SPONSORED EDITORIAL
B A L LY I N T E R A C T I V E
SLOTS FOCUS
Outstanding performance
Michael Probert of Bally Technologies talks eGaming Review through his company’s online slots solutions
Bally was founded in 1932 and has experienced an everchanging gaming environment. Technology, player demographics, regulations and much more have altered drastically throughout our more than 80 years in the gaming industry. Time and again, the company has adapted and come out ahead. We launched our interactive division in 2011, encompassing our initiatives in online, mobile and social. Since then, Bally has become the industry leader in mobile technology for casino operators, the ?rst company licensed in the United States as an interactive gaming system manufacturer and service provider, and has amassed and integrated key pieces of interactive technology and content in the gaming industry. When it comes to egaming, particularly in North America, our key differentiating factor for casino customers is Bally Interactive’s open architecture and integration of our egaming platform to our casino operators’ traditional systems. The open architecture of our platform allows operators to choose the content they want and their players demand. Just as in a traditional casino ?oor or poker room, Bally understands that limiting content to certain manufacturers is never a long-term solution. With online poker the most prominent deliverable on the horizon, the ability for an operator to migrate from one poker product to another and follow the liquidity pool within the United States will be critical. As other forms of online gaming are legalised, the same will hold true for slot and table games content, sports betting, bingo and keno. Commoditise core technologies In Europe, where the online and mobile gaming market is more mature, our focus is on content. A signi?cant part of Bally’s success over the years has been the ability to provide outstanding game content that is fun and engaging for players, as well as pro?table for casino operators. In the large and highly competitive US land-based casino market, Bally games are recognised not only for their innovation, but also for their outstanding performance. We offer a number of ‘home grown’ franchises such as Hot Shot™ and Blazing 7s™ that have seen tremendous success and continue to do so today. We have also recently delivered some of the most successful licensed brands the land-based casino industry has seen to date with Grease® and Michael Jackson King of Pop™. A slot based on the hit television series Pawn Stars on the HISTORY® Channel has also just been released. Airing in more than 150 countries in 37 languages, Pawn Stars is a top rated cable show in the United States, Europe and Latin America, and has millions of viewers across the globe. We are focused on delivering our enormous library of successful slot titles to the interactive space. Already licensed in Alderney and Gibraltar, we are taking our best-in-class portfolio of proven games and distributing them into both online and mobile channels
A significant part of Bally’s success over the years has been the ability to provide outstanding game content that is fun and engaging for players
through our remote gaming server. Like our land-based games, the online and mobile versions offer enhanced bonusing, proven play mechanics, progressives and other outstanding features that only a company with Bally’s experience in the gaming industry can provide. The ?rst dozen interactive Bally titles are launching in Europe as we speak. These games include an array of popular titles such as Vegas Hits, Cash Wizard and Wild Huskies that have seen enormous placements on casino ?oors, proving they are backed by solid creative development and proven mathematics that appeal to a wide range of players. We plan to offer a continuous ?ow of new online and mobile game titles, ensuring providers always have a fresh array of choices for their players.
Michael Probert is general manager of Bally Interactive, Europe. His responsibilities include oversight of Bally’s initiatives in egaming, mobile, and social. Probert has 12 years of experience in internet technology, as well as 10 years of online gaming experience.
60
www.egrmagazine.com