“There was a change of philosophy and strategy in the way we present solutions to customers”

What new items did IGT showcase at SAGSE? 
Well, we brought some VLT machines, so one of the key focus markets for us within the territory, in the region, is been around VLT opportunities. We’ve taken another different view regarding the show this year, you probably see from the stand. What we decided to do is to try to have a more quality-vs-quantity type discussion, so this year we brought  six different meeting areas to the booth, and we are actually finding that customers appreciate this sort of format where they can sit down, have a coffee, have a long discussion, and talk about strategy, about products. And also technology has moved on. Sales people now have devices and i-pads and everything where they can show the games and the contents and see electronically, without having to ship any EGM. So that is a lot easier for us, because, on a device, you can show them any type of game, any type of content, so it is really a change of philosophy and a change of strategy, in the way that we present our solutions to customers. And we've had a lot of positive feedback, I think we will continue with this model. If you look at the different manufacturers, some of them have the same strategy that we had previously. It’s all about the number of machines and showing the different contents on the machines themselves. But it restricts the place you have for customer meetings, and we think we have to bring more value to our customers. We have a direct presence, we have an office here in Buenos Aires, a showroom with all the machines available there, so there’s a lot of follow-up before and after the show.

What did you think of SAGSE this year? 
You see, the first day it was busy, but it is not as big as it was previously. You can see that also in the number of exhibitors and the exhibition space, which has been reduced. We are disappointed that some of the other major manufacturers have actually decided to pull out because, you know, for us it is important to show our commitment to the market, to our existing customers, to the operators, to the industry. We think it is sad that some people walk away in this difficult time for the industry due to the importation restrictions.

How do you see the Latin American market in general? 
We still see it as a great market but not to the extent that it has been previously because of the importation restrictions, a lot of regulatory changes in Mexico, in Chile, however, it continues to be a key market for us from a great perspective. So we’ll continue to invest in infrastructure, in the individual people, in the team. And we are hoping that this will continue. In Mexico we are still waiting for a regulatory change in January. If that happens, we think that it is going to be positive. You know, in Chile, for example, there have been some regulatory changes, too, so again we are evaluating them. And we are hoping all the importation restrictions won’t become more aggressive, and still allow us to be able to place our products. We have a great demand from our customers, and it is important for us to be able to satisfy that demand.

What about online gaming?
IGT works in regulated markets. We don’t work in any gray areas. So in a market like Argentina, which has yet to be opened, for us it is a wait-and-see strategy. So we are waiting to see- we know some of the online gaming major operators and we are already in discussions with some of them to potentially get licenses, but it will all be depending on when the regulation comes to fruition, and once it does, we will be ready.

There are a lot of changes occurring in the gaming market at a global level: acquisitions, mergers, etc. How do you see the global gaming industry? 
I think the global industry, from a manufacturer perspective, is going through consolidation. You only have to look at what has happened in the last couple of years, and what will happen over the next year, when we have things like Shuffle Master being acquired by Bally, and you see Bally being acquired by Scientific Games, you see the merger between IGT and GTECH, so I think it will continue, and I think the industry is having to consolidate and taking some of the smaller players out, because when you speak to your operators’ net, we have 26, 27 manufacturers, they don’t want to talk to that many operators, they want to talk to few operators and to have meaningful relationships with them. So I think there will be an element of consolidation in this dynamic market.

IGT has recently announced it had 2.1 billion dollars in full-year earnings, and the great thing of that was that social gaming represented US$ 281 million. One of the key decisions we made several years ago was to get into the social gaming space, and it is really coming into fruition now.