Delivering the keynote for this week’s inaugural CasinoBeats Slots Festival, Nik Robinson, CEO and founder of Big Time Gaming, reflected on a remarkable year and looked ahead to ‘an exciting 2021’.
It has been a turbulent year across the betting and gaming industry and beyond, but one also that has highlighted just how robust the online casino sector is. Something Nik Robinson, CEO and founder of slots developer Big Time Gaming, knows as well as anyone, as he told visitors to SlotFest.
“What a year it has been,” he began. “Who would have predicted back at ICE that within a month or so, we’d be in the midst of a worldwide pandemic?
“everyone has pulled together“
“It’s an amazing credit to the industry to see how resilient we have been and have become, moving forward with everything that we have done this year. A lot of us have taken our staff out of the office environment, putting them at home and that it’s worked seamlessly, even more efficiently than previously – on the provider side and the casino side, everyone has pulled together.
“That’s a credit to everyone and their staff. Where we’ve needed to be responsible during this time, we have been,” he said.
“Indeed, we’ve seen responsibility come into a new light in Germany. Betting is €1 a spin maximum there and there are also deposit limits over a monthly period. I see that as only a good thing – we are seen as becoming a zero-harm industry. When we have deposit limits that strict and betting limits that low, it is very difficult to get into harm, and that will help the industry grow exponentially.
“My dream is for the industry being more entertainment led, more of Netflix-style environment rather than a hardcore casino one. Germany is an example of that. Some might say ‘it’s too strict the numbers, won’t work for everyone’, but I disagree.
“If the industry markets itself in the right way there’s no reason we can’t increase our user base. We are an entertainment business. If we take that mantra and move forward with it then the industry will survive on its merits, on doing good work,” said the man behind the Megaways slot mechanic.
“It’s been an amazing year for innovation – smaller providers punching above their weight“
“It’s been an amazing year for innovation in general. Lots of smaller providers really punching above their weight and the competition is fantastic – it’s healthy. Competition creates better product, it creates a bigger user base and – as stakes and deposit limits go down – we need more users, we need more entertainment. So the more providers coming into the field, the better.”
Robinson went on to highlight some of the big movers in slots this year and outline some key milestones for Big Time Gaming in the year ahead.
Watch the entire keynote video below to hear the full address, including some key collaborations and the Megapays project.
The content, including 13 unreleased slots and around 100 more, are still available to view and play on the Festival platform, just register for free here
