La Belgique, c’est chic: GAMING1 on expanding beyond its Belgian roots

Let’s wind the clock back to 1992. Denmark causes a massive upset to win the UEFA European Championships, Bill Clinton is elected the 42nd President of the United States, Windsor Castle is partly destroyed in a fire, and a young Emmanuel Mewissen isn’t the CEO of one of Belgium’s biggest operators but a dentist in Liège, Belgium. 

Dreaming of more than just pulling teeth, Mewissen, alongside Jean-Marie Léonard and the Bosquin family, founded and opened their first gaming room in Liège under the brand name Circus. This flagship brand helped the group become the Belgian leader in land-based gambling by 2003 following the acquisition of casinos in the cities of Namur and Spa.

While Circus continued to grow, Sylvain Boniver, Christophe Boniver and Gérard El Allaf founded the web agency ProduWeb in 2002 and joined the team at Circus, which now included Nicolas Leonard, to form the GAMING1 brand we know today. Following this team-up, the group launched the Circus.be site, with casino777.be and pokerstars.be rolled out in tandem.

In 2015, The Ardent Group was founded and GAMING1 was made a part of the wider business, which also operates in the real estate, technology and energy sectors. At the end of 2021, GAMING1 secured a new partnership with private equity group CVC Capital Partners to support its ongoing growth plans. GAMING1 is currently present in seven regulated markets around the world, with its most recent move being across the border into its Benelux neighbour, the Netherlands, in tandem with land-based casino brand Gran Casino in March 2022.

Here, Mewissen talks about the operator’s journey so far and the potential challenges that lie ahead as Belgium looks set to introduce several strict regulations that could have huge ramifications for the igaming industry moving forward.

EGR: Let’s start at the beginning of GAMING1’s story. How has the company grown from inception into the position it holds today?

Emmanuel Mewissen (EM): It all began over 30 years ago due to a common desire of several entrepreneurs in Liège to merge their stories, activities and expertise. As a result, GAMING1 was born, and we are now celebrating 30+ years in the legal gaming business.

The overall project is more than the gross gaming revenue (GGR) results. We’re looking to have fun with new cultures and games. Fun for our customers; if your customer isn’t enjoying themselves, that’s not good. While we aim for fun, we also aim to create a safe space for players. We’ve been serious about responsible gaming from the outset. Responsible gaming is difficult in land-based casinos and even more so online.

Today, we are a leader in the Belgian market and we aim to be a global reference for the industry, and on that, we are currently live in seven countries.

EGR: What did it mean to GAMING1 to break into the EGR Power 50 for the first time last year?

EM: It is a collective reward for us, but we stay humble and we do not take it for granted. We must maintain our efforts. This recognition is more than appreciated but it does not change the global ambition that we have. Being part of the EGR Power 50 is a sign we are doing the right things and we will try and continue to improve and grow further.     

EGR: You recently hired former Flutter exec Yannis Xirotyris as CCO. How much weight are you putting on attracting top industry talent to drive the business’ future success?

EM: To grow internationally, we must attract international talent to reach the tier-one category. We originally decided to take up the challenge of staying in Liège to find the talent, as this is where our roots are. In this competitive world, it is important not to be selfish, and we want to give back to the region where the company was born.

That said, this local social and economic challenge is not easy. First, we have to convince the senior experts to come to Liège, and when they do accept, as Yannis did, it means we are an attractive company. We try to create value for the people joining the team. What I am seeing is that more and more people coming into the company are from abroad. For example, one-third of the senior directorate in our directorial
committee are international people, and we are looking for more.   

EGR: Belgium doesn’t always receive the same attention as other regulated European markets, but how would you describe it and its merits?

EM: That is a hard question. The relationship between gaming and the Belgian culture is a challenging one. The country’s Catholic heritage does not create much consideration regarding gaming, so we have had to deal with this. But we have a law that respects local operators. The Belgian model means you can only go digital if you have a land-based presence. The model also limits the number of licences issued which allows us, as local operators, to produce good results.

EGR: The country has introduced some restrictive regulations around deposit limits. How much of an impact is this having on operations?

EM: While there is a [weekly] deposit limit of €200, it is possible to activate and deactivate it, except for those who are on the National Bank of Belgium’s blacklist and those on the excluded persons information system (EPIS).

The EPIS is a preventative list of what you can and can’t do, which comes from the Magistrates Court or on self-request. This system is very strict and, if you’re on this list, you can’t play at all. You also can’t deactivate the deposit limit if you’re on the National Bank’s blacklist. This usually happens to those who don’t repay a loan, and you can be on this list for up to 10 years. Both of these have an obvious impact on operations.

The deposit limit itself is not an issue and provides security and prevention. However, the rules that justify whether a person is on the list or not are rather opaque, which can be annoying if you know the consequences of being on these lists. How these lists are managed has impacted our revenue, but it is a good thing for players who need it in the long run. We know we operate in a somewhat controversial industry, and ethics are at the heart of our concerns. For a business to be sustainable, it has to be responsible. It’s not about making profit at any cost without morals.  

EGR: There is a ban on advertising coming into force in Belgium from 1 July. What is your stance on the situation?

EM: This is a very bad political decision; it is missing the real challenge. The debate is not about advertising, it is about how to protect players. We agree with the desire to limit excessive advertising, but we must ensure the decision does not push players into the illegal industry. We live in a digital world. This means only legal operators will follow the rules and, by doing so, they will become weak and invisible. How can we protect such players from illegal operators who do not follow these rules? Visibility and competitiveness are important for the legal operator. Facts and figures will show in the future that these bans will have opposite effects and that prevention will suffer.

EGR: What issues could arise from the upcoming ban around sports sponsor-ships by gambling firms in Europe?

EM: Belgium, like other countries, is following the issue of digital technology, which raises several issues around prevention and public health. The recent Royal Decree drastically limits advertising and covers the ban on sports sponsorship from 2028. The studies behind these regulations are not coherent and have huge consequences for the legal players in the sector, including ourselves. We want to support the regulators’ efforts best by focusing on prevention and sharing our knowledge.

Regarding sports sponsorship, we have been sponsoring various sports associations, teams and events for years. This goes way beyond a commercial positioning and allows us, among other things, to convey messages on responsible gambling, as shown by our latest messages with the ‘Time To Play Responsibly’ campaign with [ex-footballer] Ronaldinho.

If you radically restrict advertising, including sponsorship, and lock the country into a narrow regulatory space, then you will probably miss the desired result because you are disconnected from digital and international realities. Legal operators will become invisible with the next level of bans, and it opens the highway for the illegal market with all its risks related to the lack of control. We already see 20% of Belgian players visiting such sites.

EGR: Could you see France regulating online casino in the near future? And if so, how does it affect GAMING1’s position in that market?

EM: Yes, we do. This is why we started to develop our own land-based network two years ago. We have seven casinos and one club in Paris. We are also the only operator to have a licence in France with 30 table games. We’re surprised France is one of the last countries in the EU not to allow online casinos despite being Europe’s largest market. The lack of regulation affects the protection of players going to illegal sites, which impacts taxation and land-based casinos that respect and enforce the legislation. 

EGR: What successes and difficulties have you seen with your B2B arm given your expanding geographic operations across Europe, Latam and the US?

EM: There have been some huge challenges, as you would expect. For example, South America has such a huge time difference to us, which is a massive challenge. There is also the obvious challenge of language and communication. Despite our best efforts, though, we decided to leave Latin America to focus more on the US and Europe. Setting up a local business unit in that part of the world was always going to be a challenge and you need this kind of local hub with local knowledge to help you build a strong network.

EGR: Where does the future of GAMING1’s core business lie? Would you say it is in your B2B or B2C operations?

EM: The two are interrelated and are inherent to the needs and opportunities for development in different geographic areas. What is undeniable is that GAMING1 will always strive to maintain its ambition to provide a unique experience tailored to regulated markets while promoting responsible behaviour. This applies to both our B2B and B2C arms.

EGR: Are you looking to expand into other markets? If so, which ones?

EM: As I mentioned previously, we were in South America, but when we looked at our five-year plan it just did not suit us to continue in that region at the moment. We are looking to focus on the areas we are currently in and see what we need to do to become better in those regions.

This is why we are limiting ourselves to the countries we are already in but looking to expand within these markets. We’re staying within Europe, but the cherry on the cake would be the US.

EGR: On the US, you launched the sports betting app Betly in West Virginia via a JV with hospitality company Delaware North in 2021. How has that progressed?

EM: Competition in the US is strong. Our main area of expertise is in interactive gaming via an online casino. After some time, we are now ready to launch our first casino app in West Virginia in July with our partner Delaware North. This is our first real test in the US, and our partners know where our strengths are. We’re excited about the launch, and we hope it’ll be a success as we continue to look for interactive games in the US.

EGR: What effect has CVC Capital Partners’ investment and partnership had at GAMING1?

EM: Firstly, it was interesting to discover how private equity works, as this was something new for me. Because of this, it took my partners and I time to decide whether this was the right way to go. We understand that normally these kinds of investors stick with you for around five or six years depending on how the company is performing, but it’s been great to have them with us. They are a lot more finance-orientated than I am, but, at the same time, I would describe them as being amazing catalysts for growth. They came in with a team to provide support and review our structure and processes.

We’ve been with them for 10 months now and we’ve seen a huge improvement in the way we manage our team and projects. We’ve become a lot more professional, and I am really happy to have this environment around me because we haven’t had this kind of support in Liège, and we badly needed it. We now have better capacity in our financials and the evolution of our technology. We made a move with these guys and, hopefully, they will help us to achieve what we want to target over the next few years.

EGR: What’s next on the agenda?

EM: We will continue to improve our responsible gambling software and prevention tools which will help us to meet the demands of the regulators in terms of customer protection. We want the regulators to trust us and recognise that developing our model and operations is the right way to prevent and empower players.

Also, in the next couple of years, we want the customer journey to be a terrific and unique omnichannel experience.