“Begin with the end in mind”: Why demand is growing for flexible PAM platforms

Interview published at iGaming Business, February 2025.

The growth of iGaming has spurred a healthy explosion of service providers catering to niches, new markets and new trends. But leveraging the best mix of those to serve business goals is a source of friction as operators hit the limits of their Player Account Management platforms. Ashley Lang, Chief executive officer of Pragmatic Solutions, has  a well-defined perspective about where operators are going wrong – and how they can set themselves up for long-term success.

Operators continue to face challenges due to the limitations of their Player Account Management (PAM) platforms. Many realise only when it is too late, and costly to swich, that their platform will impede their long-term business goals due to a lack of flexibility. 

As one of the most important technology decisions for any customer-facing iGaming business, PAM platform choice is vital to get right from the get-go. Figuring out exactly what those limitations look like for your business, and what to do about it, is a pressing question for operators. 

Pragmatic Solutions leads the way  

Teeming with insights gleaned from conversations with operators of all sizes on their challenges and pain points, Pragmatic Solutions’ 2024 whitepaper tackled these challenges by presenting advice for navigating common dangers and pitfalls when choosing a PAM platform – one of the most important decisions for any customer-facing iGaming business.  

Central to the whitepaper is the concept of what Pragmatic Solutions terms a ‘forced ecosystem model’, where – through a mix of technological limitations and contractual restrictions – operators are forced into using secondary products from their primary platform suppliers. Often, those solutions simply aren’t the right fit for an operator’s business goals, either they don’t offer the flexibility and innovation required, or they don’t allow operators to differentiate themselves to consumers. 

Operators encumbered by the limitations of their PAM platform will ultimately lose their market edge over time – after which it becomes more costly to switch. “A lot of operators find out that the platform provider they're with is going to be a constraint on them reaching their business objectives very late,” Lang explained. 

By contrast, Lang preaches a distinctively more pragmatic approach: the CPU model. Leveraging the analogy of a central processing unit (CPU) as the operational centre for computing tasks, he describes Pragmatic’s core PAM platform as a CPU that does the basics brilliantly while allowing operators to choose best-in-market vendors for third-party services that can seamlessly operate on top. 

There’s a convenience in the operational ease of the forced ecosystem model, Lang said – but it’s less and less fit for purpose as the industry matures. “Successful operators should prioritise and demand more control and more flexibility over being able to curate a suite of technologies that create a distinctive customer experience facing out to the market in terms of what they can offer their customers, and powerful operating tools in the back end for their operations teams to run the business they want to run it in the most efficient way.” 

Changing demands from operators 

Seven months on from the publication of the whitepaper, Lang says the message is increasingly getting through and is aiding Pragmatic Solutions in their 2025 expansion plan. 

“It’s done exactly what we intended it to do. We’re articulating our business model [in a way] that’s intentional to the market. In a way that differentiates us from other platforms in the market. In a way that appeals to the cerebral management team that is approaching this sensibly and is decisive in where they want to drive their business.  

“That’s the type of customer we want, and this approach suits them, and it’s well articulated, so it’s brought us more of the customers of the profile that we were targeting.”  

As the message gets through, demand is growing among operators for ‘CPU-like’ PAM platforms that can be built on top of using third-party services. This trend is being pushed partly by Pragmatic Solution’s advocacy on the issue and its messaging, but also by the sheer number of service providers catering to the iGaming industry as it continues to grow rapidly.  

The global iGaming industry is worth north of $60 billion and will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 11.7% between 2023 and 2030. To serve that growth, more and more services are springing up across sectors to cater to niches, advance new innovations and respond to evolving market demands. There’s more choice than ever for operators to streamline their business, increase operational efficiency, improve their engagement with players and make themselves truly stand out. But freely choosing the most effective mix of those services to fit your business goals means adopting a modular, flexible core PAM platform that is interoperable with those services – hence growing demand for the type of platform Pragmatic Solutions provides. 

“The more companies that are successful in the market, that provide a niche service, the more important it is for the operator to have a platform model that allows them the flexibility to integrate any one of these vendors that they want,” Lang explained. “Not just allow in terms of policy, but the technical API capabilities and the availability of real-time data from the platform. 

“In a way, it’s not only us that’s driving the CPU model. It's a response to the desire of the operators to take advantage of these companies that are offering really niche but really valuable services. And to do that, you need a model like ours to allow you that flexibility.” 

Flexibility to define platforms is particularly important in newly regulated markets, where fierce competition demands individuality in order to stand out and cater to local market needs. According to Lang, savvy operators are realising that a flexible core PAM platform is the best way to build a unique offering that stands out in emerging markets. 

Lingering mistakes 

Many operators are noticing the drawbacks of an inflexible PAM platform, yet plenty are still falling into familiar traps. Lang attributes this to short-term thinking, often a desire to get off the ground quickly – an understandable goal, but one that can come at the expense of future needs. 

“We talk to operators at all different stages of their business, whether it’s a startup or well-established business or a land-based [business] moving online. I think some operators could benefit from doing more to think about what their requirements are before going out to market, and having a distinct requirements list in mind to evaluate the platform vendors against.” 

He likened it to buying a car. If you enter the lot without set criteria in mind, you risk being swept up by the fleeting allure of the latest offering. “The smart buyer will say before they go out shopping: this is what’s important to me, this is what my business objectives are, these are the capabilities I’m looking for. If there’s a mistake that operators may make, [this is it]” Lang said. 

A successful PAM platform 

As a result of its clearly defined offering, Pragmatic Solutions celebrated successes in 2024 and is already enjoying a strong start to 2025. 

The company has invested internally in improving how it deploys its technology to allow operators to go live more quickly, and recently marked its entry into Brazil as it successfully moved EstrelaBet into a leading position in the newly-regulated Brazilian market. 

Lang said the company has a wave of new business currently being onboarded, but, just as importantly, lots of existing operators expanding their businesses through Pragmatic Solutions after a strong 2024 and ambitious plans for the coming year. 

Lang added, “You're always expecting someone to have new business development objectives that they prioritise first. But a lot of our biggest opportunity for growth comes from supporting our existing customers, proven operators on our platform that are doing well [and] that want to do more.  

“A lot of our attention is going into how to support them to achieve their business objectives, but there's no doubt we're also addressing a lot of demand in the market for what we offer.”