NEWS / THE BRIEFING /
Q
&
A
JASON
WILLIAMS
Belgium’s regulator urged
CEO BINGO.COM
Q
to offer, but also what they choose
not to offer to their customers.
A
Q
You’ve previously described
2014 as a “pivotal year” for
Bingo.com. How is it so far?
This is certainly an important
year for Bingo.com because we
are operating two very different
businesses with just a small team.
The cash gaming business started the
year with an excellent first quarter.
However, we’ve down-weighted our
above-the-line marketing efforts for
the cash gaming business as we wait
for wider platform support from our
supplier. Our second business is the
development of our social casino
entry Trophy Bingo. The game is
coming along extremely well, but
the development timeline is long for
a top-quality social bingo game, so
we’ve had to be patient. Each month
we get closer to delivering Trophy
Bingo which keeps us excited as the
game will be unique on a number of
dimensions.
Q
How will being on the Unibetpowered platform help?
The system provides us with
access to a first-class desktop
gaming platform offering a huge
portfolio of games in a number
of languages and currencies.
Unfortunately, we’ve been challenged
to release a similar gaming system
on mobile and tablet devices despite
the competition supporting and
promoting these platforms. The
lack of a mobile and tablet offering
has forced us to rethink all of our
marketing efforts and revise our
expectations for 2014’s performance.
A
Q
Can you envisage Bingo.com
expanding into new verticals?
Bingo.com is well positioned
with a portfolio of bingo and
slots games. I believe that launching
products in either poker or sports
would dilute this position and confuse
many of our customers as to our
priorities. I think that companies are
defined not only by what they choose
A
8
BELGIAN REGULATOR
SEEKS GREATER EGAMING
RESTRICTIONS
How is the development
of your new social bingo
product coming along?
Trophy Bingo is an extremely
exciting project for us and
development is progressing well. I
believe the cause of the declines seen
in the cash bingo marketplace is a
result of product homogenisation
resulting in a lack of customer
interest. Software developers have,
for the most part, failed to innovate
the core bingo game and the vertical
has suffered as a result. With Trophy
Bingo, we have the opportunity to
design a unique game with the bingo
mechanic at its core. There’s a risk
when building something new, but
also substantial rewards.
A
Q
As a real-money operator, do
you still see a lot of potential
in the social gaming space?
The social gaming space has
tremendous opportunity for
developers that are well funded and
have a unique concept. The growth
in mobile and tablet devices is
astounding and players are looking
for quality games to spend their
entertainment budgets on. I also
believe that developers that enter the
market with limited budgets, short
timelines, or copy-cat products will be
disappointed.
A
Q
How will Trophy Bingo stand
out from the other social
bingo apps on the market?
While many features are still
undisclosed, what I can say is that
Trophy Bingo employs a