“The Latin American market is very important to IGT business”

What’s the importance of Gaming Executive Summit LatAm for the regional industry?
The LATAM GES is a critical part of the regional industry as it brings together all of the representatives from each of the regions countries.  The country specific conferences are effective as well, but for cross-border idea transfer and speaking with as many customers as possible, this conference is the most influential.

Which were the main points of your presentation at "The great technology debate"?
Unfortunately, I had to excuse myself from this year’s conference due to a late onset case of the flu. However, my main point was to focus on technology deployments that will provide for meeting country specific requirements while also trying to achieve economies of scale. Everyone wins with this approach: the players, the operators, the providers like IGT, and the governments.

What types of games are the most popular and profitable in the “online world” and why?
Facebook said last fall that more than 235 million people play online social games each month. This is a tremendous number and demonstrates how popular games are online. According to research firm SuperData, online social casino market doubled in size in 2011, generating an estimated us$ 1.6 billion in revenue and is expected to grow to us$ 2.5 billion by 2015.

Those stats can provide some contest around social games and specifically social casino games. In terms of game genres that are most popular to play online, by far we see slot games as the most popular. IGT’s popular games including Cleopatra, Wolf Run and more continue to perform very well online. These are games that people know and love from the casino and are now available online. We believe that online social offerings need to have a wide range of offerings, including Blackjack and Bingo, but slots and table games usually end up being the money earners.

What are the main features of online gambling for cash, just for fun and social?
I’d say entertainment is the biggest driver for all online games. At IGT we’ve created a roster of games that offer an unparalleled experience to other online games. For example, with our Cleopatra game, fans can enjoy the 20-payline game configuration which doubles the award value when a line wins the Wild Cleopatra symbols. We are making these great games available in markets where real money wagering is available and in other markets we still offer the same great experience but offer it in a more social game experience with virtual chips.

Which are the differences in each device (cell, tablets, PC)?
With our Remote Game Server (rgs) we’re able to offer the same experience to all our players, whether they are in a casino, online through Facebook or playing on a mobile device.
We’ve found that on our DoubleDown Casino offering people online for an average of 29 minutes. We see that the amount an individual spends wagering on smart phones is usually 1/3 of the time they would spend wagering on an a PC browser, BUT, we see that the average wagers can be seen to be 3 to 5 times the average amount of online.  Players who game on a mobile device are more likely to play in short intervals, simply because they’re playing remotely through their phone – we like to refer to it as “game snacking.”   

What is Latin American potential in this market?
The Latin American market is very important to our business and being able to offer content to players in each of those markets is key for us. The largest market would be Brazil, but we still see that far off in terms of legalization.  The next great markets are Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Chile.

What agreements have been recently signed for our region?
I’ll certainly keep you posted on what’s coming but for now I’m not at liberty to say.

What are the IGT titles that are having a better performance in rgs Mobile?
The new and old classics continue to do well they are:
•Cleopatra
•Davinci Diamonds
•Cats
•Pixies of the Forest

Which launches are you planning this year?
We have an impressive line-up of new online titles and land-to-online titles as well.  We’re looking forward to bringing “Day of the Dead” to online in the very near future.  We produce all of our games in 14 languages, including Spanish.