Geolocation technology provider Quova Inc. said Monday that it has inked a deal with yet another major player in the online gambling industry--MGM Mirage, which aims to launch an Internet gambling site by the end of September.
With the help of Quova's GeoPoint geolocation and IP-mapping software, MGM Mirage will be able to tell where customers are located when they log on to play online casino games at the company's Isle of Man-based site.
Alan Feldman, MGM Mirage's senior vice president of public affairs, said the Las Vegas-based company decided to use Quova's services to satisfy its own requirement that people from prohibited jurisdictions do not use the MGM site for online gambling. Neither Nevada nor Isle of Man required the service, he said. MGM Mirage chose Quova for its experience and the quality of its product, Feldman said.
"We made a search of existing technologies and felt that theirs was the one that was the most reliable, the most well-tested, and just in terms of both the product itself and the backup that they gave us and the experience they were bringing us, it was the best one to go with," he said.
Bill Hornbuckle, president and COO of MGM Mirage Online Isle of Man Ltd., said his company regards Quova as "one of the enabling technologies necessary to provide the highest level of
jurisdictional compliance for our online operations."
MGM Mirage isn't the only company that feels that way. Last week Quova announced it would provide geolocation technology for Online Gaming Systems Ltd. Quova also has contracts with Rank Group, WagerWorks, Access Gaming Systems, BETDAQ, Tattersall's and Zabadoo.com.
In addition, some I-gaming companies use Quova's geolocation technology for fraud protection--to ensure that players are who they say they are. Both Ladbrokes and BlueSquare use Quova's software for that purpose. Feldman said MGM Mirage will as well.
Marie Alexander, president and CEO of Quova, said her company decided one year ago to focus on the online gaming market. She said her company's desire to forge long-lasting client relationships within the industry has contributed to its success.
"We wanted to take time up front to get to know the market and the people in the market and understand the solution that was really going to be required," she said. "One of the things that we learned early on going into it was that this was not just a one-time thing, giving somebody some data. This is a long-term relationship that we need to build with our customers."
Ted Doucet, Quova's director of sales for the centra region and for online gaming, said his group offers more than simply the ability to know where on the globe e-commerce customers are visiting a Web site from.
"There's also the business process," he said. "They have to get people registered on the site, they've got to have people come back to the site to gamble, they have to open a cash account... There are different ways that they use our technology in every step of the process."
Alexander confirmed that if MGM Mirage isn't Quova's biggest I-gaming client, it's certainly on the list of its largest customers.
"The MGM name is huge," she said. "I think they are definitely one of the leaders, if not the leader, in the market, in taking this and really setting the standards for the regulations. It's interesting
and always encouraging to see an industry that will regulate itself."