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Data science means applying scientific methods and structural algorithms to available sets of data to draw insights. This involves scrutinizing available ‘big data’ in a given sector and using that data to map trends and make predictions.
As an interdisciplinary field, data science has a lot of applications in modern-day industries. Still, the iGaming sector gets the most out of it. Sports betting experts, gambling enthusiasts, game software developers, and many other online casino stakeholders use data science one way or another. For instance, tech-savvy bettors in Europe try to develop intelligent analytics tools to predict the Premier League results, while legalized Canadian brands use big data to fix security holes and market themselves.
Data Science in iGaming
Data analysis is pivotal for extracting real-time information on the flow of value in the iGaming industry. This information is then used to improve various aspects.
The $196B industry relies on big data in almost all its components. And here are the specific use cases of data science in the online casino and sports industry to help you see just how crucial big data analysis is.
Customer Service Experience
In the competitive world of online casinos, business owners bank on customer service to edge out rivals. They go to great lengths to ensure that their customers leave their casinos satisfied.
Casinos collect a lot of data about their clients and analyze it to improve their experience. It includes titles they spend the most time playing, the category of games they never open, and the time of day they start playing. All this information is stored in the casino’s database.
Using machine learning, casinos build a ‘profile’ for every player. Analyzing these profiles, they then target players with custom ads and market only the games that the players are likely to love. Both parties walk home happy at the end of the day.
Predictive Analytics
For years, data scientists have tried to create models to help predict the outcomes of casino games and sports events. For instance, there are many gambling bots in operation, which players use to play poker and other casino games. They are winning money from players with poor skills. Building such a bot is a tough task. It requires implementing AI algorithms, programming skills, and knowledge of the game strategy.
But more often, predictive analytics is used to work out a data-driven sports betting strategy. Punters analyze data from previous competitions to predict the results of upcoming matches. To achieve high accuracy they use machine learning and neural network models. Their predictions are generally 50-70% correct. Note, however, that bookmakers also have an in-house data science team, as a rule.
There are also cases of using data analytics to win the lottery and jackpots.
Design of Online Games
Developers take advantage of data science to design better games for their customers. The modern game development industry is very data-driven. Graphics, gameplay, and storyline are the result of rigorous analysis behind the scenes.
Developers collect data from alpha testers to understand which aspects of the game players love most and use this information to improve later versions of the games. Besides, it is easy to collect data on player preferences through ratings and reviews.
Data science helps to fine-tune the creativity and artistic mastery of game developers by helping them understand the behavioral aspect of game design. Without careful data analysis, all the creativity and effort of developers would go to waste.
Prevention of Cheating
A lot of competitive online games are full of cheats. These cheats exploit loopholes within the games to win money. Modern-day PC games, in particular, are grappling with these cheats. Popular titles like PUBG, Call of Duty, and even some online casino games have fallen victim to unscrupulous individuals.
To help combat cheating, developers and cyber-security experts are taking advantage of data science. Through behavioral analysis of customers logged into the casino, operators are able to smoke out the bad players before they succeed in defrauding. It helps to reveal patterns in large data sets and detect whether there are any deviations. Data science, therefore, helps make the online gaming space safer and fairer for all players.
Efficient Marketing Efforts
Using data analysis methods helps business owners market their services to the right demographic. The cost of promoting products online has risen in the last few years. And the cost of creating digital ads has increased by 12% in two years. Trying to push a product such as a casino game can be taxing because there are many similar products in the market already.
Sifting through big data can help get better insights on how to promote an online product better. You can analyze the demographics that will most likely enjoy the game, their location, their age, and so on.
Armed with this information, you can create better digital marketing campaigns to target potential clients. You will save a lot of money by narrowing down your target audience and increase the returns on your investment.
Conclusion
Data science helps the iGaming industry flourish in many ways. If you are in this industry and haven’t invested in big data solutions, then you are losing out on a lot.
