Insight
GLI EUROPE INTERVIEW Martin Britton
“I feel there’s much more to be done in terms of i- gaming development; whereby it’s not just having servers in the right locations, or adopting the correct taxation levels etc., it’s about making the right regulatory choices that meets the needs of the market. This could be looking at .com, .country and reviewing the unregulated sector. Providing a regulatory framework that works gives confidence to players along with having protection to minors or the vulnerable in the process.”
the last six years from a business split 80:20 between land-based and igaming testing, to today’s 50:50 split. Asked where Martin sees the future growth of the business and how the split between land-based and igaming could change in the near term, Martin believes that igaming will continue to expand as a growth centre for GLI Europe.
“I think land-based is pretty stable,” states Martin. “ I can’t see, in the land-based world, too many new casinos coming onto the scene. Tere may be a jurisdiction opening up or becoming regulated from time to time, but I think it’s pretty much a mature market. Te one exception is VLT, which is an interesting development in Greece and Spain and is well established in markets such as Italy. I think VLTs are going to continue to expand into new markets as its apparent to governments that they have much more control using a VLT system as opposed to standalone machines. Government agencies have much more data available to them, they’re transparent and offer more control, so I think the general move in terms of technology is heading down a VLT route. However, it’s going to happen much more slowly than many people envisaged.”
i-gaming is still the key growth market for GLI Europe and one that Martin and his team believe will lead land-based testing in the not-too-distant future, and will likely grow to a 60:40 split within a short space of time. Jurisdictions opening such as Romania,
P46 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
247.COM
Bulgaria, the recently opened Portugal, and with the Netherlands potentially establishing its market in the next 18 months, GLI couldn’t be more perfectly positioned.
“If you look at the untapped potential still in Europe, Germany is a massive future market, Sweden and many of the Balkan countries are alsolooking at online gaming,” says Martin. “I feel there’s much more to be done in terms of i-gaming development; whereby it’s not just having servers in the right locations, or adopting the correct taxation levels etc., it’s about making the right regulatory choices that meets the needs of the market. Tis could be looking at .com, .country and reviewing the unregulated sector. Providing a regulatory framework that works gives confidence to players along with having protection to minors or the vulnerable in the process.”
Asked about the challenges facing the land-based casino market right now, a market that Martin once served in his days working for TCSJohnHuxley, he points to the next generation of players as both the problem and the solution. “If casinos are to thrive, they have to find and appeal to younger players,” comments Martin. “Tey want interesting and interactive games and the industry needs to find a way to provide games that interest this generation of players. At GLI, we look forward to innovating with the industry and to testing those new gaming experiences.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84