Ezugi Unveiled – An Interview with CEO Kfir Kugler

Posted on: Oct 04, 2021. Last Updated on: Oct 04, 2021.

Author: Joseph Skelker Expertise: Online casinos, Game tester

We have been talking to Kfir Kugler, the CEO and founder of live dealer provider Ezugi, about the company’s exciting rebranding. He has given us some fascinating insights into the company’s philosophy and the way it is reflected in the new branding, as well as a tantalizing hint of things to come.

Please can you tell us a bit about yourself and your background in the gaming industry?

To start at the beginning, I’m a former platoon commander in the IDF, and I hold an LL.B. and B.A. in Business Administration from the IDC, Herzliya, Israel. But I’ve been in the online gaming industry for 17 years now – it’s not just my job but my passion, and I am appreciative of the fact that I can do something that I love daily.

Before founding Ezugi back in 2012, which since 2018 has been under the world-known Evolution Group (EVO.ST) umbrella, I was the former Latin America Director for PartyGaming during the years 2007 – 2008, and one of the first employees of Empire Online, which during 2005 was one of the first Gaming Companies to be listed on the AIM.

Ezugi has just undergone a major rebranding. Can you tell us what the new logo and slogan represent?

Next year Ezugi will celebrate its 10-year anniversary, and within this time, our team has achieved a great deal. Like any company, we started off small, but today we operate from many global studios, list over 20 games and have over 200+ partners worldwide. Our logo and slogan need to reflect this accomplishment and show just how far we’ve come. So, an identity rebrand was a natural decision for us.

The logo accentuates the distinctive red live streaming dot, which is the main essence of the new branding. A red dot is often spotted when recording or streaming content - it symbolizes that footage is “live” or “running”. With the Ezugi logo, we wanted to establish the same vision and capitalize on its ‘always live’ mentality – we offer 24/7 open tables, 24/7 support, and 24/7 gaming opportunities.

As for the slogan – “Smart Move” – here at Ezugi, we make informed decisions based on data, knowledge, and experience. We add smart twists to traditional game formats and offer modern solutions to our partners for various local markets.

What we’re saying is that by choosing Ezugi as a live-casino provider, our partners – both new and current - are making a smart move.

Our slogan stands for the enthusiasm that we have about moving forward and the knowledge that we have the intelligence to do it right.

In your press release, you talk about giving customers an advantage ‘through data and innovation’. Please could you tell us about what you consider to be Ezugi’s biggest innovations?

It has always been part of Ezugi’s mentality to offer one-of-a-kind products or solutions. We truly believe that innovation is the way to move forward and the best way to show what we are made of.

Recently, we released a new variant of the hugely popular 3-card poker game – One Day Teen Patti Classic. We introduced a unique back and lay exchange betting model, where the players can trade their positions and liability using our intuitive betting slip. The best way to describe this would be: Live Casino meets in-play sports exchange betting. It’s not just about creating brand-new products. These small but crucial updates have a huge impact on players and are the foundation of a smart and innovative live casino product.

As our rebrand suggests, there’s much more work being done behind the scenes to come up with even bigger and better ideas. Further unique, innovative solutions will be launched in Q4 and next year, so you’ll want to stay tuned.

You also spoke about the new website and client portal. What benefits is the portal set to deliver to your clients?

A visual identity rebrand was only the first step towards a more contemporary and agile Ezugi. As with our logo update, we also needed to take into consideration that refreshing and enhancing our client portal was essential to a strong and healthy partnership. The new client portal promises to be more user-friendly, not only for our internal needs but most importantly for our partners.

It is important to us that our partners can get hold of their needed assets anytime and in one dedicated spot. That’s why we are summarizing all the client’s needs and wishes, and we are working to find the best solutions that would offer us the best possible results. The aim of the new client portal is to be more advanced, modern, easy to access, and easy to use.

Ezugi has always stood out by offering Indian games alongside traditional western casino games. Do you have any plans to expand your offering further?

From day one, Ezugi has always aimed to provide the freshest localized content, as we strongly believe that in order to succeed, localized products are essential to a game’s portfolio.

India is such an agile market, and it keeps on expanding rapidly. Our footprint here is already strong, but we are always hungry and eager to provide more and to keep the players satisfied.

We have grand plans for our future Indian offering, and our players are not going to want to miss our new games once they go live. We have something exciting coming, and it’s just around the corner!

Having almost completed the rebranding, what can we expect to see next from Ezugi?

Right now, we are focused on finalizing the new Ezugi website and client portal. But we’re also working on a variety of new game releases and certified cashier systems for the retail market. We may have rebranded, and we’re excited to see what the next decade of this fresh and modern-looking Ezugi will bring, but our mission remains the same – to provide our partners, and ultimately the end-user, with the absolute best online gaming experience.

A huge thank you to Kfir for taking the time to answer our questions in such a thoughtful and detailed manner. It has given us a real sense of the ideals and motivations driving Ezugi, and we are genuinely excited to see what the company does next.