Sebastián Salat has not celebrated a year as CEO yet but he is a man
who knows every detail of this industry and that is felt in each place of the
impressive headquarters of the company of Johnny Ortiz in Barcelona. InfoPlay
visited him to know about the expansion they are undertaking, where they expect
to hire 50 people who will attend the upcoming deployment in this year's tenth
anniversary.
In addition, Salat announces the new system they are about
to launch in Spain, the "Buscapremios", talks about Novomatic, the
reléase of Bryke, the Brazilian market, and the arrival of Cordish in Madrid,
among other revelations:
Infoplay - One of the new features of Zitro this year
will be Bryke, in addition to traditional room bingo ...
Sebatian Salat - One of the new features is 'Bryke' when it comes to
salons because of the economic impact it will have, as it allows us to
immediately reach markets where we were not or to markets where our share was
restricted only to video bingo. Now we are able to undertake one hundred
percent of the market. With Bryke we can go where video bingo is not so
popular. It is a fundamental product, the bread and butter of any casino. The
video slot is the largest segment in the world.
The next is BET, which was born as our electronic bingo for
Spain. But now there have been many opportunities for bingos, and that has made
us make a product that can adapt to what each regulation allows in each
Community. It is very flexible and can acquire different characteristics. For
example, that the extractor is physical or virtual, that print cards or not. In
this way it brings together what is traditional, that in any bingo hall is
already known, with more modern betting forms that make the younger people find
themselves with familiar elements, such as betting on a tablet.
Are there good times for Zitro?
I would say yes. If one trusts in the opening of the Brazilian market
(let's hope it happens) the potential is enormous. It is about to open a market
that already existed and that we dominated because the product was made by our
president. We already know the tastes of the Brazilian customers and it is
simple to think that we have a significant part of the market. We are expected
to do well. If Brazil opens with a credible and organized way of working, we
will do it successfully.
What will be your strategy in the online gaming segment?
We have three lines inside 'Zitro Interactive': a line is the associated
game, which is our social casino, which is successful and specialized in the
world of bingo. When we have more content of video slot we will have to see how
we take these products to the social world, but today, what we have is social video
bingo.
The other business we have is 'B to b' (Business to business), which is when casino operators ask us for our content to offer in their online casinos (Codere, for example), that have our video bingos in their gambling rooms and in their online casinos. It is a way to monetize our effort and that the experience offered online is similar to that offered in the gaming rooms.
The third leg are the publications that support our face-to-face operation, that is, what we do from 'Interactive' to support the face-to-face operator. To do this, we are preparing the launch of Buscapremios, an application with which the operator can search the casino he wants, for example in Mexico, what prizes are there, what days of the week and from what time to what time. It can now be downloaded from Android and is an application that reports all the promotions that are being made in a Mexican casino today. It tries to search on social networks bingo video clients to inform them that in certain nearby places there are promotions or prizes.
How do you see Zitro in ten years?
I think he will continue to be a leader in video bingo and that the
distance between us and the competitors will not be shortened because "the
old ways have a lot of experience", and we have that experience. Maintaining
the unity of video bingo is fundamental but I also see a diversified company in
terms of the verticality of the products (video bingo, video rollers, bingo
rooms, or Interactive) and also a greater regional diversification. We will not
be alone in a small number of countries but with this product diversification
we will be able to undertake new markets where the dependence percentage of the
traditional markets will decrease significantly. I say this without the opening
of markets.
Which are these markets?
There are some asleep markets, such as Brazil, that will have to wake up
one day; China, where gaming is limited but there are continued rumors of
opening some forms of gaming; Russia, which has only four gaming zones ... but
the potential of other zones will grow demanding products. Turkey could also be
a very important market, although it is a bit difficult to get close to them
right now. I see a Zitro diversified geographically and in terms of product and
with a remarkable growth in the online segment. It is perfectly possible and my
idea is that in five years Zitro will be twice what it is today.
How does Zitro fit in with Novomatic's arrival in the
video bingo market?
It's one more. Any competitor who arrives is a stimulus, something that
reminds us that we can not rest on our laurels. It has incredible economic
potential but we know how to make video bingo, so I think it's going to take a
little getting to do what we have today. We also plan to compete in the markets
where they are present, with which we will both have to fight to make a gap in
the market and the customer to decide.
What do you think about the arrival of Cordish's leisure
and gambling complex in Madrid? And what about Barcelona World? Do you think
it's an opportunity or a threat?
As a provider, any business opportunity is welcome. We are happy to provide
with our product. I don´t know to what extent businessmen are working with such
difficult fiscal conditions to see the arrival of these competitors with
different tax advantages. For us it is incredible, it is good that companies of
this level consider that Spain is a place where it is worth investing yet.
How was the new remodeling of the Zitro headquarters in Barcelona?A new executive zone that responds to a need: when Zitro was just a video bingo maker, and hired video bingo, that was the activity that there was. When you have other different products and start selling them, you need another group of people that did not exist before. So we had to expand the facilities to accommodate this new activity that Zitro lacked before. So we have also hired more people in Latin American countries. It is a new activity segment and we have to do a door to door offering the product, and for that we need notions of marketing, to be able to explain the product, make catalogs ... We will be adding resources in Madrid, where video bingo is restricted in the halls and in the bingos, but now we can compete with Novomatic and other companies where we have a presence.
Do you have something special in mind to celebrate Zitro’s
ten years?
The celebration of the ten years, of which we have already
begun to speak, will have as its zenith the 'Zitro Experience' in Mexico, which
will be the annual event that is the beginning of the course, which starts in
June and then continue in Las Vegas , London, Madrid ... in these fairs we will
unveil new products and we will make an important quality leap in all product
lines.
Source: GMB / Infoplay
