Inside Asian Gaming

March 2008 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 37 Online Gaming qualified engineers. These are all legitimate people to help guide you through what can be a WildWest market.” As a hosting company, iFaFa says it’s careful to protect the confidentiality of each client’s player database. The iFaFa servers are housed in locked cages at an independent data centre with 24-hour security, including guards, biometric locks and CCTV surveillance. Clients are also given the option to house their data on their own proprietary and exclusive servers. Partners and mergers As well as protecting clients’ existing market share, iFaFa also helps with expansion, including the identification of suitable partners and potential merger and acquisition targets in the Asian online gaming markets. “With a partnership you need to select the right party,” says Mr Hsu. “As well as being trustworthy with a good reputation, good experience and good connections, they must also be a company not too busy to look after you.” As the online Asian gaming business becomes more mainstream and respectable, many of the more swashbuckling pioneers are ready to sell out. This is where iFaFa’s market knowledge and contacts can prove invaluable, says Mr Hsu. “Often,it’s hard for these operators to get out quickly, because they have a network of agents and sub-agents working with them. “There are big opportunities for mergers and acquisitions, but you have to be careful. You have to make sure, for example, that if you take a business over, you’re not going to lose all the agents overnight, and that you have the right people to run the business for you,” says Mr Hsu. iFaFa says market newcomers not going down the M&A route can save a lot of time and money by taking up one of its ready-made start-up packages tailored to clients’ budget and needs. This includes the application for a Philippines operating licence. Time is money “If you go in cold in Asia, it will take 10-12 months even if you’re doing it quickly,” explains Mr Hsu. “You have to train the dealers, you have to hire all the knowledgeable people and know where to get funding.You also have to know the local markets. Japan, Korea, China, etc., are different, and the demands are all different. It can take six to eight months just to negotiate for a licensee. Software also has to be localised,and each country is different,” explains Mr Hsu. Regulation “Last, but not least, you need to find a legal jurisdiction. As a Philippines-based companylicensedbytheCagayanEconomic