Jeff Millar: “We provide the most authentic and human gaming experiences a player can have online”

Jeff Millar, commercial director of North America at Evolution granted Focus Gaming News an exclusive interview to talk about the company’s debut at G2E Las Vegas.

Exclusive interview.- In recent years, Evolution has had significant growth after landing in the North American market. That is why, this year, the company has decided to debut at G2E Las Vegas, one of the most important events in the gaming industry.

To talk about this and the company’s prospects for the future, Focus Gaming News sat down with Jeff Millar, commercial director of North America at Evolution.

Why is Evolution making its first presentation at G2E Las Vegas this year? What importance does this have for the company?

Evolution has continued to grow its footprint in North America over the last 3 years and it is now time to officially make our presence known at the most prominent trade show in the region – G2E. 

We are currently active in every regulated iGaming market in North America, with over 2,000 employees in the region and 5 live casino studios in both Canada and the US. Our product portfolio of live casino and RNG games continues to expand in this part of the world, and we look forward to showcasing our achievements at G2E this year.

What messages will you be taking to the event?

During the exhibition, we are looking to highlight three key messages. First, our customers can count on us to be in every new market that opens in both the US and Canada starting on day one. Second, we will continue to expand our product portfolio through the build-out of our live studios and through the acquisition of game suppliers, such as Big Time Gaming and Nolimit City. And lastly, the best way for operators to get access to Evolution’s vast library of content is through our single, simplified integration layer called One Stop Shop or “OSS”.

How do you see the progress of online casinos in the US as more states go live? Are operators managing to differentiate their products to be competitive?

It’s always difficult to predict when states will pass legislation to allow online casino gaming. But we believe it is more a question of when and not if in many states. The good news is that Evolution still has a large catalogue of game titles that have been released in Europe but have not yet been released in North America. So while we wait for the next state to open, we can use this time to get more of our best games introduced into this market.

Operators are always looking to differentiate themselves from their competition and we at Evolution are providing the tools for them to do just that. For example, this year we launched four dedicated, live dealer environments in our Michigan studios. These environments are areas of our live studio that are assigned to specific operators. 

Operators can customize the look and feel of the background and the tables to give players an experience that is unique to that operator’s brand. We also provide operators with the opportunity to customize some of our RNG-based games such as our First-Person Blackjack and First-Person Roulette games. 

For example, we have a few operators who have partnered with professional sports teams, and we have incorporated those sports brands into our game for the exclusive benefit of the operator. 

As for live dealer games, how do you think the vertical fares in the US market and what can it offer for operators?

Evolution is best known for its live dealer products. We provide the most authentic and human gaming experiences a player can have online. It is both challenging and exciting to build out local studios in every jurisdiction, and our aim is to provide the best experience for both the players and our operators.

Over the last year and a half, we have been focused on launching our core live casino offering in the US. These core games include the ones that Americans are used to seeing in land-based casinos – Blackjack, Roulette, Baccarat and Craps. We are now in Phase 2, with the rollout of exciting variants to these traditional casino games. 

These games have additional bonusing, prize multipliers, and enhanced graphics – and include games such as Lightning Roulette and Lightning Blackjack. 

What does Evolution have up its sleeve for the next few months?

More of the same! We’re looking to keep releasing our classic portfolio of games to US operators. This market expansion is thrilling and still remains relatively untouched ground. 

“More US players will be transitioning from land-based casinos and into the online world as more states open their doors to igaming.”

Jeff Millar, commercial director of North America at Evolution.

Our goal is to make that transition as smooth and truly immersive as possible while continuing to produce exciting and distinctive game products. Creating ‘world firsts’ is a great way of describing what we do and what defines us as a company, and in North America, we can see possibly limitless growth potential.

Within our unique game portfolio, 2023 will see us looking to focus on the rollout of our game shows. This has been a massively popular category in Europe, and we are laser-focused on bringing that same experience to US players.