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COMTRADE GAMING


CI: When something like G2S is introduced to an industry, does it make your life – and your business – easier or more difficult? AG: Both. In the long run, this is where


technology should be. Consider mobile phones – there are two approaches to develop apps: the Apple way or the Android way - but it’s not like each manufacturer has their own. If a platform is good you should be able to develop it once to run on every mobile phone. The gaming industry is not there yet; you can’t develop something once and have it run on all kinds of terminals. It’s a bit specific, but G2S is opening the door into that. At some point, operators could write marketing applications that run in a media window, develop them once and they run on every machine they buy even though the games would still be from individual vendors. With this, they have the opportunity to develop some of their own applications, to differentiate them to the players and to give them something more.


things slow the pace of change for gaming compared to mobile phones, to use just one example. There is still a need and changes are introduced. Online gaming has helped a lot because they operate at a different pace again and social is even faster. That helps the land-based industry realise that things can be introduced quicker.


CI: The operators could help move things though surely – but so many have the attitude of, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. But with online, or even with reservation gaming in the US, there is more freedom to experiment and try things out. AG: There is so much competition and you have to fight for the loyalty of your players. It’s so easy for them to switch and you cannot be static online. Gaming is a niche industry that is not that easy to penetrate. We are lucky that we have worked with some of the best companies in gaming and we have learned the industry from them. There is really no other way to learn it.


CI: From the outside, G2S and the like seem to be no-brainers; theoretically it allows the best of breed to come to the top, for products to be chosen based solely on performance. AG: Yes, it reduces dependency and locking in to single vendors because it’s a standard. It’s new and requires some change, meaning investments in replacing machines. It was developed for big operators in places like Las Vegas but now some of them are the slowest to migrate to G2S. With lotteries, for example, G2S has been very successful though.


CI: Has it been advantageous working outside of gaming and bringing mature technologies and experience into the area? AG: For us definitely – we brought in certain


CI: That will be an interesting day – a neutral slot machine in a land-based casino and intellectual property is gold… AG: It’s about the infrastructure, the player


comes to play a game. It’s an exciting time. But the turnaround and change is slower. With mobile phones there is a new model every year and you replace your phone every two years. Slots are different - there is the certification process, many jurisdictions with different requirements; all these


102 SEPTEMBER 2017


technology and knowledge that was particularly useful. We worked for major telecommunications companies for many years and the online gaming industry went through similar pains as it grew and had to cope with greater capacity and CRM. So our experience was extremely useful. We usually deploy our technology to existing companies and big operators – we are not a natural fit for start-ups because they don’t yet recognise the need for a more sophisticated platform. When you have to change a system or platform for an existing operation, it’s a big change because you are changing core infrastructure and how you operate. An unsuccessful migration may mean the business does not run the next day. It is complex and risky and can require some time before big operators become comfortable with the idea of migration and their current platform or system might not be painful enough yet for them to take that chance. It is important for us to keep our 100% success rate for migrations because failure is simply not an option.


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