Borg Barthet, Lady Luck Games: “The slot industry is very saturated”
The Lady Luck Games executive offers a fresh view on the growth of online gaming and its relevance in the post-pandemic world.
Exclusive interview.- Julian Borg Barthet, Chief Commercial Officer at Lady Luck Games, reviews the company’s three years of activity and considers the keys to standing out in a hyper-competitive industry.
How are you closing your third year of operations?
The last three years have been extremely busy for Lady Luck Games. We are very proud to close year three of operations achieving all the milestones we set up at the beginning of the year.
Recently managing to secure a UKGC license, so we can now provide the best of Lady Luck and ReelNRG games to our partners in the world`s preeminent and established market.
Previously, in May of 2022, we acquired ReelNRG. This acquisition did not only extend our gaming portfolio but also allowed us to migrate to a more modern and robust Remote Gaming Server than our legacy RGS. Newly branded as the Storm RGS, it will improve our operations, and we will also be able to deliver promotional tools and tournaments to our partners.
Also, in August of 2022 we signed a collaboration agreement with Big Time Gaming, giving us the rights to use the iconic Megaways mechanics in our titles, with our highly popular Spinjoy Society getting the first Megaways treatment as a re-release. We also signed a deal with King Features Syndicate. This deal allows us to create branded content like Beetle Bailey and Popeye to name a few.
We`ve also partnered with major aggregation platforms, such as Relax Gaming, Microgame, and iSoftbet. Our games started to be acknowledged by the industry, and in 2022 we were shortlisted 6 times in the most prime gaming awards.
How would you summarise your journey, since your foundation in 2019?
Pandemic times brought both challenges and opportunities in the iGaming industry. Since the land-based casinos were on a shutdown, players massively moved to the online world of gaming. Many operators experienced increased growth.
In 2021 the global online gambling industry was worth 61.5 billion US dollars. With a wide range of factors, such as its growth and penetration of the internet worldwide and COVID lockdowns, among other factors, by 2028 this figure is expected to go up almost two folds to around $114 billion, an increase of around 86%.
Those figures cannot be ignored. The market is massive and growing. A lot of new gaming companies started their operations during the pandemic times. Everybody is ready to grab a piece of that cake. The big challenge here was moving people from offices to homes.
From the very beginning, Lady Luck Games was a remote-first organisation, operating across Europe already. Our team currently works from Denmark, Sweden, Malta, Latvia, and the UK. Pandemic times did not have a massive impact on our workflow and operations.
“We are very proud to close year three of operations achieving all the milestones we set up at the beginning of the year.”
Julian Borg Barthet, Chief Commercial Officer at Lady Luck Games.
What are the markets you focus on and why?
The iGaming industry continues its rapid growth all around the world. Online platforms can now be accessed anywhere via mobile devices, and the majority of regulated iGaming revenue comes from European customers.
The gambling market in Europe is enormous, accounting for 49 per cent of the market worldwide. According to this data, there will be no surprise to say that our current focus market is Europe, as it is for most providers.
We are also aware of the massive opportunities that are located elsewhere. We currently strengthened our presence in Mexico by partnering with LoGrand, as the first move for Lady Luck in Latin American markets. This was significant for us, as the market there is huge, and more and more Latin American countries are opening their doors for regulated online gambling.
Our next step would be to improve our presence in North America. We have already taken the necessary steps to achieve this goal. In June of 2022, we started the process for the Ontario license, allowing us to provide our content to Canadian players in that province.
See also: Lady Luck Games Group secures B2B UKGC licence
What added value do you offer to position yourself against companies already installed in the industry?
Our art director, Rasmus Guldbjerg-Kjær, is seen as one of the most important Art Directors in the European gaming industry and has for two decades designed games and game concepts that are among the best-selling in the world. He stands behind the success of Hitman and Agent 47.
Under his wing, we develop creative, entertaining, and innovative slot games, such as Mr Alchemister, Rooftop Fight, Madame Clues, The Treasures of Tizoc, Beetle Bailey or Astro Anna.
“Our next step would be to improve our presence in North America. We have already taken the necessary steps to achieve this goal.”
Julian Borg Barthet, Chief Commercial Officer at Lady Luck Games.
What’s so special about those games?
The outstanding graphics and animations, punchy original music and sounds, innovative mechanics, such as pipe mechanics, or one-reel slots, exciting bonuses and engrossing features. Our passion is to continue delivering exciting entertainment to operators and players worldwide.
The slot industry is very saturated. We need to make sure that we stand out from the crowd and players recognize our innovative and creative products. We’re incredibly proud of everything we’ve achieved so far as a business, but we know there’s still plenty more hard work to be done and we’re having a lot of fun doing it.
What’s the process like when it comes to creating games?
Before developing any games, we start our process by creating a solid roadmap. This roadmap is based on our detailed market research.
After we agree on potential business cases and markets, we start off with a collaborative brainstorming session. Doing it this way allows everyone to be involved in the creative process. It also gives individuals an opportunity to pitch new and exciting ideas.
From there we take the best ideas and dig deeper. We work out exactly how we can build upon a concept to develop the best possible game. This is often when our very best work is done.
See also: Lady Luck Games presents new features, gamification tools, and branded content
During this development phase, we always consider what game mechanics and themes are currently succeeding in the market. We then discuss what we can do to differentiate ourselves and appeal to multiple audiences. One thing is for sure though: we don’t want to follow the crowd at Lady Luck Games. We create imaginative games that boast unique mechanics that aren’t seen anywhere else.
What value do the events have for you?
Events participation is essential for any gaming company, regardless of the size or the stage that the company is at. There are various reasons to support this statement.
Attending events can bring great networking results, such as building potential business cases or strengthening relations with affiliates and related partners. It also helps build brand recognition and exposure, especially by having stands or investing in sponsorships and advertisements.
Another important aspect is the learning process is conference participation, listening to the industry veterans help stay up to date. We can also find out what our competitors are up to, which can give us a massive advantage in future projects.
2022 was a very busy year for Lady Luck Games in regard to events. We`ve participated in the most important shows in the industry, such as ICE London, CasinoBeats, the Canadian Gaming Summit, iGB Live!, and more. We saw a great result after our presence during those shows, and we will continue to take similar steps in 2023.
“We’re incredibly proud of everything we’ve achieved so far as a business, but we know there’s still plenty more hard work to be done and we’re having a lot of fun doing it.”
Julian Borg Barthet, Chief Commercial Officer at Lady Luck Games.
What are the next steps in your growth plan?
Our next, and very important step to secure our steady growth and market expansion, is to secure MGA license, which we should achieve shortly. As mentioned previously we would like to strengthen our presence across the globe by solidifying our partnerships with Tier 1 operators. We also have very exciting games in our pipeline.
