How to Launch Reliable Gaming Platform. Interview with CEO at Fugaso, Casino Software Developer

“Operators should design a reliable gaming platform,” Niko Mazger, CEO at Fugaso, states. In an interview with Russian Gaming Week, Niko talks about the importance for iGaming software developers to be careful about licensing and certification of their products. In particular, the respondent covers issues of the current world practice, which is not applied in the Russian Federation.

Interviewer: Russian Gaming Week (RGW)
Respondent: Niko Mazger (NM)

RGW: Which countries are the most attractive for gambling business, and what is the reason for this?

NM: Country’s attractiveness for business depends on objectives set by a gambling company. Currently, countries with regulated markets, e.g. the UK, are the most beneficial for gamblers.

However, not many gaming providers are able to fulfill all UKGC’s requirements. One more attractive niche is non-regulated markets where the iGaming industry is just beginning to evolve. For instance, India is an interesting option because of low competition, as few providers try to enter it.

RGW: What does the world practice take into account when choosing casino software (save for Russia)?

NM: There are several criteria:

• reliability that can be confirmed by the license and game certificate;
• technical features of software and games, their mathematics;
• platform usability: game speed, variety of currencies and language versions, etc.;
• cooperation terms;
• the amount of games offered by developers;
• the quality of games: digitalization, design,adaptability, and so on.

Besides that, one should consider game areas to make them appropriate to the customer’s market, the so-called local content.

RGW: How to determine whether the software used by a gambling venueis licensed?

NM: The world practicesupposes that websites of gaming providers should contain all necessary information. One should also check whether the website has logo of the game testing laboratory and the availability of license logo on the website. By the way, we recommend to ask providers or venuesfor game certificates and licenses.

RGW: What measures need to be taken by gambling operators to attract new users and retain loyal customers?

NM: Operators should design a reliable gaming platform, a player encouragement system, as well as provide prompt payoffs and 24/7 client support. Appealing game design also plays a critical part.

RGW: Has the competition among iGaming software developers grown?

NM: Indeed, the number of game providersworldwidehas grown several times over the past two years. Nevertheless, the majority of them do not even have certificates for their games, not to mention licenses. Software development technologies have become simpler, but there is no guarantee that a company will be able to pass all required lab inspections and obtain a license.

It is a quite long and complex process. For example, we got RNG and game certificates in December 2017 but managed to receive MGA’s license (Malta Gaming Authority is Malta’s official body granting licenses to gambling entities, – Ed.) only in January 2019. That is why a lot of game providers omit these stages.

Some gambling operators without licenses or with Curacao’s license do not check this aspect, which has led to such a great amount ofunlicensed developers. But it can cause negative consequences.

Let’s examine the example from another industry: you establish a restaurant with stylish interior, hire a well-known chef, and polite staff. At the same time, the venue has not yet been verified by the health inspection service and fire service, while goods are bought from unrevised but more profitable suppliers. It is just a matter of time when guests find out that they cannot feel certain of their safety.

Tips: to avoid such a situation, operators should make sure that providers have completed the following five stages:

• verification of RNG (Random Number Generator);
• game examination in the gaming laboratory;
• issuing of certificates and RNG documents;
• licensing;
• placement of games on operators’ websites.