We have managed to catch up with Bernard Marantelli, CEO of Colossus Bets to get an overview of their product called FracPot.
Bernard Marantelli grew up in an Australian bookmaking family and has been an enthusiastic player of multi-leg pools bets for over a decade. In 2013 Bernard launched Colossus Bets, home of the weekly £10,000,000 Pick 7 Colossus. In the past 12 months Colossus Bets has signed deals for the distribution of its sports pools across 5 continents with live B2B partners now including Betfair and Ladbrokes. The firm has won a number of industry awards for innovation and been granted a series of patents in relation to cash-out across all forms of betting and gaming.
Colossus ‘FracPot’ is the world’s first slot game with cash-out, a feature which has been a runaway success in sports betting.
The slot will appeal to players looking for something different from their games and is of particular relevance to sports bettors who have embraced the optionality that cash-out has provided to their sports betting.
What problem does it solve?
It brings genuine product innovation to the slots vertical as well as bridging a gap between sports betting and gaming, with the FracPot feature providing a strong cross-sell opportunity between the two verticals. It also adds a new level of stickiness and engagement for the modern slots player.
EEG: Bernard for our readers, can you tell us your story and what brought you into the gaming industry from your core sports betting business, to the FracPot slot game?
Bernard: I have long believed that enabling a player to bank profits from an unresolved position in a gambling context would become industry standard. So, when Colossus Bets pools launched in 2013, we went live with partial cash-out, the feature which enables a player to close out a ‘live’ ticket in parts, cashing-out some profits whilst retaining an interest in the bet and thus still playing for part of the jackpot prize.
With Colossus sports pools live, in 2014 I turned my attention to finding the right partner to build a cash-out slot. That partner turned out to be CORE Gaming and our Colossus FracPot slot, with a £1million jackpot went live exclusively with Sky Vegas in September 2015. The early signs from Sky are extremely encouraging and we now have a queue of other operators knocking on our door looking to take the game. We also have a series of orders for more FracPot slots and we will be releasing a series of those games throughout 2016.
EEG: There has been a lot speculation in the media about bringing skill gambling elements to slot machines. Do you think there is room for both cash-out and skill-based slots products?
Bernard: I think speculation around bringing skill elements to gaming is merely recognition that there has been a lack of innovation in the slots vertical in recent years, rather than there being a convincing case made that that skill gambling can reinvigorate slots. Perhaps it will transform slots, or perhaps it will prove as unsuccessful as efforts to bring social elements to betting have proven thus far.
I think there is much less of a leap of faith required to believe that partial cash-out will become an industry standard feature in slot games. Sports bettors love the optionality of taking some money off the table when their bet is in a strong position – why should a slots player who is one reel away from a life-changing jackpot (or even a jackpot which will pay for a night out) be any different? Slot games do not need to remain an ‘all or nothing’ experience for the player.
EEG: What geographical markets and player do you think shall engage more with the FracPot slot?
Bernard: If ever a feature was designed to improve cross-selling success rates from sports to gaming, it is the FracPot feature. An obvious target therefore is sports punters who have made cash-out the most successful innovation in sports betting in many years, in the UK and increasingly elsewhere. Looking at it from the other angle, for traditional slots players, introducing a feature which is so prevalent in sports betting can help bridge the gap from gaming to sports.
EEG: In terms of growth, shall FracPot consider an Omni- channel approach by looking at land-based casino partners for B2B opportunities?
Bernard: As the feature is adopted by on-line slots players, I believe bricks and mortar operators (and their players) will respond. We are close to signing a deal for UK land-based distribution and we are in early dialogue with some potential partners further afield. This is particularly relevant in territories where our patents in relation to cash-out have been granted or are likely to be granted.
EEG: And finally what do you believe the future of online slots shall look like in the next three years?
Bernard: I expect there to be a move away from brand-led slots development. Almost every Hollywood movie franchise has been licensed and I feel that the appeal of a ‘new’ game which is just a different graphical interface bolted onto an existing games engine, will wear increasingly thin. I think the focus will be more on the quality of features which are applied to games and that FracPot is the first move in that direction.
