Q&A: Jens von Bahr, CEO, Evolution Gaming

The publication of Evolution Gaming’s full-year results last week reflected the recent growth in live casino products. The supplier, who has a dominant market position, posted a 55% rise in revenues and 76% increase in EBITDA.

And the year was certainly a transformational one for the Sweden-headquartered firm. Not only did the company complete a flotation on Stockholm’s Nasdaq First North Premier, but it also signed a strategic partnership with rival supplier Microgaming, which saw Evolution take on Microgaming’s Europe-based clients.

The firm, which won Live Casino Operator of the Year at the 2015 EGR B2B Awards, also struck further deals with the likes of Casumo, Genting Alderney, Gamesys and SBTech and launched new live casinos for PokerStars and Marathonbet during the year.

Following the results, EGR caught up with Evolution Gaming CEO Jens von Bahr to reflect on the year and discuss plans for 2016.

eGaming Review (EGR): 2015 was a great year for Evolution, do you have a particular highlight?

Jens von Bahr (JvB): I think the particular highlight was the overall breakthrough for live casino as the most strategically important vertical in the online gaming industry, which I believe has been the main driver for both Evolution and the market.

We have been waiting for this to happen, and I think it has accelerated during the year. If you want to create meaningful brand differentiation in the digitalised world, live casino is the product to go for. Then of course we are also proud of the many Evolution-specific achievements, ranging from new partnerships to products and market entries.

EGR: Are there any areas of the business where you feel Evolution underachieved in 2015?

JvB: One area where I think we can become much better is to utilise our data and statistics that we have gathered over the years and help our customers to even better optimise their offerings. We have put a lot of resources into our BI team over the year, but the big achievements are still ahead of us.

EGR: Can you reveal the thought process behind the Microgaming deal? Is this a sign of your dominance in Europe?

JvB: I think it is more a sign of the complexity of the live casino vertical. It takes a huge effort to operate live casino in big scale in multiple markets with various regulatory requirements.

The fact that we have been able to focus 100% on this is of course an advantage, and I think the deal with Microgaming is a strategic win for both of us. We can now serve their clients with the best live casino product as part of their excellent product portfolio.

EGR: How important are dedicated live casino rooms to operators? Do these place an extra strain on your resources?

JvB: I believe it is vital for any tier one operator in Europe to have a dedicated live casino area, that’s the only way to fully capitalise on the potential of the vertical. More than half of our tables belong to a dedicated area today so I would say our team knows exactly how it should be done.

We just acquired our main studio building in Riga, giving us the possibility to more or less double the floor space over time so we definitely have the capacity to continue to deliver branded areas.

EGR: Rival suppliers are investing heavily into live casino, are you seeing greater competition during tender processes?

JvB: As long as the market continues to grow we will face more competition, and as an entrepreneur I never sleep well at night knowing others are trying to catch on. But I see it as a catalyst to perform even better. Our perpetual mission is to reach a position which no one can take from us and I really think we have been able to widen the gap in terms of offering and quality over the last year.

EGR: Looking into the future, how do you expect the live casino market and product to evolve over the next 12-18 months?

JvB: One of my main takeaways from ICE this year was that we see a momentum shift in terms of land-based casinos who are really starting to see the opportunities with an online live offering. I would be surprised if we didn’t see more land-based brands targeting the online market over the next year, strengthening the general convergence trend between offline and online.

Also, mobile will continue to be a main driver. We had 32% mobile penetration in the last quarter of 2015 and it just continues to increase. At some point in the future we will probably be at 90% which obviously means that mobile development is crucial for any provider that wants to be in contention.

I should probably also say something about virtual reality, but I think it is hard to predict if it will take 12 or 36 months before the tech has reached a good enough quality to fully embrace the joy of live casino.