THE BIG INTERVIEW
casinos, betting shops, sports events, and meeting people. The Covid-19 containment measures have pushed our lives very sharply into a virtual interactive world, giving a strong impetus to internet (online) games, sports betting, etc. However, this shift, or better said expansion, has been seen very clearly already over the past years and is actually tied to generational changes. The pandemic has only accelerated the development of all sorts of technologies that are used also in interactive gaming. It is my belief that land-based gaming is going to stay, in the same way as people will always be buying books, newspapers, and magazines, and is going to coexist with the interactive sector. It will have to reinvent itself, to be more attractive to younger generations, incorporating ideas from electronic games and the internet sector. The growth will still predominantly be in the interactive area for years to come until these two balance and a more stable ratio between land-based and online is established. SIQ has been following these developments and is adjusting its services as needed. In view of the accelerated popularity of all sorts of
virtual gaming, it must be noted that land-based gaming seems to be generally more strictly regulated and regulations more strictly enforced. We would expect these two areas to be more leveled in the future, which is certainly one of the tasks of the gaming regulators. Also, we are hoping for a higher degree of standardization of licensing and registering companies to avoid the unnecessary repetition of suitability investigations while still maintaining a high level of reliability, trust, and transparency.
RCM: As land-based gaming begins to recover, the online sector along with sports betting and eSports are growing at an impressive rate, with US leading the way. Do you have expansion plans for SIQ in North American gaming? GREGOR SCHOSS: SIQ has been developing its services in North America for several years now. For a test lab, licenses, or jurisdictional coverage, are the basis of its competitiveness. In most jurisdictions, licenses are the
same – or at least not much different – for the online sector and the land-based sector. While gaming operators can focus just on a few jurisdictions and manufacturers can choose which market to enter as they are not interdependent, a test lab must offer their clients at least a regional coverage, but preferably a global one, to be competitive. Many US sports betting jurisdictions expect IT
security to be evaluated independently of regulatory testing services. This is one opportunity we see with our IT security evaluation sector that we have developed organically over the past years. Currently, we are covering most Canadian jurisdictions and about 20% of the US ones. Even though our development was slower during the last year and a half, we are now putting more resources into this development and intensifying our activities. We believe the tipping point would be setting up our own test facility in the US within the next 18 months.
RCM: As Latin America and India seem to be full of pandemic woes these days, gaming markets develop is different ways in these regions, with Brazil slowly waking up in the lotteries sector after the end of federal monopoly and with all states vying to develop their own local lottery products, land-based and online. Is SIQ likely to be expanding with testing facilities in such regions? GREGOR SCHOSS: SIQ has been covering all sorts of products with its testing services, from casino and gaming hall products, sports betting, online and lotteries. With 57 years of experience in testing, measurement, certification, management systems assessments, and training, we have built a balanced portfolio of services that can cover all aspects of our clients’ needs in testing and evaluation. For instance, we have developed assessment services in terms of Responsible Gaming Standards for lotteries. Our expert team of IT security specialists and ethical hackers can perform all aspects of IT security (i.e., technical and management) evaluation, which has become much more critical in these pandemic times.
SEPTEMBER 2021 33
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