Interviews
Exclusive Q&A with GAMING1 COO Interactive David Carrion
Having made the leap from CMO to COO Interactive, GAMING1’s David Carrion has set his sights on the company’s expansion in the Netherlands, the US and other regulated markets as it develops at pace.
European Gaming caught up with him on the leading gaming and sports betting partner’s exciting plans for these markets as well as his philosophy towards work.
Since joining GAMING1 as a CMO over year ago, before being promoted to COO Interactive, how would you say your time at the company has gone?
So far, my time at GAMING1 has been better than I ever could have imagined. It’s been a fantastic journey that has allowed me the opportunity to meet some incredible people who have shown me exactly why it’s such as exciting company to work for.
Together, we’ve been able to lay the groundwork and infrastructure around scalable, data-driven products that will help the company grow in regulated markets considerably in line with our clear five-year strategic plan.
How has the change from CMO to COO Interactive been, was there anything that stood out as you’ve began to upgrade what you’ve delivered for Belgium’s favourite supplier?
Naturally, I’ve taken on a lot more responsibility with regards to our product offering. This has proved to be a very exciting challenge, especially with regards to expanding into new markets. Next on my list of objectives is to focus on aligning our business and technology objectives, which will ensure that we can dictate our own pace and set us on the right path to international success.
Your data-driven skills and experience have been a valuable asset to the company so far, how will you expand on these in your new role as COO Interactive?
We have a very strong vision of what we want to build, however, our customers often have other ideas on how to use our products. Because of this we’ve been able to utilise data and customer behaviour analytics as a great tool to drive us forward, while also helping us find a competitive advantage in the market. Naturally, customers expect the scalability and flexibility to grow their offering and we continue to optimise our products to facilitate that.
As GAMING1’s new COO, what are your main goals and aspirations?
Ultimately, my long-term aspiration is to see GAMING1’s growth and development explode way beyond our expectations by building an operational model based on scalability and speed. I would also like to see us consolidate our strong position as a market leader, while mounting a real challenge in new and emerging markets, such as the United States and the Netherlands.
With GAMING1 set to launch in the US and Netherlands towards the end of 2021, can you speak more about the company’s growth plans?
We already hold a strong market share in some of the biggest existing regulated iGaming markets such as Belgium and Portugal, and we now have a real opportunity to grow in betting, which is incredibly exciting.
Our flexible business model and the way we operate our brands, joint ventures and turnkey solutions allows us to take on exciting opportunities in the United States and Netherlands. Our plan is to double our revenue by 2025, outperform market trends and become a truly international operator.
Last but not least, plenty of the people in the industry know about your extensive track record – how are you looking to bring that expertise to the table in the coming years as we enter a new era of gaming?
Firstly, it’s important to realise that people are the company, not just one individual. But in terms of how I’m going to bring my own expertise to the table, one day at a time! My approach has always been very straightforward: Be humble, have fun, and realise that difficult is not the same as impossible, as long as you’re well prepared.
As a result of hard work, common sense and a strong desire to succeed, I’ve gotten to where I am today. With those principles in hand, I believe I can elevate the performance of our talented teams to deliver on this new era of gaming, whatever direction that may take.
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GameplAI is harnessing the gains in automation seen in other tech sectors and bringing them to the sports betting industry, with more accurate pricing and automation which reduces the manual overhead of risk-management for trading teams. Its growing group of partners are benefiting from a series of never-before-seen, player-focused markets that engage fans both pre-game and in-play.
Gaming Americas caught up with their Co-Founder, Graham Savage, the man at the helm of a company on the road to becoming the premium supplier of automated and quantitative-driven sports solutions for the sector.
After GameplAI’s defining Q1 raise earlier this year, how have you been deploying the funds?
There are two core priorities for the deployment of our capital. The first is the expansion of our team. We have already doubled the size of the team since January and we are still looking to hire additional technology and sports-modelling expertise. The second strand is a focus on licensing. Given the global footprint of our expanding customer base, we are actively pursuing licences in multiple U.S. states in addition to emerging LatAm regions such as Peru and Argentina.
What does adding Marco Blume as an investor do for the company?
Marco provides fantastic insight and context in terms of what is most important to operators when assessing third-party products. Under his tenure, Pinnacle became a global leader in terms of sports product and pricing and this is the equivalent position that we are keen to assume within the suppliers’ sphere.
How do you see the supply market changing in the year ahead?
We see a strong emphasis being placed by operators on both in-play and props products. We feel this will be a dual responsibility to solve, with the onus being on companies like ourselves to create innovative products bolstered by compelling and accurate pricing, whilst our B2C partners will prioritise delivering intuitive and engaging front end UI to further embellish the product experience.
How were the Euros/Copa America for you and your recent operator deals?
We used both tournaments as a test bed. Betano, the premium online sports betting and gaming brand, launched a segment of the football player props product that we have developed in conjunction with Opta data. These markets proved to be hugely popular and we will roll out our extensive football props solution with Betano over the coming weeks.
In parallel, we launched a proof of concept of our football narrator product with a leading UK operator, which generates contextual markets in-play, relative to the most recent game state. These markets were really well-received by UK-based customers and we will look to broaden the scope of that collaboration, now that the domestic season has resumed.
What are the opportunities for GameplAI right now in the medium to long-term?
We have been very fortunate with the stature of partners with whom we are working. Their respective product and trading teams have been a fantastic support and resource for us – and working with people of that calibre will only serve to further enhance the quality of our product offering.
Broadening our international footprint is also hugely exciting and by the end of year we will be live with market-leading partners across three separate continents, which represents incredible progress in 12 months. We are hugely enthused at the prospects ahead and firmly believe GameplAI will be at the forefront of driving new product innovation in sports in 2025 and beyond.
The European Gaming Congress (EGC) returns to Warsaw for 2024 on 15-16 October, and organizer HIPTHER is proud to introduce the conference’s esteemed Sponsors – trailblazing companies and accomplished professionals that help make the magic happen! In this Sponsors Spotlight Feature, we welcome Piotr Fedak, CEO at Promatic Group, parent company of the Platinum Sponsor for EGC 2024, Promatic Games.
To start off, thank you for becoming the Platinum Sponsor of the upcoming EGC in Warsaw. We truly appreciate your trust! What inspired your decision to participate and sponsor this event?
The European Gaming Congress is a very important event for us, we have participated in the past edition. The congress creates an opportunity to meet, exchange experiences, discuss trends between industry professionals as it gathers representatives from all over Europe. Being a Partner in such events is also part of our organization’s strategy. And the fact that the conference is held in Warsaw, Poland, is of great importance – we are a local company and the Polish market is extremely important to us, hence our strong involvement in EGC.
As is tradition, could you tell us a bit about yourself? How long have you been with Promatic Group and in the gambling industry overall?
I have been associated with Promatic Group nearly 20 years now, the vast majority of my professional experience in the industry. In our organization I have held various positions related to operational areas, later I became a Managing Director and currently I am the CEO of the company being responsible for strategic, operational and organizational management.
You describe Promatic Group as a “one-stop solution provider for the gambling industry.” How should we interpret that? Tell us more about the company and its journey.
Correct, hard to believe it’s been almost 30 years now! We started as a distributor and over the course of almost 3 decades we have been developing our products – at the beginning we only offered EGM Terminals with slot games produces in Austria Later, we started producing our own game collections which naturally led us to developing a fully professional games studio that delivers own, developed in-house products to both the retail and online markets.
Our conference focuses on the European market, but you have a presence beyond Europe as well. Which markets are most important for you, and what offerings do you bring to Europe versus other regions? Which market is easier or harder to operate in, and how do they differ?
As I mentioned, Poland is a key market due to our origin. However, with nearly 30 years of experience, we now operate under two flagship brands, Promatic and Promatic Games, and we are present in various locations globally, including Europe, Africa, and Latin America.
European markets are definitely more saturated and are characterized by high competition. In Africa, for instance, there is much more space for business development, but also more organizational challenges than in European countries. It is difficult to say which market is easier as they differ significantly. Yet, our diverse offer allows us to operate in many regions, and although each market has different regulations we deal with in our daily activities. That is why we are always flexible and able to adapt to a given region and its specific requirements.
Like any company, you surely have competition. If you had to pinpoint what sets you apart, what would you say is your competitive advantage?
Our industry is characterized by very strong competition. Yet, we always try to use our competitive advantage – we are an independent manufacturer with our own resources and capital, we have an autonomous game studio and we are self-sufficient in every aspect of our activity.
Besides, Promatic Group is a local company quite different from big enterprises, not limited by corporate complications, intricate processes and complex internal regulations. We do not follow extensive bureaucracy and we adapt faster to changes in the business environment. Consequently, we can create new products and complete business agreements faster and more agile, easily competing with large corporations.
On top of that, we offer a very competitive product with excellent value for the money. We create top-engaging content as our games always respond to individual needs of the market, local players and that definitely distinguishes us from the competition.
And what do you admire in other companies? Do you have any role models or best practices that you follow? Is there someone/some company worth emulating—even if you don’t want to name names?
Like most companies we follow industry trends as well as competing businesses and wish to be one step ahead. We are confident that with such an approach the industry can develop, and direct, open competition creates opportunities for growth.
In our organization, we act as a participant in the gaming industry – we observe others, but we also want to have a significant impact and set the trends based on our capabilities and resources. What characterizes large companies is a strong distribution and operational authority in the countries they come from as it allows to scale global operation.
Let’s talk about branded games. Do you have any other themed games in your portfolio? If so, what are they like? What guides your choices when selecting these themes?
Games featuring celebrities, such as Mariusz Pudzianowski – the brand ambassador of Promatic Group, allow us to stand out on local markets and create unique, dedicated content, responding to individual needs of players in a given region. Apart from Pudzian, our games feature other famous figures who are popular in Slovakia, Romania or Ukraine. But celebrity games are not the only trend we use in our slots, we also focus on popular and well-known historical, cultural or social themes, examples include titles like Janosik, Husaria, Golden Train or Copernicus dedicated to Polish players or games with African themes, very popular in Nigeria: Naija Wheels or African Carnival. The ability to create branded games is a great added value of our brand and we are happy that we can promote themes and motives that are important to players in local regions
What opportunities and challenges do you see for the gaming industry in Europe? How is Promatic Group preparing for changing trends (do you notice any, e.g., in customer behavior, industry needs, legal regulations, etc.)?
Our industry is defined by very strong legislation, also in Poland.
The European market as a whole is already very regulated and saturated and most of our neighboring markets have increasingly restrictive regulations that do not translate into sales opportunities in the retail segment. Online market currently offers greater space for development and this is one of the trends that Promatic focuses on – we want to deliver products to the online sector in Poland and other European markets.
But regulatory restrictions and differences are not the only challenge, players’ preferences are changing too and we want to follow them by modifying the ergonomics of the machines following waving popularity of games, and user behaviors, which is why we constantly develop new products, providing new, engaging content that is both safe and compliant with Responsible Gaming policy. It is our highest priority to deliver safe products, our production process is always well-thought-out from the early design stage to publishing aspects, ultimately leading to the certification of our products according to the highest European standards.
It is difficult to say which market is easier as they differ a lot. On the other hand, despite discrepancies, our diverse product offer and ability to adapt to specific market requirements allow us to operate in many regions with changing regulations.
You were nominated in four categories for the EiGE awards:
- Best iGaming Supplier > Promatic Group
- Best iGaming Product > Miss Joker Show (Promatic Group)
- Best Game Developer > Promatic Group
- Best Emerging iGaming Company > Promatic Group
From what we see in the results of the first stage, you have a chance in several categories. Winning in which category would make you the happiest, and why?
We proudly received nominations in four different categories and in each of them we were among the finalists, which makes us very happy. The categories are very diverse, and the nominations in all of them confirm the hard work of all our teams in our organization, show our versatility and motivate us to continue the good work. The nomination in the Best Product category is certainly very important to us, we know that Miss Joker Show is very well received by players in many markets, but of course we keep our fingers crossed for any award in any category.Each will make us equally happy.
Engagement vs. Responsibility – will you be discussing this at the congress? What is your opinion on the topic, and how does Promatic approach it?
All aspects of Responsible Gaming are always significantly important to us. We adapt the policies already at the design stage of our products. We want our games to be engaging, but at the same time not to extend any negative patterns, so we implement a number of features and mechanisms to our products to be fully compliant with principles of Responsible Gaming.
During the European Gaming Congress, Promatic representatives: Maciej Makuszewski – Head of iGaming and Luka Oblak – Product Manager will present a very interesting workshop showcasing how to capture such balance between user engagement and policies compliance. The presentation ‘Mastering the Art of Balanced Slot Development’ – we kindly invite all the attendees of EGC to participate.
As we approach the final quarter of 2024, it’s a good time to start reflecting on the year.
What are your plans and goals for Q4 and the upcoming year, 2025? What challenges do you foresee?
Although it is still too early to sum up, this year was very successful for us – we managed to complete many key business projects, we keep developing our online product, receiving new relevant certifications and we would like to maintain this trend. In the coming months, we plan to expand to new markets and grow our team of experts. We also focus on the development of new technologies, we expand the retail network while focusing on further development of the online product. We concentrate a lot on diversifying our product offer, which will certainly be much wider next year.
EGC is not the only conference where we can meet you at industry events in the near future. Can you share any plans in this regard?
Industry events are an important platform enabling valuable discussions and meetings. This week we are participating in SBC in Lisbon, we will also be at iGaming in Malta.
Next year, we are exhibiting at ICE 2025 in Barcelona and warmly invite you to visit Promatic Group’s stand. All the above events are very inspirational as we are committed to following trends, developing know-how and new technologies in gaming, and exchanging experiences with industry experts, which certainly contributes to our development.
Piotr Fedak – BIO
PIOTR FEDAK
Chief Operating Officer of Promatic Group
Actively working in the gaming industry for over 20 years.
Associated with Promatic Group for most of his professional career, solely involved in operational processes.
He held the positions of Operations Director and Managing Director, supervising operations on domestic and global markets, also managing introducing innovations.
In 2023, he took the position of the CEO of the company, leading and managing the organization in the scope of operational and strategic processes.
Promatic Group’s iGaming Director, Maciej Makuszewski, and Product Design Manager, Luka Oblak, will be presenting a workshop at the European Gaming Congress on ‘Mastering the Art of Balanced Slot Development.
Join us in Warsaw and meet the Promatic Games Team in person:
The post Promatic Group: Pioneering Innovation in Slot Gaming for Over 25 Years appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Allan Stone CEO of Intelitics
Allan Stone: Player retention – keeping players coming back in the age of sky-high acquisition costs
In your view, why do you think player acquisition costs are reaching record-high levels?
Allan Stone: We’re starting to see the impact of many of the privacy standards implemented. There is the Cookie deprecation that’s happened across both Google and iOS, as well as a lot of the ad identifiers being blocked by default, as opposed to as a setting that users can turn on. Operators haven’t been able to truly understand what the impact of this has been. They’re having to spend much more to achieve the same level of performance, simply because they don’t have a good understanding of the systems in place to hone in on where they are spending money to acquire players. As a result, operators are having to spend more money acquiring players that maybe aren’t the best quality and will likely churn.
From a regulatory perspective, especially in the US, there has been a bit of a slowdown in markets opening. We had an initial gold rush here in the US, but now, fewer states are coming online. We’re seeing a pullback on ad spend; even though it costs much more to acquire new players, operators aren’t spending as much as they used to. I think that’s an effect of over saturation in the market. Players have seen all these different products and different brands that are available to them. Essentially, the core products have become very commodotised. Every operator seems to offer pretty much the same slots as everyone else does.
What’s interesting is that if you’re to walk into a bunch of different casinos in Las Vegas, once you walk past the front doors, they all look and feel the same from a gaming perspective. Where they differ is through the experience that you get while in the casino; the design, the hospitality, etc. Those players that tend to play offline are starting to look towards those secondary offerings outside the core betting portfolio, they’re seeking more of an experience.
I think that we haven’t seen that in the digital space yet. There is very little differentiation in user experience on one betting app compared to the others. Operators need to take the time and energy to really personalise and customise their user experience to individual players. When that starts to happen, this is when you start to see an increase in acquisition costs. But then you will also see a consolidation in those costs – operators will start to become more efficient, cost savings will come into play, and that is when these brands can really differentiate themselves from one another.
What’s the secret to keeping players coming back in the long term?
Allan Stone: In a word, personalisation. It’s plain and simple. The more that brands can understand player behaviours and continue to create personalised experiences, the more they will keep players coming back in the long term.
I’ve heard a few different product people talk about how they can try personalise the experience further, and one idea was to emulate the experience that you get from apps such as Tinder where you swipe left or right to bet on different markets. What they realised was that the younger generation of players – who maybe weren’t as valuable – enjoyed that product feature, but their core betting customers weren’t as engaged. Operators are waking up to that now. If you want players to remain around, you’ve got to give them a reason to stay other than simply rolling out the same products as everyone else.
For a lot of the North American brands, they’ve done a great job of tying their iGaming and sports betting experience into their land-based properties. As time goes on, and the market continues to mature, you’ll see much more of that starting to happen. The land-based and digital experiences can complement each other really well, when done right; operators need to make sure they have that streamlined experience across all touchpoints. Brands should be going beyond the standard, core betting experience and instead delivering something much more holistic, and much more personalised to each customer.
Historically, we’ve beta tested location-based suggestions during NFL games, whereby if someone opened up a betting app while in a stadium, then that would be a good indicator of what markets they would be looking to bet on. They’re more than likely wanting to bet on the game that is taking place in front of them. Operators could use this opportunity to offer micro betting markets, or player props to that player. We know that the technology is there to do this.
How do these approaches balance the need for immediate engagement with long-term loyalty?
Allan Stone: A lot of the data and technologies that exist to support operators from an AdTech and MarTech perspective, at least from an acquisition side, has not been great. But we are starting to see that change. Operators can no longer leverage 20-year-old technology to solve a modern-day problem. They need to get granular with the data that they have at their disposal and understand where they can improve their media buying efforts. They need to find out how many players they acquired, what their lifetime value is, whether there are any similarities and trends between those players. From there, operators can then optimise their campaigns to focus on just acquiring those players.
There is much more that operators can be doing to leverage their data at scale and create massive efficiencies in their player acquisition – that, ultimately, would bring down costs. If you can create those efficiencies, you can theoretically reduce your costs by 20-30% which is a huge saving.
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