How will regulatory pressure change slot development?

Regulators no longer regulate gambling at the point of supply. Increasingly, controls reach under the hood, creating new challenges for slot studios.

But as G Games’ Helen Walton makes clear, designers design faster than regulators regulate. This creates a challenge for the regulatory bodies to keep up with a sector that constantly evolves and adapts, essentially putting the onus on the authorities to rethink the way they interact with the studios.

Kevin Dale of eGaming Monitor points out that this shifts the focus away from one-size fits-all games, which will fragment the market as developers localise products and create niche games for specific locales.

The new wave of micro-regulation, where controls are imposed on specific in-game features, is a massive margin squeeze for studios, the pair agree. This could ultimately see developers shift emphasis to the more profitable markets – provided they build flexibility into the core of their products.