Passport Technology Inc. (Passport), a leading provider of payment technology solutions for the gaming industry, announced the launch of its CashValet® cash access service at Olympic Entertainment Group’s flagship casino Olympic Park Casino. This represents a significant advancement for the Baltic region, as Olympic Park Casino will now offer the first quasi-cash service of its kind.

“We are always looking for new and innovative solutions to provide our Olympic Casino customers with the highest standard of service across all channels. With the ever-evolving landscape, there is a greater need to integrate online and land-based operations,” said Peeter Tamla, IT Director of Olympic Entertainment Group. “The quasi-cash solution is ideal for showing our expertise in this field, making our customers’ experience comfortable and convenient and their financial transactions secure while adhering to the highest standards of security and compliance.” As stated by Tamla, many companies offer various services in the payment technology field; however, Passport has established itself as a leading provider for large businesses.

Passport’s CashValet is a premier quasi-cash solution that offers casinos a comprehensive and efficient means of facilitating immediate transactions with maximum approval amounts for patrons and VIP guests. Its level of security, privacy, and regulatory compliance ensures that both employees and patrons of Olympic Park Casino can experience the latest innovative technology.

“Passport Technology continues to set the standard for product innovation and market expansion,” said Helen Bowditch, Vice President of Business Development at Passport. “We are honored to have the opportunity to partner with Olympic Entertainment Group and are thrilled to introduce the Baltic region to the industry’s most advanced quasi-cash service for brick-and-mortar casinos.” The partnership with Olympic Entertainment Group will allow Passport Technology to expand its reach in the market and offer its cutting-edge payment technology solutions to a broader audience.

CashValet offers a range of features such as real-time reporting, dynamic fee structures, free play credits, responsible gambling features, self-exclusion options, and enhanced privacy protocols. As the premier provider of payment technology solutions, Passport’s CashValet is the only PCI-DSS Level 1, P2PE-certified, cloud-based solution available. It is also available in multiple form factors, including the new wireless device, enabling a wide range of use cases in accordance with jurisdiction and operator requirements.

Mark Chakravarti, Investment Director at SportingWin, talks about the operator’s experience of securing a licence in Bulgaria and how it will now use its in-house regulatory platform to enter additional European markets  

I would argue that a proprietary regulatory platform is the most important thing for operators looking to drive European market expansion.  Without a modern, agile platform that provides the insight that regulators require, licence applications will be drawn out for months and even years.

At SportingWin, we came to learn this the hard way.

When we started the business back in 2019, we identified Bulgaria as being a market of huge potential and one that we were keen to make our debut. Based on our assessment, AGR would hit 20% a year for the next five years, leading to a market value of €500m per year.

We then set about compiling the legal paperwork required by the National Revenue Agency for the licence application – this was a significant task in its own right, but we would soon learn that this was just the very start of the process.

The Bulgarian regulator is one of the most stringent in the world, which of course is a good thing. It ensures that the operators that do secure approval to enter the market are of the highest calibre especially when it comes to responsible gambling.

Under its requirements, operators must be able to deliver certain insights and information to the regulator in real time and this in turn requires a powerful, agile regulatory platform. Ultimately, we took the decision to develop this technology in-house.

While this was the right course of action, it significantly slowed down our licence application process while the regulator and our in-house development team worked together to ensure that it was fully compliant with its requirements.

We eventually reached the point where the National Revenue Agency was happy with the paperwork we submitted and our proprietary reg-tech platform, giving us the green light to enter the market in January 2021. Since then, we have gained incredible traction with players.

As with most operators, we are now looking to take SportingWin into additional markets and our in-house developed regulatory platform will be the foundation for building out our presence across the region. It really is impressive and now that it has been certified in Bulgaria, it can be used elsewhere.

We have identified Romania as our next market and while we have yet to submit our application to the regulator, our proprietary regulatory platform will ensure it is a much easier – and faster – process than that in Bulgaria.

This is for several reasons. Given just how stringent the National Revenue Agency is with its standards and enforcing them, other jurisdictions are happy to approve our platform without subjecting it to the same level of scrutiny again.

The same applies to a lot of the paperwork that we completed as part of our application in Bulgaria – for example, the Romanian regulator is happy to carry this over as well as the technical and software certifications that we were granted.

Of course, local regulators will still carry out their own investigations and will want to test certain aspects of our platforms, tech and software, but much of the hard work has already been done and this will allow us to enter additional markets at pace – we anticipate being live in Romania in H1.

In addition to an in-house regulatory platform, approved paperwork and the experience of having been through a licence application, the final piece of the puzzle operators need is a European trademark for their brand/brands.

We have recently secured this for SportingWin and it really does put us in the driving seat to identify and enter regulated European markets with an incredibly strong brand, superior product offering and a powerful regulatory platform running in the background.

Because of this, SportingWin is an attractive proposition for investors looking to join our success story. Due to the technical foundations we have in place, the investment we secure is pumped into marketing our brand in each country, which in turn allows us to generate significant share quickly.

Despite having been live in Bulgaria for only a year, we have a large and loyal player base and in Q4, generated €500,000 in NGR. This is set to grow significantly off the back of our recently-announced partnership with Pinnacle, allowing us to add a betting exchange to our offering for the first time.

As with most small to medium-sized operators, the team behind SportingWin has a long-term plan for the business and that is to grow it into an exciting acquisition opportunity for one of the power players looking to build their presence in regulated markets across Europe.

Without our proprietary regulator platform, European trademark and growing collection of licences, SportingWin would simply not be on the radar of these organisations, let alone be considered a serious M&A opportunity.

Of course, there is still a lot of work to do before we reach that chapter of our story but given that the founders of SportingWin have built and sold betting businesses before, it is one that I am confident we will write in next to no time at all.

Meanwhile, we will continue to use our regulatory platform to launch our player-favourite brand and superior betting experience into markets across Europe, generating substantial revenues from each of the jurisdictions we target.

Energy Casino is living up to its name by powering up its game lobby with the addition of high-thrills slots from in-demand studio, Stakelogic. This includes the provider’s explosive video slots and classic slots with an electrifying twist.

The operator will use Stakelogic’s proven content to deliver a super-charged experience to players in Latvia and all MGA jurisdictions.

Stakelogic’s suite of classic slots has taken global markets by storm. Each game captures the nostalgia of a traditional fruit slot machine through familiar symbols such as cherries, lemons, oranges, grapes, bells and 7s, which is combined with modern mechanics and features for a truly unique experience.

Classic titles include Super Bonus Wild, Runner 8 Runner, Bonus Runner, Super 6 Timer and Mega Runner, all of which have the look and feel of a traditional slot but with gameplay packed with bonuses like Wilds and Hold & Spin.

But this is just one part of the integration agreement. Players at Energy Casino will also be able to spin the reels on Stakelogic’s action-packed blockbuster video slots. Each game has been designed to get player pulses racing through plenty of bonuses including Wilds, Multiplier, Free Spins and more.

Just some of the video slots going live include Wild West runaway-train-themed Cash Express, Wild Buzz, El Cowboy Megaways, Devil’s Trap and the just-launched Origins^TM.

Many of these games feature Stakelogic’s flagship innovation, Super Stake. This bonus feature allows players to effectively double their bet to increase the chance of a bonus feature triggering and insane win combinations landing, building unprecedented anticipation with each spin.

Danila Dzehs, Sales Manager at Stakelogic, said: “Our classic and video slots are like a lightning bolt hitting an operator’s game lobby. They bring action, anticipation and electrifying big-win potential with each spin and that’s what has seen them top the charts in markets around the world.

It’s great that players at Energy Casino can enjoy this adrenaline-fuelled experience for the first time, an experience they will want to return to time and again.”

Marcin Sobieraj, Head of Casino at Energy Casino, added: “Our casino is a place where players come for big action, big thrills and even bigger wins and the content we stock in our game lobby absolutely has to offer this.

In Stakelogic we have a studio that has mastered the art of developing classic and video slots that meet player expectations and exceed them. This is a significant integration for us and will bring serious energy to our game lobby.”