PROFILE
Who’s who: Stefan Olsson This month: Global Gaming’s CEO
When did you first get involved with the gaming industry? I first became involved in the industry when I was asked to develop online poker software for a company back in 2004. I really enjoyed my first foray into gaming and I haven’t looked back since.
What attracted you to this sector? Originally it was the technical challenge, but my love for the industry has grown exponentially over time. A lot of that is down to the people – there are so many interesting characters to meet and stories to be heard.
What were you doing prior to working in the gaming industry? I worked as the CTO of a company within one the largest media corporations in Sweden, Modern Times Group. In the late 90s we built and developed much of the firm’s online presence.
Favourite…
Movie: I enjoy a good action movie Music: Joakim Thåström Pastime: Family Book: Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter Pizza topping: Tuna. Or bacon.
What are you responsible for in your current position? In my role as CEO I suppose it would appear to be all of it! However, as Global Gaming has grown I am now in a position where I can focus more of my time and energy on business development
while still being close enough to the systems so that I can engage with our teams with mock-ups and new ideas.
What have been the biggest industry changes you’ve seen in your time? The overall advancement in the industry has been immense. It has grown from a being very immature business (which admittedly is the source of many of the fun stories I mentioned earlier) to what it is today – a fast-moving and growing sector containing a number of listed companies and an entire ecosystem of related businesses and service providers.
What are the biggest positive factors for your sector right now? The sector is becoming increasingly accepted as a proper and established industry with greater focus on player security and protection. The increase in credibility that comes with this opens opportunities for cooperation with other industries and services, such as payments providers. Another factor is that the “high-end” jurisdictions are increasingly opening their requirements to allow for innovative approaches
to things such as payments and KYC requirements. Operators such as Ninja Casino are leading the way by incorporating electronic identification log-ins, which requires no further KYC or AML measures as accounts are securely connected via a verified bank account, which improves the customer experience.
And what are the negatives ones – the obstacles to growth? For my money, the industry needs to maintain a stronger interest in delivering innovative solutions to the market. It’s very easy to stand still when you have a successful product, but to maintain that success you must never stop innovating. Innovation is at the heart of everything we do at Global Gaming, as seen with our operator brand Ninja Casino, which pays out winnings much faster than other providers thanks to our innovative payments platform. It’s innovative features like this which helps operators stand out from the rest in a busy marketplace. There is also currently something of a race to the
bottom with bonuses and affiliates offering cash- back, as though no one has learned the lesson of how negatively that impacted online poker.
Looking at your entire career, what do you think was your smartest move? Moving into gaming; it’s a decision I would make time and again.
And dumbest one? There have been a few. I tend to prioritise what I feel is right and to have fun, so I should probably have moved to Stockholm in the late 90s to be part of the crazy IT boom, but that wasn’t to be.
Where do you hope you’ll be, professionally, in ten years’ time? Ten years into the future isn’t on my radar, and to be honest anyone trying to predict more than three years in gaming should think again. I hope to have delivered in my current position and to have managed to help some new – although related – ideas take off.
If you’d never embarked on this career, what other line of work would you have liked to pursue? Since much of my love for gaming comes from an interest in computing and the underlying electronics, I guess that hardware design could have been an option. It shares many of the problem- solving aspects that I really enjoy.
SEPTEMBER 2017 113
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