Beyond the spin: IGT focuses in on omnichannel

Hannah Gannagé-Stewart

30 May 2025 at 6:50am UTC-4

Source: IGT

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If there was one theme that came to dominate this year’s SBC Americas Summit, it was omnichannel.

And, as IGT are masters of that particular art, I sat down with head of games and digital products, Brett Jackson, to discover the secrets behind a truly successful omnichannel strategy.

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With a background spanning everything from art, music, psychology, and newspapers before finally landing in igaming, Jackson has a pretty varied field of inspiration to draw from when building IGT’s omnichannel gaming strategy.

“I go into a new industry, learn it really quickly, and then bring whatever I’ve learned with me,” he tells me, before explaining that gambling was never unfamiliar territory. “My dad was a professional gambler. My mom loved playing slots, so I’ve been around them, I was able to adapt to it really quickly.”

Gaming also had a particular resonance because of his double major in social psychology and media production, “which turns out to be perfect mix,” he tells me.

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Jackson started his gaming career at Aristocrat in 2005, where he was Head of Studios. “I was really lucky,” he recalls. “I moved into Aristocrat at a time when they had really established, great designers, Nicholas Bennett and Scott Olive. I was a sponge, I just soaked it all up.”

From there, he eventually found himself at Light & Wonder as Creative Director, where he spent almost 13 years managing game development across several studios globally, before entering IGT as Head of Games and Digital Gaming Products in 2002.

Mastering omnichannel

At IGT, Jackson is building on a portfolio that has successfully delivered omnichannel gaming for almost a decade. The business has been operating its shared-pool jackpots for more than nine years, enabling players online and in land-based casinos to win a pooled prize.

“We have that in New Jersey. We’ll soon have it in Michigan. And I’ll be building more of those in the future,” Jackson says. “Omnichannel has become absolutely crucial in both the US and Canada.”

IGT is dedicated to omnichannel, with 50% of its portfolio available across land-based and digital. Its shared pool concept seems a fairly strong argument against the fear of cannibalization too.

“I’ve worked in land for years and then moved over to digital,” Jackson says. “And when I was in land – without the exposure to digital – I also believed that cannibalization could be a problem. But the reality is being able to play the game anywhere you are and making it convenient, builds that brand up. It doesn’t break it down. That sort of presence is very powerful.”

Jackson says IGT is methodical in its analysis of the casino market and what operators, and players, most want. “We are very data driven. There are test banks and player focus groups looking at the games very early stage, and we use their guidance,” he says.

Meanwhile, he is in constant contact with casino partners, land-based and online, who offer feedback on what is resonating with audiences and what they want more of. “One of the things that we’re focusing on, is being very data driven, we’re trying to build a more sophisticated picture on the player.”

There are several themes that are popular, Jackson says. “Triple pots, perceived persistence, strong helper characters, and at a larger level, classic or strong IP. Then, it’s great math, so that you get momentum in a particular mechanic and brand. Then you double down on that, and continue to make more games in that family.”

IGT’s Whitney Houston Slots are a classic example of this, combining brilliant IP from the chart-topping six-time Grammy winning megastar with the developer’s Prosperity Link mechanics.

“It’s such an incredible brand, and there’s been so much interest in it globally,” Jackson says, adding that operators in EMEA and Latin America have been just as keen as those in Europe and the US. “What we did with that game is use an established math model. It’s got a lot of DNA from Prosperity Link, which has been successful for us, and then you’ve got the great branding, visuals, video, and, of course, the music. We’re working really well with the Houston estate, so we have more games pipeline as well.”

Alchemy of a top slot

While the Whitney slots have been a hit, Jackson doesn’t downplay the challenge involved in making a great land-based game as great online.

“When people are playing online, they’re in a different mode. They might be commuting, they might be in a different location. What they’re looking for is a slightly different experience,” he says. “One of the key things that we do when taking a game from land to digital, is we really focus on the experience.”

There must be a compelling use case for both versions of the game, people have to want to play it in a land-based and digital setting. Not everything will translate from land to digital, and Jackson says there is a need to be selective when building an omnichannel portfolio.

“Presentations where there is an incredibly busy screen of information that is really important to gameplay, are very hard to translate to a small screen,” he says.

Jackson says research shows that games that are available to be played in the casino and online, generate greater engagement. “It’s actually the opposite of cannibalization, and you need to be there and doing that in very rigorous but accurate ways. What you’re bringing across is the same experience. If you don’t do that, you risk diluting the brand and you’re reducing the play. It needs to be a cohesive experience. We try to really focus on the integrity of the experience.”

That experience ultimately comes down to the way the games plays, what Jackson calls “the flow of events,” how often those events occur in the game, how big they are, the balance of the different experiences. “You’ve got maybe three or four different features in a game, how important is this feature versus that one? How much does this feature deliver surprise and delight? All those things come down to the math.”

New potential on the horizon

It’s no secret that since last summer IGT has been in the process of being jointly acquired with casino tech and payments provider Everi by private equity giant Apollo Global. The $6.3bn deal will see Everi subsumed by IGT, giving the slots developer a whole new raft of technology to work with. While Jackson was unable to talk about the merger, and little has been made public since last summer’s announcement, reports have suggested the deal is on track to close in the third quarter.

The introduction of multiplayer games may be one development after the merged entity is operating as a whole. Jackson says this isn’t something that IGT has been focusing on but tells me: “We’re at a point where our portfolio’s going to open up to allow different content partners to be part of the IGT ecosystem. So, it’s a longer-term strategy about how we stay nimble, how we diversify, but not have the burden of having to build it all ourselves.” IGT has also moved into areas like live dealer, he says, but “generally speaking, the gaming experience that we’re focused on is more singular.”

Beyond the US and Canada, Jackson says he has been exploring opportunities in Latin America, by spending some time there to really understand the various markets. He said Brazil has proven to be an idiosyncratic market requiring unique game development.

“When you’re in Brazil, when you go to for a walk, there’s no international brands, they’re all Brazilian. It’s a very homegrown style of culture, and they have their own approach,” he says. “Similarly, the games that work there are very different to a lot of other markets. So, we’re making custom games for Brazil, looking at what’s worked and then building on that.”

Jackson admits it’s a big investment to create games from scratch for one market, but Brazil is a massive market with huge potential. He seems to see the development of new games for unique markets as a sort of test bed for product innovation, working out what works there and then seeing if maybe it translates to somewhere else. “Anybody that tells you they know what’s going on in Latin America is lying, you have to learn,” he tells me.

And if there’s one thing Jackson appears to thrive off, it’s learning.