INTERBLOCK
STATESIDE
happens in Slovenia to an extent. It’s a good mix for me because I get to be the person connecting us more effectively to the US organisation, while also focussing on the European market. I’ve been in Europe for a long time, I have many
relationships in Europe and I can leverage some of those. With the product being so good, I think there are a lot of growth opportunities in Europe too. The continent has a lot of ETGs, obviously, but all of the customers and distributors have received me well and I’m excited to be here.
“The way we are going to run Interblock is more global, and my being here is to help bridge that gap from a Europe-centric
company to a more globally- visioned organisation and to create a strong connection with the US corporate office”
CI: With your remit including Africa and the Middle East, do you think the most potential for growth is in Europe, or are emerging markets going to become more prominent? MH: We certainly want to look into emerging markets and there is a lot to be gained in the rest of EMEA, even in South Africa I don’t think ETGs have achieved their potential at all. I think that will continue to grow, as will other African countries. It’s an opportunity for us to look at what we do to refurbish equipment in some markets that are lower cost. If things open more in the Middle East, if new licences appear, we will be there. In Europe also a couple of things, though. Because of our
focus in the US we have lost some ground to competitors and we will look to gain some of that back with innovation, with new product. In terms of how we look at product, that has evolved quite a bit because of that US influence and presence; if you look at Europe, traditionally people say it’s a roulette market and that’s true but there are certainly other table games that can be ported to electronic table platforms that have potential in other European countries. Over time you will see that take hold and you’ll see those segments grow. We think we can do a lot to introduce new games to different markets, and to look at which priority and strategy are needed for each market, so that will be a focus as well.
It’s a very different market to what we have seen in the US
– over there we have a 60% market share I think right now, many of our European competitors have not been able to penetrate that market yet. It’s almost 100% a lease market and the big operators can afford to do that, it’s a more difficult thing to achieve in Europe. But we are looking at ways to grow our recurring revenue here; if we can introduce some novelty and innovation, something more than a standard roulette game, there is opportunity there as well.
CI: Is the burgeoning roulette side bets business a way to increase that customer value? MH: When you look at some of the slot tricks over time, and markets that have low limits and low win limits, you have to introduce some kind of scheme either through credit accumulation or side bets, to give the player the experience they are looking for. If you look at a standard roulette game, the maths doesn’t change – it is what it is. The only way you can change that is by introducing side bets and other features, so certainly it’s something we are doing and will continue to do but we see that that really is part of the future for all games. The introduction of side bets, of different schemes – for example in the US we have Dual Roulette to increase the speed of the game, and a lot of players play simultaneously. These things are important for a couple of reasons; in my mind, to give the gamblers a better experience, to allow them to win a bit more often, but also to give operators that extra to make the game different and to bring it closer to slot mathematics. It makes it more interesting for everyone.
CI: Are you attending G2E in your new role? MH: Of course! Exhibitions and all of the face-to-face is one of the things I missed the most during Covid. Last year’s G2E, the first kind of half-show after Covid, it really wasn’t the same, the impact was still very much being felt. I have high hopes that this year’s show is going to be much closer. The feedback from our European customers is that a lot of them are going, more than pre-Covid, and we are hearing the same from our LatAm customers. We have great hope that we will have a large number of international visitors at G2E.
SEPTEMBER 2022 39
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