Industry News
Gauselmann Group is Back on Course for Success, Sales Development Returns to Pre-Covid Levels
The Gauselmann Group is leaving the pandemic behind and picking up economically from the successful pre-COVID period: at the end of the first six months of the year, it is already becoming apparent that the family-run corporate group will achieve similarly high sales revenues in 2022 as in the 2019 financial year. Sales revenues in the first half-year of 2019 were at around 1.740 billion euros. The first six months of 2022 closed with sales revenues at 1.746 billion euros. Overall, the cumulative sales revenues of all group entities in 2019 was approximately 3.4 billion euros.
“It is great news that the pandemic has bottomed out and we are finally back in charted territory again. This success is primarily the fruit of our good ideas and the dedication of each and every one of our employees and once again goes to show what you can achieve with hard work and team spirit,” Founder and Management Board Chairman Paul Gauselmann said.
The past two coronavirus years had cost the company some two billion euros in lost sales revenues. During the lockdowns, all gaming arcades, casinos, sports betting shops and shipboard casinos across Europe – as many as 1000 outlets altogether – had had to close for around nine months. Operating costs, however, remained largely unchanged.
The good development is also attributable to the group’s increasing diversification. The Gauselmann Group is positioning itself on an ever-broader base – and in doing so is reducing its dependence on individual markets and business models. This is also reflected in the current sales performance. A return to pre-COVID levels was only possible because with the development and expansion of international business operations and casinos, the company has tapped into two business areas that compensate for the increasingly difficult situation on the German home market. The most important markets in other European countries are currently the UK and Spain.
“From an entrepreneurial point of view, it was hugely important to drive forward our international business activities,” Paul Gauselmann explains. In the meantime, an ever-larger share of sales revenues – around 60% – is generated abroad.
In addition to internationalisation, casinos are another major factor in sales success. As well as the casinos in Saxony-Anhalt and the investments in Berlin and Rhineland-Palatinate, the casinos in North Rhine-Westphalia have been an important addition to this business segment since 2021. A look at the figures of the casinos in Saxony-Anhalt shows how enormous the potential is in this area: already in the second year of operation by the Gauselmann Group, the number of visitors doubled several times over. In line with the legally defined channelling mandate, it was thus possible to redirect more players from illegal to legal offerings and protect many customers from the big risks of illegal gaming.
“I have never experienced such a percentage rise in any other sector so far,” Paul Gauselmann points out.
The only bitter pill in the general success story are the political conditions that govern commercial gaming in Germany. The ever-increasing restrictions have not only led to a reduction of more than 30% of gaming machines, the closure of gaming arcades and thus also to the selective loss of jobs, but have also diminished the attractiveness of the legal gaming offering. This, in turn, increases the appeal of illegal gaming offerings – in the context of which consumer protection and responsible gaming are alien concepts. The Gauselmann Group has nevertheless managed to defend its market leadership.
“This is very gratifying, but also necessary in order to uphold our standards even under the more difficult conditions,” said the company patriarch.
This positive development of the company from Eastern Westphalia is also reflected in the “personnel growth” factor. The number of employees increased by 10.7% in 2021, with the company now employing almost 15,000 people worldwide. All of this allows the Gauselmann Group to look to the future with renewed confidence. One source of hope for further building on this successful track record lies in particular in the area of online gaming in Germany, which is currently being developed on a legal footing under the new State Treaty on Gambling that came into force on 1 July 2021 and for which the first licences were recently issued. However, this presupposes that the state intervenes to put a stop to illegal online business as quickly as possible. According to media reports, the new German Federal States’ Joint Gambling Authority has already started calling on illegal providers to discontinue their activities. Failure to do so comes with fines of up to 500,000 euros. Experience in the UK market has shown that land-based gaming and online gaming meaningfully supplement rather than cannibalise each other – provided that the legislator permits a sufficiently attractive range of online gaming offerings; an area where Germany has so far significantly lagged behind other counties.
“We will definitely be making an active contribution with good ideas in the online segment,” promises Paul Gauselmann. The most important insight, however, is “If we perform and can draw on more reasonable framework conditions going forward, success will follow.”
Industry News
Maximising Your Cross-Market Appeal
With Bitblox introducing an entirely new breed of crypto-based price prediction games to the iGaming industry, we talked to CEO, Brandt Page, to discover how combining elements of both chance and skill with lightning-fast betting rounds has helped improve their cross-market appeal.
When Bitblox was first established, our core concept was relatively simple; we didn’t just want to provide players with a new twist on an existing format like slots or casino games, but instead sought to create an entirely new vertical that combined elements of chance and elements of skill.
One of the main drivers behind this decision was the fact that we wanted our releases to appeal to as broad an audience as possible – and I think from the figures we’ve seen so far, we’ve already had some notable success on that front in terms of the players that are engaging with our games.
Funnily enough, I was recently talking to the Head of Marketing from one of the operators that we work with and they told me they were struggling to place our games optimally. Initially, they’d put them in with crash and instant win content, but they soon discovered a lot of their in-game traffic was coming from sports bettors. A move to the sports betting tab followed, but the exact same-thing happened with casino players, leading to the games eventually winding up on the front page.
As this was going on, our games were continuing to post solid numbers with the customers who bet on both sports and casino – and all of this engagement was coming without there being any additional promotion from us or the operator. So why was it that our games were performing so well across these different player segments? I believe there are a number of contributing factors.
First and foremost, having this hybrid model of games of chance and games of skill that I’ve already mentioned has placed us in a fairly unique position within the iGaming industry. On the one hand, the simple premise of our Bitcoin-based titles – coupled with their attractive designs and intuitive UI – makes them highly accessible to casino players who are just looking to have fun.
On the other, the fact that Bitblox games aren’t based on RNG and are instead pinned to the real-time movements of the Bitcoin market certainly resonates with a sports betting audience. As they have the ability to follow the charts and use this information to inform their decisions, they definitely feel they have more control over the outcome than if they were playing a traditional slot.
Another key aspect of our cross-market appeal is the fast-paced nature of all Bitblox releases. With casino players being accustomed to the quick wins and instant gratification of slots and crash games and sports bettors also showing a growing preference for in-play wagering, we’ve ensured each game round is resolved quickly and that there are multiple opportunities for betting.
When we first launched Up or Down?, which features one-minute betting rounds, we soon learned that even this timeframe is too long for some players. This resulted in us developing Up or Down? Turbo – a game which kept the same mechanics as its predecessor but reduced the betting window to 20 seconds – and this has gone on to become one of our most successful titles.
Keeping all this in mind, one of the things I’m most excited about is the upcoming release of our latest game, 3 in a Row, as I think this is a title that really ties everything I’ve talked about so far together. Designed to look like a slot machine, 3 in a Row challenges players to correctly predict how the Bitcoin price will move over three separate 20-second windows for even bigger payouts.
Intended to appeal to casual users and serious sports bettors alike, players can elect to either spin the reels for fun and select a random price sequence or use the bet builder feature to put together their own custom prediction. With the latter essentially functioning like an accumulator bet, players can select up to three possible combinations – i.e. Up/Up/Up, Up/Up/Down etc – and only one result needs to land for them to win, ensuring they stay engaged until the final seconds.
I believe that 3 in a Row can help build on the strong foundations we’ve laid down with casino and sports bettors and provide operators with another popular option that offers significant cross-market appeal. Based on what we’ve seen from previous Bitblox releases, the audience for titles that combine elements of chance and elements of skill is definitely out there – and I’m looking forward to our unique brand of crypto-based games being enjoyed by even more players in future.
Industry News
Gaming Corps to launch with lotteries in the USA via EQL games deal
In-demand content provider extends reach into largest iGaming market in the world with its full suite of games made available via iLottery aggregation platform
Gaming Corps, a publicly-listed game studio based in Sweden renowned for creating industry-leading games, has made its debut in the US market through a breakthrough agreement with leading lottery provider, EQL Games.
The distribution agreement will see Gaming Corps’ full suite of games made available to EQL Games’ powerful iLottery Aggregation Platform, developed to provide lottery operators across America with direct access to a portfolio of proprietary and third-party games.
Following the integration, EQL Games’ lottery operator partners will be offered proven Slots, Table Games, Multiplier Games, Mine Games and Plinko Games, as well as titles under Gaming Corps’ innovative and trademarked Smash4Cash™ series.
The deal and integration come at a time of growing demand among online lottery operators in the US for non-traditional content, a format that Gaming Corps has excelled in, especially with its Smash4Cash™ games, which have been a hit with players in global markets.
EQL’s aggregation platform has been developed to allow online lottery operators to quickly and easily access content from multiple game studios simultaneously through one integration and one commercial agreement.
Its iLottery Aggregation platform simplifies the process of adding new games to an online lottery brand across regulated states. In addition to the third-party content provided via its aggregator platform, EQL Games has a portfolio of in-house titles.
This includes games produced under licence with Team USA which were rolled out by several state lotteries for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris this year, with new titles being planned ahead of the Winter Games in Milan (2026) and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles (2028).
Juha Kauppinen, CEO of Gaming Corps, said: “The USA has always been somewhat of the holy grail for game developers like us, which has been further emphasised as markets in several states have become regulated. The potential in the American market is enormous, and the impact for us is a bit difficult to assess, but we have great hopes for the collaboration with EQL Games, which has an impressive platform towards U.S. lotteries.
“We believe it will have a significantly positive impact on our revenues. I would like to personally take the opportunity to thank EQL Games and Brad Cummings for the collaboration, and we are now working hard to complete the integration so that all our games will be offered to EQL’s customers via their platform.”
Brad Cummings, CEO of EQL Games, added: “Including Gaming Corps as a supplier to the EQL Games iLottery Aggregator is an exciting step forward in our mission to offer unique, high-quality content to state lotteries. Gaming Corps’ expertise in iGaming, along with their unique game portfolio, fits perfectly with our vision of enhancing the lottery experience through dynamic and engaging content.”
Industry News
Public Voting Starts for Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0
The highly anticipated Ortak x B.F.T.H. Arena Awards 3.0 has officially entered the public voting phase as submissions are closed.
More than 70 game providers have turned in over 160 submissions, including Tom Horn Gaming, Pragmatic Play and RubyPlay. Public voting involves enthusiasts casting their votes to pick the winner of the Game of Public Choice category.
The Public voting phase ends on December 1st 23:59 GMT+4.
Concurrent to public voting, the first phase of private voting also starts during which all participants who have submitted entries get the chance to vote for one favourite in each category. An international auditing company oversees this phase to eliminate duplicate votes and self-votes. This phase ends on November 19, 23:59 GMT+4.
The second phase of private voting will also take place with a jury of industry experts making their decisions based on the shortlist picked by participants during the first phase.
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