Industry News

Zendesk’s 2020 Messaging Report reveals focus on mobile and LatAm growth

Published

6 years ago

March 6, 2020

Zendesk’s VP of Conversational Business, Warren Levitan.

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/

Related Topics:LatAm Zendesk Zendesk’s VP of Conversational Business Warren Levitan

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Carsten Koerl Founder and CEO of Sportradar

Sportradar Introduces Playradar, Delivering Sports-Data-Backed Casino Content to Operators Around the Globe

Published

8 hours ago

March 24, 2026

Wladimir P.

sportradar-introduces-playradar,-delivering-sports-data-backed-casino-content-to-operators-around-the-globe

New brand to link sportsbook and casino experiences via exclusive hybrid content.

Sportradar Group AG, a prominent worldwide sports technology firm that develops engaging experiences for sports enthusiasts and bettors, today unveiled Playradar, a specialized brand providing a comprehensive ecosystem of interconnected gaming experiences for international operators. This signifies the subsequent phase in the development of Sportradar’s iGaming operations.

Sportradar has recently appointed Edo Haitin, the former CEO of Playtech Live, to head its iGaming division as part of this expansion. Haitin offers over 20 years of experience in iGaming operations, live casino development, and executive leadership, contributing senior-level knowledge to enhance Sportradar’s iGaming expansion.

Playradar will leverage Sportradar’s live and historical sports data and AV streams, combined with casino games, to create unique, proprietary, hybrid products featuring:

Live 24/7 Experience Centre – players will be offered a game and a live stream to watch simultaneously on the same screen, blending sports viewing and gaming for pure engagement or betting real money. This creates a community and opportunities for players to interact in real-time, sharing tips, game preferences and reactions.
Live & Historical Streaming Sports/Casino Hybrid Content – transforming real sporting moments into interactive event driven gameplay by blending live and historical sports streaming with casino mechanics to create innovative hybrid gaming experiences. A live prediction product will also be powered by Sportradar’s live data.
Premium iGaming Content – virtual sports and a full suite of casino games, from slots and table games to arcade and crash, developed to the highest standards for a positive player experience.

Sportradar is exceptionally poised to expand its iGaming operations by leveraging its current game studio, sports data knowledge, streaming abilities, and worldwide distribution network. The marketing, acquisition, and retention technologies of the company utilize profound understanding of player behavior across both betting and iGaming sectors, strengthening Sportradar’s connections with sportsbook and casino operators globally. Since most of Sportradar’s clients already function in both areas, iGaming serves as an organic pathway to foster sustained monetization and lifetime value in conjunction with betting.

Playradar will function solely in regulated markets, incorporating responsible gaming and integrity into each product it offers. Game launches are planned for 2026, starting in the UK, North America, and Latin America. The complete product lineup will include classic table games, arcade games, slots, and virtual sports.

Carsten Koerl, Founder and CEO of Sportradar, said: “iGaming represents a natural and scalable extension of our business, and a strategic acceleration of our long-term growth roadmap. Playradar content is designed to provide optimized cross-sell between the worlds of sport and casinos, helping operators to increase player value and session length at a time when engagement and retention are key to operational sustainability. In Edo, we have an experienced and proven industry leader to drive the business forward, with the support of a passionate and dedicated team.”

Edo Haitin, EVP of iGaming added: “By combining our unrivalled experience in sports data and live streaming, along with a proven track record of product development, we aim to create hybrid content and gaming experiences to capitalize on the rising popularity of sports casino consumption. We’re uniquely positioned to seamlessly blend live and historical sports events, innovative gaming mechanics, and casino content and have the advantage of being able to distribute games to an already licensed portfolio of operators. I’m incredibly excited to be further strengthening our iGaming business through Playradar and to grow it into a leader in iGaming content, leveraging Sportradar’s existing resources and the highly experienced and skilled team already in place.”

The post Sportradar Introduces Playradar, Delivering Sports-Data-Backed Casino Content to Operators Around the Globe appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.

AI

Table Trac Introduces Patent-Pending Artificial Intelligence Technology for Table Games

Published

1 day ago

March 23, 2026

GamingAmericas.com

table-trac-introduces-patent-pending-artificial-intelligence-technology-for-table-games

Table Trac Inc. (TBTC) has received patent-pending status from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its proprietary AI-driven Table Games Manager / Manager Trainer. The system leverages machine learning trained on decades of table games transactional data and pit player data to create distinct player personas designed to challenge both human pit managers and artificial intelligence systems.

The solution is delivered through a realistic gaming floor simulation environment, allowing the generation of a simulated gaming floor to be configured. Each training session utilizes a randomized mix of the player personas, creating a continually changing set of scenarios that never repeat. This approach enables trainees to compete head-to-head against the AI, optimize floor decisions to improve yield, and better understand the factors driving each decision.

While initially developed for table games management and training, the underlying artificial intelligence, simulation, and decision support framework has broader applicability across the CasinoTrac platform. Management is exploring additional use cases for this technology across the Company’s suite of casino management solutions, reinforcing CasinoTrac’s long-term product roadmap and innovation strategy.

The post Table Trac Introduces Patent-Pending Artificial Intelligence Technology for Table Games appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.

GR8 Tech

GR8 Tech Unveils Major Platform Enhancements Ahead of the World Cup

Published

5 days ago

March 19, 2026

Wladimir P.

gr8-tech-unveils-major-platform-enhancements-ahead-of-the-world-cup

GR8 Tech is implementing a series of platform-wide enhancements designed to help operators maximize performance during the year’s biggest sporting event. With the World Cup expected to drive massive traffic, repeated betting surges, and intense competition for player acquisition, these updates focus on the areas that most directly impact operator results. The improvements aim to help partners convert more traffic, retain more players, and extract greater value throughout the entire tournament journey.

“World Cup traffic by itself does not guarantee better results. What matters is how well operators can turn that attention into acquisition, conversion, retention, and long-term player value,” said Denys Parkhomenko, Chief Product Officer at GR8 Tech. “That is where our focus is right now. We are enhancing the sportsbook experience, expanding engagement and loyalty tools, and advancing our crypto capabilities to help partners make the most of the biggest opportunity of the year.”

Key Areas of Focus

1. Sportsbook
The sportsbook is receiving a comprehensive upgrade, including redesigned navigation for easier event discovery, improved campaign visibility, and enhanced Bet Builder functionality. Additional updates include quick-access, player-specific markets and new Odds Boost features, balancing player appeal with margin control.

2. Engagement and Retention
GR8 Tech is expanding its loyalty and bonus systems with a VIP-focused program, automated bonus mechanics, more flexible bonus selection, and enriched casino and sports-related engagement tools. The update also includes updated tournament settings and the introduction of new game content to enhance player retention.

3. Crypto
The company is strengthening its crypto offering with early-stage player segmentation based on wallet transaction history, more flexible VIP and risk management before first deposit, and smoother wallet-based payments, including ramp payments and direct top-ups via WalletConnect and other wallets.

Across the platform, these updates are designed to help operators capitalize on the World Cup’s peak traffic, delivering measurable improvements at every stage of the player journey. Detailed release notes will follow, highlighting specific product enhancements and the developments shaping GR8 Tech’s World Cup-ready platform.

GR8 Tech – Platform for Champions

GR8 Tech is an award-winning provider of high-performance sportsbook and iGaming solutions that empower operators to lead and win in competitive markets. Its portfolio includes Crypto Turnkey and Hyper Turnkey solutions, ULTIM8 Sportsbook, Infinite Casino Aggregation, and the proprietary affiliate management platform Aff.Tech.

With a geo-specific, operator-first approach, GR8 Tech delivers practical innovations that drive measurable results quickly and efficiently. Trusted by top operators worldwide, the company has over 100 successful deployments and multiple industry recognitions, including Platform Provider of the Year at the SBC Awards 2025.

The post GR8 Tech Unveils Major Platform Enhancements Ahead of the World Cup appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.