ICEi 2010 day 2 report

Having covered most of the major companies in the industry and their latest products on Day 1, we  focused on lesser known but still very much contributing organisations supplying software and gaming systems.
In an environment that has seen the increasing use of third party games across several platforms, these suppliers have assumed growing importance as larger operators and turnkey providers look to offer the player a wider choice of games.
Ken Arnold’s Cyberarts out of Sarasota, Florida in the USA is well known and respected for its ‘Foundation’ platform which is infinitely scaleable due to its modular nature. Perhaps best known for its poker, the company also offers excellent baccarat and roulette along with a range of Asian games and Lucky Dice.
The company is producing more casual games, including Club Bingo, and has a continuous program of improvements lined up for its core online poker product.
With clients like Francaise des Jeux, Gioco Digitale and Pureplay on its books, the company has a solid industry reputation and this year shares a stand at ICEi with the giant Interlot company, which recently acquired a 35 percent interest in Cyberarts.
Anthony Farrugia, operations manager for Portomaso Casino.com showed us over this interesting live dealer enterprise based in Malta, with games like poker, roulette, blackjack and punto banco beamed from a leading Tumas Group casino on the Mediterranean island.
The company uses the technology services of the Italian company Wirex, with which it partners in parent company Portomaso Gaming.
Also operating from Malta, but not related to Portomaso, is Studio 7, which provides TV Studio facilities for live dealer operations, along with the requisite streaming services.
The initially poker but later expanded Entraction (formerly 24 h poker) online gambling network was in the news early last year with its rapid growth – the fastest in the business at that time, it was claimed, and is a regular at major expos.
Possibly effected like so many other companies by the global economic crisis, growth has slowed but is still positive, said Therese Nilsson of the marketing department. The company now offers a wide range of games from various sources including Net Entertainment and Wagerworks (casino games), Parlay Entertainnent (bingo) in addition to its own proprietary poker and sports betting software.  Flash side games are outsourced from different suppliers to ensure a good selection for the players.
Less familiar software companies occupying small stands at ICEi included 36Gaming from Malta, which specialises in games; London’s Espresso Games which has developed a range of Flash casino games across all genres, and Iforium from the Isle of Man, which was recently in the news with the launch of its Wagerflex sports betting software with single wallet.
Coming from somewhat further afield was Kiron Interactive, another South African gaming software provider from Johannesburg which has developed skill games and a range of virtual racing products based on greyhound, harness racing and horse racing under the Turfmaster brand. These are all adaptable to channels such as Internet, interactive television and consoles.
California-based Bet Tracker’s core product is designed to improve the sports betting punters’ chances by providing an aid that enables him to track bets through a sports book, view betting lines, calculate win-loss possibilities, check game stats, set up alerts and obtain scores in real time via computer or mobile channels. CEO Kevin Torf said the aid is compatible with iPhone and Blackberry.
Betsson has attached its big industry name to its latest venture, in which it has turned its years of experience in the industry as a top developer and operator into a b2b enterprise under the command of Jonas Martensson.  The new Betsson Business Solutions entity can provide would-be operators with a total online gambling solution and was launched recently.
Austrian software company CBCX showcased its Paradise Games platform which carries keno and a new Texas Hold’em offering branded Pokerbet. International Sales Manager Roland Reichl said the firm has a wide games capability that embraces sports betting, live betting, gaming systems and even virtual dog and racing games.
Cellectivity has become a well known name in the business, latterly with its Bet2Go range of sports, poker and casino products. The company is one of the suppliers to the new AliQuantum-Plus5 b2b partnership, and AliQuantum shared its exhibition stand.
All the way from Denmark was the Certus gambling software company, which has a range of some 40 multiplayer, online casual games on its Symfoni platform that includes backgammon, yatzy, whist and ludo. Centrepiece of its show effort was a new integrated community product designed to capitalise on the worldwide player trend toward more social gaming behaviour.
CWC from Vancouver is one of the longer established companies providing live gambling facilities, and is a regular at industry shows.  With scantily clad women models, and the suggestion that its live dealers could be topless, it attracted a fair amount of attention from male showgoers. CWC’s latest developments lie in its RNG product, which will see an expansion of the games inventory by some 30 new offerings this year.
Live Gaming Technology operates from London and Lithuania and has a foot in both the live dealer and RNG sectors, offering b2b services that include white labels and live streaming television products. The company has its own broadcast studios, and will be airing a program called CasinoTV.com from next (February) month on SkyTV.

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