Believe it or not, these are also still being innovated today on a global scale, although this familiar sight is being done so in the form of those 5×3, 5×4 et al spinning reels.

This headline term also represents one that drives so much of the day-to-day make-up of this industry, but one that it could be argued is losing much of its meaning, primarily due to the incredible over eagerness of its usage. 

It could be stated that this is to be expected given the never ending tidal wave of titles that are released on a weekly basis, but does this development of more of the same point to the fact that we’re simply nearing the end of the line in product innovation for online slots? Are we actually seeing any innovations when it comes to such features and mechanics?

This certainly divided opinion, albeit briefly, in a trial run of iGaming Daily, SBC’s podcast that is produced each week day, and is one that needs to be elaborated on a little more than a simple yes or no. Otherwise, I would be around 500 words short of my word count.

There is undoubtedly innovation, but in the wider content of the industry is this enough?

Copycat syndrome is rife, think of the numerous iterations of everyone’s favourite adventurer in Indiana Jones, or how much of a love affair we have with fruit, etc… 

It could be argued that Megaways cis worthy of an inclusion here if looking at things from a mechanics point of view. Personally, I know countless slot enthusiasts who think certain mechanics “make every game look the same” (not my words – don’t shoot the messenger).

“…the impact of the players themselves must also be placed under the microscope”

From a purely media perspective, it is particularly crucial to be careful of attaching words such as innovative and innovation to anything and everything. This is a familiar sight each day by many across the industry, however, as alluded to above, It does start to feel like it’s losing all meaning.

Another key thing to keep in mind, in my opinion anyhow, is the concept of innovation versus progression. Are a large slice of the concepts labeled as innovative truly transformative? Or are they simply kicking something that we are already all too familiar with down the road a little more?

After almost six years in the industry, some ‘innovative’ concepts seem to have been spoken about almost as much as Latin America has been dubbed the next big thing. Although it is refreshing that significant progress has been made across the latter. 

Getting back to the topic at hand, the impact of the players themselves must also be placed under the microscope, in addition to the trust of operators in welcoming fresh concepts. 

An individual could well be comfortable with what they know, or simply not be blessed with masses of time to spend looking for title/s to play. The double sided coin here balances the effectiveness of a lobby against the thought that said player/s would simply head straight to what they know. 

How much innovation is too much? To this point, maybe we could consider the Aesop fable of the tortoise and the hare.

Swinging things back to slots and the tidal wave of output that was touched upon earlier, could the danger be that there’s now more of a focus in producing a catalogue that appeases the many? Or simply producing a vast amount of games?

“Supporting unique content through quality marketing and positioning is imperative to tipping the scales”

If you throw enough ideas at the wall, one will stick, right? The heightened output is undoubtedly an advantage to some. Those being the larger studios that could potentially be particularly well versed at enjoying success across multiple territories and demographics.

Building upon this is the risk that potential hit titles are simply being swamped by the volume of competition? Could true innovation be slipping between the cracks, or be a mere whisper among the ear splitting noise of more established and much better funded counterparts? This, it could be argued, is unless they are backed by an equally solid mixture of the right marketing and partnerships with operators.

Rounding all of this up, as I’m now currently above the word count and our SBC Leaders Editor will shout, where do slots go from here? What does the future hold? How do studios innovate?

To engage and excite you need to stand out. In the mid to long run, innovation is undoubtedly key to surviving the content deluge.

However, a balance between innovation (that’s the 14th usage of this word in one form another in the article – who am I to say it’s overused), and familiarity must be struck.

Reinventing the wheel every month can push players in the wrong direction, while, on the flip side, a consistent outlay of reskins is simply not the way forward. 

Thinking outside of the box is crucial, and those that churn out the same, or incredibly similar, content will inevitably get left behind.

Casinos also play a crucial role. Supporting unique content through quality marketing and positioning is imperative to tipping the scales in the right direction

Should operators promote unique content in the correct manner, this would help foster, and further, creativity throughout the industry. 

It is simply not a numbers game. Quality must win out over quantity.

The post Op-ed: innovation is simply not a numbers game appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Admittedly, it felt a little strange being tasked with talking to someone else about how Catena Media’s North American operations work. I was Employee #2 when Catena started the division. Employee #1, Dustin Gouker, now serves as Vice President of Content for North America. 

We worked together through pre and post-PASPA repeal, over 20 state online gambling launches, and a period of growth where it seemed like all we were doing was interviewing new content creators. What started as a portfolio of sites covering a handful of states with a skeleton crew grew into a behemoth in the US affiliate space in the span of four years.

It’s been 18 months since I last worked with the Catena team though, and in that time, the company has continued to grow both internally and through key acquisitions like Lineups.com and i15 Media. If I thought we had changed at break-neck speed over four years, speaking with Gouker, I realised perhaps as much, if not more, change has been packed into the time since I left.

There are the obvious, external changes like the addition of a data-driven site like Lineups.com, but with that comes internal change. For Gouker, integrating a site like that into a portfolio comes with internal changes as well.

“We try to let the acquisitions be what they were,” he explained. “I think we try to use as many differentiated approaches as possible.” Moreover, he noted there are opportunities to improve existing successful formulas by sharing what they know with new acquisitions in addition to learning from them. 

Learning as they go is essential for Catena. The company is one of the top affiliates, but that status isn’t something you achieve then rest your laurels upon. Catena definitely had a head start, but things have changed since 2016.

“Five years ago, we were really the only ones focusing on North America. And it was almost too easy at that point because the amount of competition was so low. Then it started getting aggressive quickly,” Gouker recalled. 

“We’re still the leader in North America, but there’s so much more competition and that’s not just from the will that other affiliates have brought to this but traditional media as well, which really only manifested itself in the last year and a half.”

What is interesting about the emergence of traditional media competitors is that, in many instances, they team up with affiliates rather than compete against them. For example, Catena recently took over the deal with Advantage Local to work together on NJ.com. These partnerships are one of the few areas where Catena has not been a pioneer and its competitors have been quicker to embrace traditional, local newspaper partnerships.

Gouker conceded these partnerships have value, but he also questions if they are a sure-fire return on investment.

“Those deals have been kind of pricey for everyone. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. Sometimes, smaller sites can work. Sometimes, the larger sites that are more expensive to get, that audience could work or could not.”

Meanwhile, he cited Crossing Broad as an example of a smaller site with a dedicated audience that has converted into very successful affiliates.

“We’d be silly to think that just niche affiliate gambling sites are the only things that are going to win. Basically, if you have a good authoritative site, you have a chance to be a good gambling affiliate as well,” he added.

Establishing that authority is something that has changed over the years as well. Ranking for core search terms has always been integral to the business, but Catena initially built its reputation with quality news stories on sites like Legal Sports Report and Online Poker Report. Now, though, news is an even more important component of the game plan.

“News results were not part of the game in search at one point in time. Now, it’s a huge part of it,” Gouker said. “You have to be thinking about that in terms of whether you can capture that share of the audience as well. It’s gotten a lot harder and we can’t just rely on what we’ve done.”

The difficulties extend beyond SERPs, too. With every passing state launch, the low-hanging fruit of new sign ups dries up a little more. More mature markets across the world continue to need affiliates long after launch, but Gouker readily admitted the shrinking map of states without sports betting impacts the bottom line.

“Especially in sports betting, so much of that water is under the bridge. Launches are this critical mass of when people sign up for sportsbooks. If you’ve missed that, you’ve missed a lot of the cash grab so far. It’s not like this is a bad business to be in, but you’re trying to compete for a share of recurring revenue instead of establishing yourself number one right away, and taking that cash up front.”

That is not to say a new competitor couldn’t come into the sports betting affiliate space, run a standard SEO-based affiliate playbook, and succeed. Where that could work though is online casino.

Catena is already paying attention to the potential of online casino, particularly with its Play brand of sites. Gouker also understands that the market is more complex than tackling casino pages onto a successful sports betting site.

“If you’re not looking at the casino and that opportunity, then you might be behind. It’s a different audience. Even though there’s cross-sell, it’s a different type of site,” he said. “I don’t think you can always just bolt on casino to sports betting and say, ‘hey, that’s going to work.’”

Affiliates are increasingly finding situations where the conventional approach either isn’t as effective or won’t work. Period. Canada is a great example. The industry standard has been to highlight bonuses and deposit offers. Those are off the table in Ontario. Moreover, the top operators so far were grey operators before, so there wasn’t the same pool of potential players to convert at launch.

“If you’re an existing grey market operator, in Ontario, you have a pretty good advantage. If you’re an endemic Canadian brand, if you have an advantage, you don’t have to go acquire customers. You already had the customers, you just transferred your base.”

New operators are struggling in Ontario, both because they don’t have that pre-existing base of customers in the territory and because the marketing rules limit both affiliates and operators when it comes to presenting what they have to offer.

“If you are a new player, it [online gambling] doesn’t look terribly attractive to you if you don’t know what’s going on and an operator can’t talk about what bonuses they offer until you actually get on their site. So that’s a tough slog for all of us. Not just affiliates, but for operators, especially new operators,” Gouker noted.

Ontario isn’t the best affiliate model, but it could be a sign of things to come. Catena Media and others need to continuously adapt to new regulations, new markets, new competition, and new algorithms. The climb to the top may have been relatively simple, but defending the summit is a complex and difficult ongoing battle.

The post Catena Media: Staying on top arguably harder than getting there appeared first on CasinoBeats.

If successful, this would greenlight resort casinos, tribal casinos, expanded gaming at horse racing tracks and greyhound racing tracks, and sports betting. However, it is a long road to success.

Alvarado’s motion was one of hundreds pre-filed in advance of the start of the 2023 legislative session in the state on January 11. Texas is unique in that the legislature only meets in odd-numbered years, so there is less time and more competition for lawmakers’ attention.

Even if the measure can get out of committee and onto the floor for a vote, it faces more stringent standards than a normal bill. Any change to gambling laws in the state requires a constitutional amendment, which has to be done via a ballot measure. Because Alvarado’s joint resolution would end up on the 2023 election ballot, it has to pass both the Senate and the House with a two-thirds majority rather than a simple majority.

Should both chambers approve the joint resolution, it would then be put to the residents of Texas, who would vote on it in November of next year. In other words, this is the very first, small step in what would be a very long road to legal casinos.

The proposed expansion includes a wide range of gambling facilities. It allows for up to four casino resorts in either the Dallas-Fort Worth or Houston metropolitan areas. Additionally, it would allow horse racing and greyhound racing tracks in the state to potentially offer casino gaming at their facilities. There would also be opportunity for federally recognised Texas tribes to offer tribal gaming.

Sports betting is mentioned in the measure, but only in passing as something that the newly created Texas Gaming Commission would have the ability to authorise.

Texas is a state with some of the most limited gambling options in the country. Residents have to travel to Louisiana or Oklahoma for the nearest casinos.

On the campaign trail last month, the newly re-eleceted Governor Greg Abbott indicated that he was open to expanding gambling in the state. 

The post Texas takes first steps towards potentially legalising casinos appeared first on CasinoBeats.

To better understand this move, SBC Noticias spoke with the group’s Regional Business Manager, Alba Monroy, who assessed the details of the association and the potential of the market for the company.

“Entain is a tier one operator with both local and world-renowned casino brands under its belt and we have been collaborating with them for years”, she explained. In addition, she clarified that “the track record and experience of the Spanish team in terms of regulation and certification of slots” paved the way.

The arrival of the company on Spanish soil has been so agile that, just a month later, it already has more than 55 games available for players in PokerStars, Bwin, Partycasino and Partypoker. For Monroy, “it has been a great success” to have their titles amongst “some of the largest brands in Spain” in such a short time frame. This came as a result of “great collaboration on both sides”, she shared.

“We aim to increase the catalogue of available content very soon, with the launch of plat-to-plat providers and our Silver Bullet studios, already available in other markets,” she said. In addition, she announced that “the first operators will be launched through Tecnalis very soon”.

Relax in the Spanish market

As a native of Spain, Monroy is no stranger to regulatory updates, such as the controversial Royal Communications Decree, which has made it challenging for industry operators.

She said: “Any limitations or measures, with the potential to negatively impact the activity and profitability, will not help the expansion of that industry or sector.”

However, she explained that Relax Gaming “is aware of these restrictions”, and has “marketing tools available to operators that facilitate their slots’ promotions.”

“Igaming has continued to grow in the market ever since it was regulated in 2012, with an annual increase of more than eight per cent”, she analysed.

Monroy also highlighted the impact of the pandemic on gaming trends, explaining that, before COVID-19, GGR was concentrated on sports betting, but then shifted its focus to the casino vertical: “The lack of sporting events played a big role,” she stated. This trend continues, mainly “due to the acceptance and popularity of online slot machines in the Spanish market.”

In this scenario, and considering that online slots are “Relax’s star product”, she forecasted Spanish players and operators receiving them very well. Monroy predicts Money Train 2 and Temple Tumble will be the high volatility slot titles with the most potential in the Spanish market, but also ensured that Hispanic-themed games like Wild Chapo and La Fiesta should perform as well.

She added: “We have certified several games with different RTP variants. Based on my experience, and operators’ profitability, I believe that the lower variant will be very well received by Spanish operators as well.”

Monroy also assessed the local market’s competitiveness and pointed out that, in addition to differentiation, customer service plays a key role in allowing the company to stand out.

“To listen and support the client is key for our sales team. We analyse all the demands and requests from clients, and that ultimately means that they perceive us as a big family,” she explained.

However, in order to become more familiar with local partners, Monroy highlighted the potential of SBC Summit Barcelona, set to take place on September 20-22, and said: “Our doors will be open to everyone interested in chatting and learning more about our products,” she said.

Expansion in Hispanic markets

Besides setting sights on Spain, Relax Gaming’s Regional Business Manager explained that they are also looking at Latin America, with operators from Mexico and Colombia offering their games, and supporting all Latin American currencies.

“We already have more than 50 games certified for Colombia and we hope to expand both there and in other markets in the coming months.” Monroy concluded.

The post Alba Monroy, Relax Gaming: To listen & support the client is key appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Rajbet is one of the largest online gambling platforms in India. Since its launch in 2020, the gaming and betting brand has continued to improve its offer and features to attract more customers. 

To make sure every player can find something that appeals to them, Rajbet offers over 2,500 games using APIgrator, a solution from Slotegrator that integrates more than 7,000 certified games from more than 100 licensed industry developers into gambling platforms.

With player preferences depending on target markets, RajBet aims to cater to Asian users, offering the region’s most popular table games, card games, lottos, and slots. The operator also provides live games that cater to the Asian region. Users can play Teen Patti, roulette, Andar Bahar, blackjack, poker, dice, baccarat, etc. with real dealers. 

On the RajBet portal, players can find many offers that encourage them to sign up and play. New players can sign up for the ‘Welcome Pack’, a 300 per cent deposit bonus and 50 free spins, as well as 1000 FUN, the firm’s in-game currency. 

According to the software supplier and aggregator for online casino and sportsbook operator, the RajBet mobile app is in great demand among gamers; it has the same functionality as the full version and allows gamers to play from anywhere. 

Said a spokesperson from Slotegrator: “It’s worth noting that the new platform from Slotegrator, which was released on May 16, provides online casino operators with an improved bonus module in terms of UI. Now it is much easier to create bonuses compared to the first platform, meaning RajBet might soon offer their players even better bonuses.” 

The payment methods offered by Rajbet are integrated into the platform by Slotegrator’s Moneygrator. “Gamers from India can make deposits in Rupees using payment instruments such as PhonePe, PayTM, and UPI,” said the firm. “The RajBet team is working hard to increase the number of payment options to make deposits and withdrawals as user-friendly as possible. Soon, the company plans to enter new Asian markets and become an online home for players from every country in this part of the world.”

The post Slotegrator highlights strong relationship with Rajbet online casino appeared first on CasinoBeats.

It’s been a busy few months for Glitnor Group, as the Malta-headquartered gambling business has hit the headlines with its acquisition of leading affiliate KaFe Rocks, enjoyed further growth for its Sweden-facing B2C brand LuckyCasino, and expanded the reach of its B2B brand Swintt into a host of new markets.

After that whirlwind of activity, Glitnor’s CEO David Flynn could be forgiven for being a little weary, but the reality is very different. When we talk, he’s back at his desk in Malta feeling revitalised after a cycling break in the beautiful scenery of North Yorkshire and excited about the company’s prospects.

Part of that excitement is due to Glitnor launching a new brand “very, very soon”, but there’s also a very real enthusiasm about the subject that he will be discussing at CasinoBeats Summit 2022 – the potential of the US online casino market.

Flynn estimates that the total addressable market for igaming operators in the US could be worth $35bn should regulation follow the same pattern as seen for sports betting legalisation. That possibility is obviously interesting to any company involved in the industry, but even the current market situation is attractive.

“It is early days, but there’s six states with casino licensing available now and in each of those six states, one continually sees the majority of revenue that’s generated is from casino, and not from sports. And the spend per player in the US is very high in comparison with European markets, so there is a solid opportunity in the existing states today,” said Flynn.

“There’s a lot of opportunity for us and we’re starting to drive initial revenues already”

It is an opportunity that Glitnor is already exploring via its affiliate and B2B divisions.

“Through the acquisition of KaFe Rocks, and we’re just about to announce an investment for the US, we are in the US in a big way,” he said. “We have access now to 12 states through our affiliation business and we’ll be driving increasing amounts of traffic through the Time2Play.com and USCasinos.com brands, while we’re looking at a number of other assets as well. There’s a lot of opportunity for us and we’re starting to drive initial revenues already in the US through to the group on the affiliate side.

“Then our B2B business, Swintt, has already signed a number of LOIs with operators to take our content and we’re going through the licensing process at the moment. So there’s ample opportunity for the business across each division, and certainly collectively, as we manage the different regulation speeds of the various parts of the value chain.”

Flynn is also looking at the possibility of replicating Glitnor’s three-pronged approach to the European igaming industry by establishing a US operator brand.

“It’s all part of our strategy in order to continue our growth profile in the US,” he said. “We envisage a significant amount of our revenues coming from North America over the course of the next few years and our B2C operation will be a significant part of that. A number of discussions are ongoing, as you can imagine, and I’m looking forward to making announcements in the near future.”

Establishing a successful operator in the US market will involve taking on some of the biggest brands in global gambling, but that prospect doesn’t faze Flynn, who believes Glitnor’s experience of growing LuckyCasino in Sweden will help his team to compete.

“We came in at brand number 90 when we launched the business and now, looking at the publicly available numbers, we’re overall about brand number five in the market with LuckyCasino. It’s performing extremely well, with continuous growth of well over 100 per cent year-on-year,” he explained.

“I really believe that in the long term, it’s more about good-quality games”

“We have proven that we can enter into a very strictly regulated market against very strong competition and become a top-five player in a relatively short space of time. And, I hasten to add, without the crazy marketing spend that many operators are doing at the moment in the US market. Through having a great team, great product and great marketing strategy we’ve managed to do extremely well, and that’s exactly what we’re going to replicate as we enter into the US.”

Glitnor’s B2B division Swintt will also have to compete against some long-established brands in the US, including some industry giants that can offer the country’s best-loved land-based casino slots in a digital format for instant player recognition.

Flynn does not necessarily see this as a disadvantage though, preferring to view the situation as an opportunity for innovative games studios – and not only because online casinos need to appeal to a broader audience than just players who enjoy the land-based experience.

“In a previous role, I’ve proved that online content that’s never been land-based in the US before can be a winner,” Flynn said. “I really believe that in the long term, it’s more about good-quality games, with good mathematics and good models, as opposed to just copy-pasting what you see in the land-based and putting it online.

“As an operator in the US, it’s important to have a good mix of games. For some operators it’s important to have something that players will recognise from their land-based brand, so that when they go online they get a familiar experience. But, sooner or later, they will actually look at the online content and understand that these types of games are good games. Then it becomes very, very similar to the European market and good games, good game providers and good mathematics will win out in the long term.”

Flynn also believes the preponderance of land-based games developers active in North America is something that could actually benefit Swintt’s content distribution operation.

“There are a number of land-based providers who still aren’t online today, so we’ve now launched SwinttStudios, which partners with those game providers to help them to get their content online in an efficient way,” he explained.

“We certainly won’t shy away from those opportunities”

“We already have a very strong partnership with a German land-based provider and have taken all of their content online – and that performs extremely well. Previously, it wasn’t known online, and certainly not known in many of the markets where they are today through distribution via Swintt.

“That’s just the proof that the concept works. What I’m saying is that we can actually work with a number of different smaller land-based studios who really want to get their content online and make a difference from them, combined with new content from online-only studios will make for a compelling offering.”

While the SwinttStudios partnership programme is in its infancy, there is already interest in the idea and it recently announced a deal with Fine Edge Studios to distribute six titles in the US this year.

Growing that B2B operation, along with Glitnor’s affiliate brands, in the US is a key immediate focus for the business. However, its management team, which boasts a combined 125 years of gaming industry experience, also has other targets in mind.

“Obviously, Canada is an interesting market and then there’s a number of the European and Latin American regulated markets that are interesting and that we’re assessing. Suffice it to say, you’ll see us entering into around two to three other regulated markets over the course of the next 12 to 18 months,” said Flynn.

“We have been growing very, very quickly and have created a very good team over the course of the last few years, which is now more than 370 people across the group. Now it’s about really investing in the team as we continue to grow out organically and, you know, there’s a lot of M&A opportunities in the market moving forward. We certainly won’t shy away from those opportunities as we continue to grow.”

David Flynn will take part in ‘The US: What’s next?’ panel at CasinoBeats Summit 2022, alongside Adi Dhandhania (COO, Bally’s Interactive), Benjamin Truman (COO, MediaTroopers), and Lee Gwillam (VP Operations, Gambling.com).

The igaming industry conference and exhibition takes place at the InterContinental in St Julian’s, Malta on 24-26 May. For full details of the agenda and how to book passes, visit the Summit website.

The post David Flynn, Glitnor Group: targeting the US on three fronts appeared first on CasinoBeats.

At the time of last month’s purchase, Glitnor noted that it will be a key factor in the long-term growth of the business, as well as accelerating its move into the lead generation space.

“We decided that we wanted to really expand into the affiliate space at quite a rate, and make sure that we work together with a team who really know this, and really have fantastic products and pedigree,” Flynn continues.

In addition to facilitating advanced growth in the affiliate space, the purchase of KaFe Rocks, which boasts 40 online casino and sports betting and recently celebrated its fourth birthday, also saw the US opportunity play a key role 

“So, of course, the opportunity they were looking at with regards to the United States is also of interest, so you can see the amounts of money that are being spent, perhaps not so wisely at the moment, in terms of marketing spend in the US.

“And so we wanted to make sure that we could enter into the US market in a very profitable way from day one. And indeed, we’ve actually achieved both of those goals with the acquisition of KaFe Rocks.”

Furthermore, the purchase is also lauded as enabling Glitnor to operate “across the whole value chain of casino” as well as dip its toes in sports, with KaFe Rocks complementing its B2C business, which includes online casino brands Lucky Casino and Gambola, as well as the B2B space, comprising online casino content supplier Swintt.

“They do come with a lot of pedigree, [and] from day one we’ve had some fantastic conversations, not only with the founders, but also with the management team,” Flynn adds on the deal itself.

“It’s not often that during such a process, you simply click in terms of not on the business, but also the people. And for me, it was very, very much about the culture of KaFé Rocks, which seems to fit very well with our culture at Glitnor.

“And you know, the people are so passionate about what they do, and that’s something that I always look for, whether it’s hiring a new member of the team or indeed looking at the new company.”

The post David Flynn, Glitnor Group: KaFe Rocks comes with a lot of pedigree appeared first on CasinoBeats.

This latest collaboration, said Sportingtech, will strengthen its casino offering by enabling it access to the Prague studio’s full portfolio of popular titles. These include the likes of Solar Eclipse, Joker Stoker, and the famous Hell Hot series.

Moreover, the company anticipates it will benefit from increased exposure across its network with Endorphina’s rapidly expanding games catalogue. The partnership is expected to expand into further regulated territories in the coming months as the two companies’ relationship grows.

Ivo Doroteia, Sportingtech CEO, said: “This is a landmark deal for us and the perfect way to start 2022. As the Platform Provider of the Year winner at the SBC Latinoamérica Awards 2021, Sportingtech has a very strong understanding of the market and is ideally placed to take Endorphina to the next level.”

Zdenek Llosa, senior sales manager at Endorphina, added: “We are proud to strike a very promising partnership with Sportingtech. Our comprehensive range of slots now has the opportunity to find an even wider audience and we are looking forward to sharing them with an increased player base.”

The post Sportingtech bolsters casino offering via Endorphina slot partnership appeared first on CasinoBeats.

There are three main areas of importance for any organisation seeking to strengthen its technological foundations: team and culture, architecture, and processes.

This is particularly apparent in the fast-growing igaming business, where lofty ambitions of success in new markets means there is a need to scale quickly. From a platform provider perspective, our industry sector needs to offer operators as many options as possible so that they can differentiate themselves from the competition by utilising quality content built on rock-solid foundations.

Taking the first of that trio of key elements, establishing a successful team means more than attracting the best people into your organisation. Of course, it is important to grow the workforce with top-quality individuals who can add value with their skills and experience. It is also about upskilling your existing employees, too, to maximise the potential of everyone in the business.

It is also imperative that a platform provider aligns around the highest possible engineering standards. At Pronet Gaming, we have adopted a foundation covering execution, collaboration, communication, influence and maturity.

It is a strategy in which we do not simply focus on technical skills, as that is no longer enough in such an international, cross-functional team. Those skills must be complemented by elements including best practice and quality design. 

The execution element focuses on the way an engineer gets things done in terms of planning, scoping, estimation, ownership, strategic and product alignment, plus the need to understand the vision of the company. 

Collaboration and communication skills are very important for a distributed and agile team, which asks for and provides feedback, supplemented by excellent standards of documentation. Indeed, we believe the quality of the documentation we provide to operators is as important as the platform itself. 

As a B2B company, we provide the platform for use by the operator. Regardless of the market, the trend is not to customise the platform for a client, but to have a platform so configurable out of the box that different clients can put together features to suit their needs without our teams having to engage in custom development on each occasion. 

Which is why documentation is very important because it makes this process easier for our customers. It is great when things are self-explanatory, but when we release new features, it is deemed mandatory that the customer can review what it does, without having to get in touch with consumer support. 

Influence means how we collaborate with other people in the business, looking at the level of impact with leadership, knowledge sharing, mentoring, hiring, onboarding and the representation of our brand. We strongly believe our brand begins within the team. 

Finally, maturity speaks to the traits that make a team member trustworthy and professional: accountability, self-awareness, respect, consensus building, handling conflict constructively and receiving feedback in order to progress. 

Highly complex

While we are concerned with our own domain with such initiatives, it is very important that as a tech organisation we understand the sector we work in. Gaming is very similar to fintech in being low-latency, high throughput software. It presents engineers with highly complex problems to be solved, which in turn makes it an attractive proposition for attracting talent. 

In order for us to be competitive in the market, solid and modular architecture and agile processes are a must. Consumers within the online gaming market can be demanding and want personalised content they can access quickly, which is presented in an easy-to-understand fashion.

This is particularly the case in newer markets, where players are less forgiving than in mature markets when presented with more complex information on-screen, or with UX/UI that is not particularly easy to navigate.

Therefore, it is important that our architecture is modular and that our processes and teams are agile. Crucially, this allows for us to achieve speed-to-market. Modular architecture incorporates both components and services and we build cross-functional teams around these components.

Each of our teams is autonomous, meaning that decisions can be reached quickly, and cross-functional teams can work according to their own road map. 

We can provide a level of automation – deployment and testing, for example – that enables operators to get to market at speed and test quickly. It is a cycle of experimentation, learning, and quick scaling.

Nothing stands still for long in the igaming world and as a platform provider committed to handing the controls to the operator, honing our team’s skills and the processes they work by is every bit as important as creating market-leading modular software.

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Slotegrator, the igaming software and business solution provider for online casino and sportsbook operators, has produced a comprehensive guide for companies seeking a UK online gambling licence.

Titled How to get a gambling licence in the UK 2022, it covers in detail the scope and cost of all five types of online gambling licences available (casino, virtual events, real events, pool betting, and bingo). Additionally, it sets out the fees attached to each licence and how they vary by application.

The guide also outlines the documentation required to obtain each licence and the obligations operators must fulfil under the licensing codes and conditions of practice. Importantly – and often overlooked – it details some of the downsides of operating in the British market.

Setting out the rationale for getting licensed, Slotegrator’s guide noted: “The United Kingdom is by far the world’s largest online gambling market. In the six months between April and September 2020, the British gambling industry’s total gross gambling yield amounted to £5.9bn (€7bn / $7.96bn as of November 2021), 52.3 per cent of which — £3.1bn — coming from the remote sector.” 

It added: “Remote GGY rose to an astounding £6.9bn by the end of the 2020-2021 fiscal year, for a growth of 18.4 per cent over the first semester. Online casinos generated an imposing £4bn, while betting totalled £2.6bn and bingo accounted for the rest of the GGY.”

“Given these numbers”, it continued, “it’s easier to see why the British online gambling market is so attractive to operators. In total, the United Kingdom is home to 2,439 licensed gambling operators, 599 of which offer online services.”

Prospective licence holders will have to navigate the requirements of the issuer, the UK Gambling Commission which is also tasked to monitor operators’ compliance with the provisions set forward in the Gambling Act 2005. 

The guide stated: “The UKGC assesses all applications considering two main factors: the business’ intention and ability to uphold the licensing objectives, and suitability to carry out the allowed activities. 

“The assessment of suitability process aims at finding evidence of identity and ownership, past and present financial circumstances of all relevant individuals, integrity (including criminal records evaluation), and competence. For this reason, businesses are required to provide an extensive set of documents at the moment of application.”

Prospective licensees are also warned that entities based abroad must provide a credit report, and, if they are licenced elsewhere, a copy of the gambling licences issued by other jurisdictions.

“Others depend on the type of licence the entity is applying for,” it added. “In the case of a remote licence, it’s necessary to provide documentation regarding remote-specific policies and procedures, the software and gambling software supply, the operational model, and a system diagram for end-to-end process.”

One of the reasons why a UKGC licence is so highly valued by operators and players alike is, said the guide, that it demonstrates operators’ commitment to running a compliant business. 

It noted: “Licensees are bound by the LCCP, an extensive document outlining all the requirements that operators must fulfil. The requirements set are quite strict — particularly when compared to those of other jurisdictions — and require operators to be extremely vigilant, particularly regarding know-your-customer and anti-money laundering topics.”

The guide ends on a cautionary note, with the warning that “applying for a gambling licence isn’t a straightforward process”. It advised: “The smallest mistake in the documentation provided may result in a long delay, and, with the baseline wait between application and issuing of the licence set at four months, that’s the last thing you want.

“To avoid unnecessary headaches, you can rely on our jurisdictional advisory and licence acquisition services. Our team of specialists will be able to successfully guide you through the application process to obtain a UK gambling licence without skipping a beat.”

The post Slotegrator: how to get licensed in the world’s largest online gaming market appeared first on CasinoBeats.