Case Study
Playjeux
The Situation
Online gaming across Canada had been accelerating. However, as time passed, technologies evolved along with standard player preferences and expectations. As Playjeux Studios analyzed the marketplace, they saw an opportunity to modernize online table games play with modern functionality, such as multi-player games, tournaments, gamification, and community features, all of which the current legacy technology could not handle.
In Playjeux’s view, to compete effectively with the gray market, provinces (and their consumers) needed new, innovative, games. The Canada-born Playjeux team developed a plan to bring modern technologies and games to the Canadian marketplace. But what would Canadian regulators allow, and what was the best and most cost-effective way to get games from development to market?
The Challenge
Startup Playjeux combined forces with established – yet relatively new – companies Pixiu Gaming and Playzido. Together, they established an ambitious plan to capture the Canadian market within an aggressive timeframe. Playzido had more than 20 games available for the Canadian market; Pixiu was already developing new games for another company’s platform; and Playjeux set its focus on developing table games.
Combined, the three companies were prepared to bring a fresh perspective, innovative technologies, and new games to Canada. Their plan was to capture the Canadian market in the next 12-18 months, with test-ready games for each lottery. However, their capital income was not yet aligned with their goals, and they needed to manage their expenses, while at the same time preparing to capitalize on a market need across the country, all while balancing the unique requirements of each individual provincial regulations. It seemed doable on paper, but where to start, and how?
The Action
Playjeux turned to GLI for regulatory advisory and testing services. CEO and founder Sovanna Phan was intimately familiar with GLI. He oversaw launching the online casino games for the Loto-Québec’s online gaming website and worked for more than 10 years as their Head of Online Casino. GLI had worked closely with the lottery and Phan on the project. He knew GLI would be able to advise what the path of least resistance would be for getting to market, including the best testing/certification strategy to be cost-effective yet wide-reaching.
In addition to a testing strategy, GLI advised on Canadian gaming market best practices, and lent their global expertise as to what technologies may or may not be acceptable to regulators across Canada short-term and elsewhere globally long-term. GLI created an end-to-end compliance strategy for Playjeux, and then set about testing Playjeux’s offerings against the GLI-19 Standard and the provincial online gaming standards required for entry into British Columbia, Québec, and Atlantic Canada. GLI helped Playjeux remove the need for repetitive testing for overlapping requirements by leveraging our comprehensive online gaming requirements library and SQL data warehouse with links to jurisdictional rules and regulations worldwide. Playjeux’s expenses were kept in check and their time was used with maximum efficiencies.
The Standard
GLI-19: Interactive Gaming Systems is a technical standard based on an extensive review of several key interactive gaming jurisdictions that have experienced success in regulating the inherently complex systems associated with iGaming. It was the first set of common standards for technical regulation of iGaming markets, encompassing the best practices in regulated jurisdictions from the U.S., Canada, and from countries across Europe.
The latest version, GLI-19 V3.0, represents the most highly developed set of technical requirements and practices available in the gaming industry. GLI-19 is especially important today as many jurisdictions across the globe have a pressing desire to implement internet gaming quickly. GLI-19, and all standards in the GLI library, are examples of how GLI can help its clients succeed in ways no other lab can.
The Results
With GLI’s expert consultation and unsurpassed quality of testing, Playjeux successfully executed on their strategy, bringing new technologies and games to Lotteries across Canada, empowering provinces to meet player demand and further strengthen their market competitiveness against gray games and out-of-province gaming. Playjeux has since sped their product development and now is poised to launch in 2022 their innovative multiplayer table games platform, further boosting player satisfaction and provincial competition.
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