Since 2009, we have collaborated with Fortuna, the largest betting and gaming operator in Central Europe, to develop their online and mobile betting capabilities. Our success in this partnership is measured not only by our mutual satisfaction, but also by tangible metrics. In the first half of 2016 alone, Fortuna experienced a remarkable 24% increase in the number of received bets. What role did mobile betting play in this?
Mobile channels account for the lion's share of the growth in betting slip take-up. Even though the website is conveniently available in the browser on the phone, it still has limitations in terms of user interface or inconvenience: user login, menu browsing, speed of setting up more complex betting slips, etc.
"I am aware of how demanding we, Fortuna, are as customer. The mobile division of Etnetera was able to meet all our expectations and requirements. The result is an app that we are proud of from both a user and technical perspective. Nevertheless, we are not resting on our laurels and are pushing forward with further development." - Jan Horyna, Head of Online Development
"Mobile betting at Fortuna has its own tradition. And so does our cooperation. The first fully mobile website, incredibly optimised for the top mobile phones of the time, was developed by Etnetera. When the decision was made for fully native mobile app development, Etnetera's mobile division (nowadays Etnetera Flow) was logically chosen as a partner. The smooth transition to the new apps and the business results only prove to us that it was the right choice.", says Jan Horyna. Therefore, development in 2015 and 2016 focused mainly on mobile apps.
We took on a huge task, but we learned a lot and we are proud of the result. The resulting app can withstand comparison with the world's top betting companies and in many ways even surpasses them. There are only a few comparably large projects in the Czech Republic in terms of the scope and size of development of mobile applications. The list of features would be very long. The most interesting from the user and business point of view are:
- Push notifications: Do you want to be in control of the evaluation of the betting slip without taking your phone out of your pocket? Notifications keep you informed in real time. Own a smartwatch? Messages can be delivered directly to your wrist, without the need to reach for your phone or other device.
- Sports video streaming: Video streaming allows you to watch the game in real time and bet on a single screen.
- Advanced statistics and charts: Without complete information, a true bettor cannot make the right decision. Ball possession ratios, match statistics, fouls, cards... everything right in the app.
- Quick bet on long-tap: An easy gesture to close a simple bet in a flash. Excellent for Live betting where the odds change several times per second.
- Advanced gestures for quick navigation: they make it significantly faster to build a betting slip and navigate through tens of thousands of odds.
- Quick full-text search: find your favourite team or league by typing the first three letters. The app remembers your past searches.
- TouchID: Logging in with your fingerprint is both secure and convenient. The feature will soon be available for Android.
- Betting slip overview and quick filtering: Betting slips support detailed filtering and allow you to better navigate your slips.
- Available maps and branch locator: Do you want to visit a Fortuna branch? The app will guide you to the nearest branch nearby using GPS.
- 3D Touch Shortcuts (iOS): The app supports Apple's latest technology. Not only launching the app, but also moving around the app is faster with a strong press.
Under the technical lid
When betting, great emphasis is placed on the speed of both the user interface and the speed of the transmission of odds changes from the betting system to the customer's end device. Our goal was to create an app that would be swift and fun to use even on slower and less powerful devices. Their penetration in the markets where Fortuna operates is very significant (e.g., Poland). The Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini and iPhone 4s were therefore chosen as the reference device. During the final stages of development, special attention was given to fine-tuning and optimising the software to ensure optimal performance, particularly on devices with lower specifications.
In order to meet the requirement of fast polling, we used open sockets technology, which, unlike cyclic polling, keeps the connection open at all times and therefore changes are transmitted immediately when they occur (push).
For the development and final performance tuning, we used our Smartmeter.io tool. Before the launch, we were confident that we could handle the huge number of users during the Olympics. According to an internal comparison, we can boast a position in the TOP 5 (against all known mobile competitors in the field of sports betting). Within the betting segment, the size of which (only the legal part) is estimated at USD 700 billion, this is really not a bad result.
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