Mark O’Donnell, Lucky Streak: “ICE is our big event of the year”
Mark O’Donnell, head of marketing at Lucky Streak, celebrates the arrival of a new edition of ICE and anticipates what products the company will showcase there.
Exclusive interview.- The gaming industry is turning its attention to the upcoming ICE London 2024, the latest edition of ICE London 2024, which will take place from 6-8 February at ExCeL London.
Mark O’Donnell, head of marketing at Lucky Streak, has been attending the event for the past 20 years and expects this edition to be a historic one.
What does LuckyStreak expect from ICE London 2024?
An extravaganza of online gaming! ICE is a real exhibition of light and sound from the start, and if that’s your thing it’s an incredible experience. I love it. There’s so much energy, you cannot miss it.
And it’s the last one in London which has significance; it exhausts you so there’s an emotional connection, and there will be some sadness. I’ve been coming for 20 years, and it’s an established part of your calendar after the new year.
As for LuckyStreak, ICE is our big event of the year. It is just huge and the opportunity to present our products, brand, who we are and what we do is enormous. Getting face-to-face is a powerful thing. And we will make the most of that.
We’ve got a great pitch though (S8-310) right by entrance S9 so we’ve made sure we’ll catch a lot of eyeballs!
“Getting face-to-face is a powerful thing.”
Mark O’ Donnell, head of marketing at Lucky Streak.
What will be the most attractive feature at LuckyStreak’s booth?
Video and our branding. We are a video product, so leading with that is a no-brainer. We’ve got some great material that shows our products and our people; and some funny stuff too. It will be a real attention-grabber.
And the branding; I have to say that. But I genuinely do love our look; (I’d say) it has depth, quality, and status, which is representative of our products that (we know) are played by discerning customers. I can’t wait to see it when it’s built.
Is anything special expected since it is the last edition in London?
Have we got any Ballon d’Or winners? Sadly no. But we do have a couple of superstars 🙂
In 2023 we relaunched two of our biggest games – live Blackjack and Baccarat – with major upgrades to the gaming experience. So they will be front and centre.
2023 was also our tenth year, and also a particularly successful – milestone – one for us. As well as relaunches, we added some galacticos of gaming to our LuckyConnect aggregation solution, including Red Rake and PGSoft.
We also saw strong double-figure growth in new operator customers, and our volume KPIs – across live games and slots – were above expectations so we’re delighted.
In Q4 we enabled support for sweepstake and social casino currencies (designed and released in one quarter), which is relatively unique in the industry. We’re partnering with Sweepium with our live games on their sweepstake proposition, and it opens up a new opportunity for everyone in this space. It’s a big deal for us.
So, new decade, new higher hopes and expectations; and ICE is the perfect place to show people what we can do. Special? We think so 🙂
What importance do you give to the opportunity to meet with all those who are part of the industry at this and other events?
Enormous. It cannot be over-stated. Set aside that they’re just great fun and a fantastic atmosphere. It’s a fantastic opportunity to move things along.
As I said there’s nothing like face-to-face time, humans are built for that. The emotional connection creates interest, reassurance and trust; I’m also a big believer in ‘show me don’t tell me’ and there’s no better way to show people what you’ve got and what you can do together than being in front of them.
So: first meetings, follow-ups to talk details, discussing final points of an agreement – it’s the perfect environment to advance things.
And then there are new relationships that you create, the opportunities you never knew of; the more you put into these events, the more you get out. You can’t sit back.
Of course, it’s an entertainment industry. There’s always a buzz at these events and that’s very compelling too. So if we don’t have a booth at an event, we’ll still be there getting the steps in.
Last year the company relaunched both its Baccarat and Blackjack games. What was the feedback on these upgrades?
Incredibly positive. Both are market-leading gaming experiences, and designed for mobile – not just in dimensions but gameplay too: slick and thumb-friendly, and everything you expect in easy reach.
And to make them more fun, we’ve added emoji reactions, so however your game is going, you can express your emotions to the others at the table.
Players love the games, it’s evident in the numbers. And operators are taking note, especially of our branded and dedicated table options. We’re giving them tools to really wow their customers.
“Players love the games, it’s evident in the numbers. And operators are taking note, especially of our branded and dedicated table options.”
Mark O’ Donnell, head of marketing at Lucky Streak.
What are LuckyStreak’s main goals for 2024?
More big strides in our offering. And more growth (naturally).
Roulette will be next for the overhaul, and the uniqueness of the game brings opportunities to do some really cool things. I can’t wait for this!
Our new sweepstake currency support capability is a huge opportunity for us and operators in this growing and exciting space.
We’re also powering up our LuckyConnect aggregation proposition with some big new supplier brands joining very soon. And we’ll be launching a reverse API so providers can integrate into us, boosting our portfolio.
Our promotional tools are getting an upgrade too, enabling operators to reward players with more than ‘just’ cash, and these are tools that are really unique to us, and very exciting.
That’s doing what we do, better. And we’ve got a few other (quite major) things in the plan that fall outside of what we might be known for. These are really exciting, and I promise I’ll tell you first 🙂
