iGaming Daily

Andrew McCarron (00:00.942)
Hello and welcome to Dear CEO, a limited series from iGaming Daily. I'm Charlie Horner and I'm joined by IGP CEO Jovana Popovic-Chenaki, who will answer all of the biggest and most burgeoning questions from iGaming operators. Jovana, thank you very much for joining us today. Hi Charlie, good to see you. Are you looking forward to a big week at ICE? I'm looking forward to a big week at ICE and also at our episode number one.

Super exciting, both of the things. Yeah, absolutely. Let's dive into the first question then, which is, is the selection of a platform still the most important or most defining choice for operators compared to the selection of key systems, solutions and complementary services? So yes, in short, it is as important as it always was, especially even maybe even a bit more today because there are many more, Pam.

providers than it used to be before. Why is it important? Because, you know, when you look at an operator who has this idea of creating a brand, it all starts with a spark, with an idea, right? Business strategy, vision, so on. And then you need to find a platform, a tech solution that will bring that idea to life. And where do all of the providers

game content providers, PSP, KOAC, CRM tools and so on, where do they come together? They come together at the platform, packaged all in one, according to the strategy and division of the newly brand owner, onto the websites for the players to be entertained. I look at it in a very funny sort of way. I look at the partnership between

an operator and a platform provider as a marriage. How does it work? So first you start dating a girl, a boy, a person to understand whether it's a good fit. We do the same. So there's a series of demos where an operator would understand what kind of product a company has. Then they make a decision, that's engagement. And then...

Andrew McCarron (02:16.696)
And then the marriage starts, yes? And it is important to put a lot of effort into understanding whether that is the best fit for the operator's vision, because no one is getting married to get then divorced, right? Absolutely. And in gaming terms, this divorce is migration. Migration from one pump to another, which can be quite a painful process.

We should put more effort and really take this process seriously. Not to get divorced at the end. How do you have a long-lasting and fruitful marriage then in the gaming context? Through constant collaboration. It has to be. It's a partnership, it's a relationship. It's not just client-supplier.

Operators are those that know their brands the best, how they are positioning it, they know their players the best, the markets that they are putting these brands onto. So they are much closer to the local markets and to the local players than we as a platform provider are. So getting those insights...

back into the house is of extreme importance because that's where we learn from the ground through operators how to create even a better solution, a more localized one. And it goes vice versa. So then the platform providers such as us in IGP, we constantly work on improving the technology that is behind to be able to provide, deliver a faster solution and a better quality.

It always goes back and forth and it's essential to keep that collab alive. It's great that you mentioned collaboration because that moves us neatly on to our second question, which is, from your perspective, how can platforms and partners work together to deliver and launch better localized solutions? That's exactly what we've been discussing before. It is, we need to take it...

Andrew McCarron (04:37.678)
So operators and platform providers need to really look at it as one. They should be one, not a client, a supplier as I mentioned. Because just from these two insights and these two angles that these two companies, let's call them companies, come from will make that best solution for the player to be entertained.

And we look at the same thing from two different areas. So getting those market insights and being closer to the actual ground with all the key aspects there, of course, coming from the operator onto the pump provider and then platform providing that back and delivering that back. This is what it is. It's what it's about really. And keeping it constant, you know.

Certain relationships of this nature can fall into a bit of winter sleep, if you want, and forget about the importance of a constant work on this. Because it's a never-ending process. The moment we think we've figured out something, it changes. We're in the fast industry. So we need to keep the ball rolling all the time. Absolutely. And listeners will remember the introduction episode that we did.

and you were talking about your experience in the industry and how you've had different roles on different sides of things and having that supplier and platform and operator sort of experience. know, does having all of that varying experience help when it comes to having those collaborations and partnerships? Yes, I think yes, because I've been on both sides. I've been on the side of an operator and I've been on the side of a B2B.

kind of having insights into this both worlds is helping me a lot understand every side really. Yeah, absolutely. Tier 1 operators are looking for product exclusivity more and more these days. What is your opinion on this outcome and do you think it stagnates choice in the market? Everyone wants to have exclusive stuff, right? Not just in iGaming.

Andrew McCarron (06:55.47)
But specifically in our industry, think can, exclusivity, can do both. It can stagnate the markets, but it can also drive the innovation. Let's dive a bit into it. So it can stagnate the markets through sort of a non-ability for the non-tier ones and startups and new entries to compete.

That's a bit sad, right? But at the same time, does bring that, so these exclusivities, they drive the innovation, they push the companies into investing more and creating better quality product. So we can look at this from both ways and we will find pros and cons on each. As in many things in life, even in this, I think that

the balance is what's important, you know? And this is exactly what we do at IGP. Working with our tier one operators, we rather give them or work together on giving them a unique solution rather than exclusive. So maybe this is where, in my opinion at least, this balance is. So not as much exclusivity, but more

a unique solution that would cater the need of that particular company. And if the audience or someone from the needs to give that exclusivity, give it for a certain period of time only.

Absolutely. And you talk about innovation and it's such a hot topic and you talked about exclusivity, of breeding innovation. Are there any other ways that you think you can innovate in this industry and what's IGP's approach to innovation? We don't look at anyone else at IGP.

Andrew McCarron (09:00.872)
is we're at ICE, right? So we have all the suppliers here and we could walk through the visit stands, say hi to our friends, but also see all the products and all the new good stuff that's coming out. It is amazing, you know, and we're kind of celebrating any innovation that happens at any other company, but at the same time, it's looking at that or trying to catch it.

is limiting your brain, is limiting your vision of it. So at IGP, we don't do that. We don't look at what others are doing and we are kind of brainstorming, if you want, from within. I think it's about time to get some massive innovation in the industry, something on the likes of free spins, something like truly which...

which we have not seen before. When is going to happen? What is going to be? Shall we see? Yeah. It's going to be an exciting few months and 2025 is going to be a big year and we'll see what the big innovations of the year are. Jovana, thank you very much for your time today. It's been great to chat. And thank you very much to the audience for listening and watching along. And we'll catch you next time on Dear CEO.