INTERVIEW PER WIDERSTRÖM
and most people will say that, especially in the UK. You also have the point of consumption tax coming in. You could see that as a threat. It will happen one way or another. The key thing is to ensure how, if and when it happens, that the importance of enforcement is absolutely critical so you don’t have the black market and unlicensed operators taking advantage of the situation. Without enforcement it’s going to fail. Every operator will be affected. It will likely change the underlying market dynamics in the UK but we see that as an opportunity. From an interactive viewpoint we have a solid, ongoing operating cash?ow coming in from the business and the growth is very encouraging, but from a Gala perspective we also have a retail operation. If it happens, it’s going to change the market. Clearly the margin pressure will be further accelerated when it comes to the “pure” online gaming operators and the SMEs will have a challenge to keep up and sustain a pro?t, so there will be some interesting opportunities from a consolidation perspective in the UK. eGR: How involved are you in the POCT debate? Are you members of the Gibraltar Gaming & Betting Association? PW: We are taking a more active approach now we have launched and are trading. Our aim is to be actively taking part in this as a group. It’s key that the outcome is something that is fair and transparent and being enforced.
number of channels. The agreement with Playtech addresses exclusives including content and bespoke development and functionality so you have the bene?ts from having them as partners and we’ll continue to leverage that. We have some substantial growth across the two brands year-on-year and in due course this will be shared by Carl [Leaver] as part of the group statement. We’re on plan when it comes to the expectations set by the group board. Our key priority is to regain market share in the UK; multi-channel is of exceptional importance to us and how we work with the Gala Bingo clubs to make sure it’s a seamless player experience; then looking to international expansion and looking at the social gaming space. Even though we can argue we’re late, you can also argue we’re not too late. The sector is in its infancy. Social gaming is very attractive and has clear signs of growth opportunities. We see it in isolation, so we will establish a social gaming product vertical but we can’t say when. eGR: Are you launching as a separate brand, on Facebook…? PW: All this will become clear in good time. At this time we see social as a separate product vertical. The plan we have is not necessarily relevant to cross-sell into real money gaming; it should be able to sustain a pro?t by itself. The user experience in social in many cases is very different to real money and to get exposure and hands on experience we truly believe we can further strengthen the real money proposition in terms of the stickiness and differentiation of the products we offer. The beauty of social is that you don’t have to restrict yourself to the UK market. We’ll have a separate business and investment plan and P&L. More news to come but we’re really excited about this opportunity. It will happen this year but it won’t involve an acquisition. eGR: Can you give me a sense of where the most growth is coming from in interactive? The casino brand was not large, so under the new team and with the new platform we have seen massive uplift and growth year-on-year. If you look at Gala Bingo, which was more substantial, we see very strong growth across bingo and casino and games. We hard launched our iOS app at the end of January and we saw a substantial uplift on revenues but also saw how the mobile share of the total revenue, its composition, was very encouraging. eGR: Is it similar to the large sportsbooks where mobile is generating a third of their annual turnover? PW: We are not there yet on bingo as we’ve only just launched but without any doubt that will come. It’s just amazing to see the uptake of the mobile app from our existing player base but we’ve also seen a very encouraging adoption of the app from new players. Our investment in TV advertising has been a big factor in this. We’ve revamped the offering, launched and seen some great numbers.
“Social gaming is very attractive and has clear signs of growth opportunities”
Per Widerström on social
eGR: Are you willing to pay to lobby the government to either stall or potentially see its draft bill fail? PW: Lobbying is always a grey area. When being asked our views and what we believe is the best path for the industry, clearly we believe it’s our duty and right to give our views on it and we’ll continue to do this. In Gibraltar you already have operators working together as part of the GBGA and it’s being debated. We are committed to Gibraltar. eGR: What have been your major achievements in the eight months since launch? PW: To start with, we have established the robust, professional online gaming operation in Gibraltar from scratch with 75 fantastic talents that were ready for operation. Our aspiration is to have a wo ??????????????????????e?????????????Q?????????????????????????????????????? ???? ?????????
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