Interviews
A centenary celebration like no other
Mark McGuiness, Head of Marketing and Casino at The Football Pools, talks to European Gaming about the brand’s 100-year history and how it remains just as popular today as it did in its heyday.
The Football Pools is approaching its centenary season. Can you tell us more about the incredible history behind the brand?
The Football Pools was born in 1923 in a small office in Liverpool, England. Originally called Littlewoods Football Pools, three friends invested £50 of their own money each to print the first 4,000 coupons and then distributed them outside Manchester United’s Old Trafford ground. But it was the entrepreneurial spirit of one of the trio, John Moores, that pushed the business into becoming the biggest football pools operator the world has ever seen. At its height, more than 14 million people played The Pools each week, staking more than £50m. For the past 99 years, playing the Football Pools has become a tradition for generations of families and over that time we have paid out billions of pounds to players. As the brand approaches its centenary season, we continue to provide fun, entertainment and plenty of big wins to millions of players every week.
How have the Football Pools and The Pools evolved to ensure it remains relevant in what is a fast-moving industry?
Popularity always ebbs and flows and this is just part and parcel of operating any brand in any industry. But the Football Pools and The Pools remain hugely popular, especially among those looking for big wins from small stakes. The Football Pools offers our portfolio of traditional jackpot games, such as the football-based score draw game of Classic Pools where players are in with the chance of scooping the £3m top prize each week. Customers have the option to play as they go, or they can subscribe so that they never miss an opportunity to play their favourite numbers. The Pools is home to our Football Pools Games, sportsbook and casino. Of course, all games can be played online and via both desktop and mobile. We have been pursuing a digital transformation strategy for several years now and have one of the best mobile gambling propositions in the UK market.
Do your Classic Pools Games appeal to younger audiences? If so, how have you ensured they tap into their psyche and deliver the experiences they are seeking?
Classic Pools has a growing audience of online players, which can skew younger than traditional Pools players. But regardless of audience age, we see two general player types – those that analyse Head 2 Head statistics from previous matches to identify those that may result in a score draw and other players that prefer to use their favourite numbers as the means to select possible matches that might end in the score draw result.
To help Classic Pools games appeal to a broad audience, including new players, we have ensured the game interface is fast, intuitive and of course mobile friendly. That’s why we have two versions of the game presentation, one being just selecting numbers and the other the detailed H-2-H game fixture view. We are always improving our game UI and have plans to introduce improvements and gamification in the coming months.
Social interaction is becoming an increasingly important factor to players when deciding where and what to play. How have you maintained a sense of community online?
Interaction is absolutely key to fostering a genuine connection between consumer and brand and a sense of community is what has kept people playing The Pools for decades. We have maintained this online with a large social media following on Facebook and Twitter. This is a bit different to the early days when collectors would visit customers in their homes to collect their entries for that particular game round, but it works just as well. In addition to social media, we have game leaderboards which were actually introduced long before “social” was born. This is because we have always understood that customers wish to compete, learn and improve. Leaderboards provide a way to visualise these emotional requirements and participation in the game.
For a gambling brand to hit 100 years is an incredible achievement. How will you mark the occasion?
We have some really exciting activities planned to mark our centenary year, one of which was the appointment of the new Pools Panel – this includes football legend Michael Owen and its first-ever female expert, former England goalkeeper Rachel Brown-Finnis. Michael is also the face of a major promotional campaign that we are running with our brilliant affiliate partners. We will be giving away 10,000 free entries into our Classic Pools game, which has a £3m jackpot up for grabs every week as well as an enhanced £350,000 prize pot. Delivering a successful product for 100 years is no mean feat, so we plan to celebrate in style and in a way that makes our players feel part of our success and valued for their loyalty.
Africa
SmartSoft’s expertise and future vision for the African market
In recent years, the online gaming landscape has witnessed a surge in innovative and engaging titles that capture the interest of players worldwide. Among these, first ever flying crash game by SmartSoft – JetX emerged as a standout game, particularly gaining substantial traction in Africa. This article provides an in-depth examination of JetX, a popular online crash game, and explores the expertise behind its creation. By focusing on the game’s features, the developer SmartSoft Gaming, and insights from an interview with the Vice President Commercial, we aim to highlight the factors contributing to JetX’s success and its impact on the gaming industry.
About SmartSoft Gaming
Founded in Georgia in 2015 by industry experts, SmartSoft set out to create a one-of-a-kind casino games provider that offers high-quality gaming experiences worldwide. By combining interactive features with captivating visuals, we blend gaming and gambling to deliver more engaging, entertaining, and superior experiences. Our mission is not just to attract players but to enhance their enjoyment.
To gain further insights into the development of JetX and the vision behind its creation, we spoke with the Vice President Commercial of SmartSoft.
Rusa Javakhishvili Vice President Commercial of SmartSoft shared insights and analytics from African countries, and outlined future plans. Rusa joined SmartSoft two years ago as Head of Finance and Strategic Projects. In early 2024, she transitioned to the commercial side as Head of Account Management, and is now Vice President of Commercials, overseeing several regions, including Africa.
What was the general concept and inspiration behind JetX?
In recent years, the online gaming landscape has witnessed a surge in innovative and engaging titles that capture the interest of players worldwide. Among these, JetX has emerged as a standout game, particularly gaining substantial traction in Africa. The main concept of the game is that it is easy to play, the player is involved in the decision as much as possible, it is fast and within the fast-paced world we think that it delivers exactly what players need for an enjoyable experience.
How does JetX differentiate itself from other crash games in the market?
At SmartSoft, we appreciate our relationships with partners, it’s very important to us. We constantly think and work to create a valuable product and maintain strong connections with them. SmartSoft’s portfolio includes a diverse range of online casino games, each designed to offer unique features and interactive gameplay but JetX is the literal gem!
JetX is an online crash game that combines simplicity with excitement, offering players an engaging betting experience. This dynamic gameplay requires both luck and strategy, appealing to a broad audience seeking quick, high-stakes action. JetX stands out due to its user-friendly interface, real-time gameplay, and mobile compatibility, making it accessible and enjoyable for players on the go. Its growing popularity in Africa can be attributed to its exciting gameplay mechanics and the potential for significant winnings.
What strategies did you employ to ensure JetX appeals to a diverse audience, particularly in Africa?
When we expanded into the African market, we knew it’s a big and diverse region, so it’s important to understand each country individually instead of seeing it as one market. With our partners’ help, we’re working hard to learn about each country’s marketing practices and what types of games people enjoy. It’s a challenging task, but the African market is a top priority for us, and we’ve allocated resources to quickly build our knowledge in this area.
How has JetX been received by African players compared to other regions? Are there any notable differences in player behavior or preferences?
The African market is one of the most interesting and significant for us, and we believe it has great potential. It is a highly dynamic and exciting market, where players are exposed to a wide variety of games. Their enthusiasm for diverse content gives us inspiration and motivation to create games specifically tailored to their unique preferences and needs. Moreover, they are quick to engage with new releases, eagerly embracing fresh content when it aligns with their tastes and expectations. Although Crash products were introduced only recently, they have quickly become a favorite among consumers. We expect this trend to continue growing.
How do you assess player feedback and incorporate it into ongoing game improvements?
This is a crucial aspect for us. That’s why, in collaboration with our partners, we consistently review key feedback on our games and strive to incorporate it as much as possible into new versions. We strive to bring enjoyment in everything we do – whether it’s in our work environment, or for the end users. Our goal is to delight both the customers and ourselves with our work. Therefore, we integrate gaming’s fun elements into gambling to maximize enjoyment. This approach fuels our drive to innovate and create playful experiences, redefining the gambling industry and making it more entertaining;
What future developments or updates can players expect for JetX?
Our product has undergone numerous changes since its inception, with many more improvements planned. These changes are aimed at delivering the best possible user experience for players while ensuring the product remains of the highest technical quality.
How has the success of JetX influenced SmartSoft’s approach to game development?
JetX, the first Crash game created in 2018, holds a special place as one of the company’s most beloved titles. Its global popularity is evident, and we’re thrilled that players enjoy it. At SmartSoft, having a diversified portfolio is crucial, which is why we release new games every year. As pioneers in the Crash genre, we ensure that we continually expand our offerings. Our goal is to provide players with a wide range of high-quality games they can trust to deliver an enjoyable experience.
Interviews
Slot Saturation – Q&A w/ Qianqian Liu, Senior Art Director at Gaming Corps
What are the defining visual features of a Gaming Corps slot?
We pride ourselves on the diversity of the look of our slots, we have three distinct styles that are all used to target different demographics. Firstly, Classic, this is a style which usually is also described as retro and some people would even say dated, we prefer nostalgic! But there is a player base who get great enjoyment from slot games like this. The second is Modern, this is a style that is sleek, shiny and incredibly high-fidelity with assets that look polished and could be very much suited to being hung up in a modern art museum. Thirdly is Stylised, this is a style that is completely entirely dependent on the theme, maybe a comic book style or similar, but it emphasises artistic freedom which is important.
All three of these are what makes Gaming Corps a unique slots provider, catering games for all types of target markets.
Where do you look for inspiration when designing an online slot game?
Different inspirations appear for different themes, if it is classic then an old fruit machine down a pub could be the inspiration. If it is a modern slot, then we like to refer to some modern day mobile apps that are more casual to play. The beauty of stylised is that the inspiration can come from absolutely anywhere but usually it can be something that the artist is personally interested in, such as comic books or anime.
How does Gaming Corp manage to distinguish its titles from others on the market?
We focus on iterations and high quality standards, we will start from a basic concept and iterate and iterate until the asset is exactly what would be expected of the target audience. We get feedback from customers as well to help hone in on a particular style that we are aiming to create.
How do you manage to keep repetitive themes (Egypt, classic, Greece and so on) interesting?
For these, it is all about combining the innovative mechanics with a unique spin on a narrative that has been re-told before. Of course if you are to create an Egyptian theme you should still recognise it to be fundamentally Egyptian with its gods and its hieroglyphs. But is there a way to put the spin on the narrative that ties it to the mechanic that has not been done before. It is important to do market research to find common thread that you can capitalise on but also things to stay away from.
What impact does localisation have on game development from a visual perspective?
Localisation of Gaming Corps is super important to us, we sometimes want to create games that can be tailored for a particular market. Especially when working with casinos for bespoke content. For example, we created a game in 2023 called “Ramen Puzzle” which was launched with a casino partner in Japan. It was very important for us to nail the anime style that suited this market and it was a core part of the development cycle to research, develop and iterate on our designs to perfect the style.
Another recent launch this year was Samba Soccer, a crash product that was created with Brazil in mind. It had a stylisation that suited popular games in that market but also a theming that set the game in Rio de Janeiro. This visual combination allowed the game to be hyper localised to this market.
What future trends do you think are going to impact the look and design of online slot games?
More and more over the years, the target demographic has moved away from playing on desktop to playing on mobile, in particular on mobile portrait, so we will always feel as if designing with a mobile-first approach should be at the forefront of what we do at Gaming Corps. This I believe will continue to trend upwards. This has a big impact on the way that slot games look and feel, there is a small space with lots of elements fighting for room so it is important to be very clear with Product Owners on what are the most important elements of the slot game.
Interviews
Safety First: Slots Temple Q&A
For a company that has begun to blur the lines between affiliate and operator, social responsibility remains the ultimate watchword for Slots Temple, says CEO Fraser Linkleter.
How important is social responsibility to the affiliate side of Slots Temple’s business?
We began life as an affiliate business that offered free demo games and slots tournaments (and we still do!). This allowed us to build a highly engaged base of players that genuinely loved playing slots. From day one, we always put social responsibility at the heart of everything we did.
We always believed that an entertainment-driven socially responsible gaming experience created a sticky player-base that trusted us and created better quality traffic for our partners.
Has tightened regulation of the gambling industry over the past few years impacted affiliates’ responsibilities towards its users?
Definitely. Affiliates deliver an estimated 30% to 50% of acquisition to operators in the UK, and while the sector is not directly regulated by the UK Gambling Commission, these numbers demonstrate that the responsibility to protect players from harm should be shared.
Increased regulation over the past few years means that operators, rightly, must be more cautious about choosing their affiliate partners. Ultimately, as affiliates, we must accept the responsibilities we share as part of the gambling supply chain.
The reality is, while affiliates are not directly regulated, the standards to which operators are held by regulators are passed on to us through our partner contracts. Affiliates that do not comply with these standards will struggle in this climate because operators will only work with the partners they can trust to behave responsibly. So social responsibility has become not just an ethical consideration but a strategic business decision too.
In 2022 Slots Temple received a license from the UKGC which allowed you to offer paid tournaments and real-money slots. Has this changed the way you think about social responsibility?
Social responsibility was always a big part of our business model, and our UKGC license was a recognition of that. Of course, offering real money games means that we are held to the same high standards as all licensed operators.
That means KYC, deposit limits, timed reality checks, affordability checks, self-exclusion options, and so on. But for us, it’s about more than mere compliance. Our model has always been about being a safe destination for fun play and prizes. As I say, we’ve fostered this community of slots fans who trust us and it’s important that we maintain that trust through the way we operate.
Ultimately, the license allowed us to offer our player-base more choice. First, that was free-to-play tournaments with cash prizes, and then low-stakes paid-for tournaments with bigger prizes, plus real-money slots.
So, your experiences as an affiliate have made you a more socially responsible operator?
Yes, because it has helped us understand what our players want. For example, we believe safer gambling is about smaller deposits. Where we offer cash play, it’s always small buy-ins and small bet sizes. There are tournaments for 1p, or you can play for free in UK tournaments, all with real cash prizes.
We also think it’s important to educate players about the games we have on site. For example, we clearly display the return-to-player (RTP) and volatility of the game customers are about to play before they are able to access the game.
It’s about being on the side of the player – whether you’re an affiliate or an operator. Ultimately, we believe that an entertainment-driven, socially responsible gaming experience will foster a loyal, trusting player-base.
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