The Baltic and Eastern Europe - home to interesting, evolving jurisdictions and technology

Martin Britton, Managing Director of GLI Europe and Africa commented on the recent trends affecting the gaming market globally and the evolution of the market in Eastern Europe.

GLI recently acquired NMi Gaming. What have been the benefits for the company and its clients after this and the other main acquisitions?

GLI Group’s acquisition of NMi Gaming was about increasing our abilities to further increase customer service to both Gaming Laboratories International’s (GLI®) clients and to NMi’s clients. The companies offer complementary services, and the acquisition further enhanced both companies’ business offerings and levels of customer service we can provide to our gaming clients globally. NMi Gaming will continue to operate under the NMi Gaming brand name for the foreseeable future. Although NMi’s customers can expect a “business-as-usual” approach, they will benefit from this new situation by attaining instant global reach through GLI’s accredited 475 jurisdictions. The bottom line is, with GLI’s unrivalled jurisdictional expertise, coupled with NMi’s technological, problem-solving mindset, promise to make this an exciting new chapter in the ongoing development of the business.

What are the other important news around GLI?

GLI has been awarded accreditation in the Czech Republic, becoming the first international gaming laboratory to earn this honor in December 2016. The achievement further increases GLI’s activity across Europe and allows the company to provide assistance to the Czech Ministry of Finance and Gaming Board.We are expanding our professional services team in Europe through the Bulletproof brand. This will provide enhanced services to clients and giving a greater level of expertise.

What are the recent changes affecting the gaming market these days? 

Regulation and technology are always moving forward. At GLI, we have expertise across all sectors that provide invaluable advice. In support of these changes, we have GLI's standard series being updated periodically to keep pace with regulatory and technology advances. GLI has been growing year on year with existing and new clients. The range of expertise from mathematicians, testing experts through to security professionals are relied upon by our clients to provide independent and professional advice to assist them through the complex compliance process. Our aim being to make this as painless as possible for our clients by delivering excellent service  

How has the market in Eastern Europe evolved in the last few years?

Over the past couple of years, GLI is observing a growing number of new regulated gaming markets in Eastern Europe in the land-based and online sector. GLI is able to offer to its clients all services for these new jurisdictions.

How important for the development of the region are events such as BEGE and EEGS? 

Tradeshows and conferences, such as BEGE, EEGS and others, are beneficial to attendees because they provide a central location for high levels of information exchange. At GLI, we believe ever-increasing knowledge is the key to a successful future, whether that knowledge is gained at events such as BEGE and EEGS or through other means, like the webinars GLI produces or through classes produced by our GLI University® program.

What are your expectations about this year’s events? 

We are excited for this year’s events. The Baltic and Eastern Europe are home to interesting, evolving jurisdictions and technology, and we are very much looking forward to discussing new technologies and their potential impact with our clients. At GLI, we have labs all over the world, and that gives us a boots-on-the-ground level of insight to new and emerging technologies, how they are impacting different jurisdictions, and how regulators, suppliers, and operators are reacting to them. This allows us to come to shows like BEGE and EEGS armed with a world of knowledge to benefit our clients.

What are the trend and topics that you find important for the industry at this point? 

We are seeing movement in many sectors, including DFS, virtual sports, sports betting as a whole, creating challenges for regulators, suppliers and operators. GLI has expertise in these areas, supplying the industry with valuable knowledge and advice to give consistent and logical approach to these technology advances. VLT/server-based gaming regulation has moved forward in some jurisdictions where GLI has played a key role.