Bragg Gaming Group has invested heavily in localized product development capability for the US over the last two years and, as the iGaming technology provider’s CEO Yaniv Sherman told SBC Americas, the strategy is starting to pay off.
Next stop for Bragg in the US is May’s SBC Summit North America conference, where it will sponsor the ‘iGaming Americas’ track and Sherman will participate in the ‘How long until iGaming emerges from the sports betting shadow?’ panel.
Ahead of the event, he explained why he believes everything is slotting into place for Bragg’s US growth plans.
SBC: Bragg is a relatively new player in the US online casino industry as a content supplier. How are your recently launched in-house games performing and what differentiates Bragg from its competitors?
Yaniv Sherman: Bragg may be a new name in the US, but its core teams and business units have been in operation, building and refining highly-successful casino content and products, for over a decade. In the last two years, Bragg has undergone a huge transformation from what was then a business mainly focused on providing iGaming technology and content distribution, mostly in central Europe, into a 360° iCasino solution provider with a fast-growing proprietary content production arm. Our US launch has been part of that journey.
In fact, Bragg is both a new player and an old hand in the game of casino content development in the US. Our entry to the US market officially began in 2021 when we acquired Wild Streak Gaming, already a highly-successful slots studio with popular land-based titles like Queenie for IGT and online hits like Dragon Power with Light & Wonder.
We doubled down on that investment with the acquisition of Spin Games last year which added another popular US online casino games studio, along with proprietary RGS technology licensed in all the major iGaming states, and integrations with key operators like BetMGM, DraftKings and Rush Street Interactive.
Building on that heritage and depth of experience in the US online casino industry, last year we launched and began rolling out our newest Bragg Studios slots brands, Atomic Slot Lab and Indigo Magic. We tailor every game we release with custom math and feature sets targeted at US player preferences, and these initial games have been received very favorably.
SBC: How much of an advantage does the US land-based heritage of your own studios give Bragg against the influx of European competition?
YS: We believe it is very important, and that decades of experience in understanding the kind of gameplay that land-based slots players know and love is transferable to the online space. We don’t say it is cut-and-paste directly transferable – on the contrary, it requires careful adaptation to cater for the online player preferences, and we are experts in this field.
The fact that many of our Bragg content brands have strong land-based heritage is resonating strongly with US operators and players. For example, Bragg Studios brands Wild Streak Gaming and Atomic Slot Lab, as well as our Powered by Bragg partner King Show Games, are all releasing titles online with Bragg which are already out there on US casino floors in their popular IGT land-based iterations.
Add to this that our Powered by Bragg partner studio roster includes Incredible Technologies, Galaxy Gaming, Bluberi, Sega Sammy Creation, and Gaming Arts, and you can see that we are being trusted by land-based royalty to bring player-popular titles online.
SBC: It’s been five years since the repeal of PASPA, yet only six states allow iGaming – is North America living up to the expectations for suppliers such as Bragg?
YS: North America is not a single market, just like Europe is not a single market. But still with three ‘big’ iGaming states in the US now plus Ontario in Canada, North America is already looking like a US$7 billion + market for online casino alone. Clearly, the probability that eventually more states will open up – even if these processes feel a little slow at the moment – presents a tantalizing prospect of future growth potential.
But right now, the US story for Bragg is about growth in existing markets. We are already live with our Spin Games content, as well as with content from Powered by Bragg partners like Incredible Technologies and Galaxy Gaming. We’re now complementing this portfolio with the rollout of new content from Bragg Studios, including Wild Streak Gaming, Atomic Slot Lab and Indigo Magic, as well as our new Powered by Bragg partners for the US
SBC: What is Bragg’s strategy in North America compared to European markets? What can we expect to see next?
YS: I think the headline is that you can expect to see Bragg Gaming emerge as a major content supplier in North America, Europe and in other markets globally. Leading by example with our own Bragg Studios brands, we are building and releasing customized and localized online casino titles in all the markets we operate in.
Our capabilities in this regard, along with licensing, certification and distribution in 20+ jurisdictions including the largest iGaming markets in the world, has secured our many content licensing agreements with top supplier brands, and you will continue to see more of Bragg’s top-quality content rolled out.
In Europe we are also proud to continue to be a major iGaming technology provider, where for example in the Netherlands we lead the market with our iGaming player account management (PAM) platform and turnkey solutions powering leading brands such as BetCity.nl, Jacks.nl, and ComeOn.nl. This part of our business is in high demand and will continue to grow with existing partners as well as with carefully selected new ones: we are always open to new business for our PAM, aggregation, and Fuze™ player engagement products with the right partners.
SBC: How well placed is SBC Summit to boost your strategic aims in North America? What are you looking forward to most at the event?
YS: It’s going to be a busy few days in New Jersey. For us it’s all about meeting with our customers and updating them on the Bragg story. We’ve had a lot of changes in the last year: we launched new content studios, signed new content partners, we opened our new Las Vegas offices and launched in new markets.
The SBC Summit North America has established itself as a major fixture in the calendar for the industry. We expect most if not all of our customers will be here, and we’ll be here to continue to build those relationships, and to tell everyone about the strength and depth of the new Bragg content offering which is rolling out now in North America.
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The SBC Summit North America conference and tradeshow takes place at the Meadowlands Exposition Center, New Jersey on May 9-11, 2023, and features a speaker lineup comprising 300 renowned sports betting and iGaming industry experts. Click here to book your event pass.
