How the labs stay ahead of technology.
As the pace of change in the world of gaming has increased exponentially due to the increasing influence of new technology, there is one sector of the business that has had to be particularly on the ball.
The testing laboratories that approve gaming devices for the various jurisdictions across the globe have had to become experts at adaptation, making sure they can move fast enough to keep track of an increasing number of new developments. Gaming Laboratories International has been doing this for more than 25 years now and co-founder James Maida is one of the world’s leading experts on gaming. “In some ways the industry has changed a lot, but in other ways it hasn’t changed at all,” he told InterGaming.
“Back when we started GLI there were no such things as bill acceptors on machines, TITO, multi-site progressive jackpots, online gaming, etc. However, the industry was all about game content then and it still is. You can have all the new technology that is available, but if you don’t have good content you won’t get a share of the floor.
“This forms the whole basis of why people play games. The technology may have changed but it’s still about what players want to play and there is no getting away from that.”
Richard Williamson, senior vice president regulatory for the Americas at BMM Testlabs, links the growth of the company to the growth of the industry. “The most significant change to the gaming industry during BMM’s existence is also the reason for BMM’s rapid growth – the expansion of legal gaming,” he said.
Read the full article in the March issue of InterGaming.
