Thanks to its recent partnership with Net Entertainment, Comtrade Gaming’s licensed operators now have access to NetEnt’s mobile and flash casino games portfolio. Steven Valentine, director of interactive at Comtrade, said, “As part of our online strategy, we have been focused on building an enterprise level gaming platform, iCore, using the latest technology. The partnership allows operators using the iCore platform to take Net Entertainment’s complete casino games portfolio. NetEnt content is integral to many operators with a casino offering. “
Valentine noted Comtrade’s main online markets have been the United Kingdom and other regulated European markets. He said the NetEnt partnership will allow Comtrade to expand into Scandinavia. “NetEnt is the Number One provider in this region so it is very important for us to be able to provide their games,” Valentine said. He added Comtrade also plans to expand into Asia “and we are constantly monitoring the U.S. market to find the right entry point,” he said.
Valentine stated, “Surprisingly, the convergence between land-based and online has really yet to take hold and the same player who plays both online and in a traditional casino with the same operator is still treated as separate customer. The focus on this area will further intensify so a player can be viewed for his total value across all channels.”
Regarding online gaming software, “There has been a lot of consolidation this year and there is no doubt this will continue as large suppliers look to expand via acquisition. The iGaming market continues to grow and there are many markets still yet to open, even in saturated markets we see new operators entering all the time.” However, he noted, “Technology will become much more important. We work in an industry where billion-dollar companies continue to run their businesses with solutions they are generally unhappy with and sometimes with very poor levels of service. In any other industry the demands on the technology partner are much greater and a company would change supplier much quicker if they are dissatisfied. As the market matures we will see much greater demands on software vendors where quality becomes more important and potentially even some industry standards introduced.”
Regarding Comtrade, Valentine said, “Like any business our focus will be on growth. As the demand for well-built technology increases this will fit well with our offering. We are also helped by the fact that we supply software to both the online and land-based industry, thus providing converged solutions. We are also in the fortunate position that we are privately owned, this means we can adopt long-term strategies building quality products without the short-term focus of a share price.”
