GMB - Once again Sportingtech is participating at ICE. What will the company showcase this year in London to the market?
Elvis Džombić - Yes, this is Sportingtech’s second year at ICE in London, the show that pretty much stands for a ‘must’ when it comes to gaming companies. We are presenting our gaming platform and its new features, most notably retail solution and cashout system.
For the purpose of operating the betting and gaming activities in retail environment, we have developed application that helps to boost the efficiency and productivity in operator’s betshops! It is completely web-based application – no installation required, simple to use and optimized to any hardware configuration. Full range of Sports betting markets for pre-match and live betting are already supported, along with Virtual Gaming content.
Cashout is a new feature that allows customers to cash out their ongoing single or multiple bets, fully or partially before the rest of the bets are settled. For example; assume that you have placed a bet on a bet slip with three events, and first two events are settled as won. Customer will have the chance to cash out the related bet slip without waiting for settlement of the last event.
Of course, the visitors will have the chance to see the backend features of our Platform, to get familiar with sports betting offer, integrated casino and slot providers, virtual games, eSports, various payment systems and much more.
What themes or topics do you imagine will be the most relevant in this edition of this traditional expo?
ICE London covers all igaming sectors, ranging from sports betting, casino, bingo, lottery, online, retail, mobile, slot, payments, eSports and many other gaming verticals.
In the entire 2018 there was a buzz about legalization of sports betting in USA, something that igaming industry awaited for so long. Of course, there is also opening of the Brazilian market. Many other countries have opened talks for the legalization of betting markets. Legislation is always a hot topic, year after year.
As the industry grows, you can see a lot of different services emerging or growing, from translation services to payment methods, and not only standard payment methods, but new ones also in form of cryptocurrencies. Data and intelligence services are also emerging as it gets easier to integrate third-party solutions than develop it from scratch as part of the platform.
Although the African market is not part of ICE London focus, it shouldn’t be neglected. The sheer fact that Clarion is looking at it with greater attention than ever and that many investors are trying to start betting business, just shows the real potential of Africa. Sportingtech already has significant deals in Africa, and few of them in the latest stages of the delivery process.
The online gaming sector seems not to slow down its growth before the physical ... Do you consider this trend will deeper in 2019? Why?
Online is no longer the future, online is present. Retail is still heavily represented due to existing infrastructure and older generations used to visiting brick and mortar facilities. However, younger generations, and even olders are seeking for more entertainment while not being physically able to go to their favorite betshops. There are no more physical limitations to enjoying favorite sports events and picking the favorite bets on those. You can do it pretty much anywhere. Few years ago, infrastructure wasn’t there yet. Nowadays, we have it all and it keeps to be much more innovative as players can use their time at their best, choosing the right gaming product at right time.
That is not the trend just in gaming industry, but all over the world, in every segment of our lives. And that changes our social behaviour. Mobile devices are part of us when we listen to the music, when we read the news, when we play games, streamline movies, when we place bets. Our social behaviour changed, for better or worse, thanks to mobile and internet technologies.
What balance does the company make of 2018?
We are making significant progress and growing rapidly. In 2018 we were still acquiring new clients, polishing our existing product features, and developing new ones like before mentioned Retail Solution and Cashout System. Most importantly, Sportingtech managed to position itself in all targeted markets with strategically important clients, around which we are planning to establish our base for further expansion. It is important to mention the efforts we did in 2018 are not very common for start-up brands, where we immediately put our customers into a first position and worked along to improve our product for maximum competitiveness. That is why we are confident and stand behind the quality of the solutions and services that will ultimately maximise our positive results in a forthcoming period.
Can you anticipate some plans, projects or product development in the folder for 2019?
The 2019 will be truly a business year for us. So far, we have grown the team and we’re still growing and hiring bright new minds as well as experienced iGaming personnel. Our biggest focus is to launch all agreed projects and establish successful operations for our customers. Also we have promising business development plans in acquiring new customers as the interest for our platform solution is even exceeding our expectations. Mainly due to the fact that our standard package offering is already including very advanced features that are on big demands in the market. In parallel, our development is still working on new ones so we can keep that high quality pace. We are focusing development on clients’ specific wishes to provide them with customized solutions, integrating sports betting, casino and slot products, payment systems, business intelligence, CRM and other features that the market is asking.
How do you see the processes of legalization and regulation in Brazil specifically? Especially after the recent legalization of sporting bets.
This moment was expected many, many years ago. With this regulation, Pré-Approval of the Sports Betting, we are now seeing big expectation on the consolidation on what can be one of the top 10 world markets. Many information regarding the regulation are still missing and we as gaming software providers are on the top of the topic on what we know that are very good news.
Have you been contacted by companies interested in work at Brazil, after last december legalization?
Yes, people are very curious and want to know more about a process that is yet to be fully regulated. We are seeing lots of movements in the betting industry and all brands want to be in the pole position when the process starts.
The casinos seem to be the next step in the legalization of gaming in Brazil. Do you consider that it would be correct to open the gaming market gradually or do it in a broad way with all the gaming modes at the same time?
We are talking about different processes so one process will not depend on the other. The most important thing is to have a good base regulation either for the government budget, that would be inclusive and tax fair for all actual gaming operators in order to prevent illegal gaming.
Source: Exclusive GMB
