CONTENTS
LEADER Q2 REVIEW
FEATURES 30 Betway interview Director of marketing and operations Anthony Werkman explains the strategy behind the new kid on the block 35 Rev Share deals under fire Revenue sharing deals are the foundation of the gambling ecosystem, but not everyone benefits 45 Novomatic interview Group CTO and Greentube CEO Thomas Graf unravels the mysteries behind Novomatic’s 188 companies 51 GVC gets down to business at bwin.party GVC COO Shay Segev and team on the tricky task of reviving a fallen giant
ANALYSIS & OPINION 4 Snapshot Top stories, top quotes, top deals and deal of the quarter 7 People Realistic Games, William Hill, Nektan and more 12 Technology & new products GameTech and the second coming of skill games; plus new products from Inspired, Gamesys, Betfair and more 16 Marketing Ladbrokes marketing chief Kristof Fahy; Q&A with Betcade’s David Chang 21 Legal Brexit, world regulatory update and more 78 And another thing... Joe Brennan of FastFantasy
FINANCE Q1 2016 57 The GIQ 20 Listed operators’ online results 71 The Fantini 15 US casinos’ Q1 results 76 The GI Stock Index Q2 2016
Steve Hoare
E D I TO R
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL ikes! An industry reels from the impact of Brexit, plus fresh regulations in Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and elsewhere. While Europe’s biggest market is shrouded in uncertainty, the future of the German gambling market remains stuck in its continuing four-year limbo. Doom, gloom, woe… Or not? While gambling industry shares fell all over the world in the wake of the UK’s referendum result, Ladbrokes, Playtech and 888, to take just three examples, were rising again by early July – if not quite up to the levels of 23 June. As Deloitte pointed out in a postBrexit report, the leisure industry (particularly in the UK) has been remarkably resilient in recent years. There is a very real shift in consumer habits from owning stuff to doing stuff. That includes betting and gambling. While vast swathes of the marketing industry will tell you that the 21st-century consumer wants experiences that enrich their lives, they also want thrills and spills. Gambling falls neatly into that category. Gaming Intelligence is approaching its 10th anniversary. Since 2006, the industry has suffered the closure of the world’s biggest gambling market (the US) and the biggest recession since the 1920s. Yet
remarkably, many of the companies we covered in our early days are the same ones we cover today. Every operator has had its ups and downs in that time. William Hill was in the doldrums, then it was the industry darling and now it’s in the doldrums once again. Ladbrokes was a basket case but now seems to be emerging from the ashes. 888 was a pioneer, then its share price and profits spiralled downhill for two years before it emerged triumphant in a five-year winning streak. Betfair was another pioneer that hit hard times before re-emerging under new management. While Big Economic Events unarguably play a role in determining revenue, profits and share prices, our world tends to plough on regardless, shaped more by management decisions and company culture than by forces beyond our control. Of course, long-term economic trends will claim livelihoods. The ever-declining number of casinos in Atlantic City is proof positive of this, but the world of online gambling is still so young, so under-developed and so niche that its future can only be rosy for the majority. So let’s leave the uncertainty and pessimism to the politicians and financial traders, and get back to business. sah@gamingintelligence.com
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EDITOR IN CHIEF Bobby Mamudi bmm@gamingintelligence.com
STAFF WRITERS Kio Dawson k.dawson@gamingintelligence.com
ADVERTISING & SUBSCRIPTIONS Omer Uziely omer@gamingintelligence.com
EDITOR Steve Hoare sah@gamingintelligence.com
Robin Harrison rhm@gamingintelligence.com
www.GamingIntelligence.com
SUB-EDITOR Camilla Cary-Elwes info@thecopyeditor.co.uk ART EDITOR Alan Bingle alan@forty6design.com
GIQ Q2 REVIEW
Michelle Barber m.barber@gamingintelligence.com CONTRIBUTORS Joe Brennan, Caroline Parry
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