The evolution of gaming in the US is taking place at a rapid rate, fuelled by an expanding number of opportunities and heightened levels of innovation.
One of the companies at the forefront both digitally and remotely is Light & Wonder, as it revealed that organic growth and player engagement have both grown significantly in recent times.
Speaking to CasinoBeats, Dylan Slaney, CEO iGaming at the company, revealed: “We’ve seen some great organic growth in the US. The player engagement that we’re seeing at the moment has been fantastic.
“So when we think about the market in the US, our strategy has been very simple. We laid it out back in 2022, where we just wanted to put more great land-based content out into the market.
“We’ve seen great engagement from operators and players on land-based and Lightning Box games. We’ve also fixed some of our portfolio gaps, things like Jackpot Festival, our new Wide Area Progressive (WAP) Jackpots, which we launched towards the back end of last year as well. And again, we’ve seen great take-up from players.”
At the company’s stand at the ICE London Conference, where they were showcasing a myriad of new games, Light & Wonder’s Gaming Chief Executive Officer Siobhan Lane also provided deeper insight into how the group has excelled.
She stated: “We conducted a strategy review a few years ago, and as a result, we divested our lottery business, divested our sports business, and the three businesses that remained were land-based gaming, real money gaming in the digital channel, and our social gaming channel, SciPlay. These businesses, we believe, really belong together.”
Placing a closer analysis on the current state of the US market, she emphasised the importance of land-based casinos, which remain ‘the biggest segment within the US and the focus in terms of R&D investment, scaling content and making great games for players.’
Underlining how this investment can be transcended through various elements of the business, she continued: “For every dollar we invest in R&D and content and games in the land-based business, we then take those games across igaming and the social channels because we’re talking to the same player base, and those brands and games really resonate with those players.
“R&D is at our core. We say it’s the engine of our business. It’s where we direct the majority of our investments.
“So the more that igaming expands in the US, we drive those synergies off of our R&D investment and create great content and games for that player base.
Looking ahead to future growth for the company’s igaming output, Slaney pinpointed the potential of the collaboration with ELK Studios as one that raises the ceiling in terms of gamification opportunities.
He added: “They had a record 2023. It’s been great to see their progression under the Light & Wonder stewardship. The studio goes from strength to strength.
“We saw in Q3 some really amazing results from ELK as a studio. And that momentum continued during the rest of 2023 as well. So yeah, they’ve had a great year, a record year, and we’re looking forward to seeing players consume their content in the US as well.”
Slaney went on to emphasise that in a bid to continue boosting engagement there will be a key focus on jackpots and other innovative features.
Lane also looked to pinpoint the key elements of what makes a slot game successful and the role that gamification plays, as well as magnifying the importance of the mathematics behind the games.
She commented: “It has to be a great slot game for it to be successful. Those of us that work in the industry understand that the math is at the heart of the game – yes, you have to have a great brand and you have to get the player to sit in that seat, but it’s the math that keeps them there.
“We invest across all our game design studios, they create the map that takes our players on a journey and an experience. We also invest in great hardware as the distribution channel for the game on the casino floor. The brands, whether they’re proprietary brands or licensed brands, need all of these elements working together to make the game successful.”
Lane also mapped out that licensing has shifted significantly in the last 10 years, as she backed the company’s forthcoming release Squid Game to be a huge success with a wide range of demographics. Some brands truly lend themselves to being developed into engaging slots and according to Lane, Squid Games is very much one of them.
From a digital perspective, Slaney also expressed the anticipation that surrounds new markets opening up in the US, whilst he acknowledged that the slowing in new frameworks has led to an elevation in terms of innovation, and the potential of New York is one that gets the pulses racing.
Slaney revealed that he believes it is a case of ‘when and not if’ for igaming in the Big Apple, as he laid out that the positives of the market can be impactful for many elements of the economy.
Lane agreed that new markets will soon open up, pointing out that it could mirror the expansion of sports betting, which has grown at an accelerated pace – the emphasis just lies with the industry’s key players to rise to the occasion and embrace a new audience.
