“Novomatic Americas has made great progress in the last twelve months”

Millennials have been a hot topic for quite some time. Why is attracting and engaging younger audiences more of a challenge for the gambling industry?

Max Lindenberg: I actually wouldn’t say that the industry has done anything wrong. Perhaps in the past we were more focused on other player types. If now casino operators have identified millennials as an important group of potential clients, it is clearly our responsibility to develop exciting products that meet the needs of those casino guests of today and tomorrow. At Novomatic we are already exactly doing this, for example with our electronic table games products.

David Orrick: Sure, millennials are becoming increasingly important, but above all there is one overriding principle we sometimes forget about, and that is that, above all, the casino industry is part of the wider entertainment industry. Splitting it up into segments is sometimes important but the key words are Entertainment At All Levels, not just millennials. Our challenge as a manufacturer is to always create something new, fresh and entertaining. The casino industry is doing nothing wrong. There are many strategies for attacking the same situation, sometimes from different directions, but when a person makes the choice to go to a casino, that person expects entertainment. The trick for all manufacturers is to use their research and development resources to get close to the market and to understand what the customer wants in order to then provide that customer with the best product or service.

Nevada recently approved skill-based gambling regulations. Do you believe other states will follow the decision?

Max Lindenberg: Surely other states will follow. It depends on how successful it will be in Nevada. For now, it's not yet exactly to predict which type of products will be developed, because it's a very recent, young addition to Nevada's regulation. Of course, we are observing the developments and have our own ideas of how to approach this issue although it's not one of our top priorities since there are no Novomatic products licensed yet in Nevada. However, we already have a portfolio of skill-based games from other market segments in which we are active thus Novomatic is clearly well prepared to adapt to these changes.

What are the main differences you see between ICE and G2E?

David Orrick: G2E and ICE are two sides of the same coin. They're both dominant in their own respective markets and yet they have big differences. It's no secret that ICE is regarded by Novomatic as our home show, but the G2E is also important. We believe that ICE offers a wider proposition, whereas US primarily represents the spiritual home of the gaming industry. They both serve the same end purpose but in different directions. Las Vegas attracts a huge amount of visitors from Latin America, for example, and ICE -although the casino industry in the UK is relatively small, attracts visitors from all over the world.

How is Novomatic positioned in America?

Max Lindenberg: We've made great progress in the last twelve months. Today Novomatic Americas has a great product line up, which is already licensed in key jurisdictions across America such as in the Illinois VGT market and various jurisdictions of commercial US casinos. With new cabinets and both single games and multi-game mixes just presented at G2E we are confident to have the right games available. Novomatic's booth at the 2015 G2E Las Vegas reflects the progress we have made. A total of 50% of our stand space and products display are dedicated to the US market.

iGaming: US vs Europe

David Orrick: It has to do with pace in legislation. Europe has moved quickly to enable legislation because they understood that gaming in all its forms created both employment and revenue. They saw the potential and capitalized on that. The US, for reasons of its own, has been slower to adopt legislation and therefore the pace and growth of online gaming has been slower.

Max Lindenberg: US regulators don't want to make any mistakes. They're trying to be careful, because they want to know how these new technologies work in order to properly regulate them; which can’t be seen as a disadvantage if the result of such a phase of evaluation will be a proper regulation under which the industry can develop business models that are beneficial for developers, operator and the end clients as well as the society at the same time.

When asked about future developments, both Lindenberg and Orrick stated, “In a company as multi-directional as Novomatic there are things happening everywhere, and only when you put them all together can you evaluate the work of the whole. You will have to wait and see.”