TEAM

Hollywood Casino • ESPN BET • theScore Bet / Casino — Standalone Casino

ROLE

Senior Product Designer

PLATFORMS

DELIVERABLE

iOS, Android, Web

SUMMARY

I designed and launched a zero-to-one product to market — Hollywood Casino. To bring this to market, I redesigned the entire casino experience and incorporated a refreshed brand (twice).

OUTCOME

The product well-exceeded metrics for user adoption and engagement a month after release in PA. Subsequent regional releases in MI, NJ, WV and Ontario (theScore Casino), also launched with high success for the business.

Overview + Goals

Working on a bit of a unique team at theScore, the Standalone Casino team was responsible for launching a new product — Hollywood Casino — first in Pennsylvania, and then more regions where the business had regulatory iCasino approval.

As for the design brief, the existing ESPN BET + theScore Bet experiences contained both a sportsbook and casino — my task was to uncouple the casino experience from the rest of the app, update colors and text styles, and add necessary designs to complete the new Standalone Casino experience.

The original design timeline was from June to October with a holiday product release planned.

Working on a bit of a unique team at theScore, the Standalone Casino team was responsible for launching a new product — Hollywood Casino — first in Pennsylvania, and then more regions where the business had regulatory iCasino approval.

As for the design brief, the existing ESPN BET + theScore Bet experiences contained both a sportsbook and casino — my task was to uncouple the casino experience from the rest of the app, update colors and text styles, and add necessary designs to complete the new Standalone Casino experience.

The original design timeline was from June to October with a holiday product release planned.

Product Strategy

The general strategy was to create a mostly duplicate experience from our existing ESPN BET + theScore Bet apps but offer a separate experience for casino-only users. Originally, we had features in mind to ship at launch but were shelved for a quicker MVP feature set, with more specialized features for version releases down the line. To help with user adoption, special promotions were released to get users to download Hollywood Casino as well a large-scale marketing roll out.

Off the bat on launch, users would not have to deal with any part of the sportsbook (SB) app including but not limited to: SB content, wagers, promotions, and notifications.

The general strategy was to create a mostly duplicate experience from our existing ESPN BET + theScore Bet apps but offer a separate experience for casino-only users. Originally, we had features in mind to ship at launch but were shelved for a quicker MVP feature set, with more specialized features for version releases down the line. To help with user adoption, special promotions were released to get users to download Hollywood Casino as well a large-scale marketing roll out.

Off the bat on launch, users would not have to deal with any part of the sportsbook (SB) app including but not limited to: SB content, wagers, promotions, and notifications.

User Goals + Research

For novices as well as power users, Hollywood Casino was envisioned as the singular home for online casino gaming. For novice users, an app with only casino games allowed a specialized entry point into the wagering world with far less jargon or technical understanding needed to place a wager in comparison to sports betting.

Our research team recommended at least one new feature to help convince medium-level or experienced users to download the new app but executive leadership preferred to bring the app to market as fast as possible.

For novices as well as power users, Hollywood Casino was envisioned as the singular home for online casino gaming. For novice users, an app with only casino games allowed a specialized entry point into the wagering world with far less jargon or technical understanding needed to place a wager in comparison to sports betting.

Our research team recommended at least one new feature to help convince medium-level or experienced users to download the new app but executive leadership preferred to bring the app to market as fast as possible.

Roles + Responsibilities

The initial role: convert all designs for app and desktop layouts from theScore theme to the PENN theme, while replacing Hollywood Casino branding.

My responsibilities covered being the sole designer working on updating design files, being the main design point of contact for all things casino regarding this large-scale P0 initiative, working with the design systems team to develop and test the HWC design theme, and communicating with external teams for final design approval and to manage delivery of marketing assets.

The initial role: convert all designs for app and desktop layouts from theScore theme to the PENN theme, while replacing Hollywood Casino branding.

My responsibilities covered being the sole designer working on updating design files, being the main design point of contact for all things casino regarding this large-scale P0 initiative, working with the design systems team to develop and test the HWC design theme, and communicating with external teams for final design approval and to manage delivery of marketing assets.

Updating Designs

The majority of work involved updating design files, some of which were recently updated with the team’s comprehensive design system — Alley Oop — but others were files converted from Sketch years ago.

For the less updated files, that meant linking text styles, colors, and sometimes completely rebuilding screens if they did not meet the necessary standard for the design team and engineering handoff.

Across the eleven design files (incl. both mobile + desktop), there were approximately 1600 screens in an assorted state of completeness.

The majority of work involved updating design files, some of which were recently updated with the team’s comprehensive design system — Alley Oop — but others were files converted from Sketch years ago.

For the less updated files, that meant linking text styles, colors, and sometimes completely rebuilding screens if they did not meet the necessary standard for the design team and engineering handoff.

Across the eleven design files (incl. both mobile + desktop), there were approximately 1600 screens in an assorted state of completeness.

Design System + Brand

Our corporate marketing team was in the process of rebranding Hollywood Casino, and without a clear timeline on when it’d be complete, the product team was directed to use the PENN theme in the meantime.

After several months of work, the team was notified that the new HWC brand could indeed be used, and that kickstarted a whole new body of work for the design systems team — Alley Oop.

Normally a months-long process, the Alley Oop team squeezed the lengthy process of incorporating the new logos and color tokens into just a month’s time. I assisted with testing colors and ensuring the new tokens met the correct level of contrast / accessibility needed in all parts of the experience.

The remaining brand work included illustrations and animations, which were covered by a combination of the corporate branding team, design systems team, and myself. I was responsible with coordinating, design directing, animating, and handing off files + assets to engineering for implementation.

After several months of work, the team was notified that the new HWC brand could indeed be used, and that kickstarted a whole new body of work for the design systems team — Alley Oop.

Normally a months-long process, the Alley Oop team squeezed the lengthy process of incorporating the new logos and color tokens into just a month’s time. I assisted with testing colors and ensuring the new tokens met the correct level of contrast / accessibility needed in all parts of the experience.

The remaining brand work included illustrations and animations, which were covered by a combination of the corporate branding team, design systems team, and myself. I was responsible with coordinating, design directing, animating, and handing off files + assets to engineering for implementation.

Timeline

Design deliverables were delivered quite nicely on time, following the ten sprints specified in the design roadmap.

The main design work was completed within eight sprints — approximately 200 screens per sprint — with the extra two sprints of buffer time getting final approval for illustrations and animations from high-level stakeholders from different pillars of the company.

Design deliverables were delivered quite nicely on time, following the ten sprints specified in the design roadmap.

The main design work was completed within eight sprints — approximately 200 screens per sprint — with the extra two sprints of buffer time getting final approval for illustrations and animations from high-level stakeholders from different pillars of the company.

Retrospective + Next Steps

Hollywood Casino launched Nov 2024 smoothly across all platforms — sign ups and handle started slowly but within a month, it met all metric expectations.

Fast follow releases for Michigan, New Jersey, and West Virginia required full sets of designs for each region. While the Pennsylvania designs took ~5 months, laying that groundwork getting the most up-to-date designs and correct tokens attached everywhere allowed subsequent regions to take only 3 days for designs. Even theScore Casino release in Ontario took the same amount of time for product design, only needing a few weeks to get a new logo created and approved by the corporate marketing team.

Hollywood Casino launched Nov 2024 smoothly across all platforms — sign ups and handle started slowly but within a month, it met all metric expectations.

Fast follow releases for Michigan, New Jersey, and West Virginia required full sets of designs for each region. While the Pennsylvania designs took ~5 months, laying that groundwork getting the most up-to-date designs and correct tokens attached everywhere allowed subsequent regions to take only 3 days for designs. Even theScore Casino release in Ontario took the same amount of time for product design, only needing a few weeks to get a new logo created and approved by the corporate marketing team.

This massive optimization on the design end allowed the rest of the Standalone Casino team to focus on development, regulatory approval, and loop me into testing when needed. My much more free schedule during these large-scale initiatives allowed me to work on more feature-related work to continue improving the casino experience overall.