Reinforcing an established European presence is very much a key aspiration for Swintt as the slot provider seeks out success in the midst of a constantly shifting online gambling regulatory landscape.
Swintt CEO David Mann pulls back the curtain on how the company will continue to tread the path of success, and down which avenues that this could eventually lead.
In a conversation that also ventured across the Atlantic Ocean to touch upon the opportunities and challenges associated with North America, time was also set aside to reveal a potential live revival, overarching thoughts on niche gaming segments and just what the Swintt roadmap will entail for 2025.
Europe’s bountiful opportunities
Despite boasting a rich history within the online casino ecosystem, Mann reiterates confidence that further inroads can still be made in a significant way across numerous countries across the continent.
Built on a foundation of long exposure across specific regions, and alliances alongside operators that have a multi-market reach, the possibilities offered by newly regulated markets must also be firmly kept in mind.
“Europe represents a lot of opportunity,” he comments. “As markets continue to regulate, we can obviously then enter the market, and we have a number of partners who are multi-jurisdictional, where we have good relationships with operators based within the European sector, and those individual markets that we can leverage and grow the business.
“Even from a content perspective, we have a very good range of games that come from the land-based sector, and we were able to then leverage these across markets where players really respond to those.
“In contrast, we acquired Elysium Studios last year, which allows us to then target more mature and feature rich markets, such as Scandinavia and the Nordics, where players are more typically looking for that type of content as opposed to more traditional land-based style games.”
Furthermore, Italy is also cited as being on the Swintt radar through the current year alongside its neighbouring Switzerland, while also pushing harder into those markets where it already has licenses, such as the UK and Greece.
“Europe is mostly within our sights,” he continues. “We’re aware of obviously big movements in the US, which we’re always looking at, but it’s quite a high barrier to entry and it’s a lot of hard work if we’re not going to work specifically on it. We’d rather leverage what we have a bit closer to home.”
Current markets vs new points of entry
Talk across the igaming world is often centered around newly regulated jurisdictions, and the potential opportunities that could lie within, as the industry scrambles to secure what is often hailed as the all elusive first mover advantage.
However, Swintt is ready to place emphasis on enhancing its presence in markets where it already boasts a footprint, with additional opportunities to be assessed on an as and when basis.
“We have these licenses already, and we’re aware that there’s obviously a significant amount of operators within each individual market, so we want to make sure that we have a solid presence there, and that we can work with the biggest and very best operators,” he explains.
“Those multi jurisdictional operators are the tier one operators. They are across all these different markets, so we’re also able to leverage the fact that we have relationships and good business already so that when we enter these markets, we’re able to grow very quickly.”
While new markets present a fresh set of entry requirements and challenges to navigate, Mann and the entire Swintt team remain laser focused at rapid expansion and attaining more revenue from the markets they’re already in.
The Ontarian dream
With the US placed on the backburner, Ontario presents Swintt with a much smoother pathway into the North American online gaming scene. Despite Europe being the main focus, group-wide synergies have been highlighted that make the Canadian province a more logical destination.
“If I’m not mistaken, if it was a US state I think that it’d be one of the most populous, so it’s a sizable market,” Mann continues.
“Plus, there are relative similarities. However, given Canada’s long exposure to online gaming over the past years, especially those from dot com licenses, players are a bit more mature and are used to a total variety of content.”
In spite of the recent wave of sweepstakes fever across the US, further potential difficulties come from a legacy of more traditional land-based gaming across the country.
While both nations are acknowledged as possessing strong player value, Ontario is simply much more of a complement to the Swintt business.
He noted: “Plus there’s the fact that we already have group interests from our sister companies within that market, we can then leverage those into our existing partners.”
It’s all about the slots
As numerous niche gaming segments begin to occupy a more consistent space within the igaming psyche, Mann remains defiant on the road that lies ahead for the Swintt team.
Despite hinting that a revival of the SwinttLive product could be on the cards, the primary focus remains the company’s bread and butter. Well, for now at least.
“It’s what we know best, and it’s what we’ve been able to deliver to our partners the best over the last few years,” he explains.
“There are other types of games out there, there are niche products, and we’re always assessing what could be out there.
“If there’s something that makes sense for us, especially if we find a studio partner that has a really innovative or boutique product that we think can cause a bit of differentiation and give value to our customers, but, ultimately, it’s slots first and foremost.”
With a clear, defined focus set, attention swiftly turns to the roadmap, and what the industry and, perhaps more crucially, players should be keeping an eye on.
In the short-term, a continued roll-out from Elysium Studio partners will ensue, while some of the ‘big releases’ include the likes of Wild Wild North, which has been dissected on iGaming Expert, as well as Pirate’s Pledge Hold and Win.
He concludes: “Looking ahead into H2 where we’ve had a bit more time with development, there’s going to be some really, really quality stuff coming from Elysium as well as the Swintt premium range.
“They’ve been producing some excellent content. We’re looking at increasing to get more games coming from there, but then also tapping into some of the well-known and respected IP that we have that have been performing very well to really deliver the games that the players are looking for.”
