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UZOHAPP provides hardware for betting, gaming and self-service industries, helping software companies take their mobile and online betting projects into retail, in-person locations by providing a single source for a complete sports betting terminal solution.
The company assists with hardware integration services and project management, from designing a cabinet or kiosk to assisting with replacement parts or upgrading components down the line. It offers both turnkey solutions and peripheral components to kiosk manufacturers, such as scanners, printers, bill and coin validators, among others.
In an exclusive video interview with Yogonet, SUZOHAPP’s Vice President of Sales Europe Tim Kennedy says that sports betting is becoming a much more important part of its business. “Not only from the point of view of the OEMs that we supply, but during the pandemic we took the opportunity to start our own line of terminals and offer them to the market. And we were successful in winning a contract with a major lottery provider in Europe. We used that as a springboard to offer that to the rest of the world, and particularly to the rapidly growing U.S. market,” he notes.
In that sense, SUZOHAPP sees plenty of opportunities worldwide, Kennedy adds, with a lot of focus on the U.S. right now, but also in South America, in many European countries, and right across the world, as many governments are looking at sports betting as a way to soften the cost of the pandemic.
Regarding retail sports betting, Kennedy underlines the company’s long-standing relationship with large suppliers like Elo, who supply high-quality gaming touchscreens. In addition, SUZOHAPP recently launched a service for end customers or sports betting platform providers, “which allows them to offload all of their hardware requirements to us, and we offer a consultation service, that will basically work with them to understand what the player requirements are and their environmental requirements, whether the terminals are being installed in the casino or in more of a street environment and be able to engineer a solution that will meet those requirements.”
“So for example, in a new market, a lot of operators are looking to get involved in sports betting because it’s a growth opportunity, but they don’t have neither the time nor the expertise to be able to offer land-based sports betting, and that’s where SUZOHAPP offers this end-to-end service to take care of all your hardware needs,” Kennedy explains.
Considering the ongoing impact of the pandemic in the retail business, he says the company has been increasingly working on some very long-term projects in the last six months. “As operators saw that the market would start to open up, they very quickly now started to put their efforts into long term, particularly sports betting projects, which can be long in their gestation, so they are ready when all the markets open up, they are ready to roll out terminals. So we are working on a number of projects,” the executive says.
Kennedy believes the key in this scenario is to be dynamic and flexible as the market changes. “Every country that I’m responsible for has a different opening schedule now, so every day I’m looking at schedules and working with customers to decide which projects and which products we can support our customers with. It’s a very dynamic situation,” he adds.
When asked about trends and new demands, Kennedy points out that as “the U.S. is fast opening up in lots of different states, initially customers wanted to get products to market as fast as possible, and the range of terminals that were available, the range of options, was quite limited. I think now there’s a potential second-generation of terminals that are required, from the point of view of a consumer, so we are now looking at consuming journeys to understand player behavior, to make the betting experience better. And also how we can enhance the overall experience when you place a bet and you win and want to collect money. So we are going to be launching a line of cash redemption terminals that go hand-in-hand with sports betting terminals to enhance that player experience. And that’s particular to the U.S.”
“As the market matures you’ll see an increase in the player experience or an enhancement of the player experience, I think SUZOHAPP has a big part to play in that as we talk to a lot of customers and we see the casino business from lots of different avenues, and we can bring our product experience there to improve that overall experience, for players and operators alike,” Kennedy concludes.
