GTECH G2’s Paul Mears takes up new role
by Chris Pitt “A
know Finsoft, but not a lot of people realise that it’s the same thing,” observes Paul Mears, a man who nowadays wears two hats, being head of Sports Bet- ting for GTECH G2 and also CEO of Finsoft.
He feels the message hasn’t got out to the industry and that’s something he’s keen to address. In a nutshell, GTECH G2
lot of people seem to know GTECH G2, a lot of people
are opening up for us and it enhances the products available to our customers. From being a supplier of software solutions to the UK and Irish betting markets, we now also supply the World Lottery Association customers. We’re operating in Europe, Asia and South America, plus it brings in products like poker, bingo, white labelling – products that previously we had to integrate with third parties for, we now have in-house.
was formed in 2009, following the acquisition of four leading companies across the online gaming and sports betting industry – Boss Media, Finsoft, Dynamite Idea and St Minver. Together they form GTECH G2.
GTECH G2 is the interactive division of GTECH, a leading gaming technology and services provider, which in turn is part of the Lottomatica Group, the world’s largest commercial lottery operator.
bring in these new products but also deliver the service to our existing customer base, especially in the UK and Ireland. We want to assure them that they are still as important to us. Indeed it’s our core business, the platform that Finsoft has been built on, and it will continue being an integral part of our business.” On arrival at Finsoft in
years ago we made a conscious effort to put the Finsoft brand out there at the forefront,” says Paul. “What we didn’t do when we moved from Finsoft to GTECH G2 was a rebranding exercise. Hence, at the ICE in January this year we ended up with a big GTECH G2 stand but we didn’t have the old name, and several of our customers thought Finsoft hadn’t been at the show and had walked past the stand not realising it was us. “It’s been a very quick
five years. Within two years GTECH came in and bought the company, which meant a new transition period integrating with GTECH, leading to the start of this year when the full integration of the company into GTECH G2 took place, and I took over as CEO of Finsoft “With Finsoft becoming part of GTECH G2, new horizons
“When I joined Finsoft five
April 2005 Paul brought with him 18 years of bookmaking experience with Coral, followed by a six-month stint running Alphameric’s bureau service. “I started in the shops, as a trainee shop manager, back in 1986,” he recalls. “I left the shops when Coral started taking EPoS solutions. As EPoS matured I set up the Coral helpdesk and went into the service support side. I progressed to being the support manager responsible for the service delivery of all their systems.
“The challenge for us is to
GTECH G2’s Paul Mears
“When I joined Finsoft, I used my experience from Coral from an operator’s side of things, coupled with my brief experience at Alphameric on the supply side, and we created new departments and a new direction for the company and the product. “ In 2007 Finsoft’s
MarginMaker™ software platform was identified by the Bookmakers Technology Consortium as the best EPoS software for independent bookmakers. For Paul, that’s a source of particular satisfaction.
18 July/August 2010 BOS Magazine
business and the challenges for which they need a solution provider to help them,” he states. “We can provide more agile solutions to the smaller companies. It’s very easy to access our software through the Consortium so you can come in at any level and still get the functionality that the big players have.” In the international arena, GTECH G2 has recently installed its end-to-end sports betting solution, incorporating MarginMaker™, World Till EPoS, and the STOS Display platform, in the first of what should ultimately be 400 Bet Arena Café retail outlets in Bucharest, Romania. It’s a joint venture with
Bet Arena Café, owned by billionaire Dinu Patriciu,
“We fully understand their
Picture: Supplied
who is bidding to dominate the Romanian sports betting business, estimated to be worth more than 200 million Euros per year.
While focused around football it will also include all major European and US sports and will benefit from the experience and expertise of GTECH G2’s trading team for live in-play betting. In addition – and subject to future Romanian legislation changes – GTECH G2 have secured with Bet Arena Café first refusal to provide interactive sports betting as well as the other products in the GTECH G2 interactive portfolio. “We’re set to have 175 shops
by the end of this year and 400 by the end of 2011,” says Paul. “We’re not just providing a solution and saying ‘this will
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