“Prior to the pandemic, e-gaming was a business that was 90 per cent land-based and 10 per cent online. During the Covid period, we made a lot of changes and switched our focus to deliver online
games to markets in which we were already a leader in land- based. Our target was to
become an online leader in markets such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Belgium , and I can say that today we are live in every single online casino in those countries.”
Pavel Michalcio, e-gaming
How different is the e-gaming business to the one we last saw at ICE 2020?
Radek Pucek: ICE 2023 has been a great show for e-gaming. Finally, customers and exhibitors are back in London once again! We are very excited for our customers to get hands-on with our new Multi Bonus cabinet at the show and look forward to increasing production to meet demand. We also moved much further into the online space during the pandemic, which has resulted in a business that today is split 50/50 between online and land-based product development, and we are growing fast in the online market.
Pavel Michalcio: ICE has been very positive for us after two years of Covid-19, which created major problems for our land-based customers, whose operations were closed in every single country in the world. After three years it is very positive to see them again at ICE.
How did e-gaming transition as predominantly land-based business to 50/50 online during the pandemic?
Pavel Michalcio: Prior to the pandemic, e- gaming was a business that was 90 per cent land-based and 10 per cent online. During the Covid period, we made a lot of changes and switched our focus to deliver online games to markets in which we were already a leader in land-based. Our target was to become an online leader in markets such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Belgium , and I can say that today we are live in every single online casino in those countries. Furthermore, in Belgium we are building a strong position and we are looking to do the same Mexico, Spain and Romania, with a future focus to Latin America.
Radek Pucek: We started out in 2005 in the VLT sector, with server-based gaming. So, it was not
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GAMING INNOVATION E-GAMING
an issue for us to replace the machine with the laptop and mobile phone game, as we have always been a digital business - it’s just the end point that has changed, everything else in terms of game creation was the same for us.
Pavel Michalcio: We have developed very fast in the online market, having already had many requests in the past from land-based customers with online businesses looking to develop their operations with our games. However, in the past we did not have the capacity to fulfil these requests. Covid changed everything. Land- based development took a backseat and we gained back the time to fully develop our offer for online operations. We made huge strides during the pandemic with the integration of online casinos.
Radek Pucek: We were surprised, when converting our land-based games to online, at the success rate of our titles. VLT players recognised our games, which are mostly played by VIP players in online casinos, which is very similar to our land-based offering.
Pavel Michalcio: We fine-tuned the games for online, so they aren’t exactly the same, but for the most part the successful titles from land- based have also become our most successful games online too.
You’ve grown your online segment from 10 to 50 per cent. Has this been at the expense of land-based development - or have you grown your business overall?
Radek Pucek: Land-based development has reduced, , but I’d say we’ve grown the overall company by around 30 per cent since 2020.
Did this come as a surprise?
Radek Pucek: Yes, we were surprised. At the start of the crisis, the thinking was that land- based was hit very hard and this might be permanent for many operators, though we tried to stay optimistic. However, the result is that we have grown our business, thanks to the return of players to land-based operations and the engagement of players with our games online.
Have you grown your game development team within e-gaming?
Pavel Michalcio: We are always looking to increase the development team, but right now we are happy that we’ve managed to retain our team during this period, especially as there is so much head-hunting of staff in the industry. In the Czech Republic there are many gaming competitors, in Poland and Slovakia too.
How different is it creating games for online as opposed to land-based?
Radek Pucek: I’d actually say it’s easier to create games and distribute those titles to online operations.
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