February 7, 2011

Sports betting platform excellence – the new proposition from INTRALOT Interactive

Achieving a unified customer experience is the key conceptual and architectural imperative of any lottery that aims to expand its existing traditional operations to encompass all interactive gaming activities. Even though in most cases this transformation can only be achieved through the slow and gradual adoption of interactive paradigms across several aspects of the business, lotteries should eventually aim to converge all their sales channels and all the business architecture processes that support them into a unified enterprise wide model. In order to achieve this, lotteries need to make future-proof choices at every step of their evolution cycle.

Sports betting, as a critical and important vertical component of the interactive gaming market, is a key activity that can heavily influence a lottery’s overall interactive strategy. In the current competitive and demanding business environment, modern sports betting operators need new technological solutions that can guarantee operational efficiency and increases in profitability, while at the same time safeguarding security and  hassle-free operations.

Introducing ATHLOS

With the introduction of INTRALOT’s new offering ATHLOS, settling for inferior solutions has come to an end. ATHLOS is a next generation betting and gaming platform introduced by INTRALOT’s subsidiary INTRALOT Interactive in support of its operations in European regulated markets. ATHLOS is the answer to many of the longstanding needs of sports betting operators. A central platform around which operations and other gaming infrastructure may be built, ATHLOS is able to support any type of operational model, responsibility, and function distribution, owing to its development as the ultimate multichannel business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) betting platform. Moreover, any organizational model, ranging from the completely centralized to the completely distributed (even at the individual operational function level), is possible through ATHLOS deployment.

This extraordinary flexibility has been achieved through the extensive use of leading edge concepts such as hierarchical structures and property and settings inheritance between levels. ATHLOS manages there by to offer full support for many different brands, countries (both as branches of a central operation or individualized operations), currencies, sales channels, and sports books. Further, ATHLOS can be configured to the extent required to suit the exact operational needs of any B2B or B2C operator.

ATHLOS allows operators to fully integrate their Internet and online operations, moving beyond the compromises that the current generation of platforms normally requires. Thanks to INTRALOT’s longstanding expertise as the leading sports book operator (INTRALOT manages several different and separate operations in many countries, collectively amounting to more than EUR 4.5 Billion annually), and INTRALOT and INTRALOT Interactive’s experience with combined retail and Internet operations (for example in Italy), ATHLOS has a modern, streamlined design.

The design of ATHLOS is content focused in its application to online betting products. Whether product specific content, side offerings such as infotainment, or social betting options, ATHLOS offers overall assimilation of Web 2.0 paradigms. In addition, it offers fast integration of third party content, including all standard industry betting feeds, as well as local feeds wherever these are required. News content is also available through partnerships with sports news providers. This gives a very powerful product and market management toolset that allows the operator great flexibility in striking the right balance between margin optimization, risk minimization, product and market diversity, and automated or semi automated operational tasks. Man standard tasks can be automated, including risk management for lesser markets, which may increase product diversity and therefore appeal without affecting the bottom line.

Player Account Management System

INTRALOT’s core sports betting platform is coupled with a state of the art player account management system (PAM) that enables a unified approach to player registration, verification, single e-wallet and banking integration, and e-payments through all sales channels. It also seamlessly supports participation with loyalty cards through the retail network, essential for all lotteries wishing to fully converge their networks. INTRALOT Interactive’s PAM can be integrated with any channel or game, providing a different game and content offering per channel, along with seamless access to player accounts and wallets across all channels. The integration gateway framework allows for easy, quick, and flexible integration of third party systems into the platform.

It also offers all key marketing features for online interactive operations, including  support for setting up a wide range of cross channel and cross product loyalty schemes, and support for bonuses and promotions, even for an individual customer. It also provides all the required customer segmentation and reporting options. Marketing, business analytics, and customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities, provided by platform and complementary industry leading third party systems, enable licensed operators to materialize their inter active or online vision through the creation of engaging gaming experiences that are driven by an appreciation of customer dynamics.

Successful fixed odds sports betting

INTRALOT’s global experience as both system supplier and lottery operator, combined with its position as the world’s number one sports retail bookmaker handling the largest fixed odds betting book, makes INTRALOT the ideal partner for successful fixed odds betting games in any jurisdiction. Now, any operator in the world can have INTRALOT’s new technological offering, ATHLOS, and enjoy the advantages of a next generation sports betting platform.