Bingo And Skill Games Kick Off Day Two
Published: Thursday, May 18, 2006 Online-Casinos.com
BINGO AND SKILL GAMES KICK OFF DAY TWO
By industry standards the numbers have a way to go, but bingo and skill gaming
have plenty of potential
"Online Bingo is not your grandmother's game," said Parlay
Entertainment's Andrew Branscombe as day two of the 8th Global Interactive
Gaming Summit and Expo (GIGSE) went into high gear with panels discussing
bingo and skill gaming.
He was referring to the different player demographic online where women in the
25 to 45 year age group dominate an onbline bingo market worth $200 million a
year that attracts 5 million players, 75 percent of them from the USA, 15 percent
from the UK and the remainder in a wide range of countries with different cultures
but a love for the 800 year old game.
With up to 4 000 concurrent players on his companys network, the Parlay Executive
said that there was still good room for growth, and that big and well known brands
like Virgin Gala and Party Gaming were making their presence felt
in the sector.
Electronic bingo devices were being increasingly seen in land halls, which could
be useful in preparing the transition of growing numbers of land bingo players
to the online version. Big tournaments were now becoming more frequent....some
paying out almost a million dollars in a significant escalation of business from
earlier tourney prizes of around $1 000. And whilst lifetime player values were
not at casino or poker room levels, they were improving.
"The space is not yet heavily competitive, and there has been little penetration
of markets outside the UK and USA," he said, adding that up to 40 percent
of sites were still free play only.
Doing a little crystal ball gazing, Brunscombe said that the versatility of the
bingo module would continue, being suitable for standalone, plug-in and network
applicationsd. Big, linked coss-site progressive jackpots as practised in land
bingo would evolve along with better technology and some industry consolidation.
1 Gaming president Daniel Kajouie largely supported Brunscombe's
assessment, saying that bingo was an ideal addition to casino sites and had solid
potential. There was a strong element of the community in the games, it was exciting
to play and socially acceptable.
Dermot Smurfit's Skill Games panel featured a number of very experienced
executives in the sector. Smurfit, the marketing guru at Game Account in
the UK led a definition of skill gaming as games where the player should feel
that skill plays a real role playing and winning against others. His company had
introduced Gin Rummy, Backgammon and even a form of P2P Blackjack with some early
success.
Mahjong Mania panelist Ian Sherrington revealed that his company
has signed a number of major provider deals for this highly popular Asian game,
including Microgaming, where it was believed that Vegas Partners Lounge
would probably pioneer the new addition.
Richard Sweet of Funtech said his company now had 25 million users on the
books, and that efficient ranking technology was important to ensure that players
were fairly matched or they would move on. Tourneys were active, and his typical
demographic was a 35+ middle income American female, although demographics could
shift dependent on game.
Newcomer due to launch soon in collaboration with Bet & Win was GamArena.
Andrew Pelger said this mainly Scandinavian targeted venture would try
to attract competitive males for its P2P gaming and that tourneys and several
innovations had been part of the extensive development process.
When it came to looking ahead, Eberhard Durrschmid of the Austrian company
Green Tube said that in Europe there were differing cultural and traditional
game differences, so localisation was important.
The panelists were unanimous in saying that the sector needed to prove its economic
viability and publicise the advantages of offering the wide range of games that
were now available and essentially legal. Revenues were thought to be doubling
year on year but had not yet reached the levels of other forms of online gaming.
There were ongoing technology improvements to safeguard the players against hackers
and robot player and these would continue to be developed to assure players of
fair games.
One of the most spectacular addresses at the conference, thanks to some dynamic
digital video backing was from the world's biggest TV program producer Endemol,
working through subsidiary Victoria Real. Manager Brian MacSweeney
used a supersized screen to full advantage to showcase how innovative use of mass-entertainment
techniques can be imaginatively deployed to draw the mass market to online gambling.
This was really something different, using TV reward shows and online versions
to increase excitement and participation through cross-selling and sheer entertainment.
MacSweeney's comapny has already done outstanding work with progressive companies
like Ladbrokes Poker and live play betting on The Gaming Club's new
sportsbook, and a new division of Victoria Real has been started to further
develop this exciting new approach to getting more players. The 12 episode Ladbrokes
Flash tutorial is worth seeing.
Other sessions of specialised interest on Day 2 dealt with weighty legal, taxation,
sovereignty and advertising issues affecting the industry.
The Expo part of GIGSE opened late in the morning with 130 exhibitors,
an increase over last year's 90. All the big names were there except, suprisingly
Cryptologic-Wagerlogic.
The development teams at Microgaming are clearly still going flat out and
CEO Roger Raatgever said that regular monthly multi game releases would
continue, offering players the benefit of a wide choice embracing different game
genres. Strengthening the central Microgaming brand, the company has brought its
progressives products together under the Microgaming Progressive Network
banner, and the old Prima brand now becomes Microgaming Poker Network.
Good news from the Alderney jurisdiction is that the MGS software has been
thoroughly tested and approved to that jurisdiction's stringent standards, making
the software probably the most tested on the Internet (it is also eCOGRA-approved
and continuously monitored for fairness)
Rival, the new software kid on the block with the innovative and popular
interactive, or i-slots equipping four online casinos belonging to the
Curacao registered The 400 Group was making a splash with human versions
of its virtual story characters. The newly appointed CEO Stephen Padveen
says his company is very well funded by parent Black Chip and that he is
gathering a team of top quality people to ensure that Support activities are professionally
run and that games development continues apace - 2 years of preparation went into
the turnkey software and games. Padvbeen is in the industry for the long haul
and is determined that both his company and his licensees should operate to best
industry practice standards.
Playtech as usual had a large and impressive stand, and told us that their
promise at the ICE show in January to deliver 3 to 4 new games every month had
been kept and would continue. The company is hitting its stride after a successful
London IPO and recently signed up the Hard Rock Casino.
It's perhaps a sign of the times as the industry matures, but there was a noticeable
presence of anti-fraud and ID verification companies received plenty of
attention from visitors as these new products were impressively demonstrated.
Iovation's device-based ieSnare offers a comprehensive, flexible
and scaleable product that VP Operations and founder Molly O'Hearn
is clearly proud of and with good cause.
New to the gambling industry but already widely experienced in banking and other
business sectors is Idology from Atlanta, Georgia. President and CEO John
Dancu told us that his online checking and verification system has
over 4 000 data sources including public databases, although credit bases are
eschewed. With powerful cross-reference capability and the inclusion of knowledge-based
question information the product is likely to be popular.
Global age and identification verifier 192 Player-ID was also attracting
attention for its fast, real-time action using a wide range of independent databases
internationally. Citadel Commerce is one of the firm's clients.
Getting back to the software providers, Boss Media has been busy since
our last interview with them at ICE in January. The affable Marketing Head Eric
Matsgard told us that the company has been working hard to develop 15 to
20 brand news Flash games to retire the older Java offerings, probably this
summer. The company has signed a longterm licensing agreement for poker and casino
games with Gibrlatar-based white label company St Minver, and has experienced
remarkable success with its poker venture at government owned Svenske Spel
Poker - in six weeks the player signups are exceeding that of Scandinavian
giant Unibet. Work with the Swedish TV show BingoLotto has also
progressed well. Boss is especially pleased with the reception its launch this
week of a totally new interface and navigation upgrade received. Access steps
have been reduced from 18 steps to 4, and the layout and graphics are outstanding.
2 new games accompanied the launch.
Boss Media was always complimented on its graphics, but many delegates were saying
that the PKD.com poker firm has surpassed it with animated avatars, extraordinaryily
sharp graphics and swooping, dynamic camera angles that bring the game to life.
The large screen demonstration stopped visitors in their tracks and the site at
Pok3d.com was picking up some heavy action. Owned by Codecom Limited
the company is based in Limassol, Cyprus.
Gambling Federation was present and promoting it's association with the
workmanlike poker software and network from Tribeca Tables. The recently
released dog show slot "Best of Show" has been popular and more new
games are being developed for the sumnmer months in Europe.
Orbis Openbet was pulling the crowds in with the sharp 'n scary graphics
and sound effects on their slot Heaven and Hell. And therte arte new games
on the way including Backgammon. Something like 26 Flash games in the casino suite
will be launched shortly.
Net Entertainment, the successful Swedish provider that is now a standalone
firm in the Cherry group is celebrating its 10th anniversary in the business this
year, and new developments showcased in January are now operational.
Rounding off a busy day, with several important sites left to visit tomorrow,
Online-Casinos.com & InfoPowa attended two interesting presentations over
the lunch period. In Online Casino Management 101 a big crowd listened
to Casinomeister's Bryan Bailey giving tips on how to handle online casino
issues in a professional and ethical manner. As Bailey commented, "None
of this stuff is rocket science, and yet we so often see online casinos infuriating
and frustrating players by not looking after the fundamentals of good customer
care and plain old business common sense."
Player views were presented in a well attended and fast-moving panel discussion
on the need for regulation. Chaired by Michael Hirst OBE, the panellists included
Andrew Beveridge of eCOGRA, Ted Loh and poker authority and writer Roy Cooke as
player representatives.
Player representatives at an online gambling conference in Montreal today called
for more Internet casino and poker room operators to join regulatory initiatives
in order to afford online players additional protection.
Discussing the need for more effective regulkation of online casinos and poker
rooms, Loh said that trust was critically important in the online gambling space,
and that several national licensing jurisdictions were failing players by not
responding to complaints and failing to effectively police the activities of their
licensees.
"Too often players are treated badly by an operator, and when they turn to
the licensing jurisdiction for relief they are ignored," he said.
Noted poker writer and expert Roy Cooke said that better discipline and regulation
at online poker sites could be good for business, as only 10 percent of American
players have ventured into online poker for real money play due to personal fears
and perceptions of collusion or being cheated.
Loh added that there were insufficient assurances for players that softwares were
fair and operational standards were professional and maintained at a high level.
This had led to the formation of standards and enforcement self-regulator eCommerce
and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA) which was a positive move
in the right direction with excellent dispute resolution facilities, but needed
more support from software providers and their licensees, and more transparency
in its dispute findings.
eCOGRA CEO Andrew Beveridge pointed out that the 76 operations currently entitled
to bear eCOGRA's "Play It Safe" seal were supported by three of the
largest software providers in the industry, all of which had been required to
pass tough probity and software evaluations.
"But it is true that the more providers and online casinos and poker rooms
join us, the more comprehensive the protection for the player," he said.
"The eCOGRA initiative is open to all and the industry needs to pull together
to ensure effective player protection and better efficiencies. Companies can do
that by engaging with eCOGRA, where our seal-holders already handle some 70 percent
of the online casino business," he said.
Beveridge discussed the eCOGRA inspection and monitoring technology developed
by a top tier international business services group to check and verify the fairness
of software. He outlined the practical requirements for best practice casino and
poker room operation enforced by his non profit organisation.
Panel chairman Michael Hirst OBE raised the question of problem and underage gambling
in the online environment, and was told that on-site advice and measures, together
with practical training courses for staff at "Play It Safe" venues were
all part of the eCOGRA system, working in partnership with the international Global
Gambling Guidance Group (G4)
