Ezugi outlines ambitious expansion plan

2019 was an impressive year for Ezugi. What were the highlights?

Absolutely! It was a fantastic year for Ezugi with so many highlights.

Firstly, 2019 started off very differently, as Ezugi officially became a part of the Evolution Gaming Group. As with most acquisitions, there can be a period of uncertainty, mixed with excitement.

Becoming a part of Evolution, the market leaders in live dealer has been a huge honour for Ezugi. I would be the first to admit everything was handled super efficiently by Kfir Kugler (Ezugi CEO), and everyone at Evolution has been so supporting in allowing Ezugi to maintain its autonomy and continue working as an independent second brand within the Evolution Group. It quickly became apparent that it would be business as usual for the Ezugi teams and full credit must go to everyone for remaining fully focused and committed and as a result, 2019 was a record year!

In addition to the excellent team ethos owing to the record year, there was substantial gains from an operational and product perspective. Ezugi’s flagship studio was launched from Bucharest which coincided with Ezugi 3.0, a new product range with the newest H5 technology and UI for our most popular table games. Our product and development team also decided to focus on localised Indian games for our customers and introduced Andar Bahar and Teen Patti to the network. All games new and old are resonating extremely positive with our clients and their customer base.

What are the plans for Ezugi in 2020?

More of the same from a product development and games roadmap perspective.

Ezugi positions itself as a boutique live dealer supplier for emerging markets allowing different distribution methods between online and retail. We aim to continue cementing our position as the market leader and premium provider of Indian games, with at least four new localised games expected during 2020. Additionally, we will develop more fixed odds games to enrich our existing retail games suite as well as optimizing our current online offering with more exciting side bet options.

In terms of new markets, our plan is to get certified and launch in several newly regulated markets. Focus will also be put on the retail solutions, with a newly set-up entity in South Africa, that has recently been granted our own Manufacturer License Western Cape Gambling and Racing Board.

Lastly, we have recently been granted a letter of recognition from the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA) that will allow us to provide our games to MGA licensed operators. Exciting news about the MGA.

Which regulated markets is Ezugi planning to enter?

Yes. Ezugi is already currently operating in several regulated markets via partnerships and direct licenses such as Hungary, South Africa, Belgium, Romania, New Jersey and alongside the Chickasaw Tribe in Oklahoma.

Besides the MGA, Italy and Spain are two markets where we expect to launch during Q1. Our next regulated market entry will be Sweden and Denmark and our management team are keeping close tabs on the regulation for Colombia.

What are the latest developments with Ezugi’s retail solution and the new set up in South Africa?

Ezugi’s live products are currently available in hundreds of retail establishments globally and is one of our fastest growing verticals. We can customize the retail solution dependent on our customer needs and our ambition is to continue rolling out new solutions, enhanced retail game offering and thus able to support our customers for a full omni-channel solution.

As I mentioned, we have a new set-up in South Africa called Evolution Services – SA, which was recently awarded a Manufacturers License. Evolution Services – SA is headed by industry and South Africa betting expert, Dean Finder and is a joint project between Evolution and Ezugi, where on top of fixed odds games from Ezugi, Evolution’s famous games such as Dream Catcher will also be made available to our retail platform.

Is Ezugi looking for more collaboration with land based casinos?

Yes, Ezugi is always actively looking for collaboration with land based casinos especially in terms of our OTT (Over the Table) solution. As well as offering an enriched and familiar gaming experience to their own player base, Ezugi can add a casinos OTT table to our network. This gives the opportunity for incremental revenue from a table already operating from their land-based environment. Currently we have roulette and baccarat as part of our OTT solution being live streamed from established bricks and mortar casinos around the world and shortly we will be launching OTT Andar Bahar!

In fact, Ezugi will be soft launching three new tables from Marina Casino in Colombo, Sri Lanka during January 2020. Plus we are already in discussion with several locations in Africa, looking to expand our offerings.