Over the last few months, a large portion of the industry has had to adopt new working methods – with many choosing to work from home.
Rob Procter, Studio Director at SG Digital, explained to SBC that hearing how the industry has adapted will be a key area of interest at the upcoming CasinoBeats Malta Digital.
What are you looking forward to at CasinoBeats Malta Digital 2020?
Being able to get back into socialising, albeit digitally, with a number of people from across the industry. Some of the panel sessions also look really interesting too, especially some of the topics which are looking at adapting to the current environment and working from home. It’ll also be great to get a handle on how some of the other operators and suppliers have managed to do that.
What would be your biggest bit of advice for betting and gaming businesses trying to mitigate the impact of COVID-19?
Keeping people happy is a key thing, I think. It’s especially important to ensure that we’re keeping teams engaged and trying to keep people focused. From my experience, it’s about keeping an open line of communication as much as possible to try keep the pre-COVID momentum going.
I think we’ve managed to do that really well, but I definitely think clear communication and making sure you’ve got happy people who are able to take time away from their desks at home to step away from work a little bit.
What are you promoting at CasinoBeats Malta Digital?
Our OpenGaming proposition – the industry leading igaming ecosystem that brings breakthrough gaming experiences to players across the globe. OpenGaming connects operators to an a leading library of games available from the world-class studios across the globe supplemented by cutting-edge player features such as Missions and Tournaments.
What industry innovation will capture the most attention in 2020?
Jackpot Wars from SG Digital. We’re launching our Jackpot Wars feature next month, which is a jackpot mechanic for our players to win. But ultimately, the main essence of it is that as the players play a particular slot, they gain gold cogs, they can power up their own individual robot, they can transform that robot and build it, give it weapons, armour, tattoos.
And then when a player earns enough tickets, they can go into a battle to win one of the progressive jackpots. It’s truly innovative, and I don’t think anything like this has ever been done before to win jackpots in this way. Especially with customised characters like this, it’s something that is totally new to this industry.
We’re dipping our toes into the water a little bit, but there has been a lot of hard work, time and effort that has gone into this. When we’re talking about new things coming into the market, this is the innovation that I think is going to stand out.
Which parts of the conference agenda have caught your eye?
As I said earlier, some of the panels looking at the ways of working are going to be particularly interesting. I think I’m going to spend my time tuning into some of the panel sessions and listening to what people from across the industry have to say.