CDC: Oscar, thanks for speaking with me today. What’s new at Win Systems?
OG: Well, after the acquisition of Gold Club at the end of 2016, last year we had the whole integration process, and the great thing is that now we’re able to take advantage of the synergy we were building last year. We’re presenting new products and practices in the divisions we have around the casino world – systems, electronic roulette and slot machines. Plus, in our origin we were very strong in lotteries, and last year three of our projects were precisely focused on lotteries. For us in the year ahead, lotteries will be a huge priority for us.
Win Systems is well known for its casino management system, WIGOS. We’re in the process of launching new apps and features around WIGOS designed to make operators’ and managers’ lives easier. There’s an app called WinStats, which is mainly targeting casino managers. This allows you to access key real-time statistics and data on casino activity from the casino remotely, by mobile device. Of course, this key data can be filtered by date, by supplier, by location. You can also select by venue and access historical information. We’re really proud of this one. It’s all about making casino managers’ lives easier.
So WinStats will be showing what action each machine is getting, that sort of thing?
Yes. Users can see key indicators of performance, but they can also filter for vendor, and then access that specific data. It also features interactive data charts. It’s really a management tool.
So would you say the focus for you is more for working with management, rather than directly with players?
Not really. WIGOS is our casino management system, but we’ve also got another tool, Intellia, which is a business intelligence tool to optimise, empower and strentghen casino floor management. We also offer, for casinos using WIGOS, an app for players to use that’s customisable with information relevant to that casino but also connects to our overall systems. This can be used to access the players’ club and different promotions, all features for players, which are linked in our system. The good thing is that we do a lot of projects for casinos, so we can customise this to each venue.
Where are you operating now?
WIGOS is across seventeen countries in Europe and Latin America now, and installed in more than 170 casinos. We are connecting more than 17,000 casino machines using our system.
Any plans for further expansion?
In the end, of course, this is one of our core business systems, so we’re always looking for more projects and clients. The good thing is that Systems has been one of our main verticals driving growth, and we trust that it will remain so. For example, last year we installed WIGOS for twenty-eight or twenty-nine clients, so it’s really been dynamic growth.
What would you say is your biggest challenge in the coming year?
Again, activation and integration of Win Systems. We’re now presenting in the gaming sector, which allows us to not only achieve bigger synergies in the markets in which we’re established but to achieve new markets. We’ve seen growth in Mexico thanks to this. It also allows us to start more projects, for example in Argentina and Europe. We’re planning significant growth in Spain – we’re launching a new AWP machine especially for the Spanish market – and to expand our operations in Asia.
We are also launching a whole range of slot machine games through Game Star, our slot machine brand. In Gold Club, our electronic roulette brand, we’re launching Ventura, a six position version of the game. It’s really compact, which makes it very suitable for markets looking to optimise use of space.
Finally, here at ICE we’re also launching Chinese Roulette. This is a new approach to the game; we like to think of it as a new game, really. We still have the 36 numbers, but it’s based on the Chinese culture, you can bet on additional features such as Dragon and Tiger, the twelve elements of the Chinese zodiac, or the four elements: earth, air, fire and water. We believe it’s a new approach to the game, and we can offer Gold Club members both forms of roulette. This is appealing both to the Asian market and also to many other players worldwide.
Thank you, Oscar. I’ll let you get to your next meeting. You’re a wanted man, it seems!
Thank you. Best of luck!
