“Mexico, Colombia or Brazil are great targets for us” – Julian Borg-Barthet
Congratulations on your recent partnership with LatAm operator, CBet. What makes this such a key market for Lady Luck Games?
Until recently, Lady Luck Games has been laser-focused on the European market, but we now have in place an ambitious international expansion plan that we are deploying. Latin America is one of the regions we have identified as having tremendous potential for our games as more governments push ahead with legal, regulated online gambling. This has led to operators making significant investments across the continent, as well as businesses and brands from a range of sectors looking to leverage the opportunities that legal online gambling brings. This has helped drive significant growth across the region with revenues increasing by $7.2bn in 2021 alone, equating to an overall growth rate of 5.1%. As regulation continues to roll out, growth will ramp up further as operators can engage more of the 400 million people that live in Latin America.
CBet is a leading operator in LatAm, and our partnership allows us to launch our games to more players across the region than ever before. The calibre of the operator is also important and is a testament to the quality of our slots and the big fun and entertainment experience they provide.
Which LatAm markets in particular have you identified as having strong potential for your content?
Mexico is a key market for us with players already fully engaging with our games via partnerships with tier-one operators CBet and LoGrand Entertainment. We have really hit the ground running and our are proving to be hugely popular with players in the market – titles such as Weight of the Gun, Mr. Alchemister and Ruler of Egypt have quickly risen to the top of the charts. In terms of other markets we have identified as having strong potential, Colombia and Argentina are certainly on our radar, and we are also keeping a close eye on developments in Brazil. The market is now open for sports betting, so we don’t think it will be long before this is expanded to online casinos and when it does, we will be ready to make our move.
You mentioned that you are already live in Mexico and that your games are performing well. Why have they been such a hit with players?
We have received incredible feedback from players as well as our operator partners. Our slots have striking graphics and animations as well as original music and punchy sound which we combine with innovative mechanics to deliver an edge-of-the-seat player experience with each spin. Our pipe mechanics – or one-reel slots – have taken the market by storm and allow CBet and LoGrand to stand out from their rivals. Our games are also synonymous with generous bonuses and features that build anticipation and get s pulse racing. Ultimately, our goal is to deliver exciting entertainment to players worldwide, allowing our partners to exceed their expectations of the experience that a slot game provides. The slot market is saturated, so we need to make sure that our games offer something different and stand out in online casino game lobbies.
How do you ensure your games hit the mark with LatAm players? What do they look for in slot games?
We are still in the early phases of establishing Lady Luck Games as a leading content provider for operators targeting Latin America. To date, we have not developed a game specifically for the market but have launched titles from our portfolio that we believe will hit the mark with players. We are now gathering data and generating feedback from players and operators in Mexico and will then use both to guide our product roadmap for games that will be developed specifically for Mexico and other LatAm markets once we have become more established in the region.
Is the appetite for casino content strong or does sports betting dominate? How can operators drive more players to their online casinos? What role does content play in this?
There is a big appetite for sports betting, but the demand for online casino is still significant, in some markets, it is greater than that for betting on sports. It must be remembered that casino appeals to both men and women, and often to a wider age range than sports betting. The pandemic forced many land-based players online, and this has fuelled incredible growth in iGaming across Latin America in the two years since. So long as regulations allow, there is a huge opportunity for operators to meet this demand and deliver top-class online casino experiences to players. But quality content must be at the heart of their offering, and that’s why Lady Luck Games has identified Latin America as having such tremendous potential.
How will the LatAm market play out this year? What regulatory progress will we see?
Latin America has all the factors in place that make for a market that has huge potential and that can grow at pace. In Argentina, for example, we can see a regulatory evolution taking place and that will ultimately result in online casinos being legalised in more and more markets outside of Buenos Aires. Then there is Peru where the regulator recently closed its consultation period for draft sports betting and online casino legislation expected to enter law in March, opening the market to local and international operators who want to apply for and secure a licence to launch their brands to players.
While we are seeing progress in some countries, others, such as Chile are taking a more prohibitive approach. In recent months, there has been a heated debate about the future of sports betting and iGaming (the market is currently grey), with certain bans in place for sports betting advertising and some provinces looking to shut down betting facilities altogether. The way we see it, there is something of a legal vacuum in the country that does not specifically permit or prohibit sports betting and online gambling. Either way, clarity is required and as far as Lady Luck Games is concerned, we’d like to see the market open up like Mexico and other LatAm countries have.