How Should Gambling Operators in Serbia Cope with the Implications of the Coronavirus?
Turmoil is probably the best word to describe the situation in the gambling industry in Serbia at this moment. Not only had significant technology developments and potential arrivals of new competitors threatened to result in a significant industry shake-out, but also recently adopted restrictive regulations have imposed additional pressure on shaping the future landscape of the gambling industry. And just when things got as complicated as one might imagine, the situation took another twist – the coronavirus outbreak.
Widespread devastating economic effects of the coronavirus are becoming more evident, posing new challenges with each day that passes. Gambling industry, which has traditionally been one of the most resilient ones in the midst of severe economic crises, is showing signs of impairment.
After the Government has declared the state of emergency and put social distancing as a new form of behavior, gambling operators were forced to temporarily close down its land-based operations and focus on their on-line platforms. However, with sports events being canceled all around the world, their assortment has become much poorer. These circumstances are forcing gambling operators to rethink their prevailing business models, and find new ways in which they can create and deliver value for their customers.
Implications of this situation will be multifaceted. For one thing, in the short-term, operators are forced to enrich their product and service portfolio. This could be done by launching comprehensive offering of events in the e-sports, which has grown into a full industry in its own right. Besides that, there are some sport disciplines that could gain traction during this period thanks to their ability to cope with limitations posed by social distancing. For example, MMA has somehow been under the radar of the majority of operators in our country in the previous period despite its enormous growth in global popularity. UFC as the number one promotion in the MMA, has made a game-changing decision with moving its events into the APEX, its state-of-the-art facility that allows it to create a high-quality sport content (without the presence of the audience) that will be distributed through the pay-per-view system. Of course, in order to enhance their offerings with e-sports, UFC, and other events, the operators must act quickly and establish the necessary level of in-depth knowledge and skills in the aforementioned areas within their organizations. This will not be an easy task to master.
In the medium to long-term perspective, operators need to do a deep dive into the almost endless-world of technological possibilities and develop their own digital strategies. Technologies that seem promising for the front-end at this moment are definitely natural language processing, virtual/augmented reality, and visualization, while at the back-end one should consider cognitive computing, cloud, robotic process automation, and advanced analytics. Of course, choosing right technologies comes only after the decision on the TO-BE business model is made, but even then every operator should start from the relatively simple ones and then move towards more complex solutions.
Coping with the challenges posed by the current situation in the gambling industry requires having a clear vision, specified TO-BE business model with the accompanying business strategy, appropriate organization design in place, and a company culture that will drive the enthusiasm and efforts of every single individual in the same direction. Taking this into account, it seems that the bold forward-looking leaders will be in high demand in the years to come.