Mazooma Interactive Games

Guns and poses

2011-04-14T07:33:00.000-07:00

The team from Mazooma have vistited quite a few exhibitions and conferences in our our time and we are well acustomed to being asked to display our visitors' or exhibitors' badge when entering the conference sector.
So we were quite taken aback when we attended the FADJA Andean Gaming Trade Show in Bogata, Columbia to find a police helicopter gun ship parked up outside the International Business and Exhibition Center. Imagine out relief when we later learned that there was a military hardware exhibition next to ours.
You certainly never get this sort of thing at ICE at Earl's Court.

By Tony Oliver

We now operate in 23 countries

2011-03-21T05:44:00.000-07:00

Did you know that we now operate in more than 20 countries around the world?
As well operating in the UK Mazooma Interactive Games’ extensive portfolio is now available to partners and players across Europe and South America.
Mazooma Interactive Games recently joined forces with casino and gaming specialist TCSJOHNHUXLEY, in Central and South America, to offer customers the latest gaming content.
Mazooma Interactive Games’ portfolio of games is available and compatible with the platforms of leading gaming software solutions providers Gaming Technology Solutions and OpenBet – which are used by many of the world’s leading online gambling websites.
Gaming Technology Solutions (GTS) is a leading global supplier of end-to-end soft gaming solutions for online gaming operations. It provides cutting-edge software to the top operators in the gaming industry, and through its GTS Enhanced Gaming Engine (EdGE) platform, provides clients with access to the best in breed soft and casino games on the market.
OpenBet, formerly Orbis Technology, is the world's leading provider of interactive gaming and betting solutions. OpenBet’s betting technology platform enables operators to provide their customers with the ability to bet and play in multiple languages and currencies across multiple channels including web, mobile devices, retail outlets, call centers and interactive digital television, all with a single log-in and a centralised OpenBet Account.

By David Bolas

Mazooma adds Ronnie O’Sullivan to portfolio of sporting licences

2011-03-14T03:57:00.000-07:00

We're pleased to announce that we have secured a deal with World Snooker Number One and double Premier League Snooker Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan to launch his own game.
Ronnie O'Sullivan is the world's number one snooker player and we are delighted to secure this license.
The new game will capture all the excitement of Ronnie O’Sullivan in a classic game which is fully compliant and offers multiple-stake options, fixed or variable cashpots, the chance to pot red or coloured balls for more cash and “big breaks” to win a tournament

By Tony Oliver

We're now playing with 888.com

2011-02-21T03:53:00.000-08:00

We’re delighted to announce that we have joined forces with one of the world’s most popular online gaming entertainment and solutions providers to deliver our innovative game portfolio.
888.com will initially be deploying Mazooma’s content such as Cops N Robber and Snakes N Ladders, across a number of its B2C channels.
The games will also be available to Dragonfish clients through Gaming Technology Solutions’ end-to-end soft gaming solutions.
This is a very exciting partnership with 888.com which means that our games will be available to one of the largest operator markets. We continue to invest heavily in new game development and innovation and Mazooma will shortly be launching a new range of games with existing partners, including 888.com.”
Yariv Lavi, Business Development Manager at 888.com, told us: "At 888.com each of our sites is an entertainment destination and we continue to grow our customer base through ensuring our players have access to the best content around. This unparalleled gaming offering provides them with a more complete internet experience, including social networking and personalised activities.
"Working with Mazooma Interactive Games means that our customers will have access to more of the most popular online digital games."
Founded in 1997, 888.com this year celebrates its twelth anniversary and is a pioneer of the online gaming industry having developed a strong brand grown by cutting-edge marketing through offline sponsorships, poker events, online collaborations and continual innovation.

By David Bolas

Paul Malt talks to Euroslot

2011-02-02T04:42:00.000-08:00

In this month’s Euroslot magazine our Director of Games Design Paul Malt is featured in a special question and answer column about Paul's career in the UK gaming sector. Here it is below. Remember if you have any questions just leave a comment.

How did you first get involved with the amusements industry?
I stumbled into the amusement industry at the age of 21 after completing a five year Technical Apprenticeship with a telecommunications company back in 1990. A local company called ‘Project Coin’ (who was unknown to me at the time) were advertising with a vacancy for a mechanical designer, the perfect opportunity for the career I wanted to pursue. Attracted by the flashing lights of fruit machines on display in the reception area and whilst waiting to be interviewed, I knew the job was for me! My time with ‘Project Coin’ gave me sound industry grounding and working closely with some of the amusement industry’s great innovators like Tony Bolton and Ramon de Beneducci encouraged me to further my career in this sector.

What attracted you to this sector?
I’ve always been drawn towards the hypnotic lights of pocket emptying slot machines, so the attraction for me was combining work with pleasure.

How has it changed since then?
Although, the traditional gaming machine visually hasn’t changed a great deal, the gaming market has seen a massive shift driven by technology, the economy and legislation...
Back in the early 90’s the UK had six major fruit machine manufacturers supporting very buoyant UK and export markets. Now in 2011 we are down to just two.
Gambling on slot machine in the local bookies was unheard of some years ago....but now you can play slots or roulette in every LBO around the country.
Gaming was restricted to public places, mainly arcades, pubs and clubs, playing low stakes for relatively small prizes. New technologies now allow us to gamble at home online, on our mobile phones even via TV with prize levels previously only seen in Las Vegas casinos.

What are the biggest positive factors for the sector right now - the drivers of growth and development?
The growth in the online market is well publicised and we are looking to expand our game offerings both in terms of the number of games and new operators. The mobile opportunity is also very exciting as we look to bring gaming content into an already vast potential customer base. With regards to land based opportunity, the South American market is growing and when, as anticipated, Brazil opens up, this will accelerate the growth significantly.

And what are the negative ones - the obstacles to growth?
Future, country by country, regulation can provide both a stimulus and an obstacle to growth, this has affected the online sector in particular. There is a need for both the regulators and key stakeholders to work together, to ensure a workable framework is in place, providing a fair and competitive operating environment across all the differing jurisdictions we now see in place.

Looking at your whole career, what do you reckon was your smartest move, large or small?
This was accepting my first appointment in the industry with ‘Project Coin’. If I’d taken a different path would I enjoy going to work every day? There are many people I know in other industries that don’t.

And your dumbest one?
Not getting into internet gaming five years earlier

Where do you hope you’ll be, professionally, in ten years’ time?
Following in my father’s footsteps...retired at 50 while possibly offering a part time gaming consultancy service.

And finally...if you’d never embarked on this career, what other line(s) of work would you have liked to pursue?
An event’s organiser, I’m just in the process of finalising Mazooma’s stand for this year’s ICE event... £500 to hire a sofa for three days that only cost’s £400 to buy from IKEA...I’m clearly in the wrong business!

Our new website has gone live!

2011-01-21T03:53:00.000-08:00

The Mazooma Interactive Games website has gone live just ahead of this year ICE exhibition in London.

The website showcases some of our most popular games and has an up-to-date news service on developments within the company.

Moreover, those visiting the website can actually play our games and see why Mazooma is the leader in its field.

If you’re attending ICE next week come along and meet the Mazooma team at stand 4032.

By Paul Malt

Six-year agreement with Coral and Gala Bingo

2011-01-20T03:28:00.000-08:00

Great news! We have secured a six-year agreement to supply content to Coral betting shops and Gala Bingo clubs.
Coral currently has over 6,600 gaming machines sited in its 1,650 shops across the UK and Mazooma Interactive Games will supply content for the betting operator’s Category B3 Machines.
Coral will benefit from Mazooma Interactive Games’ extensive portfolio of games which includes the popular Cops N Robbers and Snakes & Ladders and a range of new games currently being developed by the company. Gala will also benefit from the Mazooma range of games on its hand-held Wizard platform.
This new agreement with Gala Coral underscores the close relationship we have enjoyed with the one of Europe’s biggest operators.
John Pettit, Gaming Director at Gala Coral Group, said: "We’ve been delighted with our partnership with Mazooma. Their game content is among the best in the market and we will be working closely with Mazooma to agree a roadmap of content that will enhance the current offering to our customers."

By Paul Malt

Come and see us at ICE

2011-01-07T02:59:00.000-08:00

Join us at the International Casino Exhibition at Earls Court on Janaury 25-27. You will find Mazooma Interactive Games at stand 4032.
There are lots of exciting developments at Mazooma that we would like to share with you and maybe buy you a drink!

By Team Mazooma

Like a Virgin...

2011-01-04T09:29:00.000-08:00

We have teamed up with Virgin Casino, part of the online gaming company Virgin Games, to launch its popular title Snakes and Ladders on the Virgin website.
Our five-reel, 20-payline game, based on one of the nation’s favourite board games, will appear on the Slots section of the Virgin Casino website.
Warren Eloff, Head of Products at Virgin Games, said: "Snakes and Ladders has charmed generations of board game players for years. Now Mazooma has brought the classic game bang up to date with current entertainment demands by creating a fun and rewarding cobra of a slot game. This game is set to become a classic in our Casino, and I’m sure it will be popular amongst a wide range of our customers."
We are delighted to be working with Virgin Games delivering some of the best online gaming content on the internet.Snakes and Ladders has consistently been one of the most popular slots in the UK delivering excellent returns for our partners which now include Virgin Games.
Virgin Games has more than one million players and more than 250 games on its site. Through the introduction of a custom built Virgin Games platform in 2008, Virgin Games seeks to provide its players with the widest possible choice of casino games.

By Tony Oliver

We're partners with TCSJOHNHUXLEY

2010-12-16T09:12:00.000-08:00

We’re delighted to announce that we have joined forces with casino and gaming specialist TCSJOHNHUXLEY, in Central and South America, to offer customers the latest gaming content without the expense of replacing cabinets.
Under the terms of the partnership Mazooma will deliver its Slot Content Upgrade - a flexible conversion tool which allows operators to ‘recycle’ existing slot machines by adding new, exciting content. It is compatible with a wide range of popular cabinets from major manufacturers.
The 'plug-and-play' solution, which carries Mazooma Interactive Games’ cutting-edge content, works right across the Central and South American region and is compatible with machines regardless of the currency and language.
The Slot Content Upgrade offers total flexibility to connect with other OEM gaming machine peripherals. Key performance enhancing features include compact flash game storage, single or dual video outputs; Calypso32 accelerated graphics; multi-level software security; a high-performance embedded control system and Mazooma’s extensive game portfolio.
David Charnock, Vice President of Sales Central and South America at TCSJOHNHUXLEY, said: "TCSJOHNHUXLEY has established a strong foothold in many regions of Central and South America. We are developing a range of products specifically for these markets and the Mazooma Slot Content Upgrade is one of the first products to form part of this strategy.
"The ability to be able to provide our customers with high quality game content using a wide range of cabinet options, allows us to offer the latest games at extremely competitive rates. As it tailored purely for the Central and South American market, we know exactly the type of game content and features our customers require."
The Slot Content Upgrade system we have delivered to TCSJOHNHUXLEY is an exiting product with the potential to be rolled to other regions across the world. The system can work in any language or currency the customer chooses and allows operators to offer gamers the latest content without the need to replace machines.

By Tony Oliver

Play Cops N Robbers on Sky Vegas

2010-12-10T07:57:00.001-08:00

Tony's Q&A with Casino & Gaming International

2010-12-10T07:09:00.000-08:00

Following the recent announcement about the launch of Mazooma Interactive Games and its split from Bell-Fruit Group, Managing Director Tony Oliver was interviewed by Casino & Gaming International Magazine. You can read it here.

Did you outlive the Bell Fruit ‘home’?
It’s not really a question of out living the Bell-Fruit home. We still reside within Leen Gate and will do so for the foreseeable future. Our decision to re-launch the company as Mazooma Interactive Games was, in the main, influenced by what the market was dictating. We wanted to focus our business on the growing content market, we felt that the UK machine market, whilst still resource intensive, was in decline.

How does the move affect your Danoptra relationship?
Mazooma Interactive Games will no longer be part of Bell-Fruit Group, which remains the leading slot machine manufacturer, but we will remain part of parent group Danoptra. The split from Bell-Fruit Group reflects the Mazooma Interactive Games’ focus on providing quality digital content and its move away from mechanical gaming development.

Why the strategy to concentrate on the digital interactive route?
This is an area of growth, an estimated 2.8 million people gambled online in 2009 and the growth continues, whilst the LBO market is a mature and lucrative one for good games. Both these markets are recurring revenue opportunities which takes away some of the volatility you see in machine markets.

Is this in some ways part of an inevitable interactive industry shift?
No - we don’t think it is inevitable and there are many people out there who will continue to play traditional slot machines. However, no-one can ignore the internet and how it has changed gaming and that is not going to change. Indeed, we believe it will accelerate further new media opportunities.

How significant is the digital gaming content market?
If you look at the pub sector, it has been a slow process for player adoption. That is not to say it won’t happen. The LBO market with over 8,800 shops has enjoyed significant growth in FOBT digital gaming income. The UK online market is estimated to reach £1.6 billion in 2010. The other markets we focus on, such as Italy, where there are approximately 350,000 comma 6a and 49,000 comma 6b, and South America are growing rapidly. This level of opportunity drove us to withdraw from mechanical development and focus on content.

While creating the new focus, is this expanding your horizons?
Very much so. We are developing bespoke content for our online partners in Europe, as well as working on iphone applications for UK centric online partners.
We have also developed a Cops N Robbers Community game for skyvegas.com which allows multiple players to play and when one player triggers the feature, all the players get it. This was a very complicated development and the first of its kind for Openbet.
Align this to our venture into the Italian and South American markets, you can say the learning curve has been very steep indeed. Which of course, adds to the fun.

And will a new impetus to innovation follow this change?
Our games are designed to offer the player a familiar and exciting gaming experience by taking the best titles and features from our extensive analogue back catalogue and then transferring them into a digital game. We approach each game design from the player’s perspective and so far the results have been extremely positive.
We have a dedicated team of developers looking at new an innovative ways of delivering great games and we are testing new products all the time. However, the lesson we have learned from innovation is that some products will be great success while some other will be less so. But that’s the nature of the entire gaming sector.

So could the pub/arcade gaming range widen now?
The pub and arcade gaming market is not a priority for Mazooma Interactive Games. We plan to leverage our extensive back catalogue of machine titles, to provide quality games, with familiarity and a trusted brand across various platforms, to supply the LBO, online and export markets.

Does this mean a general expansion in the range of platforms for digital content now?
We are in advanced negotiations with several other operators, to expand our portfolio of online customers and we are currently developing an application for the iphone and ipad. We will continue to explore areas of new media and opportunity to expand our player base.

But what suggests you are currently at the forefront of the digital market?
The skill set required for development of online games are not unique but the knowledge of how to integrate them onto the various platforms is very scarce. And I am happy to say our developers and programmers are among the best in the country.
Moreover, our expertise in the gaming industry has allowed us to bring innovative games with enhanced features which gives the player a good experience. This is illustrated by the fact that we have developed the first community game, Cops N Robbers, which is among the top performing games on Sky. There have also been developments such as Little Devil, where the bonus feature is on a timer and triggers automatically, this offered a different dimension to the player.
Our next generation of developments, due out soon, will build on this innovation.

Has this had a positive impact on your current diverse partnerships?
They key to developing our business is to find the right partnerships where we can develop our game ideas, enhance the player experience through innovation and grow revenues.
Our strategy is to underpin our business with strong relationships with key partners such as Skyvegas, BetFair, and Paddy Power in UK online market, Unibet and Bet24 in the European online market, Coral in the UK LBO market, as well as Hitgame in Italy and TCS John Huxley, for South America.
We expect to make some announcements shortly on further partnerships we are forging across the UK, Europe and South America.

Are there new market entries under consideration? The UK/European market will presumably remain important to your operation?
There are always new markets. You can’t sit still. We are exploring other potential markets and will be demonstrating our content at the TCS John Huxley exhibition in Las Vegas next month. There is a lot of business potential out there.

Asia is an enormous growth area - is that being tapped?
The Asian market is huge and we would be remiss not to be looking at. It forms part of our blue sky strategy but we need to take one step at a time and ensure the content is correct for each market we enter.

Is it actually a global market approach you are aiming at?
We are taking each market opportunity on its merits. We are currently concentrating in Europe and South America. We have several new markets currently under consideration, but we have to balance opportunities with the immediate requirements in our existing markets.

Could the mobile gaming market be in your sights?
We are currently developing applications for the iphone and ipad and there will be other developments for the mobile market in the coming months.

Do you have a timescale for demonstrating your growth advantage ahead?
We do but I am not about to disclose it here. Suffice to say that we are very confident over the next 12 months of significantly growing revenues for ourselves and our partners while at the same time pushing out new innovative content.

New name for Mazooma

2010-12-08T08:54:00.000-08:00

The big news at Mazooma is that we have changed our name... well sort of! We have re-launched as Mazooma Interactive Games as the company moves to concentrate on delivering digital content to operating bookmakers and casinos on the internet.
Moreover, Mazooma Interactive Games will no longer be part of Bell-Fruit Group, the leading slot machine manufacturer, but will remain part of parent group Danoptra Gaming Group. The split from Bell-Fruit Group reflects the Mazooma Interactive Games’ focus on online content and its move away from mechanical gaming development.
This is an exciting development for the team at Mazooma and underlines out strategy of concentrating on online gaming content allowing the company to develop new games while we continue to leverage our extensive back catalogue of titles.
Mazooma Interactive Games currently has established partnerships with a number of top online brands such as SkyVegas.com and Paddy Power. Other customers include Hitgame in Italy and South American group TCS John Huxley and including Coral, where Mazooma provides digital B2 and B3 content across its 6,500 Fixed Odds Betting Terminals (FOBT’s) in the UK.
The move away from Bell-Fruit Group and associated mechanical gaming gives a clear focus for the brand going forward and places us at the centre of the online market. In the age of the internet content is king and, as content providers, we are well placed to grow our business further.”
Mazooma distributes its games across a number of platforms including ORBIS, GTS, GGP and The Global Draw and also boast a significant export market. All games currently deployed will be altered to show the new Mazooma Interactive Games brand.
As part of the restructuring a number staff involved in mechanical operations will re-locate to Bell-Fruit Group.

By Tony Oliver