Custom Game Sorting & Filters

With the online casino market so congested, operators need every competitive edge from day one. One emerging solution is smarter game discovery through advanced casino CMS features - namely custom game sorting, custom tags, and custom game filters. These tools enable personalization of gaming experience at scale, helping each player quickly find appealing content. The result is a more engaging, stickier casino product that boosts player satisfaction, retention, and ultimately monetization across diverse markets.

The Strategic Role of Game Discovery in iGaming

Game discovery isn’t just a UX nicety - it’s a strategic lever for player engagement and revenue growth. A typical online casino offers thousands of titles, and presenting this vast library in a meaningful way is crucial. Studies show that when users face too many choices without guidance, they can become overwhelmed and choose nothing at all (“decision paralysis”). Many casino lobbies still dump every game upfront, causing choice overload that leads players to bounce off the site. In contrast, a thoughtful approach using custom game sorting and categorization can guide players to content that resonates. For example, grouping games by genre, popularity, or features trims the options into sensible buckets, making selection easier. The casino lobby is effectively the storefront and “hub” of your digital casino - it’s seen by every user and drives the vast majority of game launches. Fail to optimize this experience, and you risk losing players to a competitor just one click away. But if discovery is smooth and personalized, players are more likely to explore new games, stay longer, and wager more - directly impacting GGR and ROI.

Casino CMS Tools That Power Customization

Behind the scenes, casino Content Management Systems (CMS) give operators fine-grained control over their game lobby. Key capabilities of modern casino CMS include:

• Dynamic Categorization & Tags: Platforms can tag games by theme, features, or mechanics (e.g. “Megaways” slots, high-volatility games) to build dynamic categories automatically. Such custom tags make it easy to create special sections (like a “Jackpot Slots” or “Asian Themes” category) that update in real-time as new titles match the criteria. This ensures the lobby stays relevant without manual sorting of each new game.

• Advanced Search & Filter Tools: Casino managers have rich search and filtering options in the CMS to organize the library efficiently. Modern back offices provides search and filtering options allowing operators to edit game settings and categories. This means admins can quickly find a game, adjust its metadata, set custom game sorting rules (such as boosting a game’s rank for a promotion), and ensure consistent categorization across thousands of titles. Depo44 platform supports gaming content management, including categorisation, custom playlists, and game configurations, enabling tailored game groupings and playlists curated by the operator.

• Multi-Lobby and Segment Management: Depo44 platform allow multiple lobby views and personalized game collections for different player segments or brands. For instance, Lobby Management tool lets an operator create different lobbies with categories and sub-categories, and populate them with games in just a few steps, even building personalized lobbies for specific regions or demographics. Our platform enables operators to set up instances of game lobby according to GEOs and languages to better cater to player preferences. In practice, this means an operator can maintain a default lobby, a high-roller lobby, or a region-specific lobby (e.g. a separate game mix for the Asian market vs. Europe) all through the same CMS. This level of customization ensures the content each player sees is the most relevant to them.

• Integrated Front-End Control: Casino CMS tools increasingly integrate with the front-end, so marketing and product teams can adjust the player-facing lobby without deploying code. Through a unified interface, operators can drag-and-drop game tiles, schedule new game releases into a “New Games” category, and add or remove promotional banners instantly. Depo44 platform includes modules to design personalized games pages on the fly. The result is agility - operators can react to trends (like adding a new “World Cup Favorites” section during a sports event) or A/B test layouts in real time, which we discuss more below.

These casino CMS capabilities empower product and marketing managers to execute custom game sorting strategies that align with their business goals. Rather than a one-size-fits-all lobby, an operator can effectively hand-craft the game offering for each context - boosting visibility of high-value content, complying with local regulations, and creating a unique player experience that sets their brand apart.

The Impact of Personalization on Player Engagement

Investing in the personalization of gaming experience yields clear benefits in player engagement and loyalty. Personalization in this context means using data and player insights to tailor the casino experience - surfacing games, offers, and even UI layouts that resonate with an individual’s preferences. According to industry research, over 80% of players actively seek personalized gaming experiences, and sportsbooks using AI-driven personalization have seen a 10–15% increase in player engagement as a result. When players log in and immediately see games or betting options that align with their tastes (for example, a fan of live dealer games sees a curated Live Casino section, or a sports bettor sees their favorite leagues first), it creates a sense of being understood by the platform. This relevance encourages longer sessions and repeat visits.

From an operator’s perspective, personalization is a proven strategy to boost retention and revenue. In fact, 62% of business leaders in gaming say that personalized experiences “greatly improve customer retention.” Higher retention translates to higher ROI, as keeping existing players engaged is far more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. Personalization can take many forms: recommended games (“You might like…”) based on a player’s history, dynamic promo offers triggered by behavior, or even interfaces that change theme for a VIP segment. For example, the Netflix-style approach to casino content - where the lobby adapts to each user - fosters a deeper connection. Players feel valued when “operators cater to their unique preferences,” leading to greater satisfaction and loyalty. On the flip side, a generic one-size-fits-all lobby can overwhelm or alienate users, contributing to churn. In summary, personalization drives engagement by making the gaming experience relevant. Engaged players play more and stay longer, directly impacting the bottom line through higher bet volumes and lifetime values. As global betting markets mature, personalization has shifted from an innovation to an expectation - and operators who embrace it are reaping the rewards in player engagement metrics.

A/B Testing Categories: Data-Driven Game Optimization

How can a casino know the optimal way to sort and present its games? The answer is through continuous experimentation. A/B testing allows operators to make data-driven decisions on game layout and categorization by comparing two (or more) versions of a lobby configuration and measuring which performs better. Rather than relying on gut feeling about what players prefer, product managers can deploy A/B tests - for example, showing half of users a lobby where custom game sorting is by “Most Popular” games and the other half a lobby sorted by “Newest” games, or testing two different category schemes (e.g. a “Slots” and “Table Games” menu versus a more granular menu with themes and features). The resulting data (click-through rates, session length, wagers per session, etc.) will reveal which approach drives higher engagement or conversion.

Depo44 iGaming platform support this data-driven optimization by enabling quick changes and providing analytics. For instance, an operator might test featuring a new “Megaways” tag section prominently on the homepage for a subset of players to see if it boosts slot play. If the test group shows higher game launches or revenue, the casino can confidently roll out that change to everyone. Here's the iterative approach that was used: one casino introduced new gamified lobby features and ran an A/B test, observing a 6.2% increase in net gaming revenue and a 7.3% rise in average revenue per user after introducing these personalized elements. Even small tweaks - like renaming a category or reordering tiles - can be tested. For example, an A/B experiment might find that labeling a section “Top Picks for You” yields more clicks than a generic “Games” label, statistically validating the impact of personalization in wording.

By leveraging A/B testing, casino operators take the guesswork out of UI and content decisions. They can optimize the game layout iteratively: removing underperforming sections, highlighting games that drive retention, and refining filter options based on real player behavior. It’s a continuous feedback loop where data informs design. The end result is a lobby and game library arrangement that has been proven to resonate most with the audience - whether that’s increasing the uptake of a new feature, maximizing wagers on high-margin games, or improving the visibility of sports betting markets within a casino-sportsbook hybrid app. In the fast-paced iGaming industry, this data-driven optimization is key to staying ahead of player preferences that can change almost overnight.

Real-World Examples: Applying Sorting and Tagging for Results

Nothing illustrates the power of custom game sorting and tagging better than real-world success stories from leading platforms:

Example 1: Geo-Targeted Game Lobbies

Operators using the Depo44 Casino Platform can deploy multiple lobby versions tailored to different regions. For example, a European site can automatically present local favorites (like popular EU slot titles) while its Asian-facing counterpart highlights baccarat and fish-themed games, simply by leveraging the platform’s geo-targeting and content tags. One of our clients used this casino CMS flexibility to increase engagement in Asia by featuring regionally popular content front-and-center. Even in the sportsbook realm, there was the impact of localization by adding a “Top Leagues” quick-access section that drove higher retention in Asian markets. These cases show how custom sorting by player geography or preference boosts relevance and results.

Example 2: Personalized Categories in Action

Depo44 platform provides operators a wide range of customization options. One operator with focus on Europe created special interest categories using custom tags. By tagging each game with attributes (mechanics, volatility, theme), the operator built dynamic categories that update continuously. The result was a personalized lobby where different player segments gravitated to sections that matched their interest, lifting overall game plays. The operator reported that players in the test market were 20% more likely to start a game session from these new curated categories versus the generic lobby (as shared in a private case study), translating to improved turnover.

Example 3: Content Playlists and Curation

One operator used Depo44’s custom playlist feature to create a “Holiday Specials” game collection during a Christmas promotion, manually ordering seasonal slot games at the top of the lobby. This custom game sorting (outside the usual alphabetical or provider sort) led to a noticeable spike in those games’ play counts and contributed to a successful seasonal campaign. Depo44’s platform natively supports such curation, offering categorisation, custom playlists, and game configurations in the back office. Another client in the Asian market segmented their lobby by language using the CMS to ensure players saw game titles and categories in the appropriate language, greatly improving usability for bilingual markets. These real-world tweaks show the value of having a flexible platform that adapts to marketing ideas and local needs on the fly.

Example 4: Regional Focus and Navigation UX

A casino operator in Africa working with Depo44 leveraged the platform’s customizable front-end to design a unique lobby navigation highlighting the region’s most popular content: instant win games. This bespoke navigation (including custom icons for quick access) put instant games at the forefront and significantly increased player engagement and satisfaction in that market. Understanding local player preferences and customizing the lobby accordingly can yield tangible uplifts in engagement. Depo44’s drag-and-drop CMS let the operator experiment with layouts easily until they found the perfect fit.

Example 5: AI-Driven Game Recommendations

An operator using Depo44's personalized games grid noticed that new players who were shown a “Recommended for You” section (populated by AI based on similar players’ data) had higher first-week retention than those who saw a standard lobby. In practice, if player A favors roulette and player B prefers slots, each will see their respective favorite genre featured more prominently when they log in. This granular personalization has boosted engagement metrics on those sites, as players are immediately drawn to options that suit their tastes without having to search.

Each of these examples reinforces a common theme: empowering players to discover content their way drives better business outcomes. Whether it’s via custom tags that auto-sort games into niche categories, custom game filters that let users refine the selection, or A/B-tested layouts that maximize clicks, the end goal is the same - to make the casino experience more personal, enjoyable, and frictionless. These case studies highlight that choosing flexible iGaming platform and active experimentation with game sorting can translate into higher engagement, retention, and ultimately revenue. In a B2C world where user attention is fleeting, those operators who master game discovery and personalization will be the ones to secure long-term loyalty and market share.