Yes, it’s not a bonus, but it’s sort of an accumulation of different bonuses in one. Kind of like a super bonus – loyalty, cashback, and more.

So, bonuses will still be around, but the companies that use bonuses will have to adapt, change their strategies, and provide players with something that is new to retain their attention.

Q: Would you say that bonuses are only geared towards a certain type of consumer in the iGaming space, or are they universal across the online casino landscape?

Yes, look – the types of bonuses we mentioned, are universal, no doubt about that. But, in my opinion, a company can’t be successful if it were only to use a universal bonusing system rather than trying to consider long-term types of bonuses. It’s okay, it’s normal, it’s standard, but the more efficient way is to introduce periods that help players return and see progress through accumulated bonus points as a part of the same casino or brand. That’s the key to success.

Q: Before we wrap up, do you think bonuses are a sustainable concept or they are slowly being phased out under regulatory pressure and a stricter focus on consumer safety?

You know, bonuses will not be phased out. However, we definitely need to take into consideration the current regulatory changes in different regions and adapt our bonus strategy according to what is happening in legislation. Yes, these changes could have a negative impact on profits, but Slotegrator has creative individuals who are happy to adapt and come up with new concepts that are fit for this new age of regulation. We want players to still have great bonus opportunities.

Q: What else can we expect from Slotegrator moving forward, and with one foot already in 2024?

We’ll focus on Casino Builder and the codeless approach, so that operators can modify parts of their brand and website without involving actual coders. We will continue to invest into the anti-fraud module, and are going to launch more products. We have made significant advancements in our business intelligence capabilities, as you can see in the new integrated Artificial BI Module, and we value data as it allows us to correct our business model and become more efficient and successful. I would suggest that you stay tuned — you can expect to be caught up to everything that Slotegrator plans on bringing out in the next couple of months!

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