Transforming player engagement with cutting-edge lobby personalisation

In the ever-evolving world of online gaming, delivering tailored experiences is more than a trend—it’s a necessity. We took this mandate to heart, offering operators robust tools to enhance player engagement and retention. From advanced lobby management that segments and curates game content to AI-driven personalisation strategies, CasinoEngine empowers operators to create seamless, individualised player journeys. By leveraging data-driven insights, real-time artificial intelligence (AI), and user-friendly customisation options, the platform transforms the traditional gaming lobby into a dynamic, player-centric environment.

In this Q&A, Stian Enger Pettersen, our chief executive officer of casino explores how CasinoEngine combines cutting-edge technology and innovative strategies to redefine player engagement, streamline operations, and boost operator success.

How does CasinoEngine’s lobby management help operators control game content based on player preferences and demographics?

To personalise game content for different player segments, a casino platform needs to support deep configuration across all levels, from game attributes to player preferences and regulatory compliance.

CasinoEngine’s Lobby Management enables operators to control game availability and customise presentation elements, such as attributes, tags, imagery, translations, and reporting.

Operators can create multiple lobby instances tailored to specific player segments, with customisable game orders and categories to match audience preferences, demography, and regulatory restrictions. In fact, regulatory restrictions, such as specific game variant for specific market or if a game is available at all, is fully automated and does not require any work or concern on operator side. In a nutshell, if a game is not allowed in a market and the operator still includes the game in a lobby instance for that market, the game will still not appear for the players.

Lobbies can be built around specific game categories across RNG, live dealer tables, scratch cards, virtual sports, lotteries, and all other content comprised by.

Operators can also configure automated categories that will always display new games, most popular games, or games with jackpots, and obviously sorted by jackpot size. To promote specific content and manage game visibility also for automated categories, operators can still manipulate them by adding, removing, or freezing game positions as needed.”

What can you tell us about the role that personalisation plays in your lobby management?

To enhance website personalisation, CasinoEngine offers game recommendations to deliver automatic, personalised game recommendations based on player preferences, location, age and gender. It’s available as a widget for ease of implementation, and as an API for full control of presentation.

At its core, the game recommendation engine (GRE) relies on collaborative filtering to calculate game similarities, with the similarity matrix refreshed daily to ensure up-to-date recommendations.

On top of that, we also offer real time 1-to-1 AI recommendations via integrated third party.”

Marrying the theme of player retention and UI together, how does EveryMatrix’s customisation options help with this and player engagement?

This is where things get interesting. Traditionally game recommendations are displayed in the casino lobby, or when closing a game session. We can offer game recommendations also in the game and while the player is playing and, most importantly, these recommendations are proposed at the optimal time based on massive amounts of historical data and AI. This way game recommendations become a more potent and proactive retention tool.

To display elements on top of the game window, we use a triple-layer iFrame integration (game provider – EveryMatrix – operator). This enables both operators and EveryMatrix to control the game window. Needless to say, it is particularly important on mobile devices. Thus, an operator can add elements on top of game window themselves or use our ready-made solutions. Placement, styling, function – everything can be customised.

This solution has applications far beyond game recommendations, and we have plenty of examples of how clients use it today. Player notifications, quick deposit, a host of responsible gaming features and messages, gamification such as leader boards and mission progress bars to mention a few. We can also offer real time rewards as churn prevention, while the player is playing. Again, the name of the game is personalisation. A reward is more appreciated, thus cost-effective, if tailored to the player it is awarded to.”

How does CasinoEngine balance the fine line between delivering personalised, value-driven experiences for players and avoiding over-engagement?

CasinoEngine’s integrated AI-driven solution offers substantial benefits to both operators and players by personalising the player journey. As already mentioned, we have a very strong lobby management tool to build lobbies localised and personalised. But on top of that, we offer true 1-to-1 game recommendations that speak directly to the player in question similar to how Netflix does it with their “because you watched…” categories.

However, the real magic is delivered during gameplay and in the game frame itself, and most importantly in real time. We can now predict when players are about to end a game session and automatically take actions, such as recommending other games or giving the player a complimentary pick-me-up if having a bad session. Those rewards are tailored for the player.

Let’s use free spins as an example; if a high stakes player is having a bad run, giving a generic number of complimentary free spins adds insult to injury. That will be perceived as a nuisance at best. Players need to receive free spins tailored for them. The right amount, the right value, and for the right game(s). Through real-time, operators can engage players precisely when it matters most, and with something that the player actually appreciates.

This personalised, predictive approach has shown impressive results, including a 6-11% increase in NGR, an 18-25% boost in player sessions, a 11-28% rise in stakes per player, a 12-16% increase in games played, and 22-70% of players engaging with recommended games.

The original version of this article was published by iGamingBusiness.