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What has been the highlight of 2007 for the company and why?
The highlight of 2007 for Chartwell has been the tremendous success of the Betfair online casino offering. Known for their fierce and unwavering commitment of fairness to their players, the launch of the Zero Lounge games, which we developed for them, represented a unique concept in online gaming and demonstrated the ground-breaking thinking that Betfair brings with them wherever they go. 2007 has seen them take their fledgling casino and march through what can best be described as a crowded marketplace and stake their claim as a key operator, a leader and an innovator.
What has been the worst moment of 2007 for the company and why?
As a company we’ve had a pretty good year. Each day was better than the one before, so thankfully there hasn’t been a “worst moment” per se. Of course we are affected by the minefield that is gaming legislation throughout Europe, but this is an industry-wide situation, and like everybody else in the space, we roll with the punches. From the very outset of online gaming, there have been obstacles to overcome, and I never cease to be impressed at the fluidity of companies and how good we all are at finding and implementing plan B.
The UK led the way with a very responsible legislative framework which was respectful to other EU member states (albeit with a potentially prohibitive tax rate). However, the actions taken in places like the Netherlands, France and now Germany have created an unfortunate level of uncertainty as to the application of the basic EU principles to the online gaming market. This culmination of events has served to erode our confidence in the principle of free movement of goods and services, and we would hope that common sense and solid legislative frameworks will ultimately prevail.
What makes your software special and distinct from the competition?
Without a doubt, our commitment to quality over quantity separates Chartwell from the rest. We don’t just throw up re-skins and regurgitate old games. We put in a huge amount of effort to bring new concepts, themes and graphic elements and the result is that players love Chartwell games. Our client list testifies to that. In addition to what is an unparalleled front end, we are confident that our back-office capabilities are unique and our responsible gaming functionality is second to none. We are the only one among our peers that has our software certified, not only in the current group of countries that has provided a regulatory framework for online gaming, but also in Germany, which demanded even higher standards in many areas. We’ve been in the game for a long time and we’ve got it covered from both perspectives.
How many staff does the company employ and where?
We have about 100 developers in Calgary, 20 in Vancouver and a staff of approximately 10 in our Malta/European operations.
What do you have planned for 2008? What sort of year is it going to be?
2008 is already showing all the hallmarks of being a banner year for Chartwell. We have an aggressive plan which will see us bring to market a greatly expanded suite of gaming products starting with our current release, which includes a range of graphically inspired video slots and soft games. Even though I’ve been in gaming since the early days of online and I’ve seen literally thousands and thousands of products, I am overwhelmed by how great our new games are—nothing I’ve seen anywhere comes close to matching their quality.
We’ll also see our progressive games take off this year and just now we’re putting the finishing touches on our capability to offer our clients a much expanded level of services by way of a complete turnkey-managed solution in house. As if all that wasn’t enough, we’re also making a big commitment in Asia, and the next few months will see us launch our Asian office and a local Asian gaming suite.
Aideen Shortt, VP sales and marketing, Chartwell
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