Microgaming’s hidden gem

Bacani, PR coordinator of Microgaming’s marketing team, spoke with the CasinoBeats team back in June after being dubbed Hidden Talent of the Year at this year’s Women in Gaming awards. Bacani spoke at length about the exceptional women in the gaming industry and the importance of recognising the diverse range of individuals, thoughts and talents in the industry.

“The industry is often seen as being very male-dominated but awards like these confirm that there are plenty of exceptional women making outstanding contributions within their organisations.”

Bacani teased us with the suggestion that, as well as the release of the online slot Fortinium, which was announced at ICE earlier in the year, Microgaming had a number of new exciting projects in the pipeline. Working alongside the All-in Diversity project, Bacani discussed the initiatives that are highlighting positive change in the industry and steering progress towards better informing the gaming sector.

For the future of the industry, Bacani emphasised that barriers within the gaming industry need to be identified. She said: “The end goal would, of course, be to see a level playing field but I think that events like the Women in Gaming Diversity Awards create an invaluable network for like-minded people to meet, and for women to see other female role models in the industry – that’s empowering.”

The importance of overcoming and recognising exhaustion

As well as recognising achievements, it is of great importance to be aware of the well being of employees and the measures put in place to protect individuals susceptible to mental and physical exhaustion.

Co-founder of Codeta, Edward Ihre discussed with CasinoBeats the toll that trying to balance work and day-to-day life had on his well being, and how there was a desperate need to enforce measures to prevent burn-out for employees across the industry.

Ihre’s experience helped him intervene in a situation that had an employee of his in a difficult place, with measures subsequently put in place to ensure the individual could recover.

“I felt he was in a bad place so took the same measures with him as I had with myself. We pulled him out everything; emails, phone calls, Skype and allowed him to have three months off on full pay.”

When discussing the decision to take a break from Codeta, Ihre underestimated the expectations of investors, commenting: “I realised they were not only investing in Codeta, but they were also investing in me.”

Lucky Dragon

Back in 2016, building developer Andrew Fonfa set out to develop the Asian-themed boutique and casino, Lucky Dragon, with the intention of becoming the focal point for the local Chinese community in Las Vegas.

Visitor numbers didn’t materialise and the venue faltered into bankruptcy.

The bankrupt venue was taken to auction in October of this year – and failed to attract any bidders.

The casino was intended to be developed as a sister venue to the adjacent Allure Las Vegas residential tower, but following the recession and eight years after Allure’s construction, work began on developing Fonfa’s plan B – the Lucky Dragon.

The October auction failure represented another nail in the coffin for Lucky Dragon as the current owner, Snow Covered Capital, seeks to recover whatever it can from Fonfa’s money pit.

Even during the bankruptcy case the venue is said to haemorrhaged around $200,000 a month, with Snow Covered Capital stating in court papers that there is “no dispute” the resort had been “a dismal failure.”

NetEnt 2.0

NetEnt appointed a new CEO, Therese Hillman, this year, with the aim of creating “a new driving force to reverse trend and increase the focus on growth”.

Speaking exclusively to CasinoBeats, Hillman joked that she had joined at a hectic time in the company’s history and was looking forward to the exciting times ahead for both NetEnt and the industry.

She commented: “My intention was to follow through on the strategy in place … But what we see today is not enough to drive the high growth target we need.”

Her appointment was viewed as a step forward in growing the industry record on diversity and equality, however she remains one of the relatively few female chief executive officers in the gaming sector.

“I think our culture and high ambition when it comes to diversity and equality is not tied to one person. It was important to us before and it will continue to be important going forward. This is something that our whole company invest a lot of thoughts and work into.”

FunFair Tech

This year has been a busy period for decentralised blockchain casino platform provider FunFair Technologies. The group launched FunPass, introduced CasinoFair, and issued new appointments of staff.

The launch of CasinoFair was integral to the development of the FunFair trajectory – with it becoming the first live use case of the platform, opening the group up to a worldwide audience.

The group continues to be a B2B company, but this development sets them apart from other firms in the industry.

Jez San, founder of FunFair Technologies, commented: “It’s important to note that we are still primarily a B2B company and this will continue to be the group’s priority, but having a live, direct to consumer operation offers us so many learnings for this side of our business, in terms of the marketing requirements of future partners and the player behaviour that we can craft our platform around.

“At FunFair, it’s business as usual as we continue to improve the platform and its user journey, expanding the games library, all while working in-house and with various partners to ensure greater functionality, and so making it easier for mass adoption.”

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A player’s Skill Score is determined by their ability to win big and to keep winning over time, known as Dedicated Wins and Big Wins.

Dedicated Wins are calculated as a ratio between wins and losses, while Big Wins summarise earned pay-out ratios. These simple factors make it possible to compare skills between players regardless of the size of the bets placed.

Codeta will run tournaments and promotions around Skill Score with the highest-ranked players winning a selection of prizes.

Edward Ihre, co-founder and chairman of Codeta, said: “Skill development is a big part of why players engage with live table games, and Skill Score enables them to keep track of their progress while also competing with other players.

“Skill Score allows us to better engage our players and communicate with them on a regular basis. If we see they are performing well at blackjack but not so well at roulette, we can send them tutorials to help improve their roulette skills, for example.

“This really sets us aside from our rivals, and allows us to offer added value to our players. Our brand promise is to capture the skill and thrill of table games, and Skill Score is just one way we are able to offer this.”

The post Codeta offering players table-game leaderboards with Skill Score appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Ihre shared with CasinoBeats his personal experience of burnout and exhaustion after forming the online casino brand, he also revealed the measures he has put in place to help prevent burn-out for both him and his employees in the future.

CasinoBeats: Hi Edward, thanks for talking to us, could you tell us a little more about the situation that led to you taking a break from Codeta?

EI: “There were a number of factors that culminated in a sort of perfect storm. When launching Codeta, I was going through a divorce from my then wife. Because I was so consumed with getting the business off the ground, I didn’t have time to process the emotional turmoil I was going through until a later date. At the same time, I also underestimated the work required to launch a new online casino brand, including sourcing outside investment and the expectations investors had – I realised they were not only investing in Codeta, but they were also investing in me.

“After a few months it became clear that carving out a niche in the online casino sector was going to be much harder than anticipated, and I took this very personally. I believed that if the business failed then I failed, too, and not just as a businessman but as a person. By the time we completed our second funding round in May 2017, I felt completely exhausted. I was losing my memory, I had a bad temper, and would start crying during meetings. Then, one day, I hit a brick wall and simply couldn’t get out of bed. I called my ex-wife and she, along with my brother (also a founder of Codeta), intervened.

“They cut me off from all work-related activity – literally everything – and instructed me not to return until I was properly rested and had recovered my mental health. It took me seven months to get back on my feet and to the point where I could return to work.”

How important do you feel it is to separate work from home life, how much does it improve your quality of work?

“This is a tough question, even after what I have been through. As an entrepreneur, I have never really made a distinction between the two, and that is where I went wrong in some respects. My home life is now very different to what it was before my burn-out. I don’t think it comes down to keeping work at the office and home at home; it’s more about being able to separate the two mentally while also allowing them to run side by side.

“For example, if you are working from your office at home and your kids interrupt, you need to be able to drop what you are doing and mentally switch to your role as a father.

“For me, the breakthrough has been in disassociating the success of Codeta with my success as a human being. Just because the business has taken longer to establish than anticipated in no way makes me a bad person. Realising this has been hugely liberating.”

What strategies and methods would you advise people to put in place in order to ensure they continue working hard, without overdoing it and draining themselves?

“I think this very much related to the above question, i.e being able to be present in the moment and in different roles (worker, human being) and quickly adapting to the one that requires your attention. When you can’t distinguish between the two and jump from one to the other, you are risk of burn-out.

“I expect people to work hard and do their best but their family and personal life always comes first. One practical method I have started to use is that once I get home, I put my phone on silent and place it on top of the fridge and pay full attention to my kids until they have gone to bed. Then I can start checking emails having been fully present in their life and in my role as a father to them.

“I would also encourage people to share their feelings and problems with their managers and bosses; they are the ones best-placed to help at work and can manage expectations from both sides.”

As the owner of Codeta, how would you intervene if you felt one of your employees was overworking and becoming either mentally or physically exhausted?

“I would immediately talk to the person in question to find out their work/personal situation. Burn-out and stress often come about due to lack of communication and sharing. Perhaps the person in question has (wrongly, as in my case) put unnecessary pressure on themselves to solve a specific task or situation. Perhaps there is a combination of work and personal factors that have built up. It is important to talk about them so the necessary measures can be put in place.

“You then have to assess how best to overcome the issues at hand. I had one of my employees experience this quite recently and, after discussing it with him, I felt he was in a bad place so took the same measures with him as I had with myself. We pulled him out everything; emails, phone calls, Skype and allowed him to have three months off on full pay.

“I mention that he was on full pay because it is an important piece of the puzzle when it comes to recovery. If a burnt-out employee is not on full pay, they are likely to return before they are better due to the financial implications of being on sick pay or no pay whatsoever.”

Now you are mostly back, what are some of your aims for Codeta moving forward, and have you reached a stage where you are enjoying your work again?

“I have decided to move back into the business slowly, meaning I work at the office from 10am to 2pm every day – routines are good for someone that has hit the wall – and have involved myself in the parts of the business I enjoy the most and provide the most value.

“This is things like management support/advisor, affiliate team-support and product development. The big difference is that there is someone else in charge of Codeta and its various departments, while my role now is to support and advise management to make the best possible decisions on my behalf. This takes a lot of pressure off me.”

The post Codeta’s Edward Ihre: The importance of overcoming and recognising exhaustion appeared first on CasinoBeats.

The cash will be used to increase marketing activity and to support the increase in VIP players the operator has acquired since its recent re-design.

The financing is part of the operator’s third funding round, having raised €4.3m since its launch in 2016. A convertible loan sees investors provide a loan – the accumulated interest, along with the loan itself, are converted into stock once the share emittance has occurred.

Codeta chairman Edward Ihre, said: “Codeta’s latest funding round will enable us to increase our marketing activity and to drive awareness of the brand among more players in regulated markets around the world.

“Following our re-design at the back end of last year, we have seen an increase in VIP players so we will also use the cash injection to bank-roll their wagering activity.

“We have big plans for 2018, which will include another, larger funding round later in the year as we look to cement Codeta’s position as undisputed leader in live casino.”

The post Financing boost for live specialist Codeta appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Changes made encompass a completely new look, including colour scheme and font, as well as the launch of several new features.

Included are tournaments, in addition to a “powerful” search tool that allows players to find their favourite games through a variety of sub categories.

The operator detailed that the various changes made are to allow users to find games in an easier manner, in addition to navigating the site and accessing the new features and tools available.

Codeta also stated that it doesn’t believe in gimmicks, and it’s mantra of “to champion live table games and shake up the status quo” remains very much the same.

Daniel Nilsson, COO of Codeta, said: “Codeta is all about delivering the best live casino experience, and to do that we believe in giving even more power back to our players, which we have achieved through our redesign.

“Codeta is all about the games; we do away with online casino clichés and instead swim against the tide and do things a little bit differently. The redesign allows us to better serve our players, while still standing out from the crowd.”

A number of other slots and table games are also available from NetEnt, Play’n GO, Aristocrat, Novomatic, NextGen and Microgaming amongst others, with live dealer products supplied by Evolution Gaming, NetEnt and Authentic Gaming.

The site is available on desktop, and has also been optimised for play on mobile and tablet devices, on both Android and iOS.

The post Codeta continues ‘revolution’ with website redesign appeared first on CasinoBeats.

Casino Floor Live Studio is a brand new vertical for the gaming industry that combines the atmosphere of land-based gaming floors with dedicated online only dealers.

Unlike other live dealer studios located in land-based casinos, which are often in purpose built rooms hidden away, Casino Floor Live Studio is situated at the heart of the gaming floor and can be seen by patrons.

For online players, it means they can enjoy the unique sights and sounds of a land-based casino, while still utilising the speed, consistency, and dealer interaction that only studio live casino can bring.

Casino Floor Live Studio first launched with LeoVegas in November, and is now being rolled out to online operators on the Authentic Gaming network, including Mr Green,  Unibet, Codeta, NYX Gaming Group and many others.

Jonas Delin, CEO of Authentic Gaming, said: “Casino Floor Live Studio marks the next stage in our product diversification plan. We have an active production pipeline, with a raft of new formats and games set to launch in the coming months and throughout 2018.

“We are launching new live casino products in Q4 and throughout 2018 that are specifically designed to appeal to the large and growing player base that engage with tables streamed out of studios.

“That said, we continue to focus on bringing prestigious land-based gaming tables online via our Authentic Roulette platform, and ensuring the quality of our products and services remains unrivalled.”

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