White-label slot sites: Pros, cons & how they work
What are white-label slot sites & how do they work?
White labelling is a fantastic way to take a product or service produced by a 3rd party and sell it using your unique branding as if it were your own. It saves time and energy by removing the initial production phase but obviously, this convenience comes at a cost.
White-label slot sites work on exactly the same principle. The white-label provider supplies not only the base software on which the new slot site will run but a number of other services too. This will usually include payment processing, customer support and several other elements.
How do white-label sites work?
As you know, the white-label partner takes care of all the hard work behind the scenes, which frees up the new slot site owner to concentrate on more creative matters such as branding, customising the site’s design and marketing. Financially, the provider will require compensation for their efforts, which will usually come in the form of a profit share and/or upfront costs.
The white-label product creator will, naturally, be eager for the new slot site to perform perfectly and generate as much profit as possible. Therefore, they’ll take charge of the following aspects to keep the operation as efficient and as streamlined as possible. Their experience in the industry will pay dividends in many ways.
Games library
Slot developers are reluctant to put their names to a new slot site with no proven track record as it may jeopardise their own reputation if anything goes wrong. That’s why white-label partners will shoulder the responsibility and use their own connections to get the new slot site fully stocked with the latest games.
Desktop and mobile platforms
It is essential that modern slot sites are able to offer their product on a range of devices and this includes mobile phones. The white-label solution will ensure that these goals are met.
Customer services
Having a dedicated customer services department might be an impossible proposition for a brand that is just getting started. Again, the white-label provider steps in and can take charge of this. They are better placed to offer 24/7 support and multilingual solutions.
Marketing solutions & analytics
Player acquisition and retention come at a cost that experienced operators know only too well. Alongside their customisable product, they can also offer tools for creating ad campaigns and promos. Marketing and other areas of the operation need to be closely monitored to aid future growth, something that sites going at it alone might not be able to keep on top of.
Licencing and other legal requirements
Depending on which part of the world the casino wishes to operate, there will be many legal considerations. A gambling licence is just part of the picture. They may also need to comply with various ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) protocols, anti-fraud and anti-money laundering regulations as well. The white-label partner can extend its own legal credentials to the new brand.
Payment processing
If players are unable to get money into their accounts in a number of ways, then it is going to be impossible for a new slot site to get off the ground. Having the white-label provider take ownership of this is essential for emerging brands.
Responsible gambling assurances
Player safety has, understandably, become a hot subject in recent years. Brands need to be able to recognise problematic behaviour and offer a range of solutions to help customers maintain healthy gambling habits. Experienced operators are in a much better position to offer tools and services to customers.
The white-label process
Using a white-label product may seem like the ideal solution and is often the quickest way to get a new brand to market. As with all products, starting a slot site in this way requires choosing the right partner with which the brand would like to work.
There are several major players in the industry with each offering its own levels of benefits and advantages. And of course, their own fees as well. Some providers require an upfront fee in addition to or in place of a share of the profits. This is something that needs to be weighed up before any commitment is made.
Once the choice of partner has been finalised, the new slot site owners are ready to start working on their product. They begin by adding their branding to all of the available aspects of the site and ensure that the new creation meets with the product owner’s guidelines. They can then think about releasing the site to the eagerly awaiting public.
Benefits of white-label slot sites
We’ve already seen a few of the reasons why new slot sites may decide to choose a white-label solution in place of starting from scratch. Let's take a look at some of the other benefits that also come from this arrangement.
- Product creation and launch efficiency - it can take years to organise licences, multi-provider games, and put various legal procedures in place.
- Lower operating costs - customer service departments and other operating aspects need immediate financial and time input, which can be extremely expensive.
- Easy customisation - white-label products can be easily and quickly branded to begin marketing as soon as possible.
- Lower launch costs - developing a bespoke product takes many hours of highly skilled labour such as computer programmers and other technical specialists.
- Faster industry approval - Having the backing of a huge operator behind the scenes can make growing the brand’s reputation much faster to achieve.
The disadvantages of white-label slot sites
It isn't all plain sailing using this solution though. Relying on a white-label partner to produce such a large percentage of your overall product does come with several downsides that are worth considering.
- Limited control - restricting the customisable aspects of a product makes it faster to roll out but does take away a lot of the control that the site owner will have over the site’s look and feel.
- Expensive in the long run - agreeing to give away a share of your profits makes good sense in the beginning. But if the product becomes extremely popular then it will be hard to continuously give away a cut of the spoils.
- Lack of personality - it is easy to spot sites that work with the same white-label provider and they can sometimes lose a little individual identity as a result.
- Fierce competition - the highly competitive white-label slot site market means that many brands come and go making it difficult to ensure longevity when following this path.
White-label vs Turnkey vs API
White-label product solutions aren't the only way forward when a brand would like to integrate some of the benefits of working with an already-established operator. There are a couple of other options that are worth considering: Turnkey and API. Let's take a look at the difference between them and the white-label products.
- White-label - this is a fully managed product covering all elements from games to banking with easy setup and only basic design knowledge needed.
- Turnkey - this package product is for existing operators offering greater flexibility that can include aspects of a white-label solution such as games and payment options.
- API (Application Programming Interface) - a solution that allows the operator to use their existing platform to integrate gaming feeds from other platform providers with full flexibility.
Major white-label providers
There are several big-name providers of white-label solutions that are ready and willing to help new brands get up and running in the slot site niche. They all offer fairly similar base products but with varying degrees of added extras that may encourage a new slot site owner to go with them.
Here are some of the best-known providers in the business and a few of the things that they are able to offer new customers considering their services.
White Hat Gaming
- Licences: UKGC + MGA licence.
- Games: 3,000+ games from 120 leading slot developers
- Payment options: All payment options available
- Customer services: 24/7 in 8 languages
White Hat Gaming is recognised the world over for producing one of the most comprehensive white-label slot site products. They are behind names such as Slot Planet, 21 Casino, Skol and Slotnite. The state-of-the-art iGaming platform offers secure, scalable and flexible solutions for new casinos and sportsbooks.
They have a range of solutions from player account management (PAM) to complete white-label products. And one of the major benefits of working with them is access to thousands of games from some of the best-known game providers in the world. They also have licences with the UKGC and MGA to ensure wide coverage for any new brand. The platform offers a range of additions including travelling wallet, hardware and hosting, an in-house cashier, safer gambling, customer support and much more.
SkillOnNet
- Licences: UKGC, MGA, Spillemyndigheden, Spelinspektionen, Juego Seguro & SRIJ
- Games: 3,000+ games from leading providers
- Payment options: 35+
- Customer services: 24/7 in 27 languages.
SkillOnNet is one of the most adaptable white-label and Turnkey casino solutions currently available. They are behind names such as PlayOJO, Bacana Play and Jackpot Star among many others.
Their white-label product is the fastest-growing online casino platform in Europe and they have their own unique retention strategy that new clients can optimise to target players with promos and offers. The CRM (customer relationship management) team carefully guides new customers through the sales cycle to maximise revenues. And this proves to be a big hit with anyone starting out as a new slot site owner.
Every Matrix
- Licences: 19 casino licences
- Games: 1,000+
- Payment options: 300+
- Customer services: Unknown
This brand counts huge names such as BetVictor and Paddy Power among the sites that use parts of their service like the CasinoEngine. They offer a range of solutions for new and existing operators to help ensure future success. These include a casino integration platform, sports betting solutions, gaming management platform, cross-product bonus systems and a whole lot more.
Progress Play
- Licences: UKGC, MGA
- Games: 400+
- Payment options: 10+
- Customer services: 24/7
Top sites such as Mr Slot and Mr Super Play are among the happy customers that use this dedicated white-label solution. Existing white-label gaming operators are also available to use Progress Play’s full Turnkey solution based on the proprietary software designed for seamless integration. Options include CRM, customer services, payment processing, API integration and business analytics among others.
Sister sites
Sister slot sites are similar to white-label casinos, but rather than individual brands using a third-party product, sister sites are all part of the same group—often with their own proprietary software. Within the group of casino brands, there is often a focus on various elements that appeal to different types of customers.
This allows an operator to widen its customer catchment potential. For example, one brand may focus on removing bonuses completely as their USP while another slot site in the group may aim for more fun branding that keeps things more light-hearted.
L&L Europe
L&L Europe uses its own proprietary software to run a number of well-known brands. These include All British Casino, Fun Casino, Yeti Casino and others.
They are able to pull their resources to attract big-name game providers such as Microgaming, Blueprint Gaming, Big Time Gaming, Just For The Win, IGT, NetEnt and Thunderkick. In addition, these sites all have familiar benefits ranging from lightning-fast deposits and withdrawals, 24/7 support and licences with MGA, UKGC and Spelinspektionen.
Flutter Entertainment
Flutter Entertainment is one of the best-known gambling parent companies with brands such as Paddy Power, Betfair and PokerStars under their wing. When Paddy Power and Betfair merged, Flutter Entertainment was formed to control the overall operation.
They went on to acquire The Stars Group in 2019, which added the famous PokerStars brand to their arsenal. It is the largest online gambling company in terms of revenues.