As we approach the one-year anniversary of the social casino Zula Casino, the SBC Americas team caught up with Tamar Laypan, Zula program manager, and Yuliy German, Blazesoft’s SVP of business operations, to learn more about the journey and the secrets to its year of success.
SBC Americas: What’s the secret to Zula Casino’s rapid success?
Tamar Laypan: There are a lot of social casino websites in the market, so we knew Zula Casino had to be different. We listen to our players closely, we question things and we always strive to innovate and improve. Whether it be a redesign of the site for optimized player navigation or diversifying our content offering, everything we do is focused on improving the player experience. Our incredible player base is very knowledgeable and loyal to our casino, and we work hard to meet player expectations. That’s something we’ve been consistently true to.
Yuliy German: As Tamar mentioned, the Zula we launched a year ago versus the platform it is today is all shaped by our users’ feedback. Understanding this perspective and responding to those needs is key.
SBCA: Tell us about your performance throughout last year. What do you attribute this success to?
TL: Zula Casino experienced rapid commercial growth within weeks of its launch. Today, it is a social casino with one of the largest game selections in North America with over 1,000 free-to-play titles. We make sure that there is something for every player, whether it be through a variety of genres and game selections or by offering unique challenges and promotions that add an extra layer of play. We focus on what we call “player stickiness,” and much of our user base who signed up a year ago is still playing with us today. We hit several records this year like growing the highest number of players in Zula’s history along with player acquisition and retention rates.
YG: To answer what we attribute this success to, our growth has been fueled by a combination of innovation, capabilities, strategic partnerships with leaders in the field, and, of course, concrete plans for market expansion.
SBCA: How did you overcome 2024’s challenges?
TL: In 2024, we carefully kept our finger on the pulse of the market and navigated through some tough setbacks. Our strong execution and ability to be agile enabled us to stay on course and focus on delivering the best possible experience for our players. We constantly focused on optimizing operational efficiency, getting creative with our promotions and challenges, and bringing innovative features to stand out in the industry’s sea of sameness.
YG: When many stayed stagnant, we grew. We invested in our existing team and added new talent. We re-branded our entire site to improve UI and navigation. We doubled down on our marketing budget to offer additional daily promotions. All of these strategies paid off immensely. All of the above is an addition to the constantly evolving proprietary, in-house developed and maintained gaming platform that keeps improving on an ongoing basis. We strategically invest in our technological backbone to enable more entertaining options for our customers.
SBCA: You mentioned “player stickiness,” how do you think Zula Casino achieves this?
TL: As I touched on briefly, we make sure to reward our players in various ways, and we make sure to do it more than any other social casino on the market. We launch attractive and generous marketing campaigns, send out coupons, engage our players further with daily contests, challenges, and tournaments, give away Free Spins and Prize Drops, and the list goes on. And with our VIP program, we reward our players generously for their loyalty and participation. We pay really close attention to staying consistent with our players, which has led to their loyalty and trust.
YG: Absolutely, players love our platform today and that’s great. But at some point, they may feel like it needs a change. The true secret to retaining our players is understanding that and keeping it fresh so they don’t experience that fatigue.
SBCA: What can we expect next from Zula Casino?
TL: Zula Casino will continue to spark its users’ passion to play by securing partnerships with the industry’s giants to diversify our content, genres, and features. Our consumers will continue to get the most fun, engaging experiences while playing exclusive games. With upcoming developments in the pipeline, all I’ll say for now is stay tuned.
YG: At our core, we are a player-first company and that will continue to show up in all of our future releases.
