Despite being hailed as a “landmark” and “milestone” moment that is expected to “truly flourish”, Relax Gaming, under the RLX Gaming moniker, will certainly not be resting on its laurels after the landing within the Garden State to begin its US journey this month.
This continued North American roll-out, following moves made further north in Ontario, represented a long-awaited debut for the supplier, with sights now firmly set on maximizing its output across the country.
Speaking to SBC Americas, CPO Shelley Hannah addressed how to select an initial slots roll-out, studying player preferences before deciding on how to progress, what we can expect through 2024, including a slight twist on the multi-awarding winning Money Train series, and much more.
SBC Americas: First and foremost, Relax Gaming has a brand-new name in the United States, RLX Gaming, can you tell us more about this?
Shelley Hannah: There were some IP considerations we had to make around our name in the United States, and of course, we wanted to ensure we followed all the right processes to avoid any risks.
RLX Gaming isn’t far removed from Relax Gaming, and we feel that there’s still plenty of brand recognition there.
Ultimately, all that matters is that RLX Gaming remains the same successful company, known across the world for its strong quality offering and outstanding content.
SBCA: Relax Gaming is renowned for having an award-winning portfolio of online slot content. How did you go about choosing the first batch of games?
SH: Our debut in New Jersey is a milestone we were all eager to achieve. Having had our sights set on the market for quite a while, we found ourselves eager to hit the ground running as soon as the news was shared.
As a result of this, we have decided to enter the market with two hugely popular titles that have historically performed well and offer players a taste of the best that Relax has to offer.
Slot releases include The Great Pigsby and Epic Joker. We firmly believe these legendary games will help us gain an initial foothold in the market, as well as a useful insight into the mechanics, theme and experience our new audience is after.
SBCA: The US market is known for being passionate about table games thanks to its strong land-based heritage, do you expect Blackjack Neo and Roulette Nouveau to be a big hit with an online audience?
SH: Absolutely, our table games have long been player favorites, both for our casual and serious players in markets worldwide.
Table games are synonymous with this audience thanks to the strong land-based presence across the country, so it was always a real focus of ours to deliver on this front.
Whilst our online slot games are what have put us on the map in North America and elsewhere so far, we have great confidence that the UX, presentation and overall entertainment experience offered by our table games will prove to be a huge hit with American players.
SBCA: Jackpot slots are also legendary thanks to their prominence in casinos across the country, this seems like a match made in heaven with Relax’s Dream Drop product, will we be seeing this debut soon?
SH: Our Dream Drop Jackpot has been a truly exciting venture so far with the Mega Pot falling almost every other month, a quality that stands head and shoulders above the rest.
For the time being, our focus is growing our presence in the online slots and table games arenas in the United States by delivering first-class gaming content to players in New Jersey.
Our next steps will be to study new verticals and grow our offerings when the time is right, but that’s not to say that introducing the US to our jackpot products isn’t in our plans!
SBCA: The Money Train franchise is arguably the most iconic of all time, do you think its unique mechanics will be received in the US when it arrives?
SH: Money Train 3 will be making its way to New Jersey in the not-so-distant future, this time under a brand-new name Great Western 3.
It will boast engaging base gameplay, thrilling features and an exhilarating bonus round that are second to none, the game has historically worked well in a wide range of markets and we’re excited to see how our American players receive this legendary title when it lands overseas.
SBCA: Can you give us an exclusive insight into what we can expect from the 2024 New Jersey roadmap?
SH: We’re ready to rumble! You can expect constant optimization of our content provision based on our findings related to the US igaming market.
Ultimately, great things are coming in the next twelve months and we are going to be putting all our energy into establishing ourselves as a major player in the States.
We are committed to ensuring that we capture the hearts and minds of players the only way we know how – through high-quality entertainment.
