Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | July 2012 20 different areas. So if it’s interactive gaming it’s more likely to come from our European office. If it’s lottery-type certifications it’s more likely to come from our Canadian office. Systems are more likely to come from Las Vegas or Australia. You mention interactive. The formation of GLI Interactive a couple of years ago signaled the company’s intention to grow aggressively in online gaming. How is that progressing in Asia? It’s not a sector you hear a lot about in this part of the world. It certainly has legs in Asia. There’s nothing inMacau in terms of the interactive side of things. But certainly there is First Cagayan in the Philippines, which is seen to be the predominant regulated market within Asia for I-gaming. Well, it’s global. Of course, there are legal issues in terms of whether you can take bets from certain jurisdictions. TST, obviously a key acquisition: How do they figure in this? TST was our interactive arm, which is changing with GLI Interactive. But TST still has a strong brand because it has always been a leader in interactive gaming. It does exactly what GLI does in land-based, but in I-gaming. TST had a very strong presence in Malta and Gibraltar and the European jurisdictions and in First Cagayan. No development, nothing like that, it had always been testing and certification, same as GLI. It points to a one-stop shop philosophy, doesn’t it? That seems to be very much a part of the GLI strategy. That’s exactly right. Not only that, but among the additional services that we do are information security systems audits, which are part of the I-gaming requirements, but they’re not peculiar just to gaming. Information security systems, ISS, is used by the banking industry and a lot of other industries, and there are standards for ISS. Then there are standards for PCI: payment card industry standards. If you’re taking any sort of payment cards, debit cards or credit cards, there are standards which relate to those. So we’re responding to standards that are put out by the gaming regulator, like the DICJ; then there are banking standards that are brought out by the payment card industry; then there are information security systems. So there are a number of regulators besides just gaming regulators that have technical requirements. We’re equipped and staffed and qualified to handle all of those testing and certification requirements. Lotteries have been another exciting growth area for you in Asia. Can you fill us in on where that’s heading? Certainly lottery certification testing. There are many lotteries that operate throughout Asia, either run by the state or private companies, that are not certified or tested. We’re a World Lottery Association auditing body, and many of these lotteries are starting to look for WLA certification. That’s a process that has been hugely successful in Europe. We’re starting to see that emerge in North America and Australia, where lottery operators are already starting to go through WLA certification. Which is not mandatory. It has to do with information security systems, robustmechanisms andall that. It’s basically something that the operators want to be assured of having. So that’s an opportunity for growth which we’re pursuing heavily, and it’s been very successful. There’s been a huge uptake in that. Last but certainly not least, the very important business of gamingmachine regulation and homologation: How do you rate it in this part of the world? Well, of course, it’s changing. In Macau up until October 1st of this year, the homologation process was relatively simple in terms of what the requirements were and the processes involved. It was the responsibility of the concession- holder, whereas in most jurisdictions the requirement to get the product approved is up to the manufacturer. Macau is a little unique in that area. But Macau will be shifting, from October 1st, to its own technical requirements, as opposed to the GLI 11 global standard or national standards. It will be a Macanese requirement. And the requirement to be approved is also likely to shift to the manufacturer. The manufacturer will have ownership of their approval process. That’s still in draft and not yet in place. The Singapore process is highly onerous on the manufacturer. It differs from Macau vastly. Is that the biggest challenge for GLI in Asia, adapting to these very different standards? The biggest challenge is language. It’s really coming down and understanding and being able to communicate effectively in that language. And, you know, as you work in more and more jurisdictions you have to cover more and more languages, be it Japanese or Korean or whatever. So we have found people who represent us in those countries who are fluent, and they help us facilitate. An important issue, come to think of it, considering the complex technical and engineering issues you deal with. Absolutely. GLI