thebigwordGroup Announces Online Gambling Industry Evaluation

New York, NY - Many online gaming sites stopped accepting bets from American players when President Bush brought the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act into law in 2006. The online gaming industry has undergone a shift as a result of the subsequent deficit in the U.S. market. So what are online betting and gaming companies to do with this loss in gaming consumers? A recent industry evaluation conducted by thebigwordGroup, a leading translation services company, suggests the best approach is to adopt an international expansion strategy.

Whether it's poker, sports betting, casino games, tournaments or spread betting, companies need to have the know-how to communicate with and sell their services to a much broader international audience. According to thebigwordgroup’s Strategic Account Director, Robert Timms, “For Internet gambling companies this means making their website and online games accessible to customers in different languages and different cultures. Sticking with a single-language will mean losing out on critical international business. That's why companies such as 888.com, who recently posted a sharp rise in profits due to their effective international presence, William Hill, Ladbrokes, Sporting Index and grandbilliards.com have implemented a global strategy.”

Timms continued, “Website development is a readily availiable skill globally. However, developing globally ready websites and gaming applications requires unique expertise for the online gambling market. Based on our recent industry analization, we are supporting our gaming clients through advice on the development of site architecture and software localization processes that accomodate their global content.”

Bottom line says thebigword: know what your audience wants and how they want it. In other words, know if they like graphic-intensive content, how they are accessing the Internet (mobile or not) and what they’re searching for. A summary of their resulting industry evaluation suggests that companies should:

1. Conduct a Globalization Analysis – This process will help determine how localization-friendly your product is, and it will then help you create a roadmap for your team as to what needs to be done.

2. Create An Internationalized Look/Feel – be sensitive to cultural icons, symbols and nuances. Don’t put something distinctly “American” if you are trying to appeal to an international audience.

3. Translation is More Than Just Words – Translate all elements: title, menus, dialogue boxes, in-game messages, main content, links, etc. When clicking on a link in a local language, visitors expect to read another document in their language. A link leading them to an English document can bring unpleasant surprise, frustration and disappointment. Besides the standard localization of date, time, address, currency, and other formats, consider organizing the information flow on the page according to the cultural standards.

4. Privacy Is King – Because privacy is a hot issue on the Web today, make sure to translate your privacy policy into your target languages and provide an easily accessible link to it. In some countries, the laws and regulations for collecting user information and using it to market directly to the consumer without his or her expressed permission are very strict. Do your homework before attempting to collect such information or sending unsolicited e-mails or newsletters.

5. Content Management Systems (CMS) – If you choose to use a CMS to manage your content, ensure it supports web services so you can easily integrate your content work flows into your translation vendors processes, like TranzManagerTMContent. This will provide you with a near seamless process to keep your translations in sync.

6. Customer Service & Technical Assistance – Visitors who send inquiries from the localized sites expect to be answered promptly and in the same language in which they sent the question. Make sure you have the ability to read and respond to foreign language inquiries in a timely manner. Consider partnering with a translation company for telephone interpreting services and email translation services if you can’t manage this in house.

7. Don’t Forget the Beta Test – If you can’t involve representatives from the target markets at the beginning of your localization project, make sure to include them during the beta test phase. They can give you invaluable feedback not only on cultural issues, but also on download time, browser compatibility, and other important considerations. Validation is a key element to translation workflow, so ensure your target market reviewers approve translations securely and efficiently. It is important that the translations are in the appropriate style and covey the correct message, therefore choose a review application that allows your reviewers to capture amends and support the correct file formats. SmartReviewTM is a web based solution which supports an efficient review process.


About thebigwordGroup
thebigwordGroup is one of the world’s leading translation service providers, with offices in New York, Chicago, London, Tokyo, Copenhagen, Brussels, Beijing, Shanghai, and most recently, Düsseldorf. Offering a global reach, thebigword is a multifaceted corporation allowing customers to experience the best in language services, encompassing the best technology solutions in the industry. With a global network of over 7,500 linguists, including translators and interpreters, who operate in over 150 languages and 500 language pairs across 77 countries, thebigword translates for a broad range of industries including online gaming, automotive, finance, sales and marketing, healthcare, manufacturing and IT. Services provided by thebigword include: interpreting, multimedia voice over, eLearning, and website translation and localization. For more information visit: www.thebigword.com.

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