A land-based casino’s online identity should not be viewed as a “bolt on” of the bricks-and-mortar operation, says Shaun McCamley, founder and chairman of GameWorkz, in an interview with GGRAsia.
Mr McCamley (pictured) has more than four decades of experience in land-based and online gaming management and investment. During the recent edition of Global Gaming Expo (G2E) @ the Philippines, he mentioned the potential of social gaming as a supporting segment for land-based casinos in that country.
Mr McCamley outlined to GGRAsia that social games can include puzzles, pachinko-style games, and so-called ‘crash’ games as well as no-cash-prize casino-style games.
Although players must typically deposit money to take part, they are not classed as gambling games in certain jurisdictions including the Philippines, he asserted.
Also, social games should not be viewed by land-based operators as a chance to “convert” people to in-casino gambling. They were instead a crucial chance for brands to engage with existing registered non-gaming clients of integrated resorts (IRs).
GameWorkz products (example pictured below) are said to help land-based casino operators across the Asia-Pacific region to develop tailored social gaming platforms.
“If we just look at the Philippines, 80 percent” of visitors to IRs “do not gamble… they are all in the restaurants,” he told GGRAsia . But they do, he suggested, “all join the properties’ loyalty programmes”.
Mr McCamley asserted social gaming is an “opportunity for the property to earn substantial revenues from a large database” that oftentimes “sits there doing nothing”.
He gave as an example of missed marketing opportunity and misaligned marketing spend, friends in the Philippines with “five rice-making machines,” and “eight irons” in their respective homes.
Mr McCamley said the explanation he had from friends was: “Every time we go [to the casino resort] they have these raffles… We’re not gambling… they just have a point system” for non-gaming activity.
Mission-based loyalty
Mr McCamley stated: “Your property social platform is not there to convert these people into gamblers. They will never do that… So don’t waste your time and don’t go into it with that mindset.”
It was better to appeal to social gaming users via “mission-based loyalty… play this game you’ll earn extra points”.
Land-based venues can lock such ‘missions’ into the property loyalty programme, he suggested, with rewards such as a “free night at the hotel… or a food and beverage voucher”.
But Mr McCamley cautioned: “You must get your foundational structure in place to start with. And you must get the right people in charge who look at your online ‘vertical’ completely independent of the casino floor.”
Too often, he suggested, the “mindset” in land-based management is that a casinos’ online presence is a “bolt-on to the casino floor”.
Mr McCamley stated additionally: “Do not give it to casino marketing because then it just becomes a marketing product.” The “worst” thing would be to give the work to the casino’s IT department, “because IT just look at it as a technical project,” he asserted.
Attempts by land-based venues in the Philippines to boost revenue via online gambling products also had pitfalls, he suggested.
He gave an example of a physical slot machine being linked to a camera in order to stream the play remotely to a gambler logging in with the casino’s online platform.
Mr McCamley said: “The whole point about the online business is you get free ‘real estate’.
“For example, one slot machine can accommodate 20,000 people online. So, why would you want to put a camera in front of a machine,” so that clients find they “can’t play that machine because somebody else is playing it?”
Aside from providing online casino games, IR operators in the country also have a Philippine Inland Gaming Operator (PIGO) licence, which allows them to provide remote gaming to registered users. Under such a permit, casino licensees can get 25-percent above their original quota on both physical gaming tables and slot machines to be allocated to remote gaming operations.
‘White label’ limitations
Another challenge for land-based operators wishing to integrate an online element, is that too often, suggested Mr McCamley, land-based operators choose a ‘white label’ off-the-shelf platform setup. There, the “only” differentiation for the casino is getting its brand represented via a platform “skin”, he asserted.
Mr McCamley said that while a “white label might be the fastest and cheapest way” for a casino to get an online presence, “why would you?”
The casino operator would typically be paying “minimums each month for the core games or to the core platform providers,” but without the flexibility to make changes to the platform because its architecture is used by other operators, he stated.
Another potential pain point for land-based casinos that want an online presence – whether for social gaming or to offer for-money prizes – is using software apps, said Mr McCamley.
Use of an app store means the store provider typically wants a percentage of revenue that comes in, suggested the expert.
He added: “The stronger argument against using apps and why we haven’t used apps for at least three years now, is because of AI.”
An AI tool at an app store “will look at your wording on your platform… If you’ve got one word that it thinks is not in compliance with the platform, there’s no discussion. They shut you down immediately,” asserted Mr McCamley.
Despite these potential pitfalls and challenges, “online business is only going to get more important” for land-based operators in the Philippines, “it’s never going to fall off,” suggested Mr McCamley.
“This year – 2026 – is going to be a very difficult year for them [land-based operators] if they don’t wise up and start to get serious about what they need to do” for a meaningful online presence, said Mr McCamley.