As the company gears up to showcase its solutions at ICE, Optima’s CEO, Jacob Lopez Curciel, explains that the Optima Multichannel Gaming Suite offers operators a turn-key bespoke platform that is customised for their needs.
International Casino Review: Could you tell us more about the leading solutions in your product portfolio?
Jacob Lopez Curciel: Our main and leading solution is the Optima Multichannel Gaming Suite (OPTIMAMGS). A platform that is delivered as a turn-key solution, developed with the gaming industry in mind, with best and most modern technology, capacity, stability, scalability and performance, best in the market. This is a proven reality as most of our customers are in the top five operators in each of the markets we operate.
Operators are getting a turn-key bespoke platform that is setup just for them, with Open APIs that allow operators, if this is their desire, to develop their own frontend applications from scratch as well as they could extend existing functionalities using our SDK or development services, at their pace.
But not only that, our customers and partners are able to request functionalities in the backend as well, also at their pace, with their own roadmap in mind.
An OPTIMAMGS setup for a single operator, is capable of dealing with multiple regions, regulations, languages, currencies and verticals, all under the same system, and all under full control of the operator.
With different models, hosted in the Optima Private Cloud, hosted at the customer premises or selected data centre, running in the cloud, or in a cloud-on-customer-premises setup, specifically designed for a partner who wants to have all flexibility but still for different reasons, wants to have the cloud privately managed.
Close to 100,000 operations per second, the platform gives an outstanding system performance, it’s certified and operating in all major jurisdictions worldwide and it is bundled with a round-the-clock 24/7 support service.
ICR: Why is ICE an ideal opportunity to present your products?
JLC: ICE is an annual milestone for everybody in the gaming industry. It’s the marketplace to be once a year, an opportunity to meet industry experts, insiders, launch new products and features, as well as learn about new technologies and trends, incorporating them in the new features.
ICR: How do you think the European market is changing in terms of trends and technological developments?
JLC: There are ever more regulated markets on the European continent which brings new growth opportunities for all industry players, also ensuring that the user receives the best experience and services across channels.
In terms of trends, the industry should listen to players who demand technology to be aligned with general trends, seamless user experience across channels and instantaneous information and gratification.
Technological advances such as AI, blockchain and virtual reality which we have already embraced, will definitely bring important shifts in commercial and technical aspects of the gaming platforms and services, we will as always, keep our level of innovation to market high, together with the well-known outstanding stability and scalability of our products.
ICR: Which jurisdictions do you consider offer the greatest potential for market growth?
JLC: If we are talking about geographical jurisdictions, the gaming industry doesn’t show signs of slowing the growth.
The Spanish market has recently seen opening opportunities due to the market regulation. Users in Africa and Asia are catching up quickly on gambling and gaming trends, while multiple countries in Latin American market are opening up to the opportunities in the sportsbetting and gaming market which is likely to result in market regulation in those countries.
Once the US will be regulated, no doubt, there will be a huge potential for market growth.
ICR: Where did you see success in 2017, could you tell us about some of your recent installations or partnerships?
JLC: Optima is continuously adding new partnerships globally, the two most recent agreements being among the largest deals in the industry in the past year. The deals include the rollout of the OPTIMAMGS platform and its retail product Serverless v2 for over 1700 betting shops supporting near 4,000 point of sale OTC terminals for Betfred, as well as, the agreement with IGT by which Optima is the selected partner to develop and support their sports betting platform for regulated markets: Europe, Asia, Africa, and South/Central America.
ICR: Looking forward, where will the focus be for your company in 2018?
JLC: Our main focus is to ensure our existing partners are continuing with the outstanding growth they are experimenting with our platform, stability and performance is key to the gaming industry. Also, we are focusing on expanding our partnerships with real betting and e-gaming operators, particularly those who are requiring a state-of-the-art platform that could be evolved, with flexibility and best technology to lead in regulated markets.
This year we will roll out a number of new machine learning APIs and algorithms ready for operators to perform real time data analysis, like for example promotions management and customer AI led customer segmentation. Also, a number of enhancements will be released.
