Ezugi: Localisation Key to Unlocking Africa

Ezugi is a part of the Evolution Group, specializing in live dealer games with a strong focus on its retail fixed odds offering, especially now as the world starts to adapt to the new normal and retail is opening up again.

THE COMPANY has been at the forefront of the tech-driven new wave of live dealer over the past few years, allowing it to grow quickly across global regulated markets. Ezugi plans to repeat this success in the fastest growing gaming market in the world, Africa. Ezugi has already seen huge growth in South Africa and is confident it can grow further in this market whilst expanding into Africa.

Of course, a continent composed of 54 countries, each with their own diverse ethnicities, cultures and languages cannot really be said to be ‘one market’. That’s why Ezugi believes that understanding these cultural differences and offering products that employ localised content is the key to success.

It has always been in Ezugi’s DNA to tailor content to each new territory that its clients wish to target. It’s never about ‘one size fits all’. With an ever-growing portfolio of games, Ezugi presides over a network of global studios – currently in Europe, Asia, and Latin America - each with a different vibe and its own localised look and feel. Future plans include the establishment of local studios in Africa, in order to ensure that Ezugi brings a local flavour to each region it enters.

It prides itself on its state-of-the-art studios, using the latest equipment and professional dealers to ensure the best customer experience. The company is committed to the continuous improvement and development of its suite of products to better serve its clients, and also to understanding the needs and betting habits of the end-consumer.

Last year, Ezugi localised in a record number of new languages, including Hindi and Tamil. This was in response to a huge influx of requests from its clients for games popular with the Indian subcontinent. The release of these games created a buzz among operators about new markets they could explore in the subcontinent. But it also presented new content that has proved to be attractive to player segments in other markets too.

Interestingly, Indian-themed content, such as Bet on Teen Patti and Andar Bahar - are currently doing well in African territories. South African operators have housed these Indian themed games in the “Bollywood” lobby, and this has given then added traction. So have fast-paced games like speed roulette.

“Throughout Ezugi’s history the strategy has been to adopt a “First to Market” approach, working alongside regulators and testing houses when a new market opportunity arises. It is not always simple, and you do need a lot of patience whilst you wait for the regulator to give the goahead, but it can also present the biggest reward in terms of market recognition and customer adoption.” said Kfir Kugler, CEO at Ezugi. Recently, Ezugi completed the migration of all existing game portfolio to Ezugi 3.0 HTML5 technology. All new games are now released in this excellent standard, delivering Ezugi’s rich, quality design and intuitive, classical user journey to operator and end-user alike.

Ezugi also offers retail fixed odds betting solutions, which will shortly triple in size in terms of games offered. These allow customers to play lottery-style games, which are so popular in Africa, in a live environment, letting them share in the excitement and thrill of betting alongside other players, and watching in real time as their numbers are drawn.

Meanwhile, the company plans on working closely with land-based operators in Africa, helping them service their players using the company’s EPOS (Electronic Point-of-Sale) solution.

This connects terminals within an operator’s estate to the studios and tables via a closed-circuit system. All aspects of the EPOS are managed by Ezugi’s OMS, a web-based interface management system.

“It’s an excellent time for land-based operations to set up B2C using a proven business model and we are ready to provide our OMS platform to anyone that quickly wants to take advantage,” said Kfir Kugler.

“All of our systems have been built to support safe gaming standards, and we constantly review our gaming systems to ensure that they comply with all regulatory measures. This is based on our view that integrity is the foundation to building a successful business and mutually beneficial partnerships.”