Gamesys New Jersey growth down to Virgin brand and targeted marketing

Virgin casino owner Gamesys reported “double-digit growth” for its US operations during Q1 in a recent trading update.

The firm said Q2 trends were in line with the previous quarter’s growth, particularly as the US faces a lack of professional sports to bet on.

EGR NA spoke with Gamesys CEO Lee Fenton on his plans for US growth beyond New Jersey, how the firm is performing during the coronavirus crisis, and whether he is satisfied with its estimated New Jersey market share of around 2.4%.

EGR North America (EGR NA): Having just launched a Canadian casino brand, what larger opportunity do you expect for igaming in Canada in the long-term?

We fully expect Canada will regulate but timings are likely to be later than we as an industry anticipated due to the priority of pandemic management. Through learnings within the current operation, we have gained insight into what customers enjoy and what they don’t and coupled with our history of crafting player experiences we look forward to what the Canadian market has to offer.

EGR NA: What sort of growth plans do you have for the New Jersey, both in terms of product and operations?

We have a strong, well-established team in New Jersey that continue to drive the business forward profitably. We will continue to build on that foundation and our intention is that the NJ office will be the hub of our North America operations.

EGR NA: Eilers & Krejcik Gaming estimated that the Virgin brand came in 12th out of 22 in NJ in 2019 with a market share of 2.42%, how are you continuing to grow the brand against increased competition from brands like DraftKings and FanDuel? And are you happy with Virgin’s market share?

New Jersey is highly competitive – as you point out there are 22 sites in a market with a population of nine million, there are more online sites than physical casinos in the State. Consequently, to be ranked 12th out of 22 in New Jersey is a significant achievement.

Virgin had neither a DFS database nor Atlantic City property to leverage and so we have built the brand through calculated marketing opportunities and excellent loyalty programmes based on our deep player understanding.

EGR NA: How did JPJ’s acquisition of Gamesys’ US assets impact the business? What about the business appealed to JPJ?

 Bringing together JPJ and Gamesys offered virtually no operational disruption as the businesses had worked together for so long and with virtually no geographic overlap. The US appeals to any operator who has the appetite to invest in the opportunity. For JPJ, Gamesys was a solid business with an established team that had seven years of insight into what is a growth market.

EGR NA: What is the long-term strategy for growth and expansion in the US? What are your ambitions for the Virgin brand in NJ?

The business approach has not changed in terms of the US, we continue to monitor the situation as new legislation is introduced in each state around iGaming and how this is introduced to their framework. We will then look at those opportunities as they develop on an individual basis, and how that may work for us from a regulatory and commercial stand-point.

Virgin is a mature, respected and well-recognised global brand and we are confident that it has as much customer appeal in New Jersey as it does in any other country or state.

EGR NA: Within your deal with Tropicana, how do you avoid conflict of interest in operating alongside the Virgin brand? Is there any cross-over between consumers of each brand?

Gamesys has a great relationship with Tropicana which is testament to the teams on both sides.  It is through our trusted relationship and well-established processes that we have mitigated conflict and are working together towards the mutual goal of offering our respective players a great online casino.

EGR NA: How have you seen New Jersey bettors’ behaviours change in the last couple of years?

What has been interesting is how the onboarding of sports betting in the casinos and online has helped demonstrate that online gambling is legal in NJ. Now, I can’t say these players were playing offshore, but they didn’t know online casinos were legal before sports was introduced.

EGR NA: How is the brand performing during the coronavirus, have you seen a significant uptick in consumers or any other trends that have occurred since professional sports in the US were cancelled towards the end of March?  

The decision by governments to force people to stay at home, end live sports and temporarily close casinos has inevitably led to an increase in activity across all product types.

EGR NA: Gamesys had made huge efforts to protect consumers during the coronavirus crisis, have any of the measures you are taking extended to the US? If so how are they being met by consumers?

Our team was quick to realise that covid-19 posed a significant challenge to many aspects of the business and our desire to ensure that our customers were safe in this new environment was our priority.  We have adopted as much as possible across all jurisdictions including marketing initiatives.

The NJ DGE are equally focused on protecting vulnerable. We have raised the profile of the tools available to members on our sites, improved on-site messaging and proactively sent emails to all of our players. We will continue to put our responsibilities toward our players ahead of any other considerations.

EGR NA: What is your take on the limited approach to safer gambling practices in the US? How do you think that will adapt over time and the market matures?

I think that US regulators are very focused on safe gambling. How that evolves over time will, at least in part, be down to how operators approach the market. If operators put players first, I would not see a need for greater regulatory intervention.