With less than a week separating us from the 2024 edition, gaming companies and operators around the world prepare and await anxiously to meet at ICE London. Set to take place on February 6-8 at the ExCel London exhibition center, the renowned event gears up for its last edition at the UK’s capital before a planned relocation to Barcelona starting next year.
Among those global companies attending the expo is BMM. Ahead of the expo, Yogonet held an exclusive interview with Martin Storm, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer — BMM Innovation Group, who eagerly shared the group’s plans for the event. Additionally, he discussed new technologies in the gambling industry, trends to watch out for, and more.
What will be the main novelties that BMM will present and focus on at ICE London this year?
At our ICE stand, BMM Innovation Group will be presenting solutions and services from our three BIG companies – BMM Testlabs, BIG Cyber, and RG24seven Virtual Training.
Our focus will be on sharing BMM Testlabs’ services and solutions for land-based and digital testing and certification, as well as how we can help operators with audits and inspections, and we’ll also be talking with suppliers and game developers about our QA and pre-compliance testing services.
BIG Cyber will share its enthusiasm about a new partnership with Maxxsure, a cybersecurity risk management company, and RG24seven Virtual Training leadership will be on hand to demonstrate our free, best-in-class training and education library for gaming company employees to provide safer gambling training online.
Coming off seven consecutive years of revenue and EBITDA growth, including a record year in 2023, we will focus on our move to full globalization and focus on strategy, specialization, expertise, focus, coordination, speed, and value.
What are BMM’s key goals for the expo?
We have high expectations for ICE and its ability to draw our clients from across the globe. That is why we invest in bringing our worldwide staff to the show to further client relationships and drive new business, as well as strengthen our industry relationships.
At the show, we are also launching strategic new partnerships in our BIG Cyber and RG24seven businesses that will bolster our solutions and service portfolios. It’s going to be an exciting and non-stop three days!
Where do you see the gambling industry headed?
The industry and our clients are looking for strong partners who understand the global land-based and digital gaming market, know the regulations, have trusted relationships with the regulators, and can help them get products tested and certified quickly.
At ICE, we will have BMM executives from across the globe on hand to meet with our clients, sharing our enthusiasm and capabilities to test and certify in every gaming market for every gaming product.
What is your assessment of how the sector developed in 2023, and what should we expect from it in 2024?
2023 was a strong year for the global gaming industry, which grew to $320.14 billion and is expected to grow to $347.05 billion in 2024. It was exciting to see record revenues across the industry; celebrate Brazil, Florida, Massachusetts, and Ohio coming online with sports betting; the growth of social gaming; and mobile gaming acceleration as a few examples.
In 2024, we should expect similar global growth trends, especially in sports betting, as we expect 41 U.S. states to have legal sports betting by the end of the year. We will also be eagerly watching Brazil, which has approved online gaming and sports betting and looks poised to legalize land-based casino gaming.
BMM Testlabs, which tests and certifies any gaming product in every gaming market, will play a key role in 2024 as a partner to land-based and digital suppliers and operators in helping them effectively navigate the regulations and get new products certified and successfully introduced.
What are your expectations in regard to new technologies hitting the market?
While we’re excited about the continued success of our TIC businesses (Testing, Inspections, and Compliance), we’re most enthusiastic about our TECH focus in 2024 and beyond.
As emerging technologies such as AI, cryptocurrency, blockchain, NFTs, and Web 3.0 (metaverse) begin to impact gaming product design and regulatory oversight, we will be at the forefront of this change, playing a leading role in collaborating with regulators, developers, and gaming manufacturers to advance these emerging technologies and help shape how they are tested, certified, and introduced.
Our regulatory compliance team will play a critical role in helping gaming regulators mitigate risk and define the scope of these innovative experiences. It’s going to be an exciting year.
What other industry events does the company plan to attend this year?
BMM Innovation Group and our companies, BMM Testlabs, BIG Cyber, and RG24seven Virtual Training, attend nearly 80 trade shows and events throughout the year, including IGA, The ASEAN Gaming Summit, East Coast Gaming Conference, SIGMA Asia Philippines, Peru Gaming Show, Australasian Gaming Expo, OIGA, SBC Summit Lisbon, G2E, ICE, and many others around the world. We try to attend and support almost every event where gaming is legal and regulated.
With the increase in high-profile cyber-attacks as of late, do you expect BMM Group’s BIG Cyber to play a key role at ICE?
At ICE, our BIG Cyber team will be on hand to discuss the mission of BIG Cyber: to provide cybersecurity solutions tailored for the gaming industry, with one key goal: to safeguard casinos, players, and their data.
After the well-publicized attacks on large gaming companies in 2023, everyone agrees that cybersecurity protection is a must-have – not just a nice-to-have – because intrusion must be seen as inevitable. We’re here as a trusted partner, with over 40 years of serving the gaming industry, to help the gaming industry through the entire process.
At ICE, our BIG Cyber executives will also focus on the company’s new partnership with Maxxsure, a highly respected cyber risk management company that offers the M-Score, a cyber-risk rating that helps companies understand their cyber-risk posture and take steps to address their risks before an attack or breach happens. We’re very excited to share our enthusiasm about this new partnership with Maxxsure and how it bolsters our portfolio of cybersecurity solutions.
