Insight ITALY UPDATE are you inspired?


Inspired Gaming Group has carried its launch momentum in the VLT market in Italy with more game releases than any other supplier to the market. What’s next for the UK company?


Positively speaking, the laws in Italy are clearer, tighter and better drafted than elsewhere in Europe, but the implementation has undoubtedly been painful, with not enough people to manage the process. However, AAMS now understand the process much better and companies are beginning to thrive in this environment.


Inspired Gaming now has over 20 games in the Italian VLT market, more than any other supplier, with additional games in the pipeline that will be available to operators soon. “We have a good working relationship with AAMS,” states Inspired CEO, Luke Alvarez. “The games process is actually quite straightforward, it has been the platform coloudo process that has been very, very painful.”


The go-live of the second concession is imminent, and as one of the key suppliers to the Italian VLT market, Inspired is perfectly placed to capitalise on the second round of concessions. “We have signed a number of new contracts that we will be announcing shortly,” explains Mr. Alvarez. We expect these deals to be live before the end of the year as our games continue to deliver up-ticks in income across the board, while our jackpots have paid out very large sums to players, to the delight of operators. These have been multi-hundred thousand euro jackpots.”


Currently the VLT market in Italy is reaching a point of maturity for the initial wave of concession holders and suppliers. Sisal has installed 4,000 of its 4,900 VLT licences, while Lottomatica has installed 7,000 of its 11,000 licences in the market. “The key to success has been finding the right locations,” states Inspired’s Martin Lucas. “Operators have learned that what works for Comma 6a, doesn't necessarily work as a location for VLTs. There are currently 27,000 VLTs in the market, with many of the games working in bingo locations, failing to gain traction in betting shops and vice versa.”


As information continues to be gathered and interpreted in terms of player behaviour and trends in this still fledging market, it's becoming increasingly obvious that there is a wide variety of


December 2011 Page 48


different types of Comma 6b players. In bingo locations, operators have seen female visitors account for two-thirds of the play, with some locations surpassing 1,000 visits per day, helped by a large proportion of female players. Venue jackpots appear to be driving the demand with two types of player clearly discernible, those playing for the features and time on device, as opposed to those purely interested in the more volatile big jackpot wins.


“We are seeing different adrenaline responses to different types of games, and have been working hard to create appropriate menus for these players, cross-selling complimentary games to the ones that they're currently playing,” explains Mr. Alvarez. “We are using our platform to make available better, more targeted content to the player, increasing


operators have seen female vlt players


account for two-thirds of


the play across locations.


the footprint and functionality of our platform and games.”


VLTs have emerged from the traps much stronger than anyone anticipated in Italy. AAMS data shows that while Comma 6a still generate more income by sheer volume of machines on the market, VLT have almost caught them in terms of revenue with just a fraction of the machine total (Comma 6a monthly average €350,000 versus Comma 6b monthly average of €250,000). Most surprisingly, the best month for growth this year has been in August, which traditionally in the street sector is a slack month for gaming revenue.


“Our incomes per game are growing in the same disproportional manner, generating more handle per machine than all our competitors,” states Mr. Alvarez.


"Our incomes per


game are growing in the same


disproportional manner,


generating more handle per


machine than all our competitors.” Luke Alvarez, CEO Inspired


Gaming Group.


“The reason behind this is content diversity. We have 15 games approved with 11 currently live, which gives us more games than anyone else in this market. It’s the same model we adopted in the UK, where our breadth and frequency of games roll out has been a key performance driver. In the UK we have seen double digit growth and higher absolute incomes from operations against like for like competitors. We customise our offer for every operator, per venue and per time of day. The difference in terms of revenue generation is clear.”


Operators such as Sisal have taken direct control of their games on the Italian market and their understanding of the difference between locations, games and players is hugely impressive. Sisal is definitely a ‘hands-on’ concessionaire.


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