Industry News
Zendesk’s 2020 Messaging Report reveals focus on mobile and LatAm growth
The international CRM giant Zendesk released its Annual State of Messaging Report 2020 last month providing key data and insights on the most important conversational business and messaging trends ahead. The coming months will see core expansion in the global messaging landscape with strong advances ahead for the industry in mobile, integrated resorts and Latin American expansion, as messaging finally moves beyond boundaries according to Zendesk’s VP of Conversational Business, Warren Levitan.
In 2019, the number of messages exchanged between businesses and customers on Zendesk’s Sunshine Conversations platform increased 500%, and if the data revealed in the company’s third annual State of Messaging report is anything to go by, this is just the tip of the iceberg for the year ahead. “2020 will be the year of connecting conversations in the enterprise,” explained Warren Levitan. “We are seeing businesses embrace messaging as a shared platform for customer engagement, allowing them to truly unify sales, marketing and service interactions for the first time. This is a massive step toward putting customers at the centre of our businesses.”
Zendesk’s 2020 report combines interviews with more than two dozen customer experience product, sales, and marketing leaders from companies such as Google, Twitter, Hootsuite, Birchbox, and more, providing a measured analysis on the future of messaging across online, mobile and social platforms. Featuring expert commentary and in-depth analysis alongside original Zendesk research and third-party data, the report provides key insights into how messaging is changing the face of business with some notable parallels with the gaming industry in the coming decade.
As the international gaming industry continues to expand into emerging markets such as Brazil and Argentina, one significant area of focus within the report is that the LatAm region is leading the way. “Latin America – where WhatsApp is queen – is embracing conversational business faster than other regions, with Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa following closely,” states Levitan. “In many developing countries, messaging has leapfrogged web, email, and mobile apps to become the digital commerce channel.”
The companies dominating the messaging landscape and the vast differences between countries and continents when it comes to who is winning the messaging race is just one aspect of the research. 2020 will also see evolving and emerging conversational business trends such as AI, machine learning and in-chat payments unlocking huge opportunities for online brands across all sectors. Facebook has revealed that 150m people on Instagram have a conversation with a business every month and so for gaming brands the focus on in-chat payments is essential going forward.
“In-chat payments may be the key to unlocking conversational commerce at scale in the west,” Levitan added. “Apple Business Chat has Apple Pay built in and Facebook has several projects in the works with WhatsApp Pay, Facebook Pay and, most controversially, Libra — its planned cryptocurrency. Kakao, Line, and Telegram also boast their own crypto coins in various stages of development. Buying stuff is a crucial part of the conversational customer journey and it’s about to get a whole lot easier.”
Over the past decade, messaging has fundamentally changed the way people interact with friends, family, colleagues, and companies. According to Business Insider, messaging apps have surpassed social media in global monthly active users. Since 2018, nearly every major messaging channel, including WhatsApp, WeChat, Facebook Messenger, Google’s RCS, and Apple’s iMessage, has extended beyond the consumer to businesses. At the same time, businesses of all sizes in every industry have embedded modern messaging experiences into their own apps and websites.
Speaking as part of Zendesk’s 2020 report, Rob Lawson, Global Partnerships, Google, explained: “We’ll start to see the pendulum swing from customer care being the primary driver for business messages towards marketing, lead generation and sales. To date we’ve seen businesses primarily motivated by reducing call centre costs and frustrations for existing customers. In 2020 we’ll see increasing activity from brands deploying conversational techniques to engage new customers and drive incremental business value.”
Bringing the report’s focus back to gaming and integrated resorts, recent data from global research and advisory firm Gartner predicts that by 2022, 70% of all customer interactions will involve emerging tools like chatbots, machine learning, and mobile messaging, up from 15% in 2018. The impact of this for the land-based sector will be keenly felt as Zendesk’s report highlights how live chat remains an effective channel for real-time conversations and a growing number of hotels, resorts and other customer-centric brands are creating bespoke messaging experiences within their mobile apps and websites.
Warren Levitan, VP Conversational Business, Zendesk, added: “Intent and sentiment engines will be connected to every messaging channel, with businesses intelligently routing each message to the right system and person or bot. Once messaging penetrates the business, we will see that it knows no boundaries.“
To read Zendesk’s full interactive State of Messaging 2020 report, visit: zendesk.com/message/state-of-messaging-2020/
TipRanks, a leading financial research platform with more than 9 million monthly active users, has announced a strategic sponsorship with Grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura, a 5-time US Chess Champion who is currently ranked 2nd in the world. Powered by a new set of AI tools, the partnership is designed to help investors make better, data-driven decisions through the combination of TipRanks’ cutting-edge tools and Nakamura’s strategic mindset.
As part of the partnership, Nakamura will create and manage a Stream Portfolio on TipRanks. Viewers and fans of Hikaru will be able to track his investment research in real time on his widely followed video channels and social media — plus share ideas in the stream chat to help shape the portfolio’s holdings. Working with TipRanks’ award-winning platform, Nakamura will showcase how he evaluates opportunities, while emphasizing that all content is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
Nakamura’s dominance in chess stems from his ability to absorb vast amounts of information, analyze multiple outcomes and make decisive moves under pressure—skills that closely mirror successful investing.
“TipRanks offers a wide variety of insights on thousands of stocks and equities, helping me to think strategically about all of my investments. Just like in chess, beating the market depends on making wise, fully informed decisions. Harnessing data to think several moves ahead is second nature to me,” said Nakamura.
“While other investing websites might sponsor more popular spectator sports such as soccer, our partnership with a chess champion is pitch perfect. We are tailor-made for investors who seek to act strategically, just like Hikaru does,” said Uri Gruenbaum, Founder and CEO of TipRanks.
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PENN Entertainment has officially opened the doors of its new Hollywood Casino Joliet on Monday, August 11.
The $185 million state-of-the-art casino replaces the former riverboat property that operated on the shores of the Des Plaines River since 1992.
Legislators and area dignitaries, Illinois Gaming Board officials, Chicago Bears executives and NFL legend and Joliet native Tom Thayer joined the PENN team members for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Hollywood Casino Joliet then opened to the public at 4:00 p.m. and welcomed guests to experience approximately 1000 of the newest slot machines, 43 table games, a retail ESPN BET sportsbook, upscale national and Chicagoland celebrity-led dining and, above all, a premier guest experience.
“We would like to officially welcome players and guests to the all-new Hollywood Casino Joliet. After approximately 20 months of construction, we are thrilled to open the doors to this land-based entertainment destination. We are proud of our 30-year history in Will County and are committed to continuing our investment in the community by creating new jobs, providing important tax revenue, and serving as a new attraction to bring even more visitors to the area,” said Jay Snowden, CEO and President of PENN Entertainment.
“This opening marks an exciting new era of entertainment in Joliet. We’re grateful for the support from the city of Joliet, the Illinois Gaming Board, and our business and community partners who contributed to the successful development of this new property. We look forward to delivering an elevated experience with world class dining, entertainment, and gaming options for patrons across the region,” said Todd George, Executive Vice President of Operations for PENN.
The roughly 189,000 square foot entertainment destination employs approximately 600 team members and generated around 450 construction jobs. Open seven days a week and 24 hours a day, the fun and excitement will continue 365 days a year.
The post PENN Entertainment Celebrates Grand Opening of Hollywood Casino Joliet appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Welcome to our weekly roundup of American gambling news again! Here, we are going through the weekly highlights of the American gambling industry which include the latest news and new partnerships. Read on and get updated.
Latest News
SA Gaming has announced that its game portfolio and Remote Gaming Server have officially obtained Gaming Laboratories International certifications in Brazil. This milestone underscores SA Gaming’s commitment to delivering premium gaming experiences, with a particular focus on the Brazilian market. The regulated Brazilian online gaming market, which launched on January 1, 2025, is projected to become the largest in Latin America. Under the new framework, only licensed operators are legally permitted to offer online gaming and betting services.
The National Indian Gaming Commission announced Gross Gaming Revenues of $43.9B for fiscal year 2024. This historic figure reflects a $2.0 billion increase over FY 2023, representing an overall growth of 4.6% across the Indian gaming industry. The GGR figure is calculated from independently audited financial statements from 532 independently audited gaming operations owned by 243 federally recognised tribes across 29 states. Two NIGC regions, Oklahoma City and Washington, D.C., reported double-digit growth over the previous fiscal year.
The Michigan Gaming Control Board has issued cease-and-desist letters to six unlicensed online gambling platforms attempting to target Michigan residents without state authorisation. The action underscores the MGCB’s relentless, ongoing efforts to shut down illegal gambling operations and protect Michigan consumers from financial risk, identity theft and unfair play. The targeted sites—Crypto Slots, NitroBetting, NewVegas, Las Vegas USA Casino, Grand Rush Casino and Slotgard Casino—were found to be operating in violation of Michigan laws that require licensure for internet gaming and sports betting. This enforcement action is part of the MGCB’s larger crackdown on illegal online gambling platforms.
Partnerships
Table Trac Inc announced that a new Nevada casino partner is installing the CasinoTrac CMS system, and a long-time customer is upgrading from its classic system to the latest comprehensive technology stack featuring enhanced capabilities for Loyalty, Bonusing, & Operations. Barton’s Club 93 Casino Hotel, under new ownership, GLM Gaming, as part of a significant property remodel and renovation is upgrading the slot system to CasinoTrac’s high-speed, Secure, Unified and Stable PlayerLINQ network, which drives player engagement through the programmatic, custom SlotSUITE platform while turbocharging efficiency and time on device with SelfPAY. Border Inn Casino will deploy CasinoTrac’s high-speed, Secure, Unified and Stable PlayerLINQ network, NV Tech Standard 3-compliant accounting and CTLoyalty for Patron & Club Management, powered by CasinoTrac’s bonusing, auto-tiering and reflexive rewards functions.
Caesars Entertainment Inc announced it is the first in the industry to launch IGT’s newest installment of its beloved slot title, Kitty Glitter Grand. The game is now live across Caesars Palace Online Casino, Horseshoe Online Casino, and Caesars Sportsbook & Casino in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, and Ontario. It’s also available at Caesars Rewards destinations in Atlantic City, including Caesars and Harrah’s, with Tropicana set to join the lineup soon, subject to final regulatory approval. This debut marks IGT’s first simultaneous exclusive launch of a game both online and in casinos in the US. As a result, Caesars is currently the only place where fans of the Kitty Glitter franchise can experience this latest installment, whether in person or online.
The post Gaming Americas Weekly Roundup – August 4-10 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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