Q&A: Robin Reed, Gaming Innovation Group CEO

Gaming Innovation Group (GiG) CEO Robin Reed has only been in his current role for a month, and takes on the position during a period of major transition for the company. In February the Guts.com parent company was acquired by Oslo-listed Nio and has since acquired new affiliate networks and migrated its core product from EveryMatrix to its in-house iGamingCloud platform. But with the heavy lifting done the challenge he now faces is following through on some ambitious plans for the sector.

eGaming Review caught up with Reed to find out what the operator has planned for the rest of 2015.

eGaming Review (eGR): Why did GiG decide to combine forces with Nio earlier this year?

Robin Reed (RR): The merger saw GiG float on the Oslo Stock Exchange Main List. We did so because we have some ideas we would like to pursue at a large scale as an independent company, including a cloud service called iGamingCloud which we think can help a lot of companies. It is a casino, and soon-to-be betting platform. We are currently polishing it, starting to roll it out and are in dialogue with dozens of companies over the first integration slots. Nio had unique betting competence that is very complimentary to our long-term roadmap, and are building an exciting brand in Betspin.com, which is a white label on the platform.

eGR: How is the company now structured and how are you pooling resources between the various brands?

RR: The group is pivoting around iGamingCloud which is powering our brands. We´ve created a 20-man technology and design team based Malta and are looking to hit a headcount of 40 by the end of the year. [Head of casino operations] Ben Clemes is currently heading up our efforts to open a sales and accounts team in Marbella to get closer to the Gibraltar scene. Complementing iGamingCloud is the online performance-marketing firm Innovation Labs. Through acquisitions we´ve quickly gained a strong position and are considering further acquisitions while looking to expand the team to fuel our organic growth. We are pretty inspired by the idea of offering a distribution channel to our clients and B2B partners.

eGR: What are your main goals for the firm having recently assumed the role of CEO?

RR: As margins are dwindling due to increased regulation and competition, I think the industry must make a shift from huge budgets to smart technology. I want us to disrupt the egaming industry by making it lean and connected through cloud-based software with a marketing play next to it. I think the combination of the two is pretty powerful.

eGR: Is this what you think makes GiG stand out from some of your competitors of a similar size?

RR: Where others see themselves as companies, we see ourselves as a community of smart people and when you put smart people together then beautiful things happen. We refer to our ideas as seeds and we nurture them from inception to scale. It might sound a bit hippie but next to the eco-friendly lunches and ping pong tournaments, there is a relentless focus on optimisation, organisation and getting things done. The company has grown from a poker forum with a mere €250,000 in free cash to a listed services provider with a market cap of €60m in less than two-and-a-half years.

eGR: Why did you opt to move Guts.com away from the EveryMatrix platform?

RR: It made more sense to start the process of turning Guts into a white label of iGamingCloud when we moved towards the cloud services. We are really grateful of the assistance we received from EveryMatrix as the migration was conducted in less than 12 hours and was nearly flawless. That’s a pretty amazing accomplishment for both companies and the best way to end a great run.

eGR: How is the company’s Betspin product performing?

RR: Betspin got off to a good start but has been running with a really high return to player (RTP) over the last couple of months so it’s still too early to tell. However the feedback from the customers has been very good and Betspin has an ambitious product roadmap so we are eager to follow the performance of the product and support the team. I think a united GiG and Betspin can go very far.

eGR: Does GiG plan to enter any new markets or launch new products over the coming months?

RR: We´re working on a betting engine to complement our casino product and are looking to launch that with Guts.com shortly. They say that true passion lies at the intersection of arts and modern technology. I think we´ve seen a lot of that with the likes of Casino Saga, Casumo and Thrills in the casino vertical but there is still so much to be done in sports betting. We are working on something that we hope will change the UI of betting, and as such open the way for a new UX.