GMB - What is your assessment of the performance and growth of BMM in 2022? Was it what you expected, or did it exceed your expectations?
Marzia Turrini - The performance of the gaming industry during the pandemic has been nothing short of extraordinary. This is evidenced by the amazing growth of the iGaming business in Europe, and the many opportunities in the sports betting and casino industries in the United States. We are optimistic that 2023 will bring a full recovery globally, particularly in land-based gaming.
BMM has continued to service more than 700 customers worldwide from our 15 locations, and our growth during the pandemic was better than expected. BMM has become a major force in gaming labs for companies wishing to take any gaming product to every gaming market, across both digital/online and land-based products, across games and systems, and specialty products.
Could you list the main achievements or objectives met?
After a disintermediated gaming show schedule in 2020 and 2021, our BMM team was very pleased to participate in the return of global gaming events in 2022. Seeing our customers again, and meeting new companies, was very important for the continuity of growth in the industry.
BMM formally opened its Slovenia and India testlabs. BMM Slovenia came about because of the demise of SIQ in gaming. The top half of their gaming lab came to BMM including their previous senior management team and senior testers. Clearly, we are very excited because people we have admired for a long time, with some 20 years of gaming product test and certification expertise and experience, joined our company to build a new central European presence. I believe GLI acquired the residual SIQ staff. In India, BMM has been establishing green shoots since late 2021 and now has a team growing so quickly that we are looking for a second lab location. We are already busy undertaking work for key parts of our business around the world. We hope to grow this team to some 500 engineers over the next two to three years. Astonishingly, we had over 50 media outlets cover our launch in late 2022. Adding Slovenia and India adds to our global coverage of fifteen gaming businesses.
We also formally established BIG, our BMM Innovation Group, to address opportunities outside of gaming test, inspection, and certification, our traditional business segment at BMM. We are working on a variety of initiatives but have so far brought to market our cyber defense solutions through BIG Cyber, and our free-to-market training solution, RG24seven. Both offerings are best-of-breed solutions tackling major risks in the gaming industry. Business defense for cyber intrusion and staff education and readiness for specific gaming industry knowledge are central to our commitment to support and protect the gaming industry and the public who participate. We are positive about progress so far and will continue to drive these businesses, globally.
We added wonderful talent and experience to our global team in 2022. Amit Sharma is the new CEO of the BIG business. He comes to us with a strong technology and solutions focus, combined with a long-term gaming industry background based in Las Vegas. We have also added the very experienced Damjan Semec leading our business in Slovenia, Reena Varma leading our business in India, Dan Ghita leading our business in Romania, and Adrianna Samuels on the digital market development side in the U.S. We have also had several senior promotions in the company during 2022. In the end, we are a people business, and we work hard on finding the best talent, developing them, and letting them shine.
In your sector within the industry, what topics or technological advances do you think will dominate the market in 2023? What will be the main future trends?
Given that I lead the European and South American business regions, we have seen many European iGaming businesses wish to take their online products to North America as new markets open across the states and provinces. Given BMM’s very strong North American market position, we have been able to help all customers manage risk with real world knowledge and experience, regardless of immediate access.
From a technology perspective, we certified the first crypto-based gaming system, we have expanded our security and math teams globally, and have made significant progress in automation systems for testing.
Did you notice that the Brazilian gaming market made progress this year or did it miss another opportunity? What do you see the regulation of the sector in the country for 2023?
Brazil is considered the promised land within the gaming industry. We all anticipate that the Brazilian market could become one of the biggest gaming markets worldwide. The sports betting regulation was expected to be signed off by the former President Jair Bolsonaro before leaving his duty. However, the opportunity was missed after four years of waiting. The new government, led by President Lula, has an urgent need to generate new income, which gives us all a spark of hope. In the meantime, BMM is steadily preparing to provide excellent service to all our customers who are already planning to penetrate the Brazilian market once it finally opens. Only time will tell….
What are the main goals/objectives of BMM for 2023?
In 2023 BMM expects to enjoy its seventh year of consecutive growth in revenue and EBITDA, by growing its businesses all around the world. While we are very strong in Europe, North America, and Australia, we also have solid growth in South America, Asia, and Africa. We continue to monitor potential new markets like Brazil and Japan. We will continue to invest in digital markets globally and growing the historical horse racing (HHR) segment in the United States. 2023 is going to be a great year!
Source: GMB
