Alexandre Tomic, CEO of SlotsMillion, In An Exclusive Interview For LCB

Achieving a collection of one million slots may be light years away but if there’s a casino that can get the job done, it’s SlotsMillion. As CEO of an operator capable of such innovational firsts as the virtual casino, Alexandre Tomic took some time away from the hustle and bustle of it all to talk to LCB. Will they ever accept UK players? What’s next for them? You’ve got to read on to find out.

Thanks, Alexandre!

1. The last time we checked in with you guys it was January 2015 and the site had just launched. There was a sense of excitement and anticipation surrounding a new casino that catered to players who wanted slots, slots and more slots. You’ve since blown minds with the first virtual reality casino and become an award winning brand so tell us what else has changed since SlotsMillion first went live?

Obviously, the VR casino itself has been launched since then, but the casino is constantly evolving and improving in other ways as well.
Firstly, we’ve added a lot of new payment methods, meaning we now have most of the main payment providers for each key market we have. This means that we are more attractive to players, who can deposit and withdraw with methods they are used to.
Similarly, we have also integrated two new currencies recently - SEK and NOK - meaning that players from Sweden and Norway can deposit and withdraw in their own currencies.
We are dedicated to providing the best possible gaming experience for our players, and that means providing a wide variety of games. We now have one of the biggest game portfolios in the online casino industry, with over 1300 desktop slots and 500 mobile slots from 30 game providers, in comparison with the nine providers we started with.
We also have many plans in the pipeline to continue improving both our website and the VR casino, including updates to our filter; a slots tournament; a recommendation engine to suggest games to players; and an update to our VR casino, which will be released within the next couple of months. You’ll find more information about this in question seven.

2. The vast number of software providers initially attracts players to the casino but what do you guys do to keep them engaged? Is it really because of all those slots or is it something more?

Firstly, the VR casino is obviously a huge draw for many players. We’ve been receiving a great deal of positive press about it, both inside and outside the industry, and always have a brilliant reaction when we showcase it at conferences - people queueing up to try it out. Even though the VR goggles are still pricing many players out, they still come to experience the casino in 3D and then go away and tell their friends about it, meaning it acts not only as a great retention tool but also works very well as an acquisition tool.
We’re always continuing to expand our selection of games via the introduction of new providers, and also run a handful of both one-off and recurring promotions which are effective at keeping players around. Finally, we’re always working on developing the latest innovations; we pride ourselves on providing the best possible experience for our players and so it’s very important for us to stay on the cutting edge with updates and new projects like our filter, upgrades to the VR casino, our slots tournament that will be coming soon, and also new ventures that are in the pipeline for the future.

3. Speaking of slots, the site has gone far beyond the initial 9 software providers it launched with. How many providers now contribute to the selection of over 1,300 titles?

As stated above, we now have 30 game providers and are adding more all the time.

4. Do you think you’ll ever break down and introduce some table games or even a live casino? You never know, there could be a huge influx of players if you’ve got gorgeous live dealers in the VR casino ha!

As you can probably guess, at SlotsMillion we love slots - it’s all in the name! But we might possibly consider introducing table and even live dealer games in the future.

5. Shortly after the casino launched, we were told that a UK license was in the works. Can UK residents expect to gain access any time soon? Also, are there any other gambling licenses that you’re looking into?

Absolutely. We are aiming to have the UK license within the next few months, and we are also currently looking into becoming licensed in Denmark, Portugal and Romania. Slowed down because of Brexit issues but we are definitely pushing to have it.

6. It’s been said that virtual reality and gambling is a few years away from really taking off. As a brand that’s already ahead of the times, what’s next for SlotsMillion?

Though we’re very proud of the product we’ve created so far, we are always looking to improve - not only our VR casino, but also our website. To do this, we’re working on adding the ability to sort games by more precise and detailed features to our filter. This will be in addition to the existing filter which can sort by themes, features, paylines and game provider, and will even be able to introduce players to concepts they perhaps were not previously familiar with.
Slots tournament
We also have a few new projects in the pipeline, such as a recommendation engine that will hopefully give players what they didn’t even know they wanted. This engine will be able to better understand players’ likes and dislikes, thus suggesting the right games to them right from the start and hopefully minimizing the chances of players never becoming truly engaged and leaving the site.
In addition to this, as mentioned above, we’re upgrading our VR casino with an update that will add much more life to the virtual city. The update will include cosmetic adjustments, such as new 3D buildings and animations; a balcony which leads out to a big screen showing movie clips and game introductions. This is the update for BAC and from now there won’t be any more updates.
We have a very exciting new VR project in the works which will hopefully be released next year. Unfortunately, though we’re still developing it so that’s all I can tell you for now!
From scratch for mobile VR (Samsung gear) and desktop (oculus rift/htc vive)

7. We thought it would be fun to end with a fun fact about you so what little tidbit can you tell us?

One of the first times we demo’d the VR casino in august 2015, we were in offices in Malta and we had the MGA coming because we needed them to certify the app. Also software providers - NetEnt - Andrew Crosby - he was trying the VR app and he starts screaming. There was a bug. At one point in the floor, there was one pixel missing and he didn’t have a body so he fell through the floor from the 88th floor. We looked up and could see the casino room.