"Croatia is becoming a poker destination"

This year you attended ICE Totally Gaming. What can you share about your experience at the London show? What were the innovations on display that will revolutionize the gaming space?

The London trade show represents an ideal platform for operators, manufacturers and decision makers to address key issues and exchange ideas to shape the future of our industry. Every year, without exception, ICE provides new and valuable insights to its attendees. Insights that will be applied in a daily business routine.

There's so much innovation in the gaming space at the moment. With so many young companies creating more and more content each day, it's hard to keep up with the latest improvements and breakthroughs in technology. The online gaming and Daily Fantasy Sports offering at this year's ICE definitely got my attention, and I'm pretty sure we will add one of these Daily Fantasy Sports products to our online gaming offer in the future.

Croatia became part of the European Union in 2013. How has the acceptance as a member of the EU impacted the tourism market in the country?

Since day one of our EU membership, the tourism sector has reached unimagined heights and directions. Yet, only a relatively small part of the tourism pie can be attributed to gambling -mostly at the coastal zone, and some in our capital, Zagreb-.

How would you describe the Croatian player?

The typical Croatian player is middle-aged -or older- and he's a member of the middle class. There’s a significant proportion of the female population among Croatian gamblers. Women in Croatia are mostly emancipated, and they have penetrated all the spheres of the Croatian society. A good example of this is our female president, Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, who assumed office in 2015.

What are your best-performing machines?

Amongst our players' favorites are the Novomatic machines, which have proven to perform exceptionally well in our market, followed by Atronic and Bulgarian-based EGT. As you may see, our players prefer European-oriented products.

You once said there was basically no chance Croatia could ever become a gambling destination. However, you believe poker tourism may be a good source of revenue..

Croatia is a conservative catholic country in which the 'high standards of morality and ethical conduct' set by authorities simply do not get along with the culture of gambling.

However, poker is still an open story and estimates show that we're becoming a poker destination.

Several new luxury casinos opened last year. -we are talking about reputable foreign investors as Cyprus' Merit Group, a Ukrainian group and Novomatic group which will soon open the largest casino/hotel in the country-. The business plan of most of the companies mentioned is based on gaining revenue from poker players. It is no news to the industry that the poker player loves to play with machines and is attracted by Blackjack. Plus they are good spenders on “dolce vita” items ... The vivid poker scene already attracts a large number of players from across the region. Our casino is no exception and hosting poker players has become a daily routine for us.

What is stopping Croatia from becoming a poker hub? Is it regulation or lack of investment?

Outdated regulation is the main challenge facing the gambling sector in Croatia. This lack of interest in regulating and moving our industry forward is just a reflection of a broader Croatian mentality and attitude towards gambling.

It's imperative to create a modern law that covers every aspect of today's and tomorrow's games of chance. We're transitioning into a new era of innovation in the gaming space, and we should all find a way to incorporate these new games into our Gaming Act -which dates from 2009 and does not encourage investment-.

What are the short-term goals at Casino Adriatic?

As foreseen by experts, great tourism growth is expected this season. At Casino Adriatic we will build on this trend, and use the revenue we generate to gradually switch to more modern gaming products -mainly online and mobile ones-. We won't give up the traditional casino, of course, but we also intend to offer a comprehensive service that caters to the younger demographics.
Five years from now, nothing will be as it is today. And if you don't cope with change, you'll get left behind.