As one of the world’s largest and most successful casino game providers, NetEnt have managed to penetrate online and offline gambling markets all over the world – and while they used to offer games to Canadian residents, licensing and legal complications resulted in the company pulling out of the country – until recently, that is.
As of a few days ago, NetEnt confirmed that their games are now available on the regulated market in Canada, and this will prove a popular decision with Canadians, many of whom have been asking when NetEnt will return to the country.
Thanks to an agreement with US gambling giant IGT, NetEnt managed to finalise a technical integration with the British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC), and as a result of this integration, the Swedish-based software provider has been able to launch a number of their titles to the Canadian market using the IGT Connect integration layer.
This has all been made possible thanks to the fact that the BCLC is a member of the World Lottery Association (the WLA).
Speaking about the re-launch into the regulated Canadian market, Therese Hillman, Group CEO of NetEnt said: “Launching our games to players in British Columbia is an important milestone for us in our expansion in North America.
“Entering regulated markets is a vital part of our strategy going forward, especially within the WLA segment. I am sure that our exciting games will be much appreciated by BCLC’s players.”
While NetEnt appears to have endured a fairly turbulent few months (their share price has seen a steady decline), the game developer appears to be taking what players actually want to see into account – and it’s likely we’ll see them following the likes of companies like Big Time Gaming and Blueprint Gaming, who’ve taken the concept of a high-variance game further than ever before. Indeed, it appears that players are slowly shifting to preferring volatile titles, even if it means shorter play-times and fewer wins.
This change of direction comes at a time when NetEnt are already pretty busy, as September saw the company launching their games for the first time in Lithuania and Norway, alongside bet-launching their very own affiliate business. They’ve also recently appointed an interim Chief Financial Officer…
And this is all while applying for a gambling license from Pennsylvania – so it’s clear that NetEnt are progressing to bigger and better things, especially as online gambling in the US continues to open up.
