Exclusive: People Buy from People: Graham Greensmith on Leadership, Partnerships and the Future of Gaming
Technology continues to reshape the global gaming industry, but strong leadership, trusted partnerships, and customer-focused thinking remain at the heart of long-term success.
In this exclusive interview with iGaming News Today, Gaming Corps Chief Commercial Officer Graham Greensmith reflects on the experiences that shaped his leadership journey, the importance of authentic relationships, how AI is changing the industry, and why regulated markets offer the strongest path for sustainable growth.
From customer-first principles to the future of player engagement, Graham shares practical insights gained from nearly two decades in gaming.
Q1: Looking back across your career, from management to CCO, how has your experience shaped your leadership approach today?
Graham:
My journey in the gaming industry began in 2005, from very humble beginnings, working in and managing bingo clubs in London. Dealing with so many people – anything up to a thousand people in a particular bingo session – gives you firsthand experience in handling people. We’re talking about conflict management, making decisions on the spot, and understanding how people think.
For me, the way I operate is all about relationships. It began from that time twenty years ago. People like to deal with people. People buy from people. People are intuitive, so if you are authentic, they can understand this and see this, and it helps move things forward.
One of my key focuses in life is treating people how you wish to be treated. I have a lot of self-belief, and portraying self-confidence is very important in a leadership role. This is something I’ve worked on over the past few years, but it all began from my humble beginnings working in bingo clubs.”
Q2: How important are strong partnerships and client relationships when it comes to achieving long-term business success?
Graham:
I personally think it’s the most important thing. I’ve been fortunate to have amassed a large network over the past twenty or so years, and I personally owe my career to anyone who I’ve touched with voice, words, or actions over the years. That’s because I’ve always wanted to put the customer first.
Building strong relationships and client partnerships is born from putting the customer first. That’s how you build sustainable long-term business. I also like to go the extra mile. People can resonate with those who give extra beyond just ticking the box. It’s something I’ve always prided myself on.
When you look at business progression and the future around AI, for example, there are businesses out there looking to replace the human element with things like chatbots. In my view, that’s going to lead to inevitable long-term failure, because people buy from people.”
Q3: From your perspective, what do you think is driving growth in the gaming industry?
Graham:
I think there are a few things. The most important thing for me is the seeking of value right now. I think both operators and B2B businesses are seeking value. The way it’s going at the moment is a regretful, unfortunate picture whereby there’s a race to the bottom. That can be pricing, but also from a content management perspective, supply side, it can lead to a focus on volume of output rather than quality.
We talk about whether players actually want innovation. The answer isn’t obvious.. But what we’ve decided to do at Gaming Corps is not to reinvent the wheel, but to evolve. We found a winning formula and plan to build upon that step by step, slowly. We’re trying to bring our players and the demand from players with us in line with our product evolution.
A great example of this is our recent new product, Instant Blitz, which is essentially a slot within the user interface and feeling of a scratch card or an instant-win style of game. It’s an example of where we’re looking to evolve rather than reinvent the wheel.
Staying nimble and agile as a business, finding a winning formula, and capitalising on seasonality are also important. So when you ask about growth, it’s about targeting the recreational player and focusing on moments like the World Cup, Halloween, and Christmas. These are very important times of the year. Players are bombarded with opportunities to extract value, and we have to deliver during those times to remain competitive. For me, as long as we’re ticking the boxes and meeting the needs of all stakeholders, internal and external, growth is driven by a combination of factors.”
Q4: In such a competitive market, how can gaming companies keep players engaged and build long-term loyalty?
Graham:
When it comes to driving growth, it’s about the seeking of value, and gaming companies therefore need to deliver value. That comes from a few different factors. Having a strong product mix is something we pride ourselves on at Gaming Corps. We have a large variety of different product types, which allows operators to choose – it could be a combination of all, or they may select a particular product type based on their own content strategy, which of course differs from operator to operator.
Another thing is community gaming, which is also something to consider. Particularly for operators, it’s about brand recognition. I look upon myself as a gamer – a very recreational gamer – and there are some operators in the UK in particular who are doing a really good job of eating into the market share of some of the tier-one or legacy tier-one operators. Brands like Midnite and MrQ are targeting the mass market very poignantly and it’s delivering huge success for them.
Again, it’s very much brand-led. Players having an association with the brand generates loyalty, and it may be something that large operators, particularly those who are less nimble or publicly-owned, are becoming a little stale.”
Q5: As AI becomes a major topic across industries, how do you see it helping gaming companies improve product and player experience?
Graham:
It’s really interesting. I’ve just returned from a gaming event where the audience was asked, by a show of hands, whether AI or Prediction markets was the more investable opportunity at the moment. Ninety percent of the audience voted in favour of AI. AI is the hottest topic at the moment, and everybody can see why. But we must remember it’s there to supplement, not to fully replace.
From my point of view, with AI it’s about growing the intangibles and impacting tangibility. I’ll give you an example. Things that sit in the back end – if you think about laws and the replication of rules based on data – this can lead to a consistent application of those rules, which, when presented to a regulator, cannot be questioned. That’s the value of AI there.
There’s also personalisation. A lot of businesses and operators are now using AI for lobby positioning of content, and this can be personalised to the player based on game metadata as well as player behaviour. This is where the intangibility of AI sitting in the back end can really make a difference to the player experience.
It’s not just lobby positioning. There are many things that can impact tangibility – for example, design and animation. At Gaming Corps, we use AI a lot, largely for the replication of repeated steps in key parts of the game production journey. Things like branded games – I mentioned earlier about our new product vertical, Instant Blitz – and we’ve been showing operators examples of how we can very quickly adapt that for them, using their brand IP if it fits within their content strategy. It’s quick and easy to do and to deliver thanks to AI, which really helps with the sales, bringing products to life with tasters and prototypes.
That said, I still feel AI is very early in the journey, and it is too early to fully assess how truly valuable it can be. But I would certainly suggest that businesses not capitalising on the immediate value of AI are at risk of falling behind, if they haven’t already.”
Q6: With changing market conditions and global uncertainties, how do you think these factors could impact growth and investment across the gaming industry?
Graham:
The changing market conditions are huge at the moment, and of course we’re all aware of the global uncertainty. With this considered, the gaming industry is no different. But I would say the biggest risk is that, in my view, the gaming industry is being demonised in the public eye around the world. This is an issue because people want to gamble. It’s something built into the fabric of many countries around the world. In the UK, for example, it’s been important since the 1960s.
What we’re seeing at the moment on a global scale is tax becoming a problem. Governments around the world are seeing the gaming industry as an easy target for a tax grab. In the UK, for example, tax has increased from 20% to 40%. That’s an unprecedented increase, and what it does is quickly destabilise the market forces, whereby the current landscape shifts into something completely different as businesses have to pivot to meet their own needs. This will have a material impact on the player.
Brazil is another interesting example, where a new regulated framework has been introduced at considerable cost and effort, and now suddenly the President is talking about closing it all down again – to win votes. These are two really interesting examples of how different countries can impact the landscape.
The biggest risk from increased taxation is the reduction of the value proposition for the player. As I’ve mentioned before, businesses and players are seeking value. If they can’t get that value where they are shopping at the moment, then they will simply shop elsewhere. The question is whether they are shopping in places where growth is actually visible. I would suggest not, because that would be in a different sector of the industry – away from regulated markets.”
Q7: Looking ahead, what is your vision for the future of gaming, and what major changes do you expect to see in the industry?
Graham:
Let’s look at the here &now while also looking into the future. Gaming is a source of entertainment. It feeds a habit, and it’s a very captivating thing to do. But we also have to remember that, within entertainment, players gamble because they aspire for victory – they want to win and sample the thrill
With all the technological advances, I would suggest that the future is about meeting the needs of the player. It is difficult to consider a world where the demand for gaming will shrink. It will continue to grow in line with technology. But my biggest fear in the future is about the protection of players. As players shop around looking for the highest levels of value, are they going to places where there are essentially no rules? Unlicensed casinos globally have no rules, and therefore players are not protected. So are we building a future of gamers who will gamble in an unprotected and irresponsible way? It’s a rhetorical question, but I’m going to suggest the answer is potentially yes.
What we’re doing at Gaming Corps is focusing on our future within the regulated market space. We’ve entered the Italian market. We will be present in Alberta, Canada, for the day-one launch on July 13, and we entered Ontario at the start of this year. Alongside our growth in South Africa and the UK, there is a very conscious focus at Gaming Corps on what we believe is a more sustainable future – in the regulated market space.
But the market forces at the moment are extremely fragile, and while businesses, particularly publicly owned ones, are looking to maintain margin for their shareholders – and rightly so – doing that is to the detriment of the player – it’s my biggest fear and concern.”
Q8: What has been the biggest source of motivation throughout your journey?
Graham:
That’s a good question. I’ve always wanted to be the best at what I do, but to do it in a humble way and in a way that delivers value for businesses – and more importantly, for people. One of the key things that drives me is a buzz phrase I was taught very young: the customer is king. I’ve never wavered from that.
By putting the customer first, being authentic, being memorable, and being someone who delivers enhanced value, I think that’s something that has always motivated me and will continue to do so. It’s very important for me to bring a smile to people’s faces.”
Q9: What key lesson or principle has guided you throughout your career, and what advice would you give to newcomers?
Graham:
My key principle, again, is that buzz phrase: the customer is king. To treat others how you’d wish to be treated. To any newcomer in the industry, if you are a people person, then in my view, among the current or newest generation, you have a USP – your unique selling point.
Your unique selling point is to stand out, be memorable, and be someone who is amongst the people. I feel that I do that, and I feel that the number of people who can do that naturally is decreasing. I think that’s a natural by-product of the technological advances we’re seeing in society. But to be that way, and to make an effort with it, is a way to really stand out. I think it will always come down to this as being the biggest unique identifier of a person.”
About Gaming Corps
Gaming Corps is a publicly listed game development studio that creates premium casino games for regulated iGaming markets worldwide. The company offers a diverse portfolio including Slots, Multiplier Games, Mine Games, Table Games, Plinko, and its innovative Instant Blitz category. Focused on creativity, technology, and market expansion, Gaming Corps continues to strengthen its presence across regulated jurisdictions, including Italy, Ontario, South Africa, the UK, and Alberta, delivering engaging gaming experiences to operators and players around the world.
