Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL) is looking to digitise its 11 business lines by year-end, a move the company said would improve earnings.
Chairman Gary Peart reckons that anonymous gaming, which can be facilitated through digital channels, will attract more customers.
“This will allow us the opportunity to expand our current and historical customer base. With a digital channel, it opens up the space for people who traditionally would not want to join a line beside a hole in the wall,” Peart told Loop News.
“The biggest advantage in gaming is what is called anonymity, where people love to bet and nobody knows they have bet. The digital space opens that market for us,” he said.
Digital success, he added, requires a robust internal IT infrastructure which the company already possesses.
The SVL chairman also noted that the company has its sights set on further expanding outside the local market.
“We are always in discussions with other players, and the opportunities which present themselves, so stay tuned.”
Asked what are the main challenges foreseen as COVID-19 continues to spread, and what are the strategies being applied to deal with them, Peart answered: “I don’t see any challenges out there that we can’t overcome, all of the things that we discussed prior, we are already down the road.”
On the topic of closures and layoffs the executive chairman noted, “Closures, and layoffs were primarily due to COVID. Unfortunately, we have seen where there is a second phase and we don’t know how deep the government’s measures will become. If there are going to be any future layoffs, it will be as a consequence of either a total lockdown or a near total lockdown.”
“Notwithstanding, because we are committed to going digital and we already have work-from-home scenarios, the only segment of the group that will be susceptible to that would really be the temporary workers out by Caymanas [Park],” Peart said.
Peart added: “We have gone to a near lockdown, we have come out of it, we have brought people back on, and so we try and put measures in place to protect them and cushion the impact as much as possible.”
The company’s diversification across 11 products will continue to be a trump card with higher revenue seen on online and virtual gaming options, the SVL chairman said.
Peart stated, “The beauty about SVL because we are so diversified in terms of gaming products, that while you have seen a reduction in gaming events, they are now seeing above average betting income”.
He said, “We are putting ourselves in a position that – God forbid – we had another lockdown, we would have those digital solutions, we should be fine.”
Peart also noted that not much challenge comes with digital expansion.
“It is easier to setup a digital distribution channel than a fixed channel. Once you’ve perfected the app, phone or website, you know, it’s just the case of getting that app on people’s phones or that website address on people’s mind. Once you have done so, which takes some amount of marketing, that is your only impediment,” he shared.
Furthermore, online internet and mobile requires a lower fee than what you pay to a fixed location, and you have that benefit as well, that the efficiency of distribution will be increased, Peart said.
Source: https://www.loopjamaica.com/content/supreme-ventures-looks-go-all-digital-year-end
