5 Star talks to Marko Ilic, VP of Belgrade at Pragmatic Play, about the year so far and what we can expect in the coming months from the multi-vertical supplier.

With Q4 upon us, we enter the back straight of 2020. What have the highlights been for Pragmatic Play this year? 

It has been an interesting year, that’s for certain, but one filled with milestones for us. The launch of our first branded title, Peaky Blinders, was a proud moment while we have continued to expand our reach in regulated markets across the world. 

Expanding our commercial agreements coming from our hubs in Gibraltar and Malta with several tier-one operators has been very exciting, with LeoVegas and BetVictor integrating more of our content, while we’ve also agreed to a multi-product deal with 888. 

This has been complemented by our expansion in Latin America and Africa, and we continue to identify more potential markets to enter in the near future.

How does having a multi-product approach help with attracting new partners?

It’s more important than ever to have a flexible offering at your disposal as a content supplier. With fluid player demographics and progressing regulatory environments, each operator demands a bespoke solution, and with a multi-product approach covering slots, Bingo and Live Casino products, we’re able to provide them with just that.

It goes without saying that operators know their players the best, so our job is to be able to work around their requirements as best we can. That could be by offering only specific verticals or game types, or instead by having the relevant licensure and legal knowledge to ensure our partners are fully compliant with their games content in each territory.

With a turbulent year for the igaming industry, how has Pragmatic remained adaptable in the face of challenges?

With a year as challenging as many of us can remember, we’ve been able to lean on the varied offering we have. By offering slots, Bingo and Live Casino products, we’ve given operator partners unique cross-sell opportunities. 

Having a large array of products has taken the pressure off a single revenue source, especially with the product development rate we have. By consistently creating new content for our partners we can ensure they have a strong product offering no matter the scenario.

With the upcoming launch of your virtual sports vertical, how do you see it fitting in with the current Pragmatic Play offering?

It’s all about being flexible, so we can attract a wide array of partners and service them with the best content. With the challenges of recent months, this is even more apparent.

Sports bettors had the rugs pulled from beneath their feet and had to look elsewhere to find quality betting offerings. While many chose not to look elsewhere, a significant proportion looked to casino verticals, such as virtual sports and Live Dealer, to get their entertainment fixes.

We want to allow operators to capture every segment of the betting demographic, and virtuals will help do this. Many sports bettors will return to their usual stomping ground, but many will stay for their newfound love of virtual sports and the regular, fast-paced betting action it provides.

What can we expect from Pragmatic Play in the coming months? Any major new products you can hint at?

Without revealing too much, we’re close to launching the aforementioned Virtual Sports, which is something we’ve spent significant time developing and should be very exciting, while our slot portfolio continues to produce a game every week. 

We’ve made excellent strides commercially across the globe and have several important deals in the works, so plenty is going on! More than that, we’ll soon be launching our first Game Show, so our fans should stay tuned for the upcoming period.