“Various US jurisdictions will regulate online gaming over the coming years”

What is the current situation of online and remote gaming in the main countries where Bally operates?
Many of the countries Bally operates in with land-based systems and games are starting to regulate online gaming, from the UK, which has been doing it a while, to Canada, the U.S., and many countries in South America. Many are using free play ahead of full-wagering legalization.

What are your expectations about the US?
The US will have various jurisdictions that will regulate over the coming years, some with Poker first like Nevada, which has passed regulations, to others that may try for slots or bingo initially.

Bally is a b2b player, but are you planning to enter to the b2c segment in the long term?
Bally does not want to compete with our customers, but rather enable them by being a technology partner and help them develop their online presence. So no, we will not go BtoC and compete with our customers.

Nowadays, what kind of products do you have to offer to casinos?
Land-based slots and systems. Online we will be starting to release slot content over the next 12 months to online casinos in regulated jurisdictions and we will be offering our iGaming platform (online casino system) as well. We also currently offer the Bally Mobile platform and are the largest supplier of custom casino apps to the gaming industry.

What can you tell to land-based casino operators that are evaluating to incorporate online and remote gaming? What benefits could they obtain from this category of games?
A number of studies indicate those casinos that offer players both land-based and online gaming see an increase in traffic from those players in visitations. We believe there are many opportunities to create an “ecosystem” with your players, keeping them engaged beyond the walls of your casino.  Also the number of games you can have on your “floor” dramatically increases, so you can try new content and features. 

How have iPhone, Blackberry and all smartphones in general influenced in online gaming in the last years?
They are changing the landscape of what it means to be online, with more internet access occurring on mobile than on PCs by the end of 2013.  We believe much of online gaming will be mobile gaming in the coming years.

Recently, Bally has partnered with Aristocrat and Chiligaming. How do you evaluate your work with this two companies so far?
Chiligaming was actually an acquisition and we picked up in addition to the technology, an experienced team who had been running multiple online gaming sites.  Though Bally will not be BtoC, we found this BtoC knowledge something critical that we can provide to our casino customers.  Working with this team so far has been nothing short of fantastic. They are accelerating Bally in this space. 

We have long worked with Aristocrat in markets like Washington state, where we port their content onto Bally cabinets.  Here in Interactive, like everywhere else, they continue to prove to be a great company that we are thrilled to work alongside where it makes sense for our mutual customers.

What are your plans and objectives for the coming months?
We will continue to drive forward the Interactive business, with our first US customer launching their free play online website for poker and releasing more and more free play mobile games built into our award-winning mobile product.  Beyond that, there will be many exciting announcements ahead.