Bottom right: Ivan
Tsankarsky, Executvie Director, Casino
Technology. Bottom: Reports
BULGARIA - SOFIA GAMING MARKET
Stefan Enchev, Business Development Central
and Western Europe and Roman Dimitrov, Sports
Betting Project Manager, Casino Technology. Below: The Royale Palms VIP Room.
Republic, but the new law here, both offline and online, has stablised the market,” says Ms. McKee. “Even the raised taxation levels have been a good compromise between the government and the industry. It’s created an environment that’s not only good for domestic businesses, but also foreign investment too. Te small operators closed their doors, which has been helpful in making the market more professional and mature, plus it has created new opportunities, especially as the law has built a framework that allows new technologies to flourish.”
“Our company has always had its strength in creating unique products in many different channels. We differentiate in boutique, but quality products,” emphasises Ms. McKee. “It’s the secret to the success of Casino Technology in 50+ countries around the world. We focus upon utilizing new technology and opportunities for omni-channel content and delivery. Our expertise is in creating unique games content, whether that’s wrapped up in an engineering solution such as cabinets, or the potential that online and mobile gaming offers.”
Having toured Sofia’s gaming halls and casinos, it is clear the Milo Borissov’s interests in both operations and manufacturing are mutually beneficial, supporting each other with not just perfectly attuned games and cabinets, but also system and online content that completes an omni-channel, single wallet view of the player and the market. So why hasn’t the business diversified outside of the Bulgarian market and exported this operations and content combination to international markets, as we’ve seen with other highly successful European companies?
P64 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
247.COM
“I agree the operations and the manufacturing businesses present beneficial opportunities,” says Mr. Borissov. “However, we’ve always kept the operations business completely separate from our manufacturing side, as we believe it is very important to keep them independent of each other. It is important that they each have their own objectives and targets, in which the operations are free to place equipment in their locations that optimize profits, as opposed to simply supporting the manufacturing business. It is also important, when we work with independent operators that we are independent ourselves in regards to volume and marketshare. We do not seek to ‘buy’ market share through operations. It has worked in certain markets, but in others, such as in the Czech Republic, Hungary and here in Bulgaria, it has failed. And if you only operate with your own product, you can misinterpret the local culture, the mindset of the player, to the degree that you offer a product that players are indifferent towards.”
“Te gaming business is driven by content,” continues Mr. Borissov. “In land-based, the business is a combination of content mixed with the right hardware, whereas in online, you’re not limited by the physical environment. In the future I believe the land-based offering will become increasingly boutique, while online will become the mass-market product. Te same is happening in retail. You visit a retail location for a unique experience to buy a hand-made product, for example, but the rest of the time we purchase what we need on Amazon.”
SPORTS-BETTING AND ONLINE While Casino Technology has traditionally been
a slots manufacturer, in the last 12 months the company has migrated its entire games portfolio
to HTML5 technology. It’s been a mammoth undertaking, but in comparison to land-based, where the company needs to individually remodel each game for every type of monitor configuration, Casino Technology has simplified its interactive offering to a single HTML version of its games that work across desktop and mobile channels, whatever the device.
“Looking ahead two to three years, I think our focus will have shifted to online,” says Mr. Borissov. “However, at the moment, while there are so many unregulated markets, online continues to be an interesting part of Casino Technology’s focus. We currently have 100 online games in the portfolio, integrating with several platforms, having signed agreements with Playtech and NYX to build our online presence. I think in two to three years the company will be split 50/50 between land- based and online, whereas today we’re probably 80/20.”
It’s a split that’s likely to change the make-up of
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