PRESS
PRESS ROOM
HOME
Start
PRESS
IN THE NEWS
ABOUT US
ABOUT US
ABOUT US
MANAGEMENT
COMPLIANCE
COMPLIANCE
LIVE GAMING
LIVE GAMING
LIVE GAMING
GAMES
PARTNERS
OUR PARTNERS
CONTACT
SALES
LOGIN
LOGIN
CONTACT
CAREER
PRIVACY POLICY
PRIVACY POLICY
PRESS
Evolution in the news
Evolution continues to get widespread attention. Learn about our latest accomplish-ments and what press and analysts think about us through the latest news coverage and reviews.
Innovations in Live Gaming
Click
here
to listen to Fredrik Osterberg speaking to the brand consultancy Foviance, about the innovations in live gaming and Evolution's future plans.
Is live gaming set to dominate the European egaming scene?
Live gaming is on the increase in Europe. Richard Preen looks at why more and more European operators are offering the product, is it because there is increased demand for it or is it to keep up with the competition?TRUST IS IMPERATIVE IN the relationship between consumer and operator. This has never been better illustrated than through the proliferation of live gaming solutions in Asia, where random number generated (RNG) games are effectively scorned upon such is the value and trust placed in the security of the live environment. Past reputation of Asian live gaming may have been of a product that was a little rough around the edges, but this isn't a concern for an audience whose number one priority is being able to witness real-time dealers, taking real-time bets and controlling realtime games. The old saying 'seeing is believing' being the best way to describe Asian players' attitudes towards online gaming. European citizens must therefore be a more tolerant and trustworthy bunch, if their faith in RNG casino games is anything to go by. However, the landscape is evolving with growing numbers of European operators launching live gaming products that look to create the right atmosphere by emulating the plush surroundings of real-life casinos, complete with glamorous female croupiers who engage fully with the customers. But since live gaming in Asia is fully established; it begs the question: why has Europe taken so long to take up this product? Jens von Bahr, chief executive of live gaming solutions provider Evolution Gaming, says: 'The trust in RNG in Europe may be why live gaming has taken longer to take off. When we founded three years ago, the big operators didn't want to be involved as live gaming had only a moderate reputation. What we set out to do was to eliminate all of those mental hurdles and set up in Europe with a proper licence in Alderney. We invested heavily in infrastructure to guarantee we were using the best technology, incorporating the best video. Security was paramount, as was ensuring we had a product with significantly more uptime than comparable solutions in Asia. In Asia it's not so much about quality, being interactive or beautiful girls - it's a different kind of product. In Europe it's a more mature and sophisticated market, so for live gaming to succeed it needs to stand out.'
Negotiating hurdles
Even though Evolution has grown steadily over the past few years, it has had to negotiate a number of hurdles and misconceptions about live gaming, as von Bahr confirms: 'Many operators are concerned that when they go live it will cannibalise their own RNG products. In particular, those those have in-house RNG products, where they obviously pay no commission on the product. But we have proved that there is minimal cannibalisation, because it basically attracts different audiences - it's a complimentary product.'He continues: 'In Europe people are used to the quick turnover of RNG games and there is always a type of customer who wants to play 20 spins of the wheel in a minute and trade this off against the experience of a live streaming roulette game. One can conclude, however, that the high-rollers definitely prefer the real experience that live gaming affords.'One of the clear benefits of a live dealer gaming environment is the level of interaction that can be achieved. And who says increased interaction, says increased opportunities to generate incremental revenues across the board. Adds von Bahr: 'Our operators can provide their VIPs with their own private tables and some degree of cross promotional activity. For example you can use the dealer to cross-promote a football match advising customers to place their bets at a particular time, or make clients aware of other betting products available to them. It's another great marketing tool when managed correctly.'Unsurprisingly, von Bahr is in no doubt as to the importance of a live environment: 'Being as objective as I can be, I think it's proven that live gaming is something operators have to offer. It's not only an accepted product but it's a product that will drive revenues and broaden player demographics. Many operators have been surprised by how efficient it is as a marketing tool to reactivate lapsed clients. One of our big UK operators takes a conservative approach with new products in that it markets them solely to lapsed clients. The statistics have shown that live gaming boasts seven times better feedback in comparison to other new products that have been targeted at lapsed customers.'Gala Coral is one of Evolution's clients and Huw Thomas, its casino and games manager, says: 'We've been very pleased with the growth in users of our live gaming casino. The product has been resilient in a difficult financial climate so the future is very positive.'In terms of marketing the product, Thomas believes live gaming does most of the talking: 'Live casino is not hugely difficult to market but one of the challenges we are faced with is the speed of play. We're GamCare-accredited so there are limits imposed with regard the speed of an RNG game, but compare this to a live gaming situation, where there might be eight players around a blackjack table, and the speed of the game does become an issue.'He adds: 'We have dedicated tables for our high rollers, which is important as we have a lot of low staking customers who may be playing the game for the first time and subsequently slow down the speed of the table. So for the VIPs, as long as you invest in the high stakes table, you'll experience a decent speed of play.'Playtech has been providing an Asian live gaming solution for some time and has taken a cautious approach to its European live gaming offering, launching at the start of the year. Chief executive Mor Weizer is confident the timing is right: 'Our statistics show that there was a real increase in European live gaming in 2007, which we then monitored in 2008 before making the decision to open a live facility in Riga, Latvia. The incentive for this move wasn't about keeping up with our rival operators but more a case of our existing clients wanting to offer European-oriented live games.'Weizer believes taking time to establish a European base was worth the wait: 'We've invested heavily in the infrastructure and gone to great lengths to ensure our staff, who are from a western background, provide the most professional service. From a technical perspective we use a variety of distribution networks and maximise their capabilities so the live video stream is the most advanced. We offer downloadable versions as well as the Flash version and our service is integrated with the RNG casino, unlike our competitors. So it's been a natural progression for us, and our clients such as Betfred and Bet365 have been behind the development.' In terms of target audiences Weizer feels live gaming complements RNG perfectly: 'The integration of the two formats has worked well. Live gaming is a good marketing tool for new customer acquisition. We find that these customers alternate between the live format and the RNG casino. Live gaming is particularly popular with high-rollers and medium-stake players. The stakes we achieve are often double those witnessed in an RNG environment, so it's progressing nicely.'
The future of live gaming
It's clear that live gaming is becoming an established commodity - but what of its future? Can all traditional and new games be given the live treatment, with operators always constantly looking for product innovations? Furthermore, the opportunities to build upon existing forms seem endless, whether it's providing variations to gameplay or exploiting technology to increase market share.One such firm is London-based Smartlive Casino. It has acquired a UK satellite TV channel to bring live gaming to a wider audience.Meanwhile, Evolution's short-term focus is the development of existing products. Jens von Bahr believes a community environment can be realised with a number of existing gaming solutions: 'We're releasing two new versions of blackjack within the next month. One is designed for the high rollers: for the first time in the live environment we will be launching multi-hand versions of the game. So in theory a player could control all seven hands on a table. For the mass market, in parallel with our multi-hand launch, we're launching play-behind versions of the game. Therefore we have unlimited economies of scale on one blackjack table because theoretically thousands of players could play behind. So it's going to be far more interactive and a gaming community will be built from this. We also see soft gaming as an area for development with games such as bingo providing enormous opportunities for this style of presentation.'The impressive growth of live gaming in Europe won't have surprised some. What is surprising is the relative delay in its initial inception there. With the Europeans' perceived love of RNG games, it would seem foolish to suggest there isn't space in which both genres can cohabit. The obvious question the rise of live gaming does raise though is if the Asian market is anything to go by, is this the start of a slow and gradual decline for European RNG games as we know them?from eGaming Review, April 2009
Live Dealer Evolution
888 sees the potenial in live gaming to attract high spending playersEvolution Gaming chief executive Jens von Bahr said the perception of live dealer casino products had changed considerably in recent times as his company announced that it had signed up 888 as its latest client this month. The agreement with 888 was a sign his company now provided the best live gaming solution in the market, von Bahr said, after Evolution recently signed up PartyGaming and other clients include William Hill and Gala Coral. 'I like to think we have the best product out there and a sign of that is the amount of interest expressed by many oeprators in it,' von Bahr said. 'The perception of live dealer products has changed considerably. When we started out in 2006, many live dealer products were broadcast from non-regulated jurisdictions and the product did not look that great. We have changed all that and although these things are always evolving and we are never satisfied, we think we have a high-quality product to offer.' The company will be doubling the number of its dealers to 350 and said live gaming had not cannibiliased operators' random number generated casino products and instead attracted large numbers of high-spending players. 888 chief executive Gigi Levy commented: ' The potential of live casino as a revenue stream is significant for 888.com. Like with everything we offer our customers, 888.com will localise and adapt Evolution's product to make it appeal to every market in which we operate.' from eGaming Review, March 2009
Evolution Gaming aims high with new Head of Product Development
Industry expert set to expand product suiteEvolution Gaming, the pioneer of broadcast quality casino games, has recruited Fredrik Bjurle as Director of Product Development as the next step in the business becoming a full-suite software provider.As supplier of TV quality casino games to many of the biggest names in the industry, including Gala Coral, William Hill and Blue Square, Evolution Gaming is recognised as having transformed live online gaming in Europe. Fredrik Bjurle will now play a key role in Evolution's plans to expand their product and platform offering in 2009.'It is an exciting time to join Evolution, particularly following its recent partnerships with 888.com and PartyGaming,'said Fredrik Bjurle. 'Our plans to introduce innovative new features like multi-hand and bet behind blackjack, as well as an improved back office will mean that Evolution's live casino products will be even bigger and better.'The potential of live-dealer gaming as a revenue stream has grown significantly over the last three years with Evolution's Baccarat, Black Jack and Roulette broadcast quality games establishing the business as the market leading provider. With the expansion of Evolution's broadcast studios in Latvia currently taking place, there are plans for the business to move beyond its current specialist areas and develop new products for the millions of players who already access Evolution's products.'Evolution has recruited Fredrik as the first step towards becoming a full-suite software provider by 2010,201D said Jens von Bahr, CEO of Evolution Gaming. 201CHis years of experience at Boss Media will help us achieve our goal of becoming more than a market leading niche gaming business. This year will see the next stage of the Evolution revolution!'Fredrik Bjurle joins Evolution after nine years with Boss Media (Gtech) where, as Head of Casino Product Development, he was responsible for the full product portfolio including game development, release planning and platform integration.For more about live TV quality gaming, visit
www.evolutiongaming.com
.Founded in 2006, Evolution is an independent online gaming developer based in London, Stockholm and Riga.As the only European live-gaming developer to custom-build and operate its own licensed studios, Evolution offers a broadcast quality virtual casino, delivered in real-time through gambling operators' websites. Evolution has pioneered the live dealer format for baccarat, roulette and Blackjack, and now licenses hard-table games to over twenty operators including PartyGaming, Blue Square, William Hill, Victor Chandler, Expekt and Sportingbet.For more information about EvolutionGaming, please visit
www.evolutiongaming.com
For further press information please contact: Harry Ronaldson / Shenel Otkay Euro RSCG Biss LancasterT: 020 7467 9250 E:
harry.ronaldsonbisslancaster.com
/
shenel.otkaybisslancaster.com
bet-at-home.com improving software
German online betting site bet-at-home.com, which has over 1.5 million registered customers, has signed new agreements with Gaming Technology Solutions and Evolution Gaming. Gaming Technology solutions will integrate its software platform EdGE - an easily integrated games engine that will allow bet-at-home.com to manage and operate its games easily - and its back end office ICE, which delivers many functional and performance ehancements, including support for game marketing campaigns, report customisation and customer support, in a user interface that is practical and easy to use. Evolution Gaming will provide the site with its live-gaming platform, which is currently available to more than 10 million people across 50 countries. Commenting on the agreement and other agreements made earlier in the year with William Hill, PartyGaming and BlueSquare, Jens von Bahr, chief executive officer of Evolution Gaming, said: 'This has been a breakthrough year for live dealer gaming and our phenomenal growth is thanks to consistent investment in developing the best, most realistic platform on the market. We have only just scratched the surface of what live dealer platforms can offer and we are continually looking for ways to bring the platform to an ever broader audience.' The increase in demand for Evolution's live-gaming platform promted the studio to extend its Riga-based studio by 150 per cent last year. from iNTERGAMINGi, Issue 1, 2009
888.com joins the Live Gaming Revolution
Evolution Gaming, the pioneers of broadcast quality casino games, has agreed a deal to provide 888.com, one of the world's most popular online gaming companies, with live-dealer Baccarat, Blackjack and Roulette as the next step in 888.com's drive to be the global online gaming industry leader. The partnership was announced today at London's International Gaming Expo at a time when Evolution's state-of the-art live dealing proposition is increasingly being favoured by the market leading gaming industry brands. The cutting-edge TV quality live casino games will improve 888's offering further and boost revenues.With some of Evolution's clients citing a revenue increase of more than 50% after adding live gaming to their sites, the London, Stockholm and Riga based business has moved to increase the size of its TV studios by 150%, as well as doubling the size of its staff to meet demand. "The addition of Evolution's products to 888.com's platform can be seen as a recognition that in 2009 live gaming will be the key to growth in addition to random-number-generator systems," said Jens von Bahr, CEO of Evolution Gaming. "Our client's customers now have the option of playing their favourite games in real-life style casinos while interacting with their own croupier."The partnership is expected not only to bolster 888.com's offering to consumers, but also contribute significantly to business-to-business growth as live dealer will now become part of 888.com's B2B suit.Gigi Levy, CEO of 888.com commented: "The potential of live casino as a revenue stream is significant for 888.com. Like with everything we offer our customers as the world's leading online casino, 888.com will localise and adapt Evolutions' product to make it appeal to every market in which we operate."888.com is the first partner to sign-up with Evolution in 2009 and cements its position as the world's leading provider in live-dealer gaming with a platform which reaches over 10 million players in more than fifty countries. Evolution's other market-leading clients include Party Gaming, William Hill and Gala Coral."We have only just scratched the service of what the live dealer platform can offer and continue to invest in developing technology and games that can bring our platform to an even bigger audience, from online operators to land based casinos," said Jens von Bahr.Founded in 2006, Evolution is an independent online gaming developer based in London, Stockholm and Riga.As the only European live-gaming developer to custom-build and operate its own licensed studios, Evolution offers a broadcast quality virtual casino, delivered in real-time through gambling operators' websites. Evolution has pioneered the live dealer format for baccarat, roulette and Blackjack, and now licenses hard-table games to over twenty operators including PartyGaming, Blue Square, William Hill, Victor Chandler, Expekt and Sportingbet.For more information about EvolutionGaming, please visit
www.evolutiongaming.com
For further press information please contact: Harry Ronaldson / Shenel Otkay Euro RSCG Biss LancasterT: 020 7467 9250 E:
harry.ronaldsonbisslancaster.com
/
shenel.otkaybisslancaster.com
Webbyrå
Reklambyrå