Alex Leese: “Personalising the experience for customers is vital for operator growth”

Alex Leese, CEO of Pronet Gaming, talked in an exclusive interview with Focus Gaming News about the highlights of 2021 and the challenges for next year.

Exclusive interview.- 2021 is coming to its end but before this, Alex Leese took some time to talk with Focus Gaming News about the company’s projects for 2022.

What do you think were the star products of this year?

The Popular Bets and Popular Events solution we developed in-house has proven to be a big hit with operators and bettors alike. The innovative widget allows operators to display a market’s current top-10 bets and top-10 events, automatically refreshing every five minutes.

Earlier in the year, we also released a set of new sports betting widgets, which present customers with quick access to pre-built accas. This proved very popular, significantly increasing engagement during the summer’s big football tournaments, Copa America and Euro 2020.

How do you evaluate the performance of the Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt game, released in May this year, as the first to use augmented reality technology?

It is always satisfying when we are able to give our clients early releases of smash-hit games and Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt was no exception. The stunning quality of Evolution’s augmented reality products means they stand out from the crowd in a saturated market.

This was a particularly clever use of the instantly recognisable Gonzo character within a live setting and a slots-style backdrop. It was great to see the concept perform so strongly across a number of regulated markets worldwide.

“The Popular Bets and Popular Events solution we developed in-house has proven to be a big hit with operators and bettors alike.”

Alex Leese, CEO of Pronet Gaming.

Based on the widgets developed before Europe 2020 and the America’s Cup, what are your expectations and plans for the 2022 Qatar Soccer World Cup?

While we cannot reveal too much at this early stage, it is safe to say that once again we will be focusing on solutions that help our operators engage with their customers in fresh new ways. Qatar 2022 is now less than a year away and I expect the appetite for betting will be huge at the event, which could potentially put the sport’s two great names of the modern era, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, against each other in international competition for the final time.

What other types of solutions do you project for next year?

Without giving too much away, we are preparing to unveil a new system that will enable operators to sharpen their approach to player value and engagement.

Personalising the experience for customers is vital for operator growth. Our aim is to take the strain when it comes to managed services and allow operators to do what they do best: providing top-class entertainment.

In which markets do you expect to focus?

Naturally, given its sports-mad population and huge potential once more countries adopt a regulation, LatAm is a region we will maintain a very strong focus on.

We already work with operators in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Mexico and Peru and we hope to continue to expand our scope beyond the boundaries of sports betting and casino operators, extending new relationships with lotteries and land-based casinos. They often have huge player databases and by presenting them with a flexible omni-channel solution that can be taken to market quickly, we can meet their needs.