DA V I D B A A Z O V I N T E R V I E W
“A big detriment to Ongame’s ability to add new licensees was that [when owned by bwin.party] you were joining a network owned by your largest competitor in Europe” Baazov on the poker network
the interactive channel and not just the physical and visa versa,” says Baazov. The main bene?ciary of this model could well be Ongame’s existing licensees, which will inevitably be offered the chance to expand their product portfolio by taking Amaya’s new and existing casino and mobile content. Amaya will have to be on its toes, with the poker network market experiencing huge change with Microgaming and Playtech readjusting rake and value models and network ecology as well as bene?ting from the demise of Entraction/IGT Poker, which closed its doors on 11 December last year. But Baazov is con?dent that poker can still achieve great results for Amaya. “A big detriment to Ongame’s ability to add new licensees was that [when owned by bwin.party] you were joining a network owned by your largest competitor in Europe. The market will see that the amount of investment we’re making in poker will spill over to the entire market in Europe and start bringing back some of the major licensees,” he says. “We will add to the network. Poker in Europe has become a lot tougher but we’re con?dent we’re going to be able to acquire customers and offer not just traditional poker but different mediums of poker and changing it a bit. You don’t want to be a follower so we’re looking to lead that initiative. “We are able to offer more than 75 existing interactive licensees ready access to Ongame’s poker network, and a lot of these licensees have land-based licences in the UK and Belgium, for example. We’re in discussions with them so they could bene?t from our on and offline offerings including our recent acquisition of Cadillac Jack.” Baazov says that this form of adding new business could, and will more than likely, be replicated and “get signi?cant traction” in the US following on from its deal with Connecticut-based Mohegan Sun, the second largest casino in the US. Amaya, via its Ongame technology, will initially provide the Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authorityrun casino with a freeplay poker offering through the mohegansun.com domain and complement this with mobile and tablet versions. This will be done from the available options on Bally’s iGaming Platform with Ongame signing up as one of the software supplier’s partners earlier last year. Humility and con?dence Despite running a large multinational and leading
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