"ICE London will continue to be one of the highlights of the year for Digitain"

Less than a week from ICE London's return to ExCeL, set to be held April 12-14, Simon Westbury, Chief Business Officer for Digitain, anticipates in an interview with Yogonet some of the key highlights of the company's presence as an exhibitor at stand S2-350, SG11.

What will be the main novelties, products, and services that the company will present and focus on this year at ICE London 2022? Which are your key goals for the event?

We are delighted to be showcasing 5 products at ICE 2022. Firstly, we’re formally launching our new, cutting-edge iGaming platform; Centrivo. It is a major step forward, using AI and machine learning to add a number of significant upgraded features to this important product.

We are also introducing Digitain Live, our Live Casino offering being broadcast from our brand-new studios in Yerevan.

We are also featuring at ICE our new Virtual Sports product, boasting dynamic graphics and realistic sounds and focusing on Virtual Football, Virtual Horseracing and Virtual Greyhounds.

On top of these great new products, we are also announcing our new Payment Gateway, offering our partners over 400 different payment providers, ensuring a great localised service wherever they are in the world. Additional features include a fantastic reporting suite as well.

Finally, our sportsbook has had a major upgrade and we’ll be discussing the exciting range of improved features and benefits at ICE.

What else can you anticipate about the new Live Casino division and Jason Marcelino’s role? Which added value has Matthew Charlesworth brought to the table? Why have you decided to invest in this vertical now, and what’s your strategy to be competitive against existing Live Casino providers?

We have great expectations for our new Live Casino. It has been the result of a lot of research and development by our technology and product teams, and we are very proud of the outcome. We have recruited a fantastic team of Game Presenters, we have built state of the art studios and have a very experienced management team in place, led by Matthew Charlesworth.

Jason will be using his industry experience to lead the commercial strategy for Digitain Live, recruiting new partners and managing the ongoing relationships with our existing operator network.

Matthew has brought a clear vision for the product, outlining the ongoing product roadmap and ensuring we deliver quality across all aspects of the product, from the luxurious studio and game set-up to the feature-rich back office and reporting suite.

In terms of why we launched our own in-house product. We are lucky, that in Armenia, we have access to a wonderful array of tech talent. That, plus our vision to continually improve our offering to our partners meant developing Digitain Live was an easy decision. Live Casino is a successful industry product and we feel we can achieve growth and be successful through delivering a high quality and differentiated experience.

Which Digitain representatives will be onsite this time? 

We have a very large number of Digitain people travelling to ICE, including our sales experts, our account management team, our product owners as well as a number of our marketing department. As well as those, there will be great turnout from our senior management team also. ICE 2022 is one of the most significant trade shows for us and we expect to have a very successful trip to London, for both sales and for cementing our relationships with our existing partners.

What does this delayed return to ExCeL represent for you this year in terms of business strategy? With the new April dates and after cancellations from a number of traditional exhibitors, which changes do you expect versus previous editions? Which resources have organizers provided for you to address the new challenges involved in this year’s in-person exhibition?

Although ICE will be reduced in size from previous occasions, due to cancellations caused by the date change, I still believe this show will continue to be one of the highlights of the year for Digitain. The show organisers have been very flexible in terms of help they have provided and we’re grateful for that. We have been coming to ICE for many years now and we continue to value the beneficial relationship we have with the organisers.

In December last year, the company received its GLI certification, and in November the company was granted a license for its full range of fast games by the MGA. What impact and new doors have you seen so far from these milestones? What are the company's expansion projects for 2022 and following these certifications? 

Our strategy is for Digitain to continue to expand our geographical footprint, especially in the short to medium term, in regions such as, Latin America, Asia and Africa. Gaining GLI certification and MGA licensing are further steps that will boost our efforts to gain further traction in regulated environments. We are also building our representation on the ground in these regions to ensure we optimise the opportunities in these emerging markets.

Do you plan to attend any other industry events soon?

Indeed, we’ll be attending all the major expos internationally for the rest of the year. Face-to-face meetings are still the most successful way to meet potential partners and to best discuss the features and benefits of our range of products. It’s also a great way to catch up with our partners around the globe. Next trips for our teams will be at the Betting on Sports Europe conference in London, the Peru Gaming Show in Lima, the Brazilian Gaming Summit in Sao Paulo and iGB Live in Amsterdam.