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Lloyds, something that grew into a two year contract process. It sounds as though we faced enormous difficulties, but in truth Lloyds really understood what we were trying to achieve from the start. However, the process of drawing up such a detailed contract took lots of time, energy, lawyers and even more detail. The concept took a battering, but emerged the other side. Contracts are everything in this business and we secured ours with the very highest level of assurance."


The decision to select Lloyds was both practical and purposeful. "We went to Lloyds as it's not only the biggest, it's also the most flexible," explains Nick. "We didn't want to explain the concept to an intermediate insurance company, we wanted to deal with the company making the decisions and taking the risk. Trust is so important from a partner perspective


Stanislav Nikolov – In 2004 Stan established a


business and with the acquisition of one big customer it


was then diversified to provide service to end users,


where it quickly grew to over a thousand


customers. Stan


also worked for the Bulgarian state lottery on new products and


marketing. From


there he worked for a year at


PartyGaming on new products, promotional


products and process


development. Stan left PartyGaming in


2008 to commence work on Topjack


Games full time. He is a natural


mathematician and has won first prizes in one major


international (out of 500,000 people)


and two national Bulgarian


mathematics competitions.


that these two men could


create their own platform,


infrastructure and payment


processes from scratch is


remarkaBle.


and Lloyds delivers that for us. They have given us room to evolve the project too, helping in terms of raising capital and have considered all of our proposals. The same applies to the LGA. We wanted to apply for a Class 1 white licence, the very top approval bracket. We knew that if it was good enough for Lloyds and Malta's Lotteries and Gaming Authority then we'd met and cleared the highest bar."


Growing pains The most painful part of the process for Topjack has been the speed of progress. Each element eats its own amount of time, swallowing huge chunks as part of a larger machine over which no one can wield overall influence. "We were absolutely in our element when we were working alone and creating together," enthuses Nick, " but the rest of the time you are waiting for others and that's hugely frustrating. The thing I'd change if I could is the amount of time taken to get to this stage. You can jump up and down all you like, but everything has a pace over which you have little to no control. That was maddening."


Topjack has been live for just six months, but already the reaction has been


spectacular. Nick describes the time from launch to the present as 'sheer madness,' with the company speaking to everyone from lottery giants and gaming operators to enormous media empires, each seeing the immediate benefit of the proposition; liquidity-free, seeding-free, risk-free multi- million jackpots. What's not to love? "We're launching with major companies a series of huge casino games with multi- million jackpots on keno, video poker and hi-lo," describes Nick. "These are traditionally games that sit below the liquidity level required to offer massive jackpots in the past, relegating the games to a lower tier. In six weeks time all the sites will be offering €2m jackpots, in six months it will be €5m and by the end of the year the jackpots will total €10m."


The reaction from the online gaming industry has been one of shock. That these two men could create their own platform, infrastructures and payment processes from scratch is remarkable. In purely technical terms, it's the difference between using an iPhone and actually making one. It's the combination of countless components, supplies and legal issues, which is why the industry has responded so positively. Nick describes both men as enjoying the process of running the company following the 'excitement' of the journey to launch. "It's been a once in a lifetime project," he states. "We are doing something completely new and to see the signs that this is going to be a success is deeply rewarding after all that effort."


what's next for topjack? The next stage in the development of Topjack includes the expansion of the company, with a new Managing Director joining imminently, while Nick and Stan focus on the evolution of white label sign- ups, the addition of new games infrastructures and insurance flexibility to offer more applications, while at the same time really pushing marketing and promotions. Accommodating this expansion will see TopJack's 10 current employees locating to Gibraltar over the summer as the company takes its unique offering to wider markets, with the potential to change those markets forever.


Does Nick have advice for others currently brooding at the coffee machine with a killer idea? "You can't compete on an even keel - so don't try," he advises. "You have to find a gap that provides value to operators, which means that you're not launching an 'improved' vision of what's existing already. If you're on the same train track in front of the competition, ultimately they will have gone past you by the time you launch. You have to be on a different track altogether."


June 2012 PAGE 45


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