Former state assignees of the AMCU Agia Zagrebelskaya and journalist Yuri Nikolov have analysed the new gambling bill.

According to Yuri Nikolov, it seems that the government’s bill on gambling was written by certain business groups and bookmakers particularly.

“The bill provides that slot machines should go to hotels. It’s super, actually. Yes, of course, there will be questions – what can be called a hotel? In any case, there are less hotels in Kyiv than slot machine halls today. Limiting gambling to hotels only is a good in principle, but bookmakers are officially allowed to create 320 bet points in Kyiv. That is, bookmakers are allowed to get minimum 300 points. I try to just understand how we are going to remove gambling from streets? And I don’t see,” Nikolov said.

“The danger is casinos and slot machines. Everything else: lottery and betting is absolutely normal gambling. But what we mean by bookmakers. Bookmaking is betting on sports. If we talk about betting on virtual events, in my opinion, this has little to do with bookmaking. What is the problem today? I’m saying this to everyone that if such a model is introduced by the state now, it will allow casino gambling masked as a betting activity,” Agia Zagrebelskaya said.

Creative development studio BF Games has been awarded a Romanian supplier licence, enabling it to provide its portfolio to the country’s online operators for the first time, following a successful period of offering its land-based slot machines in the country.

Licensed online operators across Romania can now enjoy full access to BF Games’ slot collection, including new titles such as Book of Goods and Ramses Rising, as well as popular classics Bonnie & Clyde, Crystal Mania and Stunning Hot.

BF Games’ own Remote Gaming Server distributes content directly to operators, ensuring seamless integration and speed to market.

Both suppliers and operators are required to obtain a licence in Romania, where online gambling has been legal since 2016. BF Games’ Class II licence issued by the Romanian gambling regulator (ONJN) enables it to sign strategic partnership with certified operators and supply its content to Romanian players.

BF Games has already seen a lot of interest from licensees in the market and is expected to announce partnership deals shortly.

The studio already holds online licences in Malta, the UK and Latvia, as well as a land-based gaming permit in Montenegro.

Piotr Szpoton, CEO at BF Games, said: “We are always looking to extend our reach and as Romania is a mature market, obtaining a new licence here demonstrates our confidence in the market as well as our products.

“Three years ago, we entered the Romanian land-based market offering our slot-machines through and exclusive partnership, and after seeing the positive results and the interests in our offering, we decided to enter the online vertical as well.”

The Gamingtec marketing team attended the MAC 19 Kyiv Affiliate Conference, which took place in the Ukrainian capital on the 10th October. The event brought together representatives of leading companies in the iGaming industry, media buyers and affiliates, and provided great networking opportunities to all participants.

The conference was devoted to such topics as targeting and running traffic from social media, media buying with minimal resources, working with unpopular GEOs, etc. More than 2,000 attendants took part. Olga Stoyan, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) of Gamingtec, commended the organisation of the event and said the conference satisfied her expectations. In her own words:

It is very important for us to keep up with trends in affiliate marketing. We need to optimize a conversion funnel on our platform and we expect affiliate marketing to help us with it. End customers attracted by affiliates pass several main stages: registration, playing, money withdrawal. Thus, we should optimize UX and UI for all the core components: user-friendly registration forms, customized display of the games, and a huge variety of payment systems integrated into our platform. Collaborating with affiliates on such conferences, we learn what may kill traffic conversion and which types of sales funnels are the most productive.

The Gamingtec CMO added:
Instead of theory of marketing, this conference focused rather on best practices, user experience and case studies. Specialists who generate traffic on an everyday basis shared their insights. Most of them were talking about social media, messengers and mobile applications, because 80% of players use mobile devices, according to statistics.

It is important to meet potential partners in person in the iGaming industry. International conferences inspire confidence and provide lots of opportunities for collaboration and networking. Stoyan stated, ‘I was impressed by the level of MAC 19. The event was well-organized, exhibition and market zones were prepared carefully’.