State and private: Successful development partnership in online gaming

At the beginning of 2023, Germany's first state-run online casino ‘Die-Spielbank.de’ went live. This was preceded by one and a half years of intensive development work – from the initial idea and programming to the integration of the games and the launch. The state operator, the Sächsische Spielbanken, managed this major project together with the two companies NOVO INTERACTIVE from Germany and Alteatec from Malta.

NOVO INTERACTIVE is one of the first private gaming providers with a German permit for virtual slot gaming. Alteatec, in turn, is a leading developer and provider of game management and portal systems for online gaming. Both belong to the Austrian NOVOMATIC AG group, one of the largest gaming technology groups in the world.

“The land-based venues of the Saxon casinos in Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz are now complemented by a fourth location – virtual and accessible from all over Germany,” says Frank Schwarz, Managing Director Sächsische Spielbanken. “Thanks to the excellent cooperation with NOVO INTERACTIVE and Alteatec, we have created one of the most attractive platforms in the German market.” He emphasises that the complete fulfilment of the strict requirements of the State Treaty on Gambling was a top priority.

“The partnership of Sächsische Spielbanken with NOVO INTERACTIVE and Alteatec is a model for success. We are very proud that, together with our sister company Alteatec, we were able to accompany the development of the first state online casino with our expertise and know-how. What this cooperation has accomplished is a very strong basis for any future development,” says Oliver Bagus, Managing Director NOVO INTERACTIVE.

“We aimed to bring a modern, smart platform to the market that meets the high demands of guests – starting with userfriendly and secure registration, the verification of customer data and, of course, a nice, large game portfolio,” adds Kurt Böhm, Head of Online Casino Operations at Sächsische Spielbanken. At ‘Die-Spielbank.de’, more than 300 virtual slot games from renowned game developers are currently waiting for guests. The number of games is expected to grow to some 600 in the months to come. Many titles come from the portfolio of NOVOMATIC’s Digital Gaming and Entertainment Division, Greentube.

The requirements for the development of the state online platform were extensive. Many processes had to be designed, programmed and embedded on the platform over the course of one and a half years – for the desktop version as well as for smartphone gaming. This includes a secure, transparent registration and verification of gaming guests as well as the integration of different payment and gaming providers. Special attention was also being paid to the user-friendly platform design.

The developers also embedded numerous active and passive tools for player protection and the protection of minors. For example, Alteatec created complex technical interfaces to connect the online casino to the nationwide OASIS player blocking system and the central database LUGAS with its player limit and activity database. An integrated AI software also provides players with indications of their own gaming behaviour.

“All these aspects are crucial to making a platform attractive and secure for the player. This is, where we benefited greatly from NOVO INTERACTIVE and Alteatec's experience in the field of i-Gaming. Kudos to them: they implemented our requirements perfectly,” says Kurt Böhm.