GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 25 - June 2013

Those opportunities need to be carefully se- lected by the partnership. And we will – on both sides of the equation – mutually agree which ones are the right ones to explore, and engage in a dialogue with organizations that operate one or more casinos today. Q: What are your criteria? SMURFIT: Well, if you’re going to rank anything, you would look at New Jersey at the top of the list. We aren’t frightened of having a partnership within a partnership. We understand the need in the United States – and in particularly emergent, ex- citing, high-value markets, where there will only be a small range of land-based casinos who benefit primarily from that regulation – for the requirement to bring third parties into our partnership and our relationship in order to explore those opportunities. That’s an exotic way of saying we don’t mind if somebody has written a big check to a land-based casino and who needs a technology solution that’s powerful and well understood and credible. So we are one of the very few credible technical solu- tions in the marketplace, not just because of the technology, but because of our com- prehensive, in-depth understanding of how to deploy it and extend it and augment it. And I think GameAccount and Foxwoods have been very grown up in coming to- gether and understanding that we’re go- ing to have to be very flexible and highly selective over the next few years, because we’re going to be busy – this year and next are going to be all about Foxwoods and deploying for Foxwoods, executing well, executing quickly and building a best-of- breed free-play solution, positioned beau- tifully for regulation, if and when regula- tion happens in Connecticut. Q: So is this an exclusive relationship between you and Foxwoods on the B2B side? SMURFIT: Yes, it is. Q: When you were looking at building your B2B business in the U.S., well, you probably went through several op- tions and models. Why did you settle on working with Foxwoods on a B2B ver- sus trying to strike out on your own? SMURFIT: Because of the power of the brand and the respect and the reputation of Foxwoods in the marketplace. Most partnerships persist because there’s balance. And balance isn’t necessarily 50- 50. We understand that there is a natural hierarchy and a natural balance between GameAccount Network and a major, hugely capable casino organization such as Foxwoods. So unlike a large number of the larger tech- nology providers and operators in Europe and the rest of the world, we accept the in- herent nature of a partnership, where we expect and we hope that Foxwoods will take a leadership position in some circumstances and in some dialogues, and they will allow us to take leadership dialogue in the event there’s some European business that is try- ing to come into the U.S., which might well be captured and monetized by the frame- work of the partnership agreements. Q: On the B2B side, it’s becoming clear that you’re not just focusing on other Indian casinos, but you’re actu- ally looking at commercial casinos and Indian casinos. PRACUKOWSKI: Absolutely. SMURFIT: The focus for anybody in the B2B space in the U.S. is New Jersey. There are 12 casinos in New Jersey. There are a limited number of people to go and talk to. We firmly believe that there aren’t enough technology solutions to meet all of the de- mand. And specifically, there aren’t enough technology solutions that can be deployed quickly enough to take advantage of the very quick rush to real-money gaming. COLEBUT: And one of the strengths of GameAccount is the ability to integrate existing offline casino content – slots or table games that are familiar to patrons in the offline casino, or brick and mortar – and bring that content in a highly profes- sional way to online. That’s something a lot of these folks can’t do. 31 The anatomy of a deal