8 July, 2024

A reimagined approach to entering the online world

Interblock Global CEO John Connelly speaks to Gambling Insider about the company’s move into the online space and the differences with more traditional offerings

Interlock is finally entering the online space soon. Could you tell us a bit more about that move?

As you know, Interblock is owned by Oaktree Capital and, as part of that partnership Oaktree Capital has also acquired a live streaming online gaming company, a little over a year ago; whereby Interblock is intending to distribute its content via that other platform and technology stack. Beginning in the US with Caesars, BetMGM, FanDuel and then expanding into Latin America, and the rest of Europe. Interblock is excited that, by the end of this year and for the first time in our history, we will be providing our content online in a live streaming format. Players will be able to play Interblock content with a camera in either a casino within a casino environment, on a casino floor, or within a studio environment in regulated markets, so that’s one component of our strategy. 

The second, which is more traditional in nature, I would say more historical, is the remote gaming server approach, where most companies have their servers either in the Isle of Man or in Malta and they deploy content from a remote gaming server to various B2C sites and regulated markets around the world. We will, in parallel, also be launching that by the end of the year. So, both the remote gaming server approach and a live streaming approach.

 

When you do go online, will your traditional ETGs remain the focal point of the business, or do you think you’ll move slightly away from that?

No, Interblock first and foremost is and has been a leader with electronic table games. That’s our primary focus as a company. With that said, we continue to expand, innovate and broaden that ETG scope on casino floors around the world, and I think we will continue to broaden that scope at this year’s G2E in Las Vegas, surprising people and bringing those concepts and innovation online.

So it will be as this omnichannel discussion continues to proliferate, we will be taking the Interblock traditional gaming content that players are used to seeing in various forms, into the online space.

 

 

The main theme of this magazine is personalisation. And so, we were wondering, what role will game personalisation play when you do go online?

There are dozens of theories, and I call them theories because nothing's really been proven at this point. But, personally, I feel that the importance of the traditional casino space relative to the online world, at least from my perspective, will become emphatically more important as the omnichannel evolution continues. The ability of players to migrate between online and a traditional casino floor and vice versa will become much more user friendly and I think much more common, both from a player demand perspective and quite frankly from a content perspective, and obviously content tends to drive demand. So, with Interblock at least believing in that theory, we are aggressively continuing to install all of our electronic table game products around the world and our innovation protecting it both from a traditional and the online perspective.  

And then by the end of this year, we want to begin that endeavour into the online space, creating that omnichannel from a traditional casino floor towards the online space, rather than the online space towards the traditional casino floor.

"My feeling is that the traditional casinos have far more leverage and power that is yet to be utilised, and when that comes to fruition the land-based casinos will be driving this omnichannel evolution; versus the online space coming down into the traditional casino space and driving the decision making."

 

Looking more at land-based casinos, as you mentioned, what differences have you noted since Interblock expanded further into the tribal gaming market?

There’s been a lot of discussion about traditional casinos and the non-tribal versus tribal perspective. Quite frankly, it fascinates me because I think whether it’s a tribal casino or a non-tribal casino, it’s a casino in the traditional space with very similar demographics and a very similar product offering amenities. So I personally have a tough time delineating between a tribal casino and a non-tribal casino. I think we see both areas of the traditional casino space very synergistic, both best-in-class and both very similar in product offering and demand, from our perspective as an ETG supplier.