Industry News
EMIRAT AG: Supporting Trust in lotteries for 15 years
The world has changed a lot since 2004, when Netflix still posted DVDs, the iPhone wasn’t invented and EuroMillions had just made its lotto debut. As EMIRAT AG, the world’s leading risk management specialist in covering lottery jackpots, marks its 15th anniversary, the company reflects on how lotteries have evolved, the need to differentiate across diverse regions, and why Trust will always be the name of the jackpot insurance game…
Founded in 2004 in Munich, Germany, EMIRAT AG’s core business focused on covering a large number of prize and redemption risks from hole in ones, right up to big consumer marketing campaigns. Frank Herold, EMIRAT AG’s Business Development Manager explains how the company’s journey and corporate DNA has evolved since its inception. “We always see ourselves as part of the team with our clients,” he explained. “So you need a lot of experience and passion for the job to set up tailor-made insurances. That’s how you exceed the needs of every individual client in long term relationships.
“We have had so many highlights, many of which were unexpected at the beginning. For me it is an absolute highlight being part of a successful growth story together with our clients. Some of these clients have been with us from our first days offering lottery jackpot insurance. Obviously it’s not always about the highs but you need to have patience at the beginning of a lottery project as legal requirements and payment procedures need a lot of management attention. So setting up a proper business plan is crucial.”
2018 saw EMIRAT AG enter a strategic partnership with RNG Worldwide, the internationally recognised random number generator, a collaboration which has increased EMIRAT AG’s insurance options through a fully certified API solution as well as enhancing transparency for the industry. “Our partnership with RNG Worldwide is a perfect fit,” stated Herold. “In the gaming and lottery business everything is about Trust with a capital T. So, in this case, our clients get a state-of-the-art product with maximum flexibility and transparency for individual live draws. We have a really strong customer focus. So that’s the reason why we continue to be recommended by our existing clients and the lottery and gaming board authorities as well.
“Looking forward, we definitely have new and exciting partnerships on the horizon in the future and we look forward to talking about these as soon as we are allowed to announce them.”
EMIRAT AG continues to provide financial security for lotteries all over the world working with recognized leading specialists and removing the financial risk of jackpot winners, covering in excess of 100 billion Euros in 2015 alone. Commenting on the company’s ongoing ability to innovate in the field of protecting prize and redemption risks, Herold said: “As lottery continues to progress we believe that every one of our clients and operators will have more and more individual needs. So we will not have just one successful lottery project. We will deliver many different ones that cannot simply be copied.”
“If you look into different countries of the world, lottery business isn’t far behind land-based machines as it is now also on the mobile market too,” he continued. “Through our partnership with RNG worldwide we can offer state of the art technology including insurance products. All of this comes together into how we support Trust in this industry.”
The company, which covers some of the world’s most well known global jackpots such as Euro Millions, Powerball and the UK National Lottery, has been recognised over the last 15 years for its ability to tailor covered jackpots and consumer marketing campaigns to a wide variety of customers in many diverse regions. Commenting on their strategic growth within Europe and beyond, Herold said: “As I’ve mentioned before, you need a lot of experience to enter a new market successfully. Our team comes from different parts of the world and know about the very precise needs across all these specific markets. In addition we’re very interested in market requirements that will change in the future, such as with the legal side of the industry.”
He concluded: “With potential changes occurring in European and international lotteries and the implementation of a new regulations, we continue to look into these changes very carefully as that’s one of the most important issues for our clients. On the other side you need to differentiate. The requirements are different from country to country and from region to region and as a company we look forward to continue being different and creating Trust for another 15 years and more!”
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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