Steven Valentine: “After 2 years it feels great to be able to attend ICE London again”

Steven Valentine, Chief Commercial Officer at Comtrade Gaming celebrates the return of ICE London after a 2-year hiatus and tells us what the company has planned for the event.

Exclusive interview.- Steven Valentine is eager to return to ICE London and so he showed it in this interview he gave to Focus Gaming News to talk about the plans the company has for the event and the new products they will show.

What do you expect for ICE London and what does it mean to meet the industry at a large event? What has the company planned for the expo?

ICE is the biggest and best show of the year; there is no other event where so many people come together. I really like the fact this year it is in spring, warm days and lighter evenings should give the event a real boost.

After 2 years it feels great to be able to attend the expo again as there is no better place for meeting so many people in one location and showcasing what we do.

The company is still very much focused on our iGaming platform (iCore), which is typically aimed at enterprise-level operators. Our PAM solution is already used by some of the world’s largest operators such as Dafabet, Mansion, and Superbet and we are very excited to be launching in the USA due to winning a new client: G3 Esports.

At Comtrade Gaming we also launched Cloud RGS (gCore Coud) for boutique slot game vendors. We have had a very successful RGS (gCore) on the market for many years and it is used by some of the largest game vendors such as Ainsworth and Bally Technology. It is a product we have typically sold as licensed source code to mid and large size game vendors and large operators. 

We are now making this product more available to new-to-market small game vendors with a kind of software as a service model; smaller game vendors can thus get access to their own version of the same great technology, hosted in the cloud but without the significant upfront cost.

Are you introducing any brand new product at ICE London?

We are launching our cloud RGS product. We have supplied RGS technology to large game vendors for many years but we now have an offering that will also suit smaller game vendors. Many game companies are reliant on game aggregators’ technology and their route to market. Now they can have their own RGS, cloud-hosted which puts them totally in control of their destiny. 

The extensive features and SDK’s allow games to be built very quickly and the paytable adapter means a games RTP can be quickly reconfigured for different markets or specific operators’ needs.

Recently, Comtrade Gaming announced that it would supply its gCore technology to OneGame. How important are partnerships for the company? Are you planning to sign new deals in the near future?

Our deal with OneGame is another RGS deal. They have already built over 25 games using our technology but also incorporating their own game framework into it. We also help them with extra resources to build games and with integrations with operators. We have a very flexible approach with all our clients and work together to provide them exactly what they need from both a technology point of view and experienced resources.

2021 has been a very successful year for Comtrade Gaming. What is the company´s plan to keep its high standards?

We have always taken a client-first approach. Many gaming companies view their success by the number of clients they have and how many deals they have done each year. We have always judged our success by our client’s satisfaction and how long those relationships have been. 

“Our commitment to quality is our number goal together with manageable growth.”

Steven Valentine, Chief Commercial Officer at Comtrade Gaming.

We are a big investor in our people and never stop recruiting and being privately owned means that we can have a very long-term strategy. I have been with the company for 13 years and our CEO for over 20. This is mirrored right the way through our business. It’s quite rare to see this level of commitment and loyalty, especially in our industry; it’s this stability and experience which sets us apart.

Your partnership with G3 Esports represents the company´s entry into the US market. What do you expect about this expansion?

G3 is a great partnership for us that will see us go live in a minimum of three states. The US market is maturing at breakneck speed and this and we have already seen some casualties with over investment. Many companies are currently on a big land grab whatever the cost, this is in both the operator and vendor space. However, ultimately it has to make long term business sense. 

Public valuations of both operators and vendors have recently plummeted when questions started being asked about future profitability. On the vendor side, the established companies that already have a good profit-making business will be the ones to ultimately last the distance.

Are you planning to expand to other markets? What are your main goals for the next months?

We are starting to look at LATAM but for that, you need sportsbook software and a local presence. We are currently evaluating options for both and hope to have a go-to-market strategy by Q4 this year so watch this space.

“We are starting to look at LATAM but for that, you need sportsbook software and a local presence.”

Steven Valentine, Chief Commercial Officer at Comtrade Gaming.