Regulation will once again be a key trend through the next two years, predicts Platipus CBDO Vladyslav Garanko, as more countries look to develop their own directives in keeping with a popular theme that has been witnessed across recent times.
Speaking at a bustling ICE London, which presented the studio with an array of fresh opportunities, conversation inevitably turned to the elephant in the room, which proved to be a popular point of discourse throughout the week.
Brazil, the new land of opportunity, will undoubtedly prove to be a popular and fruitful hunting ground for many, with Garanko heaping praise on a lifetime opportunity across a nation that is exploding.
“A lot of companies are moving through,” he began. “The problem there is that effectively you are facing, again, the fierce competition and second, the language barriers.
“As yet there is not much Spanish speaking content in gambling. The question is, is there really a demand or can the localised games perform? This is exactly what we are testing out to see how successful that will be.”
Despite this, Garanko does point to an old and established ecosystem within the country as being a potential problem when it comes to market penetration.
“Now, a lot of companies are rushing in and it will be hard to stand out for the studios, even for the big ones such as ourselves,” he said.
However, confidence was stressed that success will come, with the importance of squeezing yourself into the market to achieve your ultimate ambitions stressed as a key to success.
“Once you are there, once you are slowly appearing with the smaller operators, not the big boys, you then are starting to get noticed and it gets easier from there,” it was added.
“But until that point it’s an uphill battle and to find a partner who is willing to vouch for you, to help you with meeting the right person, is crucial in this time and stage.”
Sticking on the geographical theme, Garanko also moved on to what was dubbed as the “small elephant in the room”, with attention subsequently switched to Asian countries, as well as a potentially regulatory shake up across the next two years.
“You can see how the Curacao is shaking,” he explained. “You can see how the Philippines are always rethinking their strategy. Effectively, it will be a trend for 2024, at least 2025 for sure, that a lot of other countries will develop their own regulations.
“We will probably see regulation in Japan, we will probably see some changes in regulation in Macau, that’s for sure, and we will definitely see changes in regulation in the Philippines.
“Those markets are very remote, like LatAm, and they are extremely heavy and they are extremely localised. “
With significant geographical expansion the logical ambition for many across the igaming space, attention turned to the associated challenges being faced by slots studios.
This, Garanko noted, primarily centres around developing content that players truly want to see.
“The problem is the players are very diverse, they’re very diverse in their demographic, in their amount of spend on what type of game they would like to see,” he commented.
“Somebody wants to see feature heavy games, somebody wants to see a very safe game. It’s very hard to cut it for everyone.
“So to properly slice, dice, and understand the market is a very tricky part which every studio is struggling with.”
To help achieve its own global goals, Platipus will only be adding 13 games to its portfolio, but will complement this with a new gamification feature, crash games and the launch of its own live casino studio.
Despite acknowledging that a number of other entities are going strong within the space, Platipus believes that it has spotted a potential niche that it can take full advantage of.
“We will start with a juxtaposed couple of roulettes, blackjack and with baccarat, and we’ll see how receptive the market is to our understanding. We’ll see if we make the right call from the second quarter.”
To conclude, Garanko reflected on his participation at the aforementioned bustling London-based event, with optimism expressed for developments across a range of jurisdictions.
“Everybody who comes to this event expects to sign the contract and start earning money,” he concluded.
“We aim to forge new strategic relationships. It’s way too early to talk about any results, because it’s the initial impact that counts. For now, I will keep that a bit more quiet and it will be more properly and publicly addressed.
“For the time being, we are looking not only in South America, but also in North America. And if all the partnerships that we hope to forge today will be proceeding as we plan, we are looking at a massive expansion for 2025. An absolutely massive one.”
