INFOPOWA SPECIAL REPORT - I.C.Ei SHOWCASES TOP ONLINE GAMBLING CREATIVITY

25 January 2008

A resilient industry shows its stuff

You can't keep a good industry down, and despite a turbulent and difficult year, the interactive section at the 2008 International Casino Exhibition in London proved the point, showcasing an impressive range of new products, technologies and creative ideas.

Last year 25 000 visitors from nations around the globe flocked to the Earl's Court show, and judging by the crowded walkways this year that number has probably been exceeded as businessmen and women crowded in to visit a total of 280 company stands, 69 of them in the interactive section. The diverse products, bright colours, flashing lights and the dynamic hum of business on steroids created an inescapable feeling of energy and optimism.

InfoPowa was almost immediately sidetracked into the general land casino section by the crowds surrounding the Nova presentation of rows of console machines carrying the larger than life interactive game Big Tony's Texas Hold'em. Visitors impatiently awaited an opportunity to seize a vacated seat and pit their skills against the goatee-bearded Tony avatar, which made the AI moves with extraordinarily well nuanced "tells". See this one at www.big-tony.com.

Further along, we were taken by Electrocoin's new dart board, which does away with the need to do mental arithmetic, especially after a few lemonades! This computer based game does it all for the player the instant the dart hits the board, and can provide detailed stats on each game on demand. Branded Wild Bull, the product was being demonstrated by a UK darts champion, playing against members of the public.

Our first stop in the interactive section had to be at the imposing Partouche Interactive stand, where this major French land casino operator had pulled out all the stops on a large and attractive display of its products in the online gambling, interactive television and mobile sectors.

Sylvain LeBreton told us that the anticipated liberation of the French online gambling market was keenly awaited, with several products ready to go as soon as the market opened, hopefully this year. Partouche has recently executed a soft launch on its Partouche online backgammon product, which features crisp, well executed graphics and a fast, easy to use player interface in its proprietary software package. The site to see it is at www.partouchegammon.com, for which the company has ambitious plans. Casino 770 has been shelved temporarily by the company, and software changes are likely.

Net Entertainment’s stand was to the firm’s usual minimalist high standard with a full range of the latest offerings on flatscreen displays. Since our InfoPowa report from Barcelona last October, NetEnt has released new 5 reel, 30 pay-line feature-rich progressive slots in December titled Icy Wonders and Tiki Wonders, carrying respectively polar and tropical themes. Up to Euro 250 000 wins can be achieved. New poker games include Oasis 5 Card Poker and TXS Hold'Em - all with impressive graphics and smooth delivery. NetEnt’s Mitko Mitev told us that the funky slot Superlucky Frog, also released in December, was proving very popular. The company's elegant console-based Cafe Casino software for use in bars and restaurants was attracting much attention whilst we were there.

Look forward to more new games out in February from this Swedish supplier, including 4 Asian-targeted offerings which are still under wraps but promise to provide significant impetus for NetEnt's Asian-facing licensees. But the big one will be what is branded Relic Raiders and looks like a cross between Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider/Lost City. This is a multi-bonus and featured game with 5 jackpots and a mega-jackpot that could reach over Euro 1 million. The graphics are stunning and colourful, and the gameplay fast and silky smooth.

Entraction, the newly re-branded former 24hPoker company from Scandinavia was displaying a wide range of games from its two major no-download gaming software suppliers, Net Entertainment and Wagerworks, offering operators variety and quality for online casino operations in addition to its better known online poker activities, which now provide ten different varieties of poker on a growing network. The company is about to add its latest new poker game, Caribbean Stud to the network.

Sweden's Boss Media was at ICE in force, with a large and professionally presented exhibit. The company's new player-centric Gaming Management System was being pushed as a major achievement and the culmination of extensive investment and innovative development efforts.

The key to the new product is its transparency and flexibility, which enable it to be used as an open system that eliminates the risk of operators becoming locked in and restricted to a finite selection of games by a limited platform. Integration of software from multiple game vendors is made easy, along with multiple currencies capability. Running parallel to the GMS is Boss's Games Development Partner Program, which gives third party developers access to the Boss Media Games Development Kit, thus expanding the potential for variety and new ideas from outside the company to the ultimate benefit of the players.

Along with most other providers, Boss sees bingo as a major business trend as the online pastime grows with a potential global audience of millions, so it’s likely that new products and refinements in this sector will soon be forthcoming in terms of both games and network. On the online casino and poker front the company has energised its approach with new ideas and new games boosting its respected reputation for quality download and no-download gaming software for a licensee list that includes many blue-chip names.

Topping the recent games release list are multi-featured slots like Amber Sky, Bonus Madness, Hot cash, Money Miner, Lost City, Space Tale, Fortunes of Egypt and the enchanted forest-themed Tumbletons. New card games feature Casino Hold'Em, French Roulette, Blackjack Super 7's and Bonus Poker, whilst in collaboration licensees are being offered four probability games, adding to a fast growing and diverse games inventory.

Probability Games, the UK mobile games provider, has entered profitability in its business cycle and provided an amusing presence at ICE based on its latest game Camel Race. Mobile users can while away the time betting on whether their camel will win. The exhibit featured Arabian furnishings....and a free ice-cream to visitors parched by the desert sands!

We were once again impressed with Gextech's "Fantastic League" virtual football product, which seems to be taking more time than anticipated to gain traction in what one would expect to be a voracious European soccer-mad market. With an ability to choose teams, strips and even famous stadia and then bet on the resulting league games, this one should be a winner and on large flat television screens the quality of the graphics and smooth flow of the competing players is awesome.

Nearby was the latest virtual horseracing product from Abeta.co.uk.

Taking a break from the technology providers, we stopped by the stands taken by major licensing jurisdictions, which this year included professional and informative displays by the Isle of Man, Alderney and Malta, making the most of the UK government's advertising white-list requirement that has effectively excluded operators licensed by jurisdictions outside the EEA from advertising in the UK market. The UK government's Gambling Commission presence was disappointingly low key after its sterling work on regulation culminating in the commencement of operations last September. The small stand had little that was enticing or informative about it, and the Commission has the "product" and the potential to do far better.

Playtech's stand was as usual slick and well presented, with the emphasis on Asian and South American-facing efforts. Multiple platform crossing capability has been achieved with the new console games from Videobet which feature Playtech faves like Bling, A Night Out, Joker Poker and Gold Rally cleverly tweaked for the new and larger application. Playtech continues to invest major effort and resources in improving its business in Asia in partnership with major companies in the region. Staffers were coy about new games in the pipeline, but players can expect to see a continuation of regular game releases from this provider, and more poker action from its giant iPoker network.

Over at the Microgaming stand the crowds were watching colourful displays of the wide range of products this Internet gambling pioneer has available, embracing poker, casino, bingo, mobile (through Spin3) and consoles (through Betsone) Top player favourites like The Osbournes, Hitman and Lara Croft Tomb Raider were prominent on the display, and players can expect the latest iteration of the Lara Croft story - the Secret of the Swords - soon. Spin3 staff was proudly showing off their ground-breaking adaptation of the Pub Fruitie slot to the mobile milieu, bringing their mobile games inventory to 12. MGS has maintained a punishing games release schedule of 4 to 5 games a month for more than a year now, putting its competitors under pressure and building what is probably the largest games selection in the industry at over 300 offerings.

Ongame, the Swedish online poker specialist played the numbers game in its ICE presentation, displaying the statistics that have made it one of the leading poker companies in the business. The company can boast up to 3 600 concurrent players from a customer base of millions, and hands out prize-pools of $10 million a month across tournaments using 15 games. The company's mobile poker offering can be used on well over 200 different devices, and since it started operations in 1999 some 6.5 billion pots have been won (and counting) At last count there were 28 sites on the Ongame network, offering poker to global audiences in 19 languages.

Also from Sweden is the quaintly named software provider NYX, which we were told is the mythical Goddess of Night in the far north. This could be a company to watch as with Swedish focus and precision it has developed a white label range of games for its new NYX casino development due for release soon through the Isle of Man licensed Trimark channel in March.

Director Jorgen Ragnarsson showed us some very different and well executed Flash technology games with themes ranging from pirate treasure and haunted mansions to space epics and tropical islands, together with a good selection of card games. These should fit in well with the Trimark management system which handles sports betting, skill gaming, poker, casino, bingo and lottery activities. The NYX inventory includes 15 slots, 20 table games, 10 VP with multihanded capability from 10 to 100, lotto, keno and scratch ticket products. In autumn 2008 the company plans to launch a further 30 slots.

UK-based Orbis Openbet is another provider that is expanding fast, and now offers over 150 Flash games to operators, which include 19 white-labelers through the St Minver channel. The company has released 15 new games since we last saw them at the EiG in Barcelona, with a range that includes slots, table and fixed odds games. Those to watch for are the cross between Wheel of Fortune and roulette genres Let It Spin, and Chain Reactors. Atlantic City Blackjack and Super Fun 21 BJ join the card games, and other interesting looking newbies include the 20 line Monte Carlo Billions and Caribbean Nights slots, and Backgammon. Orbis has signed some major clients this past year and is clearly on a roll.

Unicum Gaming is a provider we have not previously encountered, and offers some impressive looking games in the bingo genre such as Safari Bingo, Busta da Safe, Guns 'n Mushrooms and Red Dragon Bingo. Staff at the stand told that the interest in bingo products is massive and growing.

IGT's respected online gambling subsidiary Wagerworks has been very active over the past few months, releasing a number of excellent games culminating in the beautifully presented and smooth running 'Wolf Run'. These were on display but the big news was the launch this week of the much delayed and keenly anticipated Elvis Multi-StrikeT - bringing one of the most popular Las Vegas slots to the online casino environment in an exciting new format.

The company’s Remote Gaming Server (RGS) product range is a system that offers operators freedom to grow revenues without being tied to one single supplier. Operators can offer up to 70 Waterworks titles without having to take the full product range or changing their infrastructure in any significant way. RGS can, staff said, “liberate casino operators from being a captive of their systems supplier”, while allowing other providers “to develop games to run on RGS”.

Reflecting the move to server-based gaming that is being witnessed in the land-based resorts, RGS games are updated from a central location without staff having to travel to clients’ offices to carry out the work. Customers had to be given the freedom of choice, aid one manager. “Providers trying to keep players as customers to proprietary systems is not the best way to give them what they want.”

The Italians had taken a large block of space which showcased the regulator AAMS and several software companies, notably Vital Games and their attractive Stargate and Egyptian themed products.

Chartwell Technology's Vice President Marketing, Aideen Shortt, had clearly made a major investment in space, effort and product display on the large Chartwell stand. This Canadian company has a wide range of multi-featured new games including 10, 15, 20 and 30 line slots in no-download format that can be converted to download capability if required. The list of new arrivals is too long to reproduce here, but Viva Venezia , Jackpot Holiday and Pot of Gold were striking for the innovative thinking and features that have been included. Final Score is a multi-league football based game that has good potential, and the company even has a virtual darts offering. Flash poker was recently added to the download offering, and the 32 card poker game is proving very popular in Europe as a fast, dynamic and exciting alternative.

Chartwell plans to issue at least one new game a month going forward, and has serious ambitions in the Asian market, having opened an office in the region and almost completed a substantial range of Asian-style games.

Parlay Entertainment is currently the subject of an acquisition exercise by the new PEIC Acquisition Corp headed by Sportingbet founder Mark Blandford, and has recently signed a lucrative deal with NetPlayTV. The big story at the ICEi stand was the imminent launch of the Parlay 5 version of the company's respected online bingo software. The tag line 'Bingo Without Borders' probably best describes this ambitious project, which makes it possible for players using different languages and even currencies to play together, each with the relevant information in the right language onscreen.

The flexibility of the system and its uniquely individual service features make this a winner that will see launch in the second quarter of 2008. Parlay partners with Dynamite Idea and Orbis on other games and launched 25 to its licensees last year, with a further 25 planned for 2008. The major bingo surge being reported by all the providers is good news for Parlay, which for years has made the game a priority in its development planning. The next big markets are likely to be Spain and Sweden we were told. Parlay does good white label business through St Minver.

Cyberarts chairman Ken Arnold had a motivating and reassuring story to tell regarding his most recent licensee, the T6 poker room for thirty-something Scandinavian entrepreneur Torben Hubertz. The high profile Hubertz, who is an expert marketer, has excited sceptical comment on his statements about his intentions for T6 as a poker room, a network and as a white label supplier.

The young entrepreneur talks in the millions and doubts have been expressed in some quarters on his ability to deliver. Arnold to some extent allayed those fears when he told us that big, seven figure bank transfers required to set up T6 in a very constrained time frame late last year were honoured without a problem, indicating that the funding is secure.

Cyberarts was approached by Hubertz after his initial run at online poker foundered when his first choice of provider proved incapable of handling the tournament volumes he was building. Just when most of Europe was starting to shut down for the festive season, Hubertz approached Arnold with the T6 project and a 1st January deadline for a fully operational system capable of easily upward scalability to handle very large numbers of simultaneous players.

Working through the Christmas holiday, Arnold’s team was able to compete the extensive project, including setting up a major server operation, and he reports that the T6 poker room is rapidly gaining traction with encouraging numbers of registrations....and Hubertz is still ratcheting up the marketing effort.

Hubertz apparently has big plans and is concentrating on attracting only major companies to his Cyberarts-powered network. Arnold is confident that his infinitely scaleable poker platform can meet the requirements to handle very large numbers of concurrent players.

Iceland's Parsppro sportsbetting software provider reports that progress is good, with around 6 solid licensees and growing interest in the product. The state monopoly Norske Tipping is a current buyer and will probably launch the system later in the year after an extensive practical assessment program.

Mobile gambling provider mFortune is confident that the mobile sector is on the way up and has a potential for 72 million users making $6 billion in bets on their cell phones...all within the next three years. The company's business model involves players using credit cards or buying scratch card credits which enable them to deposit funds directly to their mobile phones. With four games the company covers roulette, poker, blackjack and a fruit machine.

Veteran industry businessman Alan Weinrib told us about a new and apparently highly effective player acquisition tool from the InnovatePro company that has found favour with the likes of Paddy Power. Literally a 'pocket slot' is at the centre of the system, a dynamic card with a signup reward which is sent to the player. On receipt, the sealer strip is pulled off and the player activates the mechanism to see if the right symbols line up and he can redeem the reward for gambling credits. www.innovatepro.com.

Leaving ICEi tired but motivated by the energy and enthusiasm the industry continues to generate, we were again distracted by the products on offer in the land gambling section, not least because there is always the possibility that these games -especially the slots - will ultimately find their way online.

Wagerworks parent IGT was a massive attraction with an abundance of new products on display, but the ones that attracted us were complex touch screen enabled slots with the ever-popular Star Wars and Indiana Jones themes, replete with stunning sound effects and animated graphics. We can only hope that Wagerworks will eventually develop these for the enjoyment of online players. 'Immortal Mountain' was another slot that was in almost continuous trial operation by the crowds thronging the IGT stand, and there was a clear emphasis on Asian-themed games.

Next door at Aristocrat there was great interest in the new Money Train game, featuring outstanding 3D technology and pop-up effects by Alioscopy.

Further along the row was Amatic Industries' take on Lord Nelson of Trafalgar and his lover Lady Emma Hamilton. The unlikely slot theme was very well worked with great graphics featuring the British hero, sailing ships, sea battles and medals. The same supplier had a noisy but effective racecar slot going full blast, too branded Mille Miglia after the famous Italian race.

RLMS had a variation on the electronic poker table concept, only for roulette with an eye-catching 3D large screen roulette wheel that seemed to almost jump off the wall.

Departing completely from gambling, Cosmic Video was packing wannabe fighter pilots in for its World War 2 multiplayer combat simulator 'Blazing Angels' with a player seat and controls using force-feedback technology to give the 'feel' and well as the ambience of an aircraft dogfight!

ICE, and especially ICEi is always worth the trip and this year was no exception. Well organised, and concentrating the efforts of the industry briefly in one space, it remains a must-do on the calendar of any online gambling manager.

Online Casino News courtesy of InfoPowa


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