For me a year seems to pass by so quickly. When I look at the amount of product development, new laws and market movements, I can scarcely believe all this can happen in just 12 months.
Our work follows the Global Gaming Awards across continents from the Americas, to Europe, to Asia and now the EMEA leg has even moved from its home for the last 7 years on stage at the Hippodrome Casino in London to an exciting new adventure in Barcelona, although I hardly think January guarantees sun.
What does not change is the importance of verifying a voting process. Its importance cannot be overstated. It is the bedrock that allows the GGA to ensure fairness and maintain trust. It is the legitimacy the winning company needs to celebrate their achievements with pride and with peer approval.
KPMG reviews the GGA’s system and tools for collecting votes (and ensuring judges cannot vote in categories where they have a conflict), checks that the winner and runner-up in each category have been determined correctly based on votes cast, and selects a random sample of judges whom we contact to verify that the votes recorded for them in the system are a complete and accurate reflection of their voting.
Our verification coupled with the ‘shortlisted for a reason’ mantra, and the incredible breadth, experience and stature of the judging panel fuse together to create something truly special – a set of awards where the deserving win! It is for this reason we are proud to have been the independent adjudicators of the Global Gaming Awards for all these years.
Finally, I have noticed, particularly this year, that the competition in each category is increasing. Simply put, the calibre, the ingenuity, the scope and the ambition of companies in this industry seems to keep moving to the next level. I commend anyone who wins.
Micky Swindale, Partner, KPMG Global Gaming team
