Decoding data and turning insight into impact across the iGaming ecosystem

Haig Sakouyan, VP, partner success at Incline Gaming Marketing

Eberhard Dürrschmid, CEO at Golden Whale Productions

Freya Buckingham, marketing operations manager at GameOn

David Watkins, CCO at Fincore

Sue Page, CEO Americas at Neosurf

NEXT: How is data reshaping decision-making across the iGaming value chain, from game development and marketing to partnerships and product innovation?

Haig Sakouyan: From the operator side, and in our work at Incline supporting user acquisition, CRM, and creative strategy for operators and suppliers across multiple regulated markets, the shift is obvious.

Game teams check mechanics against real player behaviour before launch. Marketing moves daily on CPA, CpFTD, LTV, and churn by cohort. Partnerships get judged on performance, not promises.

Product plans change when usage patterns change such as bet size or session length. MarTech is what gets the right numbers in front of the right people fast.

The best teams are not blindly data driven. They are data informed, weighing the numbers against experience and market reality.

Eberhard Dürrschmid: Data is definitely getting more and more “fluid” by the day. Our tools for creating, moving and re-shaping large datasets have gotten more advanced over the last few years and operators are improving rapidly on their basic data engineering capabilities.

This leads to a situation where we can apply tools that reap the benefits of more insights and stronger analytics at an increased speed, while also making use of their improved data-richness to generate a much deeper understanding of human behaviours and market-mechanisms by applying advanced methods in AI and ML.

These changes are valid across the board in each of the fields that you’ve mentioned.

Freya Buckingham: Data is moving us from gut feeling to guided creativity across the iGaming industry. Tools like Google Analytics, AI and ChatGPT allow us to build a macro view of industry trends, competitor movements, and player behaviours, rather than analysing data in silos.

For marketing, data creates clear direction, ensuring we align resources towards measurable goals while leaving space for creative experimentation. It’s about transforming insight into impact while ensuring we don’t lose the spark that makes games, and gaming, engaging and exciting.

David Watkins: Data has become the heartbeat of decision-making. It’s no longer a daily / monthly report—it’s a live feed, that when harnessed, drives action.

This shift to real-time, democratised data is fuelling rapid A/B testing in product, smarter acquisition spend and partnerships built on hard evidence. The game has changed: gut feel is out, insight-led action is in.

Sue Page: In terms of payments, we’re now working with data that goes far beyond simple transactions. With wallets like Wager Wallet, operators gain access to actionable insights that stretch outside their immediate ecosystem.

They can see where winnings go; whether they’re redeposited elsewhere, used for everyday spending, or moved out entirely.

That visibility adds a valuable layer to responsible gaming. It supports smarter budgeting and limit-setting tools for players, while enabling shared KYC data that streamlines onboarding and reduces payout friction.

Ultimately, the whole value chain becomes more connected; marketing, compliance, and product teams all benefit from a more joined-up, player-centric view.

NEXT: What types of data should be prioritised to demonstrate commercial value to internal stakeholders, investors, and industry partners?

Haig Sakouyan:  If it does not tie to revenue, it is background noise. CPA, CpFTD, ARPU, retention, and channel ROI go first.

Cohort LTV by acquisition source proves whether your spend works. Game performance by segment or jurisdiction tells you what is worth keeping.

Market trend and competitor shifts shape positioning. MarTech can surface it all faster, but the point is proving cause and effect, what you did, what happened next, and what it meant to the bottom line. If it cannot be linked to a decision, it is just a statistic.

Eberhard Dürrschmid: Generally speaking, we often see a deficit in experiment design and impact presentation.

When using data to automate optimisation processes, the results should clearly demonstrate impact in either growth, speed or margin without including any distracting details.

As we’re talking about fairly new methods – especially in regard to AI and ML – building trust in their effectiveness is absolutely paramount.

This is why Golden Whale Productions always uses tangible results to promote its technologies, as this allows clients to see the benefits that these solutions can bring to their businesses without them being overwhelmed by any unnecessarily complex information.

Freya Buckingham: Prioritise actionable data that demonstrates whether your audience is engaging and converting.

Look at signals such as content engagement, social follows, player acquisition and retention rates, game session lengths, and conversion from free play to real money play.

Track advocacy indicators: are players sharing your content, referring friends, or becoming brand champions? It’s not just about having data but ensuring it clearly links back to commercial outcomes stakeholders care about.

David Watkins: Out of all the things to measure; Retention, churn risk and lifetime value predictions sit at the top of the list. The ultimate health indicators of an operation.

But these metrics alone aren’t enough. Forward-thinking companies pair them with structured experimentation data to show what really moves the needle.

Don’t confuse noise with signal: volume of data impresses nobody. Stakeholders care about the ability to prove that a decision caused growth, not just correlated with it.

Sue Page: The most valuable data is the kind that reveals player behaviour beyond gameplay. That includes sharing KYC and onboarding insights that can reduce costs and improve player conversion, as well as gaining visibility into what happens after a payout.

Data around deposit patterns, self- limits, and spend tracking also provides a more complete view of player behaviour and their relationship with risk.

On a broader level, insights into how players engage across multiple operators can highlight retention challenges and opportunities.

When stakeholders have access to this type of information, it becomes far easier to demonstrate how responsible gaming tools and improved payment journeys directly impact commercial outcomes; whether that’s higher lifetime value, reduced fraud and chargebacks, or more efficient marketing spend.

NEXT: How can iGaming companies ensure data is not just collected, but actually leveraged to guide real-time, cross-functional decision making?

Haig Sakouyan: Agree on the KPIs before you talk about tools. Keep data clean, easy to reach, and updated without manual work.

MarTech makes that possible, but you still have to work around blind spots like post iOS attribution gaps. Put analysts in the room where decisions get made.

If the people deciding do not trust the data, they will not use it. Be ready to have the data prove you wrong as that is where it earns its keep. Data informed means you still make the call, but the call is smarter.

Eberhard Dürrschmid: At Golden Whale Productions, we focus on embedding real-time analytics directly into operational workflows in a way that enables us to ingest data at a high rate while also integrating easily into any existing system structure.

Our platform “Foundation” and the iterative learning structure “LOOPS” ensure that every team – from product to marketing – can act on live predictions, recommendations and results to make in improvements in real time.

Given data is only valuable when it drives immediate actions across the business, this enables us to deliver detailed insights that can have a real impact, irrespective of an organisation’s current tech stack.

Freya Buckingham: Break down internal silos by embedding cross-functional data sharing rituals—weekly dashboards across marketing, sales, product, and compliance can help teams act fast and align on insights.

Each department is an expert in its domain, so data should be interpreted collaboratively to add layers of context. Automate alerts for significant metrics so teams can pivot in real time. Ensure leadership encourages a culture of curiosity, where teams feel comfortable sharing insights and testing ideas.

It’s about making data accessible, actionable, and part of everyday decision-making, not something hidden away in quarterly reports.

David Watkins: Most companies aren’t short of data, but some starve for insight. The winners are those who build clean, connected datasets and use them to train predictive models, then wire those insights directly into everyday workflows.

Dashboards in decks don’t change outcomes. Insights in CRM tools, bonus engines and trading systems do. When leadership treats data as core strategy, not a side project, decisions shift from “what happened” to “what’s next.”

Sue Page: Collecting data isn’t the problem. The real challenge is access and integration. Too often, payments data sits with finance, separate from RG data , and marketing is left flying blind.

At Neosurf, we believe in closing those silos. Integrated dashboards that combine transactional data with real-time wallet usage help bridge the gap.

For example, knowing when and where a player cashes out can inform a personalised reactivation campaign, or flag a responsible gaming trigger before it escalates.