Yogonet Exclusive - On the first day of ICE show, Yogonet had the opportunity to interview Alejandro Ortiz, Founder and President of Ortiz Gaming, who described ICE as one of the largest events worldwide. Visitors at Booth N3-360 can see the Ortiz Standard, as well as the new O-Future and O-Circle cabinets, plus the O-Gaming platform for online and mobile products.

What does ICE represent for Ortiz Gaming?

I think it is one of the most international events worldwide, because, on top of the European customers, we also receive many customers from Asia and the United States, which is why many of our Las Vegas patrons visit us here, too. This event here offers a large array of products for all countries.

What type of products have you chosen to present this year?

With regard to the cabinet hardware, we will present three cabinets: the Standard, which is the traditional model; the O-Future, with its cutting-edge design, adaptable lighting for different types of games and HD dual-array screens; and the O-Circle, with its 42” evolutionary immersing, curved high definition display.

With the case of the software, we introduced new games and also a series of games adapted to the O-Circle. We are also launching several games for our various markets: Spain, Asia, Europe, as well as Latin America and the US market.

How is the company positioned towards the European market?

We are growing and fortunately this show helps, because we can already see the results due to the fact that we have opened in several new markets. Fortunately, we are growing in Europe and Asia as well as now mainly in the US, but in general we are growing in every markets.

What were were your accomplishments in US since your last presentation at G2E?

The US market is different because it requires a series of certifications not only for cabinets, hardware and software, but also because of the due diligence by which every company must dedicate to make it in the US market. It takes a while, but we have already succeeded in cracking into in several states and, each month we enter a new one.

We operate in five states and I think that, by the end of the year, we will reach twelve states.

It doesn't take the same time to enter this market as other countries. There are a lot of regulations and each of which has it own characteristics depending on the state, but hopefully we will continue growing step by step, slowly but surely along this path.

What are your plans for entering Latin America? Are there any markets in particular that you expect to enter this year that have less presence? Are there any interesting markets planned for the company in the near future?

At this moment we are growing in those markets where we were already present. In the case of Mexico, the future sanctioning of the new Law of Games of Chance is an interesting twist. We were expecting the sanctioning and once it happens, new casinos will open. The new regulations will bring security to this market in which we are growing. We are growing in Mexico and we will also enter in two more new markets.

As always, we want to do things right because we want to offer great service, customer attention and casino support in any and all markets. If we can't do things right, it is better not to do it.

Although the company specializes in slot machines, Are you working on any remote devices?

All our games are available on an online platform that is ready and operational. We have the games adapted for Android, IOS and Microsoft and they can be played via mobile devices, computers or Ipad, among others, and is already operating online. It is a market that is growing considerably and we are now starting to commercialize all those games.