SUPPLIER SPECIAL REPORT

Recovery patchy, but better for most

It’s been an uneven recovery in the gaming world. Asia remains mostly closed for all but essential travel, while Europe and North America are back in full swing.

Pent-up demand has been strong, pushing U.S. gaming revenues to record levels, with no real sign of a slowdown, while activity in Europe has also picked up as countries reopened for business.

The U.S. sports betting potential continues to capture the imagination of both the land-based and online spheres, driving mergers & acquisitions, as well as partnerships with sporting leagues.

In our final Supplier Special Section of the year, we hear about some of the key highlights from 2021 and what the New Year is likely to have in store for the industry.

The online sector has boomed and is expected to continue to do so, with ongoing restrictions on movement in many countries fuelling the trend towards all things digital. Companies have spent the year improving their offerings and introducing more and better content.

In the land-based world, new product offerings have focused on optimizing gaming machines to comply with the “new normal.” Standalone electronic table games in particular have seen strong growth, allowing the thrill of the table in a less crowded environment.

Suppliers also tell us about their enthusiasm for the return of live events and being able to mix with colleagues and make new contacts. Barcelona, Las Vegas, Amsterdam and Malta were just a few of the venues hosting conferences and exhibitions.

Asia Gaming Brief is planning on adding Manila to that list in March with the return of the ASEAN Gaming Summit and we hope to see as many familiar faces as possible there.

Big plans for 2022, more Asia presence

1XBET

1xBet is one of the fastest-growing betting brands in the world. Since its inception in 2007, the company has come a long way, achieving new successes each year and 2021 was no exception - here are just some of 1xBet’s achievements:

• Victory in the International Gaming Awards “Live Casino of the Year” category;

• 7 SBC Awards nominations, the results of which are to be announced on December 14th in London;

• An extension of the agreement for the presence of brand advertising at La Liga and Spanish Cup matches;

• Signing of a partnership agreement with FC Olympique Lyonnais;

• Cooperation with top esports organisations ESL and WePlay.

The company has also achieved particular success in Asia, which it considers to be one of the key markets. An agreement was signed with renowned cricketer Dwayne Bravo, who became the first brand ambassador in India, and a sponsorship agreement was signed with esports team Yangon Galacticos from Myanmar.

The Kazakhstan football club Kairat, whose title sponsor is 1xBet, became the winner of the national championship and, for the first time in history, took part in the group stage of the Conference League.

As always, 1xBet continued to actively work on the quality of the product and service for its customers. Innovations include the launch of a new, light version of the bookmaker’s website, which allows players to bet even with a slow internet connection.

We also updated the 1xBet Telegram bot, thanks to which you can register, place and withdraw funds directly through the popular messenger.

Wel also have a new online consultant on the 1xBet website, where you can find an answer to any question of interest, even without chatting to the support service.

Football NFTs (non-fungible tokens), which are hugely popular among fans, added to available payment methods, while there are dozens of new exclusive games in the 1xGames section!

1xBet has big plans for 2022. The company intends to develop its presence in the Asian market further. That means even more new activities and options await players, enabling them to earn money with a reliable bookmaker.

New opportunities for EGEs

APE

The number of closures of VIP junket rooms in Macau is going to be large. Prior to COVID-19, VIP gaming accounted for more than 46 percent of Macau’s $36.4 billion in 2019 gross gaming revenue (GGR). Casinos share 39 percent of their GGR with the Macau government. It is believed that this will have a significant impact on the casino floor’s product mix. From a positive view, the floor may open up to more EGEs.

Asia Pioneer Entertainment (APE) sees an opportunity to put more EGEs on casino floors in the coming year.

In fact, some of the operators have already started restructuring their floor plans to make space for more table games, ETGs and EGMs and to do so in a way that all inactive machines are fully utilized too (obeying the social distance requirements).

“With the new “Electronic Gaming Machine Technical Standards version 2.0” standards that are a must by the end of 2023, we foresee an increase of products that comply and the “replacement” of those that do not, for which we are now fighting very hard and are confident to be part of,” says Maria Garcia, business development consultant at APE.

Feedback from the operators was positive, while APE is also working hard with our EGE manufacturer suppliers to meet 2.0 standards at an early date. Despite the unprecedented impact of Covid on Macau’s gaming industry, we are optimistic about the sales for 2022-2023 and business will be back to normal as travellers return to Macau.

Changing the game with synchronized releases

ARISTOCRAT

We are grateful to our people and to our customers for making 2021 a landmark year for Aristocrat Gaming, says Hector Fernandez, president of the Americas and EMEA. Our commitment to being bold resulted in inventive games, leading customer experience solutions, groundbreaking cabinets, and innovative partnerships.

We started 2021 by releasing what turned out to be the year’s biggest game, Buffalo Link, which took the industry by storm, broke sales records, and was named Slot of the Year at the Global Gaming Awards.

In a first that changed the gaming industry forever, we released the specialty Dune slot game in sync with the U.S. theatrical release of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures’ Dune film. This new game development of a release timed to a major film’s theatrical release was a landmark in entertainment and further demonstrated

Aristocrat’s leadership and commitment to innovation. It meant casino guests could see the movie, and then continue their experience on the game immediately afterward.

We set another first when we announced our partnership with the National Football League (NFL) to create NFL-themed slot games. This was another bold step forward for our company and for the gaming industry and is another example of how our innovative thinking is more than product – it’s game-changing ideas. We expanded our commitment to our customers in Oklahoma by opening a new manufacturing facility in Tulsa, moving the Class II industry forward.

We recognized the way people want to work has changed, and we pivoted to a permanent, hybrid flexible work model called “all.flex.” This helps us to ensure we can continue to deliver our ambitious growth strategy, while also emphasizing

our people-first commitment and deepening our focus on inclusion. We’re just getting started. With the best people making the best products for the best customers in the world, we’re excited for 2022, and we wish everyone a happy and successful year.

Balancing profit and sustainability

BBIN

BBIN is returning to live events and looking forward to a reunion with the industry in 2022, revolving around the theme of “the Gaming Beat.”

“The Gaming Beat” resonates with the original intention of leveraging corporate sustainability and driving business performance since the establishment of the TGB Charity in 2018. BBIN marks a new phase in its charitable endeavors by taking a holistic and interconnecting approach to accentuate the positive impact internally in its enterprise and externally to the industry and the iGaming ecosystem.

In practice, we are noticing the Covid19 challenge has accelerated technological innovations and developments. As BBIN constantly adapts to the world situation and pours investment into frontier technologies, BBIN also highlights the importance of a balanced pace that can enable more sustainable patterns of growth and mitigate environmental degradation or create new inequality issues. In short, BBIN pursues inclusive and sustainable outcomes through purposeful efforts, encapsulated in its past and upcoming “The Gaming Beat” programs.

In 2021, BBIN collaborated with organizations and institutes around the world in several focus areas, including education, environmental protection, and wildlife conservation. The collaboration with PoH (Playground of Hope) in Japan helped the underprivileged groups of an earthquake-affected community, while the Saath program in India promotes the importance of sanitary education and provides essential resources to improve the local living quality.

In the latest program for saving wildlife, BBIN has interconnected with six animal charities around the world to address the complexities of biological diversity and urgency of wildlife conservation. BBIN has conducted these programs from a long-term perspective in order to measure the effectiveness and embed these values into the core of its business.

We believe these meaningful endeavors and longterm focus will eventually navigate us through the transition period and finally arrive at a new-normal era, where a prosperous and sustainable future is perfectly balanced.

Spring Becomes Platform of the Year at SiGMA

BETCONSTRUCT

The complete gaming and sports betting platform provider BetConstruct received the title of the best platform at the SiGMA awards.

This November BetConstruct’s visit to Malta proved a great success with the SiGMA Europe expo. It was one of the most joyful occasions to see the industry come back together. Taking the chance, the software provider let its Winning Formula campaign truly shine during the event; the inviting stand welcomed every visitor offering the most personalized approach in igaming.

Sportsbook, data feed Solutions, slots, casino games, live casino, skill games and every imaginable sports betting and gaming services - BetConstruct provides it all for an operator of any size and scale to mix and match and achieve the ultimate success in this industry.

All this assortment robustly sits on the Spring Platform, an all-rounder backbone of BetConstruct that caters to all of its 300+ partners. During the SiGMA awards ceremony the platform received the Platform of the Year title.

Asia compliance service demand increases

BMM TESTLABS

BMM Testlabs, the world’s original gaming compliance testlab, is pleased to provide an update on the company’s operations in Asia. K

irk White, EVP and General Manager, APAC and Africa, commented, “We are very pleased to see the increase in Asian project activities in both iGaming and land-based markets in the second half of 2021. This shows positive sentiment and market recovery across Asia now and leading into 2022.”

White added that BMM Testlabs’ Singapore and Macau offices have recently expanded their premises and strengthened their teams to support the increased demand for compliance services.

“We have a high demand for our specialized expertise in compliance consulting, testing, certification, RNG & RTP evaluation and QA services across Asia. We also have a strong focus on supporting Asian manufacturers, content providers and operators expanding to global regulated markets, such as the U.S., Europe, Asia, and Africa.”

Jeffrey Fong, VP Business Development, Asia, added, “PAGCOR’s remote betting initiative that allows integrated resort operators or POGOs and eCafes to offer online betting to players in the Philippines will be a game changer. The initiative is also creating great opportunities for casino operators, system/content providers and manufacturers around Asia.”

Fong emphasized that, “BMM Testlabs is the only global testlab with local presence supporting the gaming market in the Philippines through a localized engagement service. BMM Testlabs tests and certifies IP blocking, sports betting platforms and games, and live slot and table solutions specific to the market, while also providing the best customer experience for on-time certification that is in-budget in the region.”

BMM Testlabs remains the testlab of choice throughout Asia with its unmatched understanding of the region’s technical compliance requirements, along with its high-quality product testing and customer support services.

Data breaches, cyber attacks a rising threat

CONTINENT 8

Due to the pandemic, business analysts agree that digital adoption and transformation has accelerated - up to seven years according to McKinsey & Company. Providing reliable managed hosting, security and network solutions to the eGaming industry, Continent 8 is well versed in moving with speed and agility to meet the urgent and ever-changing technical and regulatory needs of our clients.

In 2021 Continent 8 opened over 20 new physical locations offering full-service availability, extending our global footprint to over 80 locations. It is our commitment to the eGaming sector to provide service availability in all globally regulated and non-regulated eGaming markets.

A notable trend witnessed during the pandemic was the exponential growth in cyber-attacks and data breaches. Continent 8 has seen sophistication increase, often crippling the businesses of those unprepared. Continent 8 has been successfully protecting businesses against cyber-attacks for over 20 years through continued and extensive investment.

2020 saw the launch of a new suite of security services under the C8 Secure division. In addition to traditional DDoS mitigation, Continent 8 now offers Web Application and API Protection (WAAP) along with a full suite of Managed Security Services - namely, Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) and Managed Detection and Response (MDR).

Continent 8 no longer just protects your internet traffic, websites and applications, we now protect your security perimeter and data through pro-active 24 x 7 monitoring and remediation from our global security operations center (SOC).

Continent 8 has increased staff headcount by 30 percent and has broadened its service offering to establish us as a full Managed Security Service Provider (MSSP) to the eGaming industry and beyond. The experience and knowledge gained through facing challenges with our clients has facilitated our transition to advanced levels of service capability and global reach.

In 2022, we predict to see growth in data breaches and cyber-attacks as the largest threat to the sector. We would recommend that businesses carry out vulnerability and penetration testing to assess weaknesses and potential remediation possibilities. We look forward to working with our clients and partners and wish the sector every success in 2022 and beyond.

Accuracy and efficiency in cash handling

G&D

Giesecke & Devrient, as a long-term business partner with casinos, is continuing to support customers, helping them to maintain banknote processing and to secure accuracy and efficiency. We are looking forward to a better year in 2022.

G+D have a wide range of products and solutions, from high speed to desktop equipment, to suit the different requirements of global casinos. Our casino solutions optimize the flow of banknote and data processing, as well as minimizing manual handling.

The BPS M5 is the system for commercial applications in G+D’s High-Speed World for high-volume cash processing, with 22 banknotes per second and modular of up to 20 stackers. It processes mixed denominations of banknotes with different formats and substrates, as well as processing TITO tickets. With header card processing, automatic banding and bundling, it achieves true continuous processing and high efficiency.

Additional efficiency and security gains can be achieved by automating the banknote processing steps at the start and end which still involve the manual handling of cash. NotaTracc and NotaPack are two building blocks that are ideally suited to streamlining processes for the High Speed World.

The BPS C5 has been developed to meet the needs of small and medium-sized casinos and count rooms. The solution from G+D is a modular, scalable system that fulfills all process requirements with the greatest reliability, efficiency, and user-friendliness.

A high nominal throughput of up to 63,000 banknotes per hour, with up to 25 output stackers, state-of-the-art sensors, and a multitude of software options combine to offer significant competitive advantages.

The BPS C2 family offers efficiency in its most compact form. It offers an array of options for sorting, such as by denomination, orientation, or fitness and if needed tickets for casino application. What’s more, the best sensors in their class guarantee maximum reliability for authentication. Consistent high speed of 1,050 banknotes per minute ensures superior productivity and best-in-class sensors guarantee maximum reliability during authentication and even reading serial numbers.

G+D, as a global leader in the digitalization of currency, has created a software suite to enable casinos to optimize their operations with data intelligence, automation, and best practices. G+D’s software suite also allows casinos to optimize the performance of machines and count rooms with tools that improve accuracy and reduce costs.

Bringing comfort to hospitality

GARY PLATT

2021 was a monumental year for Gary Platt Manufacturing, with landmark innovations that helped our customers provide their guests with the most comfortable experiences ever in the casino, hospitality areas, and in office situations, said CEO Joe Esposito.

We created a new collection of performance casino seating for the Strip’s newest casino resort, Resorts World Las Vegas. Our design and engineering teams worked closely with Resorts World Las Vegas to create a unique collection – one where Gary Platt’s legendary, unsurpassed comfort meets ingenious designs with inspired innovations, revolutionary ergonomics, and details for the modern consumer.

Our Collection for Resorts World Las Vegas consists of four new models: Aurora for the main casino floor, Dakota for high-limit areas, Ezra for tables, and Zephyr, designed especially for Baccarat players. We recently made the collection available for all customers, and the response has been fantastic.

We were thrilled to finally deliver a longoverdue end-of-life notice to uncomfortable hospitality seating with the launch of our Sierra Nevada Hospitality line.

This extensive portfolio brings the unsurpassed comfort that we are known for to hospitality seating, charting a new course for the hospitality industry. Beyond function, chairs from Sierra Nevada Hospitality are highly customizable, from seat to back shape, leg design and color, fabrication, and materials. Sierra Nevada Hospitality has more than 100 different banquet, convention, bar, and restaurant seat designs available.

As part of the launch, we supplied nearly 15,000 stackable, banquetstyle chairs to Caesars Entertainment for its new Caesars Forum event space. Our design team achieved another milestone when our new Maximus office chair earned BIFMA x 5.11 certification for large occupant seating and passed BIFMA testing up to 500 pounds.

As we look to 2022, we will continue to innovate for our customers, paving new ways, keeping the tradition Gary Platt himself started when he visited a casino in Las Vegas in the 1960s and asked, “why is everyone standing?”

Here’s to a happy 2022!

Keeping it simple for success

HABANERO

Habanero’s impressive commercial performance over the past year has enabled us to reinforce our position as market leaders as we continue to grow globally, agreeing exciting operator deals with the likes of 888, Codere, Betway and LeoVegas.

The key to Habanero’s success throughout 2021 has been keeping things simple. From the final product all the way back to the internal team, it’s all about being as dedicated and efficient as possible without making things unnecessarily difficult. Everything we do is streamlined and we believe our partners know they’re getting the best without making things too complicated.

In recent months, we’ve been able to attend the SBC Summit Barcelona, iGB Live! in Amsterdam and most recently, SiGMA Malta, where we were able to catch up with old friends and interact with our network of operator partners.

We are recognised as leaders in how we support our players and partners, and we’re always available to assist, which helps us to really maximise our product performance and ensure that revenues are always ticking over.

Producing roughly one new release a month, with help from a workforce that is dedicated to delivering the very best user experience, we ensure that the maths being utilized is entirely original and delivers exciting experiences to players.

Technology also offers plenty of opportunities, which we already see reflected in the momentum and growth of gamification in the industry, influencing the recent launch of our revamped tournament and gamification widget “Up”, which has gone down a treat with partners and players alike.

Christmas is a great month for igaming, and we like to think that seasonal games are very much a signature part of our offering. Habanero is renowned for its Christmas and New Year-themed slots as they always perform strongly, especially Santa’s Village, which performs consistently well throughout the rest of the year.

To tie up the year and the New Year’s celebrations, we will be hosting a worldwide party to honour the launch of upcoming slot title, New Year’s Bash. Celebrations will be taking place in New York, London, Sydney, San Francisco, and Dubai, with fireworks and good music to entertain all those who participate.

Looking ahead to 2022, it’s all going to be about pushing our status in regulated markets, such as Holland, Belarus, Argentina, and Panama - they are all on our radar, as well as moves in plenty of other global jurisdictions as they continue to grow and come online.

Passing GLI evaluation with flying colors

JADE ENTERTAINMENT

As the world continues to adapt and embrace the so-called “new normal,” we are at the stage where technological advancement is taking off and it is no secret that the gaming industry is capitalizing on it.

Throughout the pandemic, we have seen an overwhelmingly positive response to remote gaming. And being one of the major players in the industry, JADE Entertainment and Gaming Technologies is constantly living up to the promise of delivering an improved personalized gaming experience.

With more than 10 major sports events happening right now, NBA and PBA ongoing, Jade SportsBet will only keep growing thanks to the retail outlets resuming operations as the cities open up and the mobile technology that allows players to enjoy remote play.

Just this month, Jade passed the Gaming Laboratories International (GLI-UK) evaluation with flying colors and received its GLI-33 certification for both verticals, SportsBet and Sabong. Following the accreditation, Jade will become more aggressive with its Sabong offering, introducing a shift in the betting market with exotic jackpots.

Jade is optimistic about the coming year, which is expected to be a year of product innovation and system upgrades. New payment gateways will be introduced giving players more options to enjoy an uninterrupted gaming experience.

While the business goal is to expand operations and attract new players, Jade is also committed to preserving the wellbeing of its patrons and has strengthened its Responsible Gaming campaign with self-exclusion tools maintaining its social responsibility.

While the country is leading to an election year, we are all looking forward to the post-Covid era and participating in the Asian Gaming Summit in Manila in March.

Putting customers first

JCM

As the JCM Global team looks back on 2021, our proudest achievements are what we have done for our customers, says Dave Kubajak, senior VP of sales, marketing and operations. Our creative and dedicated global engineering team released innovations that further helped our customers enhance their guests’ experience, increase efficiencies, and boost security.

This year we celebrated the world’s first floor-wide deployment of our landmark FUZION systems technology at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Sacramento at Fire Mountain and Nevada’s first floor-wide deployment at Resorts World Las Vegas.

After these wins, we were thrilled when FUZION received the 2021 Innovation Award from the G&L Gaming & Hospitality Annual Industry Awards, recognizing how, with FUZION, JCM again demonstrated original thinking in solving one or more business problems.

We were also excited to mark the public debut of our new ICB ASAP system at G2E. ICB ASAP brings robotic automation to the count room, enhances productivity, reduces human contact, boosts security, improves throughput, and increases reliability. It is the first and only automated secure asset processing solution available in the market, and we were honored when ICB ASAP was shortlisted in the Global Gaming Awards.

For 22 years, we have produced the AGEM/AGA Golf Classic as a fundraiser for the International Center for Responsible Gaming (ICRG). Thanks to the generous support of sponsors and players, the event was a huge success and raised $104,000.

Including this year’s total, the event has now raised more than $2.3 million for the ICRG and its important research into problem gambling. Turning our eyes to 2022, we will be helping customers of all sizes with their technology roadmap.

As a leader in the global gaming industry, we will double-down on our efforts to connect, listen, and partner with our customers, helping them to create a technology roadmap that will enhance the guest experience, increase efficiencies, and boost security today, tomorrow, and for years to come.

From all of us at JCM, best wishes for a successful 2022!

Going fishing with Gaming Arts in N. America

JUMBO

Gaming Arts is pleased to announce it has entered into a distribution partnership with Jumbo Technology Co.

Under this agreement, Gaming Arts will be the exclusive distributor for certain Jumbo casino games in North America. Headquartered in Taiwan, Jumbo has been a major force in the gaming space across Asia for over 25 years.

The first product to be launched is the amazing Ocean Phoenix multiplayer fishing game display at G2E 2021. This game has taken Asia by storm with game mechanics never before seen in North America.

The platform for Ocean Phoenix is the massive ARK-65 six-seater gaming cabinet.

“We believe the Ocean Phoenix fishing game will be in casinos, combining theme activities for every casino to enhance players’ entertainment experience.

We are very excited to partner with Gaming Arts and we are ready for the North America market,” according to Millie Chiang, marketing manager at Jumbo. “This is an exciting announcement for Gaming Arts,” said Mike Dreitzer, CEO of Gaming Arts.

“We are honored to partner with our friends at Jumbo, as we bring their product into the North American market. The Ocean Phoenix game is an extraordinarily fun and unique game that is unlike any other, so we are eager to get customer feedback,” Dreitzer concluded.

MGS highlights industry concerns, promotes information exchange

PARADISE

Although 2021 continues to be a challenging and turbulent year, with the evolution of Covid-19 and the recent emergence of the Omicron variant, Paradise Entertainment is pleased to showcase some of our finest achievements of the year:

Participation in MGS

In 2021, the MGS event was organised by the Macau Gaming Equipment Manufacturers Association (MGEMA) and was held online on 17th November.

MGS is dedicated to promoting industry development, with its unique platform of showcasing business and listening to voices of concern. Through MGS, industries can seek innovation and explore business recovery with a focus on higher risk-preventing capabilities and diversification. As one of the leading gaming equipment suppliers, Paradise actively participated in and contributed to the event.

Jay Chun, chairman and managing director of Paradise and chairman of MGEMA, said: “MGS continues to be a profound and professional entertainment show, which provides the latest insights and networking and is one of the “one stop” entertainment business hubs across the continent.

We believe that networking, communication and information exchange is necessary for the development of the industry under all circumstances, which is why we insisted upon holding MGS in summit format as an industry platform this year.”

MGS focuses on the most relevant issues during these unprecedented times, from economic topics such as the Digital RMB, the Hengqin Deep Cooperation Zone and electronic payments to up-to-date gaming issues such as public gaming policy, tourism and business recovery, sports betting and casino concessions.”

North America slot market debut

Our recently self-developed slot machines were characterized by popular games which are straight-forward, simple and perfectly suited for high denomination areas with non-progressive, standalone progressive and linked progressive options.

Since the debut and the launch of our self-developed slot machines in the overseas market in late 2020, we have received positive feedback, contract orders and reorders from customers. Our group is dedicated to continuous innovation in the gaming equipment industry using top-notch and innovative technology to create more good gaming products that align well with casinos of mass market worldwide.

Solid LMG performance

In view of the increasing awareness of health issues, we were delighted that the distinctive features of our innovative flagship patented products, the Live Multi-Game (LMG) machines, have continued to perform well.

LMG provides gaming patrons a more private, spacious and safe environment which is well aligned with the specific safety measures and requirements imposed by the relevant authority to maintain a safe distance between gaming tables, and between gaming machines.

The outperformance of the LMG has highlighted the importance of taking the prevailing health issues into account when designing and developing gaming products as well as on casino management strategy, where technology can facilitate such attainment.

Our group will continue to invest in research and development and other costs on electronic gaming equipment and systems. We believe such an investment strategy will create a solid platform for our future growth in both Macau and the global markets in the long run.

The fun has only just begun

PLAY’N GO

What a year it’s been for Play’n GO, well, for all of us. Looking back at the events of the past couple of years, as much as it has been a time of chaos and contempt, it’s also given us a chance to slow down and take a second to think, reflect, and re-envision – what is it we’re really doing here? Our conclusion – we’re here to entertain you.

We want to do more than release a record number of premium games each year (we’ll still do that too). But we’re entertainers first and foremost; fun is at the heart of everything we do, say, and create. And this couldn’t be truer of the games we’ve got lined up for the new year. At Play’n GO we’re renowned for our rich narratives, dimensional characters, and epic audiovisuals, but there’s more to the story than plucking an idea out of thin air.

We research. Take Tale of Kyubiko, which is due to be released at the very beginning of the year. Our game designers have delved into the realms of Japanese mythology to develop this beautiful game. The game centres around the goddess Inari.

Locals share stories of a mischievous spirit that appears to late-night travellers and coaxes them to her lair. But who is this wily creature? This is the illusive Inari, a shapeshifting goddess who can take on the form of both a human and a fox.

This kind of attention to detail fuels every game we make – and we mean every game. We’re excited for the year ahead. You can expect edge-of-your-seat fun, unmatched quality, and an array of games that are in a class of their own.

Watch this space – it’s going to be a good, no, a great year.

Covid drives stand-alone ETGs

SEGA SAMMY

In these challenging times, with the ongoing fight against COVID-19, SEGA SAMMY CREATION has built a strong presence in the Asian market with our flexible configuration standalone ETG “Baccarat Maximum Fortune”.

It features a Quick Result Display function that allows players to quickly see the result of games without placing bets and an exciting Card Squeeze function.

“Even during the turbulence of the pandemic, we have seen promising performance from our Baccarat games,” said Masahiro Kurosaki, Managing Director at SEGA SAMMY CREATION.

“With its advantage of being a stand-alone ETG, many operators easily achieve social distancing requirements by banking in creative ways.

This allows more product to be activated and that maximizes performance.” “There is no doubt that during these times, player preferences have shifted to playing stand-alone ETGs from table games for the purpose of keeping physical distance from other players,” explained Kurosaki.

“We have also seen a lot of success with operators placing our machines nearby live baccarat pits to provide a lower price-point option.” “We expect the demand of ETGs is going to grow, especially when the COVID restrictions are eased in Asia.

We take this circumstance as an opportunity to bring our ETG series with all its unique functions into the various Asian markets next year.”

See: https://www.segasammycreation. com/baccarat-maximumfortune/en/

Christmas comes early

PRAGMATIC PLAY

Pragmatic Play, a leading content provider to the iGaming industry, continued to go above and beyond for its clients over the festive season, as with the Christmas Operator Tournament that ran from the 8th to the 19th of December.

The free-to-play tournament was open to employees of Pragmatic Play partners and the powerhouse provider gave away 100 cash prizes, worth a total of €100,000, in what was arguably the largest operator tournament of its kind.

Of all participants, the one who got the highest total win while playing Christmas Big Bass Bonanza took home an early Christmas present, a massive top prize of €50,000 in cash! Prizes were distributed to the top 100 players based on the total win amount in descending order from highest to lowest.

Players were able to get a feeling of friendly and fair competition as their overall position on the leaderboard is visible on the right side of the screen. Players could easily access the tournament as part of a simple registration process and the entire flow of the tournament was smooth and seamless, highlighting the resources and effort that Pragmatic Play put into going the extra mile for its clients.

The Christmas Operator Tournament is an extension of Pragmatic Play’s free-to-play Social Tournaments, which run throughout the year.

By the end of 2021 Pragmatic Play will have given away €130,000 to operators. Yossi Barzely, Chief Business Development Officer at Pragmatic Play said, “We’re delighted to deliver an operator tournament on such a large scale.

We pride ourselves on being a pleasure to do business with and hope this giveaway can bring some festive cheer to the employees of our valued partners. Alongside these Social Tournaments, there is also the player focused Drops and Wins promotion, where we give away €1,000,000 each month to players in a move that massively aids operators’ retention strategies.

These innovative promotions represent our mission to be the provider that every operator wants to work with.”

Looking forward to adding table games

SIMPLEPLAY

Slot supplier SimplePlay has launched a handful of excellent games in 2021. In the year ahead, there will be some major changes to the platform supplier. To warm up the market in the winter season, an Asia-themed slot game will be released in 1Q22.

It will feature a goat-like mythical creature that protects Asian cities from fire disasters. With a great team of artists and product developers who are very familiar with Asian culture, this game brings ancient Asian cities back to life, and of course the mythical creature and the fire beast. Free Games are triggered by collecting a required amount of Scatters, either of the mythical creature, or the fire beast.

After the slot game, SimplePlay will launch a product that will be a milestone in the company’s timeline. Table games, which are a brand new game type for the supplier, will be launched. SimplePlay’s ambitious product managers and diligent developers have been eager to bring casino tables, gorgeous dealers, and glamourous lobbies to the platform since the establishment of the brand.

After thorough market research, the product team has worked out the maths and product development. Together with the developers, the team worked out the game flow from a technological perspective.

It has adopted encryption to make sure every game is played fair and square. Meanwhile, designers have worked hard on graphics and UI design, so usability is maximised while effort is minimised. It is truly a oneof-a-kind masterpiece compared to existing counterparts in the market. SimplePlay’s table games are scheduled to be released in 2Q22.

Baccarat, the king of Asian table games, will be the first to meet the market. The e-Game Lobby will support functions like avatars and major wins. It will be followed by more popular table games, and of course awesome features will be added to the main game of Baccarat. This has to be one of the most anticipated products in 2022.

Kascada launch an Asia highlight

SCIENTIFIC GAMES

One of the highlights for Scientific Games in Asia in 2021 is the launch of the new Kascada cabinet, the company’s first fully international cabinet and the most-awaited game theme, Coin Combo.

Built by an award-winning research & development team, with members located across the globe, Kascada boasts an ultrahigh-definition 4K graphics display on a 43-inch, innovative curved monitor and features an exciting new lighting package.

To continue with the tradition and culture of player-favorite games, Kascada is launching in Asia with Coin Combo. This game theme is a progression of the internationally successful Duo Fu Duo Cai and Jin Ji Bao Xi families of games with some of the familiar elements that players love, including the Fu Babies, wealth pots, free games and jackpot features with new and exciting enhancements.

Initially launched in North America earlier this year, Kascada and Coin Combo will now be available for players in Asia. Kascada and Coin Combo are set to hit Asian casino floors in late 2021.

For additional information on Scientific Games’ latest cabinet and game innovations, contact your account manager today or visit scientificgames.com/ games.asia

Expanding after IPO

SPORTRADAR

Guided by its vision to enable more immersive experiences for sports fans and bettors, Sportradar, the leading provider of technological solutions to the global sports betting industry, has had a year packed with significant milestones.

Sportradar successfully launched its IPO on NASDAQ (SRAD) in September, underscoring its commitment to innovative products and solutions that drive fan engagement and propel the digital transformation of the sports ecosystem.

Following its public listing, basketball legend Michael Jordan increased his investment in Sportradar and joined as a special advisor to its Board of Directors. During the year, Sportradar expanded its industry offerings with several acquisitions including the leading US college sports data and video analytics provider Synergy Sports and the leading cricket data and content provider, InteractSport.

These acquisitions are part of the company’s efforts to provide new product and data capture capabilities to partners and will form a new business vertical called Sports Solutions from January onwards.

The focus on development of new technology also continued at pace with Sportradar conducting trials at Wimbledon of its new Computer Vision system, enabling the capture of thousands more data points on any match. Reinforcing its position as an industry leader in sports betting, Sportradar also signed several multi-year global deals which provided opportunities for the organisation to bring value to the marketplace with wide-ranging products, solutions and services.

These are partnerships with leading leagues and governing bodies across some of the world’s most popular sports including the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) as its first-ever exclusive betting data provider, won after a competitive tender for the most bet-on sport in the world; an eight-year extended agreement with the National Basketball Association (NBA) - in addition to two remaining years, which gives the company 10 years to develop technological solutions for the sport; appointment as the data and streaming rights partner of International Cricket Council (ICC), the governing body of the world’s second most popular sport with 2.5 billion fans globally; extension of its long-standing relationship with the International Tennis Federation (ITF), as well as a long-term partnership with the National Hockey League (NHL).

As one of the world leaders in sports integrity solutions, Sportradar offered its proven betmonitoring solution, the Universal Fraud Detection System, free of charge from October, making the system accessible to any sports federation or league in the world that want to use it.

Opening doors in new markets

SPINTEC

Another challenging year is behind us as the aftershocks of the pandemic are still impeding regular operations in the gaming industry.

Despite the challenging circumstances, Spintec managed to surpass all expectations and make some important strides ahead as one of the most important ETG suppliers in the world. The year 2021 marks a historical moment for Spintec in two extremely important markets. Based on their partnership with Mascot SFM, Spintec has successfully achieved certification in France.

This opens the doors to the largest casino market in Europe and supports the objective of major growth in 2022. What is more, Spintec’s exclusive long-term distribution agreement with Dynamic Gaming Solutions has expanded their presence in the USA and enabled a presence in eleven US states, adding three more states next year. Spintec are pleased to report that they have achieved several new and upgraded certifications this year.

Among the most important are the ones in Switzerland, Macau, France, and Oklahoma. Major software upgrades were certified in the Netherlands and Belgium, while the latest versions of Baccarat and Sic Bo were certified in the Philippines.

Game enhancements also received upgraded GLI certifications, like the Crown and Hotspot and the Multilevel progressive game for roulette, Sic Bo with win-multipliers, and the attractive new side bets for Baccarat and Blackjack.

The year 2021 also brought installations in several extremely prestigious locations like Swiss Casinos and Grand Casino Monte-Carlo, and a first installation in Canada. Spintec has also launched a variety of new games, which bring more excitement to existing games like bet multipliers and progressive jackpots for Roulette and Sic Bo, new Baccarat squeeze features, and a hugely exciting, entirely new and immersive game Wheel of Diamonds.

Opportunities in the post-junket world

TRAFFGEN

To repeat a phrase that has been said many times, by many people, 2021 has been a challenge. The challenges have been felt far and wide and have touched everyone personally, professionally and reshaped many aspects of the gaming industry.

As a business, Traffgen Asia has been providing our client base, which includes Wynn Group Macau, all Melco Properties in Macau, Naga Corporation in Cambodia and Hann Group in the Philippines, with cutting-edge, AI-driven technology that empower hosts. It provides operators with tools to manage and measure staff accountability and provides security & retention tools with real-time targeted marketing in-property, in real time.

The highlights for 2021 have been based around the fact that although all markets we are supplying our services to experienced severe downturns, Traffgen Asia was able to retain and extend all contracts.

NOT being the typical technology supplier and sticking to our core offering of developing and supporting our clients with on-going development and improved support systems, which allows operators to change as and when the business environment changes, without high costs or long turn-around times, has allowed us to meet all the challenges 2021 has presented to the business.

As 2021 closes out, we are continuing to pivot our business as markets change and evolve and we believe 2022 will present significant opportunities to expand our presence, as markets like Macau move away from the junket model and into mass market and direct VIP management. In today’s and tomorrow’s operating environments, I believe, the new norm is being different.

Traffgen approaches markets and operators very differently and has built success through our different methods, in many markets around the world.

If 2022 is the year you need to step outside of the norm, please contact Chris Rogers: chris@traffgenasia.com

Esports power ahead

ULTRAPLAY

2021 was a great year for UltraPlay. It was a year full of new challenges but huge opportunities and big achievements too. The hard work of the team and the long professional experience were rewarded with a series of awards.

The team grabbed its second IGA Esports Betting Software of the Year Award and The WIG Diversity Awards in the Best Use of Technology category. Another great recognition for UltraPlay’s efforts was its first SBC Award Latinoamérica – Esports Supplier of the Year. All these prizes are proof of the team’s efforts to make its eSports product even better.

And indeed, Ultraplay’s esports product is having a record-breaking year in terms of profitability due to strong trading results in top-tier tournaments played in League of Legends, Dota 2 and CSGO. While focusing on product performance, the team has also managed to add a few new titles to its games portfolio, which now involve Wild Rift, PUBG Mobile and Age of Empires IV.

The Asian market is well known for its focus on mobile games and by adding Wild Rift and PUBG Mobile, Ultraplay is following the trend in the gaming industry. The initial player response has been very encouraging, both in terms of engagement and as an acquisition tool for new players. Ultraplay’s focus for 2022 will shift towards adding more game titles in its esports portfolio, but this time from game genres that the betting industry has never looked into before. Esports’ popularity will continue to grow in 2022.

In Asia, esports are deeply connected to people’s lifestyle and they spend a lot of their time playing games. That’s one of the reasons why there is a great interest in UltraPlay’s esports product. This is a trend that is expected to continue in the following years.

Perfect Pay Baccarat debuts at RWLV, more milestones ahead

WDTS

WDTS achieved significant milestones in 2021 despite the continued uncertainties in gaming. An important achievement was the first North American implementation for WDTS’s Perfect Pay Baccarat platform at Resorts World Las Vegas.

The full-floor implementation includes WDTS-supplied components for RFID gaming chips, chip trays, table game bet tracking, and dealer and casino cage efficiencies.

Neil Crossan, Chief Commercial Officer at Walker Digital, called the Resorts World opening a “high point,” adding, “We expect to continue expansion in North America while adding regionally important features such as cashless support and advanced AML capabilities.” Additional momentum was generated by Beach Point Capital’s $35M investment in WDTS, reinforcing the importance of automated table games systems as a critical capability for table games operators.

CEO Stephen Moore observed “Ten years ago, WDTS was one of only a handful of suppliers talking about table automation. Today, these products are an established and necessary part of the casino floor.”

2022 will be an exciting year starting in January with the release of Perfect Pay 2.0 This version features a lightweight, scalable architecture suitable for casinos of any size. The 2.0 Perfect Pay platform also introduces a new RFID bet tracking design that takes our feature rich system to all other blackjack and poker-style games.

With this innovation, the operator has the flexibility to configure all games and side bets with no changes to the table game equipment. Perfect Pay’s full-floor coverage will be complimented by the release of Perfect Cage 1.0, also coming in 2022, and extending the operational efficiencies and security of Perfect Pay into cage operations.

Emily Io, SVP Sales at Walker Digital, is ready to move forward, “The New Year is a great opportunity to introduce these new product lines to our existing and prospective customers – see you at ICE in February!”