Special Q&A with Nadiya Attard from Relax Gaming: past and future of gambling

Relax Gaming was born more than 10 years ago and has established itself as one of the most successful online game producers. Its portfolio includes not only slot machines but also Poker and Bingo, demonstrating a great ability to understand the market and satisfy the needs of different players. Relax Gaming currently has headquarters all over Europe, from Sweden to Malta, and its team is made up of more than 100 people! The most popular slot in the Relax collection is definitely Money Train, set in the Far West, and starring a gang of robbers. The game was so successful that two more titles were released as sequels: Money Train 2 and Money Cart. But Relax Gaming is so much more.

We met Nadiya Attard, CCO of Relax Gaming, at the ICE Conference in April 2022 in London and we took the opportunity to have a chat and ask about their plans for the future.

Hello Nadiya and welcome. Relax Gaming has been present at the ICE Conference in London 2022. What were the most significant moments for your team during the three days of the exhibition?

ICE London always leaves a memorable mark on our events calendar but this year stands apart as the year of reconnection. I can’t express how lovely it was to see everyone after 2 long years. Another highlight was that some of the larger operators opted out of exhibiting, which opened the floor to more niche, small-scale suppliers and it was exciting to see them make the most of this opportunity to shine.

The excitement in the air was palpable and our teams had a fantastic time rekindling working relationships in person, networking with new talent, and finally meeting their sorely missed clients face-to-face. It was even better than expected and I am glad to have been able to attend. For all of us at Relax, ICE 2022 will go down in the books for being at once productive, social and relieving – signaling a return to normality.

You have more than 10 years of experience in the iGaming business. What are the most important results you have achieved in this decade of activity?

I’m inching towards the 20-year mark, which makes one feel like a dinosaur in the industry. Needless to say, the field has changed in many ways, I still remember customers physically depositing funds at betting shops in order to play online! Nowadays it’s completely different, with so many areas improving, such as the regulations and safety measures, it’s thrilling to operate in a sector that is still growing rapidly.

From what I’ve experienced so far, there’s really never been a better time to be part of the industry, it’s ripe with opportunity and creativity is at an all-time high. Growth is important to me and the success of Relax Gaming truly keeps me engaged. As a company, we are entering a new era, going from strength to strength across all departments.

The past decade represents growth in every sense of the word; from building teams around Europe, learning new skills and adapting to new challenges, to reaching new frontiers of regulated market expansion, breaking records with new games, exploring different verticals and collecting more accolades than ever before. There has been so much to celebrate along the years and we’re working hard to keep up this momentum.

Cementing ourselves as a leading aggregator and game provider is our most notable achievement along the past decade, with technical excellence, quality content and market expansion being the pillars on which this accomplishment rests. Money Train 2, Relax Apex ®, 3000+ unique games, 70+ studio partners and 650+ operator brands all spring to mind when reflecting on this exciting chapter at Relax Gaming.

Relax Gaming has a very balanced portfolio, with a mix of traditional and innovative themes and mechanics. Where do you find inspiration to create new slots games?

We’re fortunate to have a very dynamic team of experts working on our products, so inspiration is drawn from all areas of this digital landscape; be it pop culture, film, music, and of course the gambling scene itself. However, noteworthy is the fact that Relax’s trademark for differentiation has often stemmed from listening to players’ feedback as well as streamers and customers. By observing the way players interact with our material we’re able to draw conclusions about our work that otherwise might never have reached our drawing board. This continuous exercise acts as a foundation for our inspiration and ultimately enables us to combine a winning theme with appropriate mechanics and features – effective tools that underpin our recipe for success.

We know that Relax Gaming can boast a very wide audience as your games are present on different markets. How do you keep your players satisfied?

Although it comes with an element of risk, we enjoy trying new things at Relax. We understand the importance of keeping things fresh and have always aimed to drive differentiation in the industry. It’s not enough to reskin a successful title in our book, we take pride in bringing new flavour to player-favourites and take an active role in delivering unique offerings to the market beyond our immediate competitive arena.

Are you planning to expand into new markets or are you focused on growing on those markets you already operate on?

Both! Our strategy for growth is all-encompassing and an essential part of our business strategy. We partner with talented studios from around the world to effectively target different audiences through our network while simultaneously working to expand in new regulated areas. As of late, our market presence extends to Canada and Italy; but this is just the beginning, our legal, compliance and commercial teams are busy orchestrating our entry to Columbia, the US and Spain, which can be expected later this year.

You have some interesting partnerships with other providers. What do you look for in partnerships of these types?

We hand-pick every studio that enters our doors and take an extensive list of qualities into consideration before solidifying a partnership. As a means of providing consistently high standards of service to our operators, we look to find as many of our own company’s qualities in potential studio partners. Ultimately, who we collaborate with reflects on our brand and impacts our clients, therefore, we look at levels of creativity, reliability, professionalism, potential and of course geographic location during the vetting process.

Can you tell us about your next releases? What can we expect from Relax Gaming in the next months? Do you have any exciting news that you want to let your fans know?

Our next releases have our teams buzzing and we’re all excited to start pumping out our double and even triple monthly releases in the coming quarter. We’re giving our entrance to the Italian regulated market special focus during this period, ensuring that our high-quality content meets the expectations and demands of Italy’s player-base. Our Q3 roadmap is absolutely bursting with legacy games paired with brand new mechanics, so sit tight and keep an eye out for updates!