SG GAMES Q&A
The Bright African Future for Scientific Games Wavell Alexander, Senior Director & General Manager South Africa shares his insights on the successes, challenges and positive future outlook of operating in the exciting African market, along with Scientific Games’ commitment to Africa. Gaming for Africa spoke to Wavell in this exclusive interview. Tell us a little about the Scientific Gam s in SA. What opportunities does this market bring? Scientific Games is an industry-leading provider of gaming and technology solutions across the world. We are an innovator of creative content setting new standards in the gaming industry by leading the way in design, manufacturing, and distribution of premium gaming content and hardware. South Africa in particular has always been a key market for us. After 24 years of operating in this space, we continue to thrive across 22 countries currently within SubSaharan Africa, with more room for opportunity and progression on the horizon. The reason we have so much success in South Africa is that the entire SG product offering is available to the market, from EGMs, to progressive table gaming, and slots systems, we offer a
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diverse portfolio of content and hardware to help operators profit from this vibrant marketplace. Additionally, we are hosting some of the world’s most popular games including the Duo Fu Duo Cai™ Golden Relics™ and 5 Treasures™ in the bingo market. What challenges does this market bring? The African market is continuing to face challenges due to the Covid pandemic. Under normal trading conditions, some casinos and bingo venues operate on a 24-hour basis, but curfew restrictions in most locations and limited product operation have stopped this. For example, in some venues only 65-75% of EGMs or EBTs are open to play, which limits the opportunities available. Added to this the restrictions on travel to South Africa have impacted the number of tourists visiting casinos in the last 18 months. However, despite the challenges that are in play right now, we remain
positive about the industry’s recovery in South Africa over the next couple of years. SG is focused on doing everything it can to support our partners and use the experiences in other markets to work with our partners as well as new operators and leverage from the SG teams experience and proven product performance our portfolio offers. Do you see the relationship changing between SG and its customers in SA due to the disruptive effect of Covid? We’ve been offering support to operators throughout COVID and will continue to do so in the years to come. Our dedicated sales and technical field team based in Johannesburg continue to work closely with operators. 2021 really was about supporting our partners and Drive Recovery through various SG initiatives, which provides placement of product with flexible commercial terms to all our South African and African operators, allowing them to keep operating top performing games on their floors despite reductions in capacity. We are thrilled about how the 2021 programme of work has further strengthened our partnerships in the African market.
