BetGames: The Future of Engagement

As gamification continues to evolve into a core pillar of player engagement, BetGames is positioning its Hero engine at the forefront of this shift. This dual-perspective interview brings together Adam Lahouiri, Head of Product, and Martynas Dumpis, Product Owner, to explore both the strategic vision and technical execution behind Hero. 

From player psychology and commercial impact to system architecture and real-time personalisation, the piece offers a comprehensive look at how modern gamification is being designed, built, and scaled.

What gap in the market were you aiming to solve with Hero? 

AL: Gamification is not new, but many existing solutions only address part of the player journey. We saw an opportunity to create a more complete ecosystem that keeps players engaged before, during, and after gameplay. With Hero, players can take part in challenges that encourage them to step outside their comfort zone, try new games, or continue enjoying the titles they already love. 

They can also compete in tournaments for leaderboard positions and rewards. Those rewards come in the form of Coins, Hero’s virtual currency, which can then be redeemed in the shop for prizes such as free spins, free bets, bonuses, vouchers, and more. The result is a continuous engagement loop that drives retention, excitement, and cross-game activity.

What separates Hero from traditional gamification tools? 

AL: What sets Hero apart is the level of flexibility and control it gives our partners. Operators know their players best, so Hero allows them to fully customise the experience to match their brand, audience, and commercial goals. 

Hero is also fully embedded in-game through a persistent icon, making it consistently accessible to players without interrupting gameplay. Combined with personalised profiles, XP systems, and real-time rewards, it becomes a living engagement engine rather than a static promotional tool.

Hero uses XP, progression systems, and rewards – how were these designed to maximise engagement? 

MD: We designed Hero to give players both short-term and long-term motivation to stay engaged. In the short term, players can complete challenges, participate in tournaments, earn XP, collect coins, and receive rewards. Long-term, they can progress through levels, unlock value over time, and feel that their activity is building towards something.

A very important factor here is flexibility. Challenges and tournaments are highly customisable and can be created for different games, player segments, and actions, such as placing bets and reaching certain payout thresholds. This allows us to create content that stays fresh and relevant, rather than showing players the same mechanics again and again. The idea was not just to add rewards, but to create a progression system that makes engagement feel more dynamic, visible, and worth coming back to.

How does Hero deliver personalised experiences at scale? 

MD: Hero allows our operators to create segmented challenges, tournaments, messages, and rewards for selected groups of players. This means different users can receive unique content based on the segmentation strategy set, making the experience more relevant and targeted.

At the same time, this can be done at scale as it is managed through configuration, not separate developments. Hero keeps the experience personalised, while still being operationally efficient for different operators and markets.

How important is it for operators to shape their own gamification strategy?

AL: It is extremely important. Nobody understands a player base better than the operator managing it day to day. They know their players’ favourite games, preferences, and motivations. That insight is what turns gamification from a generic feature into a meaningful retention strategy. 

Hero is designed to give operators the tools to shape each player journey in a way that feels relevant and personalised, whether that’s rewarding loyal players, reactivating dormant users, or introducing players to new content. 

Hero integrates multiple content verticals – what impact does that have?

MD: One of the biggest strengths of Hero is that it is not limited to one game or genre. Challenges and tournaments can include the full BetGames portfolio, including live games, game shows, and slots. This allows operators to create engagement across the whole portfolio. They can support the discovery of new games, guide activity toward selected content, and build campaigns that connect multiple verticals together.

What results do you expect from Hero?

MD: We expect Hero to create stronger and more consistent engagement across the BetGames portfolio. The main outcomes we are targeting are better retention, increased time spent within our games, more repeat activity, and broader engagement across different products.

Because operators can configure challenges and tournaments either for specific games or across the whole portfolio, Hero gives them a structured way to influence player activity. From a product perspective, the goal is not only higher activity, but more meaningful activity, driven by progression, rewards, and a clearer sense of achievement.

What’s next for Hero and gamification more broadly?

AL: Hero will continue to evolve as player expectations grow. We have exciting plans to introduce new mechanics, more reward types, deeper personalisation, and additional social features that allow players to connect and compete with one another. The Hero platform already gives us a strong foundation, and every new game we develop across slots, RNG, and live casino will be fully integrated into Hero from day one. 

More broadly, gamification is becoming a core pillar of player engagement, and we expect to see it move even further toward real-time, personalised, and community-driven experiences. That is exactly where Hero is positioned to lead.