Being granted a class II licence, GiG’s media services is subsequently permitted to refer traffic to online casino and sportsbook operators holding a licence to operate in Romania. 

Following a wider group strategy of expanding into global regulated markets, the media services arm of GiG, which operates the media assets, publishing and paid media teams of the company, is striving to “take advantage of its proprietary technology and know-how” following the green-light.

Supporting its Romania debut, the organisation states that 19 per cent of all gambling in Romania is made online, with the market valued at $1.5bn based on total gross win, with an estimation of online gambling growing to occupy 12 percent of total gambling by 2020 and 30 per cent by 2024.

Richard Brown, chief operating officer at GiG, said of the licence approval: “We are excited to extend our market reach by starting to refer end users to operators with a Romanian licence.

“We are expanding into another regulated market, where we will be able to utilise the full range of marketing channels available across both the sports and casino verticals. Romania is still a developing market and with good projected underlying growth in the online sector which has accelerated in the last couple of years.“  

The follows GiG’s entry into Spain that was announced earlier in the week, after the Directorate General for the Regulation of Gambling permitted the company to offer online casino and sports betting in the country.

Robin Reed, CEO of GiG, stated: “We are delighted to be awarded the Spanish licences and are looking forward to serving the market with our top performing operator Rizk and our full suite of B2C and B2B products and solutions. 

“The approximately €1bn market is the strongest growing market in Europe, at a rate of approximately 20 per cent per year, yet only 12 per cent of the gambling is happening online, compared to more than 50 per cent in mature digital markets in Europe, this represents a great opportunity for GiG.”

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Furthermore, the addition of the offering from the sportsbook platform provider marks LuckyCasino’s first foray into sports betting, and adds to its existing casino product portfolio of slots, table games and live casino.

“We are really pleased with the work that Altenar has done, which will strengthen our customer offer and improve our competitiveness,” commented Martin Sidenvall, director at Glitnor Group, which took over the operation of LuckyCasino in July last year.

Part of LuckyCasino’s customer offering is that it uses the Trustly simplified registration process, something which it states “is proving very popular in Sweden” due to the fact that it allows players to begin betting without needing to create an account.

As part of its preparation for the launch, Altenar’s first with an operator using Trustly, it designed a new feature to mitigate the risk of fraud that can occur in sports betting due to the potential for misuse of inside information.

Limits are set, which can vary from operator to operator and segment to segment, and when payouts go over that limit Altenar will manually approve settlements.

Dinos Stranomitis, chief operating officer at Altenar, added: “Over the past 12 months this unique deposit and withdrawal method that allows people to bet on sports or play casino has revolutionised player habits in Sweden. We are excited to launch our first regulated Swedish client with such an innovative selling point.

“We think this will become increasingly popular and so we have adapted our process so that good customers can enjoy the services of Trustly, but those who might attempt any type of fraud will be monitored and blocked.”

Altenar is also preparing to launch imminently with other newly licensed operators in the Swedish market, with upcoming partnerships also expected to integrate Trustly.

The Swedish launch marks Altenar’s second regulated market entry this year, having also secured its first Romanian client earlier this year with Red Sevens.

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The Malta headquartered provider, which also counts slots and bingo offerings as part of its portfolio, is to provide Interwetten customers with its live casino suite, broadcast “using the latest technology from a state-of-the-art, newly constructed studio”.

Rolling out the content, one of the first to be announced concerning this aspect of Pragmatic’s operation, is to commence in due course after its studio was granted an operational licence by the Romanian regulator earlier this year.

Melissa Summerfield, chief commercial officer at Pragmatic Play, said of the new partnership: “We are thrilled to be taking our offering live with such a highly-regarded operator as Interwetten.

“This marks a great milestone for Pragmatic Play as we consolidate our position as leading multi-product supplier, and our brand new live casino studio will host high-quality content for Interwetten customers.”

Pragmatic Play’s live casino games are designed to recreate the thrill of the land-based atmosphere with all the advantages of online play, which it emphasises as fast and easy bet placing, detailed game statistics and a complete bet history.

Mario Bilic, head of casino at Interwetten, added: “Pragmatic Play has forged a sterling reputation in the igaming industry, and we are delighted to be one of the first operators to offer its high-quality live casino games.

“Their portfolio is highly regarded in the market and we have every confidence Pragmatic’s live casino games will be a big hit with our players.”

This follows a deal agreed earlier in the month with casino platform and game developer Nolimit City, which added to a string of deals agreed this year, by inking a fresh alignment Interwetten.

Forming part of a concerted effort to grow its online casino portfolio, Interwetten is to go live with Nolimit’s full catalogue of titles.

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Heading to the online casino games supplier as head of compliance, Sims is to oversee all the company’s relevant processes, as well as regulatory implications in the entering of new regulated markets.

Upon joining Red Rake Gaming, Sims is to draw upon experience gained from a 12 year-long career in the online gaming industry, most recently working with the technical compliance team at LeoVegas.

Speaking of the new appointment, Sims explained: “Compliance is key in the strategy of every igaming company, and even more so for companies like Red Rake Gaming, which are in a great growth phase and with a strong appeal for working in regulated markets.

“Recent biannual audit for the Spanish jurisdiction that we have been through, which is optional for B2B companies like ourselves in this market, is just the latest proof of our commitment for the most strict regulatory compliance.

“I’m convinced that Red Rake Gaming offers some of the best games in the whole industry, and its growing expansion makes this an exciting time to join them”

Red Rake’s offering is currently certified for the Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish and Romanian jurisdictions, while it also holds B2B licenses granted by the MGA and the UKGC.

The organisation emphasises that its goal is to deepen its global footprint even more, as it strives to satisfy its clients’ need and “to be a leading provider in the more prominent regulated markets”.

Carlos Fernández Aguilar, head of business development and co-founder of Red Rake Gaming, commented: “Our strategy is to have a great reach in the most important regulated markets, and this goes by hand with a scrupulous attention to the requirements and technical processes present in the regulations of each jurisdiction.

“Iain’s hiring shows our commitment to compliance, and will allow us to consider new regulated market entries in a more efficient manner”

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The group, which operates the Circus casino gaming and sports betting brand, amongst others, is to be boosted by a range of in-house casino games, as well as those from content partners such as Kalamba and Gamomat.

Matevz Mazij, Oryx Gaming chief executive officer, commented: “Circus places entertainment at the heart of everything they do, and we’re very excited for our games to join the platform.

“We’re continuing to increase Oryx’s exposure, and teaming up with Gaming1 is another major step for the business.”

Through this latest deal, Gaming1 is striving to build upon its current offering, which brings a range of igaming products, sports betting, virtual sports and casino games such as slots, table games and tournaments, to players.

Games are to be available on Circus.be, “the number one gambling website in Belgium,” whilst Spanish and Romanian players will be able to access the content via the Circus.es and Circus.ro sites respectively, whilst finally Casinoclub.rs is to ensure Serbian players can access the titles.

Sylvain Boniver, chief executive officer at Gaming1, added: “It’s the DNA of our group to provide the best casino content to our players. Adding Oryx’s star performing gaming content to our portfolio is completely aligned with our strategy.”

Speaking to SBC Americas Victor Araneda, international business development director for Gaming1, addressed how the firm best prepares to act upon countries enacting fresh regulation: “It’s about staying true to our company values. We might be one of the few examples worldwide of a land-based operator successfully moving into the online space.

“Our technology was built from the ground up to operate under regulation, as well as to create true offline-online convergence.

“After seven years of fine tuning, now in two continents, we are fully confident of the value we can bring to our partners. That makes the prospect of every new regulation a unique opportunity.”

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Betsoft is now able to engage Romanian players through existing partners, building on  similar expansions into regulated markets in Denmark and Italy.

Under the terms of the licence, Betsoft will offer current and prospective customers its portfolio of online games, as well as its Casino Manager back office and support solution.

“We are incredibly pleased to have earned the opportunity to provide our games and platforms to such an exciting market, at the right time in its evolution,” said Julian Camilleri, Betsoft’s account management director.

“Following re-regulation in 2016, the Romanian igaming industry has grown dramatically, spurred on by clearer guidelines and better structures for player protection.

“While other providers rushed in early, we now believe the time is right for an educated player base to engage with our cutting-edge content, and for mature operators to truly benefit from our proven platforms.”

Betsoft adds the Romanian licence to those it already has in Malta, Curaçao and Italy.

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The Class II Licence enables activities of production and distribution of gaming programs and devices in the country.

BetConstruct’s head of licensing and certification, Karine Kocharyan, said: “The
ONJN Class II Licence is another achievement of BetConstruct in the Romanian
market, allowing the company to distribute a full package of its retail solutions to
licensed betting shops throughout the territory of Romania.

“Along with its current Class II Online Gaming Licence, BetConstruct can now secure its stable presence in the Romanian gaming industry, both remote and non-remote.”

The software provider offers players in Romania fixed-odds betting, casino-style
games, peer-to-peer games and virtual games.

COMMENT: This licence represents an extension of BetConstruct’s operations in Romania and is in addition to the company’s two recently secured Class I licences from the Malta Gaming Authority. As always, it seems, BetConstruct is ready to strike a new deal or enter a new territory as the company has quickly moved from start-up to major player.

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ONLINE casino operators are now truly global, and are constantly looking for new markets in which to launch their brands and products and grow their businesses.

Eastern European countries have been of particular interest of late, with the likes of Albania, Poland and Serbia either moving towards, or already offering, online gambling licences to overseas companies.

Romania is another jurisdiction that has caught the attention of operators and suppliers alike; it opened its digital doors to regulated online gambling back in 2015 and the market has grown steadily ever since. Licences are handed out by the National Gambling Office (ONJN), with the likes of Betfair, PokerStars and 888 already plying their trade in the country.

But while new markets offer plenty of upsides, they also present challenges that must be overcome for both operators and suppliers. Due to the country-by-country approach to online gambling regulation, it often means operators and suppliers must meet different requirements and be compliant with different rules and regulations in each market they enter. Romania is no different.

Here at iSoftBet, we focus on ensuring our games are fully compliant with all of the markets in which we offer them. We received our Romanian licence and are happy to share some of the challenges we faced while going through the process. From start to finish – submitting our application, game testing, certification, audits, to licence – it took around three months.

Over that period, we faced a lot of tight deadlines which involved long hours working closely with the independent testing laboratory to ensure everything was completed on time and satisfactorily. In fact, obtaining these certifications was the most difficult part of the whole process. The main focus was on the return to player (RTP), rules and outcomes of our slots, as well as translation.

“Translation is another key consideration”

Translation is another key consideration. All aspects of the game – from the “spin/bet” button right down to the game guide had to be translated into Romanian. This is not only a key licencing requirement, but vital to ensure Romanian players enjoy the same experience as those playing in English or Italian, for example. If a game is not properly translated, it can really impact its performance.

Translation always takes longer than you expect, and this was a major factor in us being on such a tight deadline. Of course, we are experienced in going through the process or modifying our games so that they are compliant with different rules in different markets, and knew this was likely to happen. Even so, being under increasing pressure as a deadline approaches is never a nice feeling.

Another consideration is the subtle differences between desktop and mobile games, and what is required to ensure both versions are compliant. For us, that wasn’t such a problem as we develop, in Pulse, a proprietary, state-of-the-art HTML5 framework that allows us to launch our titles on desktop and mobile simultaneously – in short, we build just one version of the game that is optimised for both channels.

For others, however, it can mean making small changes. The game rules need to be reflective of the game version being offered e.g. desktop/mobile. They must also be accessible and a true refection of the game being offered. This is part of the testing process for Romania carried out by the third-party testing labs.

These are just some of the challenges we faced when it came to ensuring our full suite of games was compliant in Romania. It was undoubtedly a tough three months but throughout, the ONJN was very supportive and did what it could to make the process as smooth and seamless as possible. Some of the hurdles were expected, while others were not.

“the process of applying for, and receiving, a licence in Romania has been a win/win for us.”

Regardless, the process of applying for, and receiving, a licence in Romania has been a win/win for us, and undoubtedly for the other operators and suppliers who have done the same.

With each new market we enter, we become more experienced and better equipped at modifying our products for other pre-regulated jurisdictions on the cusp of joining the likes of Romania.

At the end of the day, compliance is key for both operators and suppliers looking to grow their footprint and establish themselves as truly global businesses.

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