"My greatest expectation is that crypto will completely outweigh traditional payments in online casinos"

2021 marked a special year for iGaming tech company SOFTSWISS. Throughout the last 12 months, the business achieved a series of key milestones, including rebranding, reaching 1000 employees, expanding to new markets and securing local licenses in a number of countries.

Ivan Montik, Founder of SOFTSWISS, spoke with Yogonet on these achievements, while also reflecting on industry trends and challenges anticipated for 2022. The executive expects the new year to be a key one for crypto -a trend Montik already talked about with Yogonet in an exclusive interview in October- and mobile gaming.

Moreover, Montik talks about challenges imposed by changing iGaming regulations in local jurisdictions, which often lead to requirements operators can't meet, and reflects on some of the main goals SOFTSWISS expects to achieve throughout 2022, both in terms of product offering and company structure.

What would be your year-end assessment for SOFTSWISS, especially regarding the industry's recovery and the company's rebranding, and the key developments in your business areas?

2021 has been a fruitful year for the iGaming industry on the whole and for SOFTSWISS in particular. The industry has continued to grow sustainably, reaching out to new markets and bringing new technology into the products. While iGaming was not that vulnerable to the negative impact of the pandemic, it still had to adapt to the new business circumstances that 2020 brought. Although we coped well with the challenge of remote work, I’m really happy that in 2021 we had more personal communication again. The shows in Amsterdam and Malta brought the community back together and showed the industry’s great potential for further development.

For SOFTSWISS, the biggest highlight of the year was reaching 1000 employees. We are now a very big and strong team working together from different parts of the world to deliver top technology and service to our clients. Poland, Georgia and Malta are the new locations which we opened in 2021 to grow internationally. We also reached out to several new markets and got local licenses for operation in Serbia, Greece and Nigeria. 

In terms of new products and technologies, the biggest achievement of 2021 was the launch of the SOFTSWISS Jackpot Aggregator. This is a unique solution which offers Jackpot as a Service, and it was shortlisted for the Product Launch of the Year by the Global Gaming Awards.   

With such exponential growth in terms of products, markets and employees, rebranding has been a natural step for our company. It reflects our evolution as a brand and our current positioning on the market. It mirrors how we’ve changed in the last 10 years, but also shows that we still adhere to the same core values that we had in the very beginning. That’s the message we want to communicate to the iGaming community. 

What do you see as the main expectations and new challenges for 2022, both for the gaming industry and SOFTSWISS? What do you think will be the main issues driving the agenda of the areas in which the company operates?

2021 has been a big year for crypto gaming and I’m sure that 2022 will be even bigger. My greatest expectation is that cryptocurrencies that already overshadow fiat currencies will completely outweigh traditional payments in online casinos, making betting more convenient, secure and transparent. At SOFTSWISS, we are anticipating this day. With the outstanding technology achievements in this area and the profound experience in launching numerous crypto casino brands, we are ready to provide technical support and marketing consulting to operators who want to jump into crypto gaming. 

Crypto gaming aside, our industry will continue to go mobile and software providers will be in a race developing content which can be used on mobile phones, tablets and similar devices. Security will also remain the highest priority and artificial intelligence will be the main driving force to push it forward. The ability to analyze user behavior and predict fraud is already possible thanks to the advanced Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning mechanisms. It is a real breakthrough which will take our industry to the next level and make operators’ lives easier. It is part of the SOFTSWISS product development strategy to further integrate artificial intelligence technology into our software. 

Thinking about the challenges to come, quickly changing regulation is the first thing that comes to mind. Striving to bring a system into iGaming and better control it, local jurisdictions often set requirements which operators can’t meet, completely ruining their business. I hope that 2022 will bring positive changes in regulation and local jurisdictions will realize that iGaming can be beneficial for the local markets.  

What is SOFTSWISS looking forward to in 2022? What new milestones should we expect the company to achieve, and what are its main plans and goals for the year?

Our existing products will remain in focus and we will continue to enhance their functionality and add unique new features so that operators who use them can rest assured they use the best software available on the market. We also anticipate new product releases which will be announced in the upcoming year. Together with our partners, we plan to launch local projects in Greece, Serbia and Nigeria and explore new markets. Finally, the internal goal is to adapt the company structure and management mechanisms to the company size and keep our great team motivated to take on new challenges in building great software products.