MICHAEL BRADY INTERVIEW
to your platform it is very hard to move away from it. Most platforms were built a decade ago and aren’t designed to allow third party integrations, so while we can integrate with most third parties in two weeks, other platforms take three to six months.” This speed of integration is complemented by speed of development, with Brady claiming Bede can create a branded slot game from concept to launch in less than two months. To achieve this aim, the ?rm has recruited its 22-strong London-based backend team (there is also a team of 45 operational and front end gaming developers in Newcastle) not from within egaming but rather from the ?nancial services industry, where they have built scalable trading platforms. “For us it’s about the ability to handle the technology and the people doing best on that side of things have been in ?nance and have been able to transfer their skills to gaming,” Brady explains. “Of course, on top of that it helped that we began recruiting when people thought it was a good time to get out of the ?nancial world.” He hopes this degree of efficiency will help develop a new dawn for bingo, a product vertical which he believes has not really progressed to the same degree as other corners of the egaming world.
“We have learned from dealing with technology suppliers that it is important to work with your partners rather than against them”
Brady on honesty
A new dawn: Brady has high hopes for the future of bingo
“The only real differentiations we’ve seen in bingo in recent years are on the operational side and the brand side (with Foxy, for example) – there haven’t been as many product innovations, at least when you compare it to other product verticals.” However, despite looking outside the industry on this front, Brady maintains: “It is important that all three of the founders have run gambling businesses. “We have learned from dealing with technology suppliers that it is important to work with your partners rather than against them. I am constantly amazed when talking to people about the levels of distrust and dishonesty they experience from their software suppliers,” he adds. “If we are open and straight with our partners, we will probably have a competitive advantage over our competitors.” While the ultimate goal is to be able to offer a desirable service across social, mobile and realmoney online gambling, Brady recognises that regulatory uncertainty in particular markets increases the need for ?exibility. Bede is keen to remain in a position to offer freeplay options in those territories where operators are restricted by regulation. The CEO talks of the need to “build models used for social and for real-money too – in the North American market they want a product where people can get used to something ahead of when real-money is allowed.” But he also acknowledges: “The main problem for anything in North America is the timescale