Gaming software developer is hiring as it expands amid recession A Macau fledging gaming software developer is recruiting staff to establish its presence in the online gaming business. 'I am not concerned about the recent slowdown in the global economy or Macau's gaming industry because I see it as an opportunity to fully establish our business,' said Iao Lam, executive director of Laxino Technology. He said the company was only just starting out and would not be fully operational for at least another six months. Mr Iao started the company last June with a vision to become one of the largest gaming software providers in Asia and a publicly listed company within three years. 'The business was in the planning stages for about nine months and I started on my own and then began the recruitment phase,' said Mr Iao, who has worked for gaming operators in Macau and Las Vegas. 'My expertise is in starting up companies and I decided why not start my own.' Laxino has 42 staff and is undertaking a major recruitment campaign to fill 50 positions in marketing, software engineering and mathematicians. Laxino is an information technology (IT) service provider and business operations consultancy firm specialising in the gaming sector. The company's first major client in Macau was Kingsway Hotel and services included hardware design, website and payment set-up, and IT support. Mr Iao said the company was looking for at least 15 staff to service its IT help desk that would be open seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Applicants must be fluent in English and Chinese, degree holders and preferably with experience in the gaming sector. 'This team will be tasked with trouble shooting daily operations for clients and in-house,' he said. 'These positions will come online in the next month or two.' Laxino also writes software for online and land-based casinos, and will launch its own online gaming system this year specifically designed for the Asian market. Mr Iao said there was little competition in Asia in the online gaming sector and the nearest legal jurisdiction was the Philippines. He said Laxino's first online gaming product had been under development for about six months and would be available around June. 'Our target clients are the online gaming operators. We write the software and lease or sell to them the whole system platform,' Mr Iao said. 'We are really hoping to corner the market in Asia because there are not many people doing this type of work, The bonus is that we will be able to offer jobs that are highly sought after as there are not that many on offer.' Mr Iao said there were many people working in system maintenance when they would rather be coding. 'We want to become one of the biggest providers for software development positions,' he said. 'There have not been many opportunities like that in Macau in the past and we want to develop that career path.' About 90 per cent of people employed at Laxino are Macau residents, with the remainder from Hong Kong and the mainland. Mr Iao said that while he would like to employ as many Macau residents as possible, the latest recruitment campaign was a global search. 'A lot of the people on board now used to work with me previously,' he said. 'We have been trying our best to find the talent locally because we want to offer a future for IT professionals in Macau, but it is not easy to find the right people here. Our other target markets are Hong Kong, Taiwan and generally the Southeast Asian region.' Laxino has positions for eight marketing professionals, 20 software engineers, two mathematicians and other positions in graphic design, game design and project consultancy. Mr Iao said some of the more junior positions would be open to recent graduates, while others would require several years of experience. He said it was imperative that employees working in IT continued to upgrade their qualifications to stay abreast of changes in technology. 'We will be doing some in-house training but it will be necessary to do external training as well. We will help staff in that area,' he said. 'There is a constant need to catch up with the ever advancing technology in this industry, so we will need staff at times to obtain additional accreditation which will have to be acquired from outside sources.' Before founding Laxino, Mr Iao worked for MGM Grand Macau, Wynn Resorts and Atronic, one of the world's largest producers of slot machines. He grew up in Macau and spent 12 years studying in the United States where he later worked as a lecturer in the department of computer science and mathematics at the University of Texas. Mr Iao has also worked as a lecturer at University of Macau specialising in casino management. Powering up IT and business consultancy firm specialising in the gaming industry The company set to double staff within six months to 90 Developing its own online gaming software to be launched this year Positions available in marketing, IT support and software development
