GLI Europe MD, Martin Britton, discusses the potential hot-spots for business across 2017
G3 took the opportunity at ICE Totally Gaming in London to quiz Martin Britton, GLI Managing Director EMEA, about the most exciting and dynamic events, markets and new products and servicing he’s looking forward to addressing over the next 12 months
In your opinion, what’s the most exciting jurisdiction in 2017 and why? Right now it’s the Czech Republic. We were the first international laboratory to be accredited in Czech, we have a very good relationship with the Ministry of Finance and there’s huge amount of interest in this market, which is the same in Bulgaria and Romania – as this part of Europe at present is opening up to online gaming.
What are the most anticipated events GLI is visiting/hosting this year? Te IAGR annual conference (International Association of Gaming Regulators), to be held this year in Johannesburg, South Africa, where will be hosting a half-day event. We don’t have plans to stage a European Roundtable event this year, as last year we partnered with IAGA (International Association of Gaming Advisors) as part of its conference in Malta. We try to stage our regulator events in such a way that they don’t over-burden the regulators. We therefore find it useful to partner with other regulatory
Far-reaching changes in the Isle of Man open doors for operators
Te Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission announced a series of changes to its licensing structure ahead of the ICE show in London following consultation and feedback from the island’s eGaming sector. G3 took the opportunity during the exhibition to speak to Jonathan Mills, Director of eBusiness for the IOM, about the reason for the changes and their impact on the IOM eGaming sector.
Te first of the changes affects network
licences, whereby there will no longer be additional charges raised for network partners. A network services licence holder will now only pay for the network services licences not additional network partners. “We’ve made the changes to make life more attractive for operators on the Isle of Man,” explained Mr. Mills. “Te changes came about following routine interaction with the industry in which we gathered feedback and responded to what was seen as an obstruction as opposed to an incentive. “
Te second of the changes taking effect
concerns test certificates. Te GSC has introduced regulatory changes that will allow it to be able to accept test certificates issued to
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also seeing far more complex games, partially as a result of the progress in technology, but also due to the falling cost of memory and hardware components. We are seeing game developers making ever increasingly creative and imaginative games targeted at millennials.
What are the big customer focused changes taking place within GLI Europe this year? What customers are really taking on board with GLI is the range of services on offer and how we can help them. Our drive to provide great customer service is high on the agenda and we are definitely winning business on that basis. Our scale of resources globally helps a great deal too – for companies to keep pace with growth and expansion internationally, they need a partner like GLI that can scale to meet all their needs.
Martin Britton
organisations to co-host events around the world, in which we add value discussing topical subjects that complement the regulatory forums.
What technologies are going to have the biggest impact in 2017? Te convergence of land-based and iGaming is happening across the industry, but while it’s not all that difficult implementing the technology, the biggest boundaries are regulation, especially in regards to decades old legislation. Te convergence of land-based and online with single-wallet/single-play, is moving quickly from a technology standpoint, but it’s really challenging from the regulatory side. We are
What’s going to keep GLI Europe busiest in 2017? Our regulatory activity is high on our list of priorities. We are advising multiple jurisdictions at any one time as both the land-based and iGaming spaces are expanding. iGaming is opening up in new jurisdictions, while the land- based market is still performing really strongly. Sports-betting continues to expand with both established and new entrants to the sector and our Professional Security Services side of the business is growing very strongly too and we see many opportunities in Europe right now. We are continuing to hire globally, expecting to double the size of the team in South Africa as we move to new offices, and we have also just moved offices in Te Netherlands to brand new premises.
other gambling regulators (if they have a Memorandum of Understanding with the GSC). “Te changes will reduce not only the cost of operating in the Isle of Man, but the hassle too,” said Mr. Mills. “Increasingly operators have licenses in multiple jurisdictions, and so we’re essentially making the certification process as frictionless as possible.
Recent changes in law also mean operators may now offer customers the ability to deposit, gamble or play using convertible digital currencies, such as Bitcoin or virtual goods such as skins. “We now recognize what are described as digital assets within our licensing regime,” explained Mr. Mills. “It’s an interesting evolution in the gaming space and one that’s been designed to protect the players.”
Te final change concerns sub-licensing,
whereby a full licence holder is now able to broaden the services that it offers to its sub- licensee. A full licence holder may now offer a complete back office system to its sub-licensee as well as the provision of games and lottery products. “I think the general message that we want to deliver is that we’re not just open to licensees, we want people to come and live on the Isle of Man,” said Mr. Mills. “We have a lot of job vacancies on the Isle of Man, relative to our small population. We have only 1.2 per cent unemployment, which is one of the lowest figures in the world. And so we are actively promoting the Isle of Man as a lifestyle location with low unemployment, low tax and almost no crime. Te changes we have made are to make it as easy as possible for licensees to headquarter their businesses in the Isle of Man, while still maintaining genuine standards around player protection and probity.”
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