Everyone Needs A Fixer

As Quentin Tarantino taught us in the 1994 cult classic Pulp Fiction, there is no role more important than that of a fixer—someone to arrive at the moment they’re most needed and accomplish the task at hand while staying cool under the highest stress.

In Vincent and Jules’ case it was “The Wolf,” the tuxedoed honcho who sped through in a cool gray Acura NSX and greeted the blood-spattered hitmen with a simple introduction—“I’m Winston Wolfe, I solve problems”—before successfully orchestrating the disposal of poor Marvin, all with a coffee in hand. (Lotsa cream, lotsa sugar, of course.)

For the global gaming industry, perhaps no company fulfills this fixer role better than BMM Innovation Group.

Founded in 1981, BMM is the longest-established gaming product testing and certification lab. Its three letters have since grown to become synonymous with credibility, consistency and safety. Unlike The Wolf, BMM works to keep its clients above the law, but there is surely a lot of coffee to go around in the midst of crunching numbers and conducting rigorous testing.

The company has spent the last 43 years on the cutting edge of gaming technology, and a large number of the industry’s most celebrated products got their start in a BMM lab. Its certifications are often one of the last steps on the path to market launch, and as such, its decisions carry a lot of weight. The growth of the company over the years is thus indicative of the quality of those decisions so far.

In 2023, BMM notched its seventh consecutive year of revenue and EBITDA growth. Its footprint has expanded all over the globe, with 16 current locations across six continents and more planned for the future.

But as President and CEO Martin Storm says, BMM’s success is attributable to its integrity, which in turn strengthens the industry as a whole.

“The BIG Group serves all gaming stakeholders—operators, regulators and players—by ensuring that gaming products are safe, secure, and fair,” Storm says. “For gaming product suppliers, our services ensure the quality and compliance of their products. For operators, our services enhance operational efficiency and compliance. Regulators benefit from our expertise in establishing and maintaining industry standards, while players gain confidence in the integrity of the games and gaming products that they engage with. This multifaceted support fosters a healthier gaming ecosystem overall, which harkens to our mission: strengthen the gambling industry and protect all who gamble.”

Investing in Areas of Need

A key theme of the BMM story so far has been the protection and preservation of the gaming industry. Originally, this applied to slots, tables and other products of traditional casinos. But the advent of sports betting and iGaming coupled with the widespread expansion of all regulated verticals over the last 10 years has inspired the company to invest heavily in two areas of growing need: responsible gaming (RG) and cybersecurity.

In 2021, BMM expanded its umbrella with the formation of BIG Cyber and followed that in 2022 with the formation of RG24seven, both of which offer compliance-grade training and consulting for companies and their employees across the industry.

“This expansion reflects a strategic response to the industry’s changing landscape, emphasizing the importance of not just compliance but also the security and integrity of gaming operations,” Storm explains. “Today, the BIG Group is a one-stop shop for regulators, operators and gaming product suppliers for unmatched expertise in product testing and compliance, military-grade cybersecurity solutions, and the industry’s leading digital training platform.”

With regard to RG24seven, Storm says there is more investment planned for the year ahead. Headed by CEO and longtime BMM executive Wendy Anderson, the company is planting its flag at a time of critical need.

In the last 18 months there have been several scandals highlighting the need for effective RG training—so much so that in September, lawmakers introduced the SAFE Bet Act, a federal sports betting bill that was inspired in part by a perceived lack of effective RG practices in the U.S. Similarly, Australia’s top two operators, Crown Resorts and Star Entertainment, have faced unprecedented regulatory sanctions over the last two years due to ineffective or nonexistent player protection protocols.

Storm says the impetus of forming RG24seven was “to fill a void” in the industry by “providing responsible, effective, and free training” that is accessible to all gaming employees around the world.

“We’re investing in this business by updating our training courses, adding a host of new curricula, offering more courses in multiple languages, and enhancing the customization we can offer our clients,” he adds. “It’s exciting to see the incredible growth of RG24seven under CEO Wendy Anderson’s leadership, and there’s so much more to come.”

Similarly, cybersecurity is another issue that has been forced to the top of regulators’ and operators’ priority lists.

Research presented at this year’s TribalNet Conference showed that there was a 60 percent increase in cyber threats against tribal casinos in 2023. And of course, the industry was rocked by last year’s cyberattacks against MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment that crippled both companies’ global systems and cost them both millions in damages.

Storm says that BIG Cyber “will continue to be a major focus” due to “the growing demand for managed security services, including penetration testing, vulnerability assessments, social engineering evaluations” and more.

“Gaming suppliers and tribal and commercial operators are demanding help with cybersecurity, and we offer a library of specialized solutions to support the defense of our partners’ enterprises,” Storm asserts.

From Las Vegas with Love

For BIG, future growth is defined by both its services and its footprint around the globe. From its global headquarters in Las Vegas, the company now has several substantial operations in various markets.

These include two Centers for Excellence in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada and Barcelona, Spain, an Asia-Pacific hub in Melbourne, Australia, a growing R&D center in Cybercity, India and offices across eastern Europe, Macau, Singapore and even South Africa.

As all of those continue to expand independently, the company also has another budding opportunity in its sights: Brazil.

Last December, the country moved to regulate sports betting and iGaming, with land-based casinos also a very real possibility in the near future. BMM has already established offices in Peru and Argentina, but the amount of testing and certification still yet to be done for the nascent Brazilian market makes it especially appealing in the Latin American landscape.

Storm says BMM is “always exploring expansion opportunities, particularly in emerging markets like Brazil and Japan, with evolving regulatory frameworks,” and the goal is to then be “strategically” positioned to be “at the forefront” of compliance and innovation.

“At BMM Testlabs, our core business, we’ll open our Sao Paulo, Brazil lab and focus on serving this exciting new market in-country,” he explains. “With a population of over 210 million, of which 70 percent have access to the internet, we are confident that Brazil will quickly become one of the world’s largest and most profitable iGaming and sports betting markets, with land-based coming next.”

BMM tests and certifies for Brazil’s technical standards and is licensed federally by Brazil’s Secretaria de Prémios e Apostas as well as in the three Brazilian states that have Issued or will soon Issue licenses to operators—Rio de Janerio, Paraíba, and Paraná.

As part of this planning, RG24seven now offers courses in Spanish and Portuguese to better serve the region, he adds. But regardless of how the market matures, the company’s experience and adaptability will serve it well in developing relationships with local officials.

“Whereas in the past we had some barriers to entry, our reports are now accepted by the regulatory authorities of nearly every regulated gaming jurisdiction worldwide,” Storm says. “One of our key strengths is the ability and recognition to test, inspect, and certify to any standards established or adopted by gaming regulators, including adopted third-party standards such as GLI or BMM standards, or customized standards from regulatory bodies in emerging gaming markets.”

Technology Changes, Relationships Don’t

The previous decade has arguably been the most transformative the industry has seen in terms of creativity and innovation. For gaming to continue to evolve at such a pace, so too must BMM.

Storm says it’s crucial for the company to “continue to invest and ensure we are on the cutting edge of new technology” to continue its trajectory. This focus, he says, extends to emerging sectors such as “augmented reality, AI, virtual reality, blockchain, crypto, live dealers, and smart watches, to name a few.” And this knowledge must be thorough enough to assist all levels of stakeholders.

“Not only do we have to know how to effectively test these technologies, but we must also be well-versed in every facet of them so we can offer our guidance and expertise to regulators and suppliers,” Storm says. “We’re refining our tools for customers and creating new tools that streamline compliance testing for the suppliers that place so much trust in us. This proactive approach enables BMM to remain a trusted partner as our customers navigate new market opportunities.”

But as the technology continues to become more complex, the company’s simple tenet of prioritizing relationships first has never been more important. For patrons to continue to enjoy the latest and greatest products that the industry has to offer, suppliers must have a reliable pipeline through which to develop and certify those products. And that means that BMM must remain a trusted partner.

“We’ll continue to foster long-term partnerships with the gaming industry’s largest suppliers through the value we deliver by being the most experienced partner through the whole product testing and certification lifecycle,” Storm says.

It’s impossible to say what the global gaming landscape may look like down the road as BMM closes in on a half-century of operations. But in the immediate future, its mantra of “building lasting relationships over transactions and ensuring we truly understand and support our customers’ needs” will do well to ensure sustainable growth not just for the company, but for the industry as a whole.

“If we were to revisit this story a year from now, the BIG Group would hope to have continued our proven track record of global growth, launched new services, and forged even stronger, long-term partnerships with our customers, which would strengthen our worldwide reach and reinforce our position as the most experienced and trusted industry leader,” Storm concludes.