Industry News
EGT Multiplayer debut new portfolio at ICE as part of expansion into Asia and beyond
With brand new Live Baccarat and roulette tables set to make their debut alongside a host of exclusive products and solutions at this year’s ICE London, EGT Multiplayer is playing to win with its global growth strategy. As the company establishes itself further in Europe and looks to entirely new markets including Asia and the United States, the company’s Director of Sales & Marketing, Borislav Marinov, unveils their newest additions and explores what lies ahead for the changing table games market…
ICE London will host its largest edition yet in 2020, what’s new for EGT-Multiplayer this year?
ICE London is well known as the most significant international exhibition in the gaming industry, and it sets the industry standard for quality, innovation, and novelty. There is no place more suitable for manufacturers to show their newest products and solutions. EGT Multiplayer will use this chance to debut many new products and new generations of current series. New hardware and software will make their debut on our stand S4-350 at the ICE event. As well as five exclusive new roulette models and the brand-new R-line terminals, visitors will also be able to see the brand-new Live Baccarat and roulette tables and multi-games. Our most successful S-line series featuring our well-established HD terminals and UHD slot cabinets is also something that must be seen. We are very excited and looking forward to presenting them to our visitors!
What will be the key messages you want to drive home in 2020?
We started this new decade fulfilled with optimism and big ambitions. For this very first exhibition of the year, we prepared a wide range of new attractive additions to our portfolio. Comparing to the previous years, while we were trying to react to world trends, this year, we decided to take a different approach. We realise how important it is for us to have a wider variety of solutions that we can offer to the operators. With the new decade, we set a new trend for our self. It is all about highly effective hybrid casino solutions and excellent customer experience. We want to send a message to our customers that we are here to hear what they look for and to create it, especially for them. In other words, this year, we will offer a full portfolio of excellent products that completely can equip every casino with everything needed.
You mentioned EGT-MP will have a focus on key markets like Asia and Europe at ICE, how will you be targeting new business in these regions in the coming year?
For us, Europe is the most essential and primary target market. After all, there is where the EGT family was established, and we’ve grown to become one of the leading players on the continent!
In some of the markets, we already have a stable presence, and now we are focused on entering into others. Our strategy is to go further beyond and to raise our presence in the biggest and most important continent, which for us is Asia. There we are working with the partnership of a reliable local distributor. The focus for us so far and for the future is to create the most effective and attractive solutions that can satisfy the local expectations. We listen to the local players’ feedback and use it to upgrade our current products as well. We aim to create something new and to set a new trend there. So far, this is a winning strategy!
How will you start to focus your intentions in these markets?
We aim to grow as a company having now reached a point where we are recognised as a strong provider in the industry. Following the strategy of our group, we are participating in all of the major exhibitions like ICE London, G2E Macao and Vegas. Also, smaller but also important events and, of course, in the one held in our homeland BEGExpo. In our opinion, the markets that take the most wins in gaming are some of the countries in Central Asia. That is why we are focused on precisely those geographical areas.
What do you consider to be the big issues facing your sector in 2020?
I don’t think that there are specific issues for our sector in of itself. However, in terms of general issues, there is the lack of finding qualified personnel. Nowadays, when advanced technologies are well used in many industries, our sector is struggling to find enough experts. Most of the specialists are aiming to work for IoT companies or as self-employed freelancers, and every technology company is in a contest of hiring such professionals.
Despite this, I don’t think even this will affect our sector that much. I firmly believe that 2020 at the start of a new decade will be very successful and promising for all of us in the gaming industry.
How are you working to ensure your corporate strategy in the coming years weathers change and continues to build your brand?
So far, we have many successful tools to use to go though the difficulties that we meet and to deliver our corporate strategy. When it comes to issues like lack of experts, we have a different policy for people management. We strongly believe that everyone’s opinion is essential, and they have the full right to express it. The top management is always working along with all the employees, and we discuss and solve all the situations together.
For us everyone in our company is important which is why we are working tightly like a family, and we rely on each other. This is how we have built our brand so far, by involving all of us.
What will make 2020 a landmark year for EGT-MP itself?
We were originally a department of Euro Games Technology Ltd. and became an official subsidiary company in 2017 but our very first roulette made by the Multiplayer department was born a decade ago. So, this year we will celebrate the foundation of this project and the considerable success that we’ve achieved throughout these ten years of experience!
How would you describe the corporate DNA at EGT Multiplayer?
Well, for all these years, it has been a part of us. We are all more than just employees in this company. We are all involved more than usual, on a deeper level. I can tell this because I see how everyone is dedicated to their tasks, how they always think about how to improve their work or their product even during off-hours. That feeling. That passion. This is how I feel our DNA.
Can you discuss the EGT-MP expansion strategy a bit more, both internally and externally?
In terms of expansion, we plan to continue in the same spirit and double up our efforts. Our team is growing rapidly every single year. EGT Multiplayer is seeking and recruiting specialists to all of our departments as we speak and we are always on the lookout for a fresh perspective.
In terms of the portfolio – we are continually upgrading our existing products to fit customer needs even better while simultaneously creating new gen, advanced products. It’s a laborious process, but in the end, it is very fruitful, and it works perfectly for us. Our end goal is to have a 360-degree solution for our customers.
Looking forward to this new decade, what opportunities do you envisage for the multiplayer games sector?
Our opportunities are closely tied to players’ desires. The feedback that we receive from the casino operators is that multiplayers are becoming steadily more attractive to their customers, at places even substituting the established slot cabinets. We are prepared to leverage that situation with new advanced products both in terms of hardware and inspiring new software titles and features. With the rise of the new generation of players, new and more exciting products are on the rise as well, and we are more than ready to follow that trend.
A new generation of players is rising, and they demand modern products from all manufacturers. It the era of the fastest digital evolution it is our duty not to stay behind. In our work, we are not only working on new innovative features. We’re mixing modern with standard technologies, and we are producing a new type of hybrid solutions that we believe will be the real step into the future for us. Our aim is to integrate the standard table games mixed with slots so we can get the most impressive products.
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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