With GAT Expo Cartagena just two weeks away, all set to run across March 15-17 at Cartagena de Indias Convention Center in Colombia, International Game Technology (IGT) is one of the confirmed exhibitors. Florencia Bobbio, the company’s Sales Director for Latin America, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay & Colombia, tells Yogonet that she will attend the exhibition along with a team that includes David Flinn, Jessica Luna, Viviana David, Rosi Burger and Jennifer Bowman.
What place does Colombia have in IGT’s 2022 strategy for Latin America?
Colombia is an important and growing market for IGT in the gaming segment, and this is reflected through IGT’s longtime presence in the country and the quality of our latest offerings. Our customers are reporting excellent player feedback from our latest installations. Our newest multi-level progressives, Olympus Link™ and Bubble Blast™, are quickly becoming player favorites, and our state-of-the-art cabinets are in demand. We’re looking forward to building on that strong foundation in 2022 by continuing to execute on our robust product roadmap.
In addition to the positive response to our latest cabinets and games, we’re excited about our new program for offering pre-owned machines in this region, which ultimately gives customers more selection and variety on their gaming floors.
Which IGT executives will be present at GAT Cartagena and which operators do you expect to meet there?
Personally, I’m delighted to be back in Colombia to connect with our customers face-to-face again after almost two years of pandemic-related travel restrictions. I’m looking forward to in-person discussions with all the operators who form the backbone of our business in the country.
My IGT colleagues also attending GAT Cartagena include David Flinn, Regional Vice President, Canada, South and Central America; Jessica Luna, Senior Director of Sales for Chile, Andean Region, Central America and the Caribbean; and account managers Viviana David and Rosi Burger. Jennifer Bowman, Director of Marketing for Latin America and the Caribbean, is also attending. They are equally excited to speak with our clients. We have back-to-back meetings scheduled during the show, so we’ll be seeing as many customers as possible at our stand.
Tell us about the cabinets that will be on show in Cartagena.
Among the hardware we’ll be highlighting at GAT, the PeakSlant32™ cabinet is one of our newest and most versatile gaming machines. It includes three large LCD screens, which provide our customers with attractive merchandising options and their players with an immersive gaming experience. It offers an extensive library of themes that players love, and it is exceptionally comfortable and convenient for patrons, thanks to the ergonomic design as well as the USB and inductive wireless mobile phone chargers. It is also reliable and easy to service, which yields a strong return on investment.
We’re also featuring our proven Cobalt27™ cabinet at the show. This dual-screen machine is an excellent choice for multi-games, including our USwitch™ 12-game pack, giving operators more opportunities to diversify their gaming floor. It features integrated, intelligent cabinet lighting with compelling attract and celebration sequences, as well as a comfortable ergonomic design.
Visitors to our stand will also be able to see our Game King Poker content on the Cobalt 23, as well as the CrystalDual 27™ and CrystalCurve™ cabinets.
Last year, you promoted in Latin America the high performance multilevel progressive game Olympus Link. Is this a product for the Colombian market? Why?
Absolutely – Olympus Link has strong appeal to players in Colombia due to its flexibility, accessible cost-to-cover, and attractive mathematics, and we’re hearing enthusiastic feedback from our customers about our latest installations. This MLP includes two themes, Queen of Olympus™ and King of Olympus™, and offers four jackpot levels, as well as the proven Hold and Spin feature. This feature can be triggered from the base game and free games, and becomes even more entertaining with a multiplier that can be applied to jackpots at higher bet steps. Players also love the stacked wilds. We’re proud of how well this product has been received, and are looking forward to bringing more exciting content to Colombia in 2022.
In addition to its portfolio for physical casinos, IGT offers solutions and games for sports betting and online gaming operators. What is your positioning in these market segments in Colombia? How much growth do you have left?
We see great potential in the Colombia market on the iGaming front due to the country’s mature iGaming segment. As a proven and established iGaming solutions provider, IGT is well-positioned to increase its supply of content and technology to Colombian operators. We are seeing a positive response to the first titles that we’ve rolled out in this market, and are looking forward to continuing that trend.
On the sports betting side, we are not actively supplying this sector in Colombia at the moment.
Overall, Colombia represents a vibrant market for IGT across multiple verticals, and we are excited to continue supporting our new and existing customers with our player-focused innovations.
