40
GAMINGmalta 2O18 EDITION
Mark Attard - CEO of BDO Malta
Don’t Start Without a
Long-Term Plan There are still a large number of individuals that enter the iGaming sector without experience, says Mark Attard, CEO of BDO Malta. He adds that product innovation and player experience are critical factors for success in today’s very competitive iGaming industry.
THE ACCOUNTANT Can you tell us a bit about BDO’s approach to the gaming industry? The remote gaming business accounts for an important part of our clientele. Therefore, we have taken several measures over the years to ensure that our service offering and operations reflect the importance and prominence of this sector to our business. First, we developed in-house technical competencies across the key professional and corporate services areas, including taxation, accounting, audit, legal, risk & compliance, licensing and advisory. The second step was to ensure that our gaming clients experience the advantages of our integrated approach. Managing different professionals – lawyers, tax advisors, auditors and others – may sometimes prove challenging in terms of timeframes and coordination. So we built our own business process to provide a seamless and integrated workflow, focusing on a project team drawing on different professional skillsets available under one roof. To ensure even higher degrees of efficiency, we have dedicated Remote Gaming Desk Coordinators, whose sole objective is to deliver exceptional service to our gaming clients.
What are the main mistakes that many iGaming companies make when starting up? It is a well-known fact that the gaming industry is lucrative, and this sometimes leads to individuals entering the market without the necessary experience and without having done the necessary market research. Another common mistake is failing to define their strategy and products well enough, and this reflects in the legal and compliance setup. Over the years BDO has gained in-depth experience and knowledge in what is required, to ensure that the start-up process of gaming companies runs smoothly. Therefore, we have built a methodological approach to the process in order to further ensure that our gaming clients can also effectively set-up and obtain the applicable licence within the shortest time frame. As an advisor, I would highly recommend that entrepreneurs seek our advice at an early stage, prior to setting up their intended
companies in Malta. That way, we can leverage our experience to guide new gaming companies on the optimal way forward both in terms of efficiency and effectiveness.
What are the three things that you would advise startups to consider before kicking off iGaming operations? A sensible approach would be to conduct specific research with respect to the critical business fundamentals, as well as the experiences that potential customers are presently demanding. Whether you are new or an industry veteran, always seek advice from consultants on the latest legislative changes within the jurisdiction you are considering. Such changes may affect your operation, your financing and your profitability, which ultimately means the difference between winning and losing. In today’s competitive environment it is imperative to have a long-term plan in place, with adequate financing considerations, licensing and compliance functions, and a customer-oriented approach, which will essentially provide the requisite competitive edge. Players are spoilt for choice with many platforms to place their bets. Ask yourself, why would a customer choose to place a bet on my platform and not on my competitor’s site? Product innovation and player experience are critical factors to success.
From your experience, what is the average profitability of iGaming companies and what should these companies be targeting? There are many factors that affect profitability within this sector. For example, an online casino that is heavily dependent on affiliation to drive its traffic will have a different cost-base to those platforms who invest in building organic traffic. One must also consider at what stage of life the company is. Companies in their first two to three years of operation would not generally make any net profit since they would be focused on reinvesting any available funds into marketing, with the sole aim of growing their brand, and as a result their turnover.