GMB – A face-to-face event after so long and Skilrock is present and talking about lotteries at BiS. How do you evaluate it?
Alexandre Tauszig - The result of the event surprised me. We expected this, but I recognize that our expectations were far exceeded. A very good audience and the quality of the event as a whole is indisputable. We came to Latin America and especially to Brazil to be one more market player and, perhaps, ‘the’ market player. Skilrock is a leader in emerging markets such as LATAM for the quality of our products and solutions and for the flexibility we have in adapting to what is needed in the region.
With the opening of the market in Brazil, we hope to get several partners. Skilrock is a strong operator in India, but we have no vocation to be an operator in Latin America. Our goal is to build partnerships to provide solutions to local operators.
You talked about meeting the needs of an emerging market. What are these needs and how are you going to work especially now that lotteries can operate in the states?
We have already started a strong work in Brazil. We are participating in the consortium led by NGT, the BR Lotto, for the Maranhão Lottery. In other words, we are already getting a foot in Latin America. When I talk about needs for emerging markets, I mention that in some regions where internet access is not adequate, as well as it is not easy to acquire equipment and devices as seen in Europe or the United States. I can't go into such a market and impose a device on my client. I have to adapt to what he has. Whether for a logistical issue or just an economic issue. Often this customer has thousands of devices and I need to meet what I have, what he wants and what he has. So, it is this flexibility that the region requires and we are able to offer it.
To serve the lotteries, we are able to work in different verticals. Infinity, our heart platform, has the omnichannel and ominigaming concept. It works on any platform, whether retail, online or self-service, providing B2B service, serving a distribution network, or B2C, serving the customer. We manage both a salesperson and a customer base, with promotions for both and at the same time plugging in all different types of games, such as sports betting, prediction lotteries, scratch cards and others.
And when will the operation of the Maranhão project start?
In fact, not only for Maranhão, but for all other states, this will depend much more on the legal and accreditation procedures of the states, in order to present game plans, etc.
And in which stage is now this process?
Last week we filed our documents. Accreditation is closed and within 30 days the state will provide answers to the claims. Once we have received the license for operation, some of our products can immediately go to the field and others that will take a few months, as it will depend on the plan that we will present to the state.
Especially in the case of scracth cards, do you already have qualified suppliers to service Skilrock?
This is a product that gets little attention in Brazil. The modality accounts for 25% of lottery revenues worldwide and this is pointed out by the WLA. In Brazil, we have a very strong partnership with Thomas, Greg & Sons, a multinational company with presence in 13 countries. At BiS, all the samples we present were produced in Brazil.
In other words, you are starting well and with a product that represents 25% of a lottery's revenue and with a local partner for production!
Exactly. It's an interesting thing, because few people see it that way. A scratch card is not just about printing a ticket with scratchable areas. There is the pre-press stage, which involves game design, prize amount, ticket amount, what percentage to pay and so on, in addition to the number of different games, ticket design. Only after that comes printing and then another important thing that many people overlook and that is why many projects do not go forward, which is post-printing, which involves the management of distribution, ticket validation, activation and control of continuous logistics of distribution. We have this entire cycle in our system.
Returning to Brazil and regulation. Beside the lottery sector you are already working on, does Skilrock have other focuses or verticals?
Skilrock is a complete company. To give you an idea, our company in India is the operator of PokerStars. We also operate the most popular card game in India, rummy. We are also the leader in horse betting there too. Furthermore, our Infinity platform has game integration among its layers. So we can have any game on our platform, both proprietary and third-party. We can integrate bingo, world lotteries, roulette, blackjack etc.
In other words, you only have to find the right partners here in Brazil...
We are available and looking for them.
Source: Exclusive GMB
