THE BIG INTERVIEW
KY: I look at it as a business, I’m not emotionally attached to it in that respect. I’ve done a few startups in my career and when we’ve looked at any strategic option, we look at what’s the best thing for the stakeholders – the owners of the business, the employees, the vendors. As Richard said we had a few different options when Richard and I started talking; we were close to getting some investors in the business, and I’ve had numerous companies approach us given our position in the north American market, with our licences and distribution. To be quite frank, Bragg was a perfect fit for us in so many ways. As Richard said, the revenue synergies where we put together what we have as a company and what Bragg has as a company, it really is an unparalleled force. Combining our technologies, contents from both sides, the skill set of the management team, that Bragg is very well capitalised, the focus and drive for growth within North America, it ticked all of the boxes.
I know a lot of people do become emotionally attached to their businesses, it’s their ‘baby’, but I try and look at things more pragmatically in terms of what’s the best decision for everyone involved. And this is a perfect fit.
GIO: What’s Spin’s key strength in the US market then, that made you so attractive to other companies? KY: We have a few things going for us. We are one of the only independent RGS/content providers in the market. There are obviously other players that are traditional gaming companies, but we are a small/ medium sized company that doesn’t have any ties like the traditional suppliers do.
We were one of the first into New Jersey in 2013 and we were fortunate enough in that time, because we were an early entrant, to be able to integrate our technology into the bulk of the US market. On the back end of that we have deals with the bulk of the operators in the market. We have distribution in the key markets within North America, so we are with the majority of operators in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan… Throughout that process we have built strong relationships.
We have very good know-how of how to function in the North American market. A lot of European companies want to come into the market which is great but there are many nuances, particularly from a regulatory compliance perspective, and a technical compliance perspective. If you’re not familiar with the landscape it can be a minefield.
One of the strategic reasons for the acquisition for Bragg is – as Richard mentioned – is that it escalates time to market. That’s one of the key variables. Putting the Bragg content into our existing setup is a lot more seamless than going it alone. If you put all of those things together, we are really an extremely well positioned company in the North American market in terms of our ability to deploy content and execute – we’re already there. GIO: Are you exclusively operating in North America? KY: North America, at the moment, yes. We have
GIO SEPTEMBER 2021 7
distribution in the US and we also have an agreement, we won an RFP in British Columbia and we hope to be live there before the year’s end. Canada is going to be a key market for us moving forward. Down the track, Latin America has great potential and many of our existing customers are already present there – we won’t take on too much too quickly but that’s on the radar at the right time.
GIO: Is there anything of Bragg’s that you think will be particularly strong in the US, Kent? KY: Yes, absolutely. As we mentioned earlier, content is king. We have a slew of content to bring to market and we are working through that now. The portfolio is significant, and that in itself is a significant strategic shift for us. That’s a game changer. On the technology side there is the Oryx RGS, which we are going to integrate into our technology and that process has begun. That is some of the best RGS technology I have seen; one key part of it is the client development module that allows us to port content and develop it in a very rapid way, so we can enhance our own product offering and any other third parties we are going to bring in through this rapid deployment module.
But the most significant thing on top of those is that the Oryx RGS has a bonusing module that has functionality for jackpots, for tournaments, it has a module called Quest that allows players to modify the game outcome, so they can bet for example on the amount of wilds that might show in a certain number of games. It has other bonusing modules too. The reason I think that is so important is that the US market to date has been really focussed on content – building the portfolio. That’s been a key driver and differentiator for operators. They try and get as much content as they can, and as much exclusively as they can. Now that the market is maturing and we have multiple open markets, there is more competition, everyone is looking for a differentiating factor they can use beyond content. With this bonusing module, operators can see that this will really differentiate them from their competition and the feedback on this already has been sensational.
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