with that? Or does anyone have sort of a different thought about what it all means? AL: I think you made a good introduction to the topic here and omnichannel, multi-channel is in fact, an application which helps technology companies, operators, and also regulators to understand player demands and how to handle gaming in a broader sense. I will explain later on how we as Novomatic, a technology company active in bricks and clicks, how we handle that technology. JVD: I also agree with Jeremy’s description of omnichannel. For us as a regulator, we mostly approach it through questions like, which rules for taking part in games of chance do we apply to which kind of channels now that players have the games at their fingertips basically everywhere, whether it be in a physical establishment, on their phones or on the computer. And we also believe that the fact that it provides a bit more of a personal experience could also be an advantage in terms of player protection, for example, setting personalized limits, or giving yourself temporary exclusions. So both in terms of player experience and player protection, there could be advantages there I believe. GA: I think from the US perspective, we want everything to be seamless and we’re looking for the easiest option so I think multi-channel / omnichannel is a growing need and desire. You open one app, and you can do everything in that app. You don’t have to close that out and go to another app and login all over again. And that’s really what we’re aiming for; we want everything to be quick and easy. JK: Let’s talk about the technology. So, in a perfect world, I would have an app on my mobile phone that is both my mobile betting platform, but also allows, through player tracking and geolocation, targeted marketing to the player, whether the player is in the casino, or out of the casino. And I imagine it’s also a tool that allows for seamless payments. So, you deposit money into your account online, and ideally, you’re able to use your device at a slot machine, for example, or at a roulette table, rather than using cash. Is that right? Does that technology exist? AL: The technology definitely exists, and for example, to explain a little bit, Novomatic is active in technologies and also in the operations. Also we are active in terrestrial gaming, and in online gaming. With knowledge of all these segments, we have had an omnichannel solution actually since 2016. The first implementation by our company was done in Spain, and it was more or less in the lottery segment, because under lottery regulation they are able to provide their services and the products online and in arcades or in shops. From a license or regulation perspective they are omnichannel and that’s what we implemented in 2016. Of course, in the casino segment it is talked about more and more today and here we also provide several solutions. We have pluriels, for example, that we have implemented in the Luxembourg lottery, a National Lottery. And we also have Novovision which is interesting because it combines biometric data with an omnichannel solution, meaning we have a fingerprint solution. You can go to the arcades, register through the fingerprint system, you will be authorized and identified and then you can use gaming machines, slot machines, betting terminals, and online services via the fingerprint. This is simple, because the wallet is on the finger, the player just has to remember which finger he used to make the registration. So the technology is there. Of course, what we will probably talk about and hear from the regulatory side is that a single solution results in large amounts of data. We know the players and this is important of course for promotions, for loyalty programs, but also for player protection measures. JVD: I fully agree with that. It’s the fact that there is big data present that operators can track their player, see what they do, when they log in, when they play, how much time they spend, how much money they spend. It could be a valuable tool as well for operators to cooperate with the regulator to implement for example, some sort of duty of care where you have to say as an operator, okay, if this player shows a sudden peak in their playing behavior, or if they maybe play too much, we could send them a warning or maybe encourage them to take a break. In very severe cases, maybe a temporary exclusion is appropriate, or we might even contact the regulator to exclude them from all websites. Things like these are some examples of what regulators can do together with the operators to use tools that exist already for increased protection of players.
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