iGaming platform boosts player experiences

Recent years have seen dramatic growth in the igaming industry as consumers take advantage of the latest technology to play casino games at home or anywhere on their mobile devices. Success in this highly competitive market depends on many factors, but the ability to provide an outstanding player experience while complying with regulations is paramount. 

This approach has enabled Intouch Games to become one of the largest igaming businesses in the United Kingdom with more than 11 million player-members and more than 500 games to choose from. The award-winning technology company debuted its first online casino, mFortune, in 2007. Since then, it has launched seven other brands: PocketWin, Dr Slot, Mr Spin, Cashmo, Casino 2020, Bonus Boss, and Jammy Monkey. Intouch Games publishes dozens of original online games every year, while also promoting safer gambling by including tools that help players control their spending and gaming activity.

Robert Harrison, CTO of Intouch Games, is responsible for the technology platform and content development that drives the business. “The player experience is everything. We put quality, innovation, and customer service at the heart of the organization,” he says. With 24/7 customer service 365 days of the year, it’s no surprise that Intouch Games won the Best Customer Service award for mFortune two years in a row. 

The speed with which games load during a player session is critical to this mission. “One of the biggest challenges when it comes to performance is system latency,” says Robert. “Even a few microseconds delay when accessing a game or pressing a button can diminish the player experience and encourage them to try a game from another provider.” Intouch Games has highlighted how important the player experience is for the online casinos. Finding the right solutions, with the right people, is imperative to the company, which is why every second counts.

“There’s a clear correlation between the lifetime value of a customer and latency,” says Robert. “Improving performance by a few milliseconds might not sound much, but if you multiply the impact across millions of players, it will have a significant impact on revenues.”

Akamai provides Intouch Games with multiple layers of security that protect its systems from cyberattacks. Akamai Web Application Protector uses automatic discovery and security to protect against distributed denial of service (DDoS), injection, and credential stuffing. “With Akamai, we can mitigate threats directly from the source,” says Oszkar. “It also protects our payment gateway and helps with our efforts to comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.” 

Web Application Protector also supports geoblocking so that Intouch Games can limit access to its content based on the user’s geographical location. “Player well-being is a number one priority for Intouch Games,” says Robert. “Akamai helps us safeguard customer data while also playing a vital role in helping us to enforce national and global regulations that protect our customers and partners.”

Intouch Games also deployed Akamai Edge DNS to provide further protection against DDoS attacks and Akamai Site Shield to remove its websites from the internet-accessible IP address space. This prevents attackers from targeting Intouch Games directly and forces traffic to go through the Akamai platform, where threats can be detected and mitigated.

These Akamai solutions give Robert and Oszkar peace of mind and significantly reduce day-to-day administration. Oszkar says, “Going with Akamai was a no-brainer. The reliability and stability of its performance and security solutions are light years ahead of anything else we’ve seen. Everything works faster and more effectively.” 

Looking to the future, Intouch Games now has a stable performance and security environment that enables it to focus on the growth of the business. Robert says, “With Akamai, we get the best of both worlds. We can exceed player expectations in terms of game performance while complying with regulations supported by multiple layers of security. From engaging with our direct consumers to delivering content through our business-to-business partnerships, it means we can take the business to the next level.”