Exclusive interview with Christopher Whittle, Leap Gaming Product Manager

Leap Gaming is an online gaming software provider offering high-end products for the mobile and retail markets. The partnerships with gaming operators around the world and the offering of virtual sports betting and content from different casinos, contribute to making this provider one of the most engaging and innovative.

This company seems a very young endevour, if we look at incorporation date on records. However it is crucial to consider that its team sums up decades of experience in iGaming, both in Marketing and Software Development. It must not surprise then its quick ascent, as it had already all the skills inhouse and a clear roadmap of how to achieve success.

Today we meet Christopher Whittle, Product Manager at Leap Gaming, to understand more about this provider and learn about their future plans.

What do you think the success you have achieved is due to?

Thank you for taking the time to contacting me and asking me to take part in this QA session, I am both honoured and humbled that you value my opinion and will be only too happy to answer your questions.

Regarding the first question on your list, hard work, grit, and determination, but above all else our specialist understanding of the industry we operate in and the ability to be versatile enough to adapt responsively to the needs and desires of our players by adopting new trends and even creating a few new ones of our very own. Here at LEAP we are always trying to innovate and bring new and interesting products to the i-gaming market and our player always come first. This player focused approach has served us well over the years and we hope to be here for many years to come.

LEAP serves not only online operators but also the retail market. Do you think that the two sectors can still coexist and be profitable at the same way? Or will retail remain a niche sector, for example only in land-based casino?

Omni Chanel game development and the cross pollination of content into land-based casinos from the online space and from the land-based casino environment to the online space will always mean that game providers can maximise their revenues by adopting this practice, and further still improve their distribution channels and maximise their revenues, in this regard the two spaces already co-exist and have a synergistic relationship. Game development organisations are always in a constant battle to maximise any games footprint. The general trend was to see land-based products translating onto the on-line space, yet now we are seeing more and more examples of content which was available exclusively online becoming more readily available in a land-based environment. A great game is still a great game wherever you play it

Besides slot machines, what is your game catalogue made up of? We know for example that sports themed games are among your top games.

Here at LEAP we are constantly striving to bring new and exciting products to market and wherever possible we aim to create an offering which covers absolutely everything, so table games and more traditional forms of gaming entertainment are also part of our offering, along with slots and virtual racing products. We also offer Lottery Games, Virtual Sport Games and Table Games as part of our extended offering, we mean to offer any casino a full suite of games with exceptional levels of quality.

According to your experience, what does the user seek in an online slot machine game?

Great Question! Great game mechanics, a well-balanced game math profile and a superb theme which offers few exciting twists and turns along the way are just some of the ingredients people are looking for in a great slot! Not forgetting the all-important great winning potential. We at LEAP aim to serve our customers with all of these key ingredients whenever cooking up a new slot game!

You recently achieved an important milestone by taking official certification to operate on the UK market. To date, which markets do you already operate in and which are the most promising markets you are aiming for?

We are licensed to operate in all of the major European Markets and now the UK, we are now homing our sites on the next target which is the US, this offers huge potential for growth, and we believe our sports and slot game offering will perform remarkably well there, we already have a partnership with the hugely successful Draft Kings. We will focus on strengthening this relationship and more over the coming months and years. Now is a boom time in terms of growth for LEAP and our commitment to expanding our operation through improving our global distribution network has never been stronger, compliance and multijurisdictional licensing and certification is all part of the process of reaching our optimal growth potential.

What are the innovations that will most influence the iGaming sector in the coming years in your opinion? For example, many have already mentioned cryptocurrencies but also Virtual Reality.

The wider acceptance of Crypto as a form of legitimate form of currency will become more and more common place in the coming years, and porting content into systems which support crypto in terms of payment and return to bolster game distribution is high on our agenda. We would never say no to distributing our content to a casino who operates solely in crypto why would we there is limited risk from our perspective.

The whole virtual reality system has been back and forth like a yoyo over the past 10 or so years I too have been personally involved in the creation of a few VR products over the years during my 20 years in the industry, though the challenges VR faces are many especially in terms of player security, VR fails to address the vulnerability players experience when emersed in a virtual gaming environment. In this regard VR will always struggle to make a Quantum LEAP forward anytime soon. There are also issues surrounding social aspects of VR, which can be overcome through more advanced forms of entertainment such as AR.

Augmented reality however is a completely different story. The advent of HoloLens and Google ARCore will eventually revolutionise the gaming and entertainment industry as this immediately addresses issues surrounding security and vulnerability. The scope here is limitless especially in terms of new products which will become available. AR is also capable of being integrated into a more socially engaging form of entertainment, where VR is more of a spectator sport.

Could you reveal in advance any new release to our reader?

Two great new games we are planning to release in both June and July are Wild Joker and Sweet Vegas. Both games focus on great game mechanics and deliver a unique player focused experience which focuses on the more traditional aspects of I-Gaming game design, both games are crammed full of exciting new features but are at the same time simple and super easy to understand from the very first spin. We are sure your readers will enjoy playing them and as always, we will welcome feedback from your viewers when they are released.