71 minute read
Sports Betting
by SBC Global
DEREK LLOYD, CEO OF THE FOOTBALL POOLS, discussed all things growth, technology and appealing to those millennial bettors that are looking for an alternative form of entertainment
BY ERIN GALLAGHER
As one of the oldest pool betting organisations in the world, The Football Pools will celebrate its centenary in early 2023. But since its inception, the company has undergone some tremendous changes.
SBC: So I imagine quite a few people may know this - but can you give us some background on The Football Pools - when was it created?
DL: The creation of The Football Pools goes back some time and was originally set up in 1923. It’s gone through a number of different owners since then.
It was started by John Moores, who was based out of Liverpool, alongside a few of his friends. They wanted to start a collective pool i.e., people could bet on the outcome of games, and their pool would form a ‘prize pot’ which would then be shared out between the players. This is essentially the basis of a cash pool game.
At first, John wasn’t very successful - so much so, that his friends decided they wanted to leave. John Moores himself was on the brink of calling it a day too. The story goes that his wife said, ‘she’d rather be married to a failure than a person who had
regretted not trying something’. So he stayed with The Football Pools and bought out his two business partners for £200 each. John then set out on developing the game together with his brother, Cecil.
From very stuttering beginnings, The Football Pools then started to grow exponentially - so much so that in the 1930s, it became the predominant game in the UK. With that success, people started to copy the format - there was a company called Vernon’s and another called Zetters that became established competitors.
These were the three main pools at the time. That carried on up until the war, when a lot of the offices were repurposed to help the war efforts, making parachutes, barrage balloons, etc.
As part of a broader development plan, they really started to re-dedicate themselves to developing the business even further – expanding into catalogues and shops. With that, the Littlewoods catalogue became quite a popular home shopping process.
This carried on for quite some time. Obviously, people age and families develop - and families have different views on whether or not to continue with legacy games such as The Football Pools. By around 2000, after John Moores and his brother had passed away, the company was sold to Sportech which had a goal to combine all of the pools companies, or at least the main ones. They merged these with Littlewoods to form The Football Pools as we know it today.
Sportech had its own sort of international ambitions. To realise that strategy, they decided to put The Football Pools up for sale in 2016. Then a year later, it was purchased with the vision to develop it quickly and bring The Football Pools into the modern digital age. That was when I took over as CEO.
Our goal is to move away from the paper coupons and transition more into the digital age where you can play using an app or via a website. That would be much more in tune with the trends towards entertainment-led betting that we’re currently seeing.
I think the key thing for The Pools, which is different to the bigger betting companies, is that we wanted to remain very much in the entertainment betting space. So much of what we see is small stake, big win programmes. That really enhances the customer experience.
We’ve been transforming the company over the last five years or so,
Pools winners were often handed their winnings by celebrities such as
comedian Benny Hill to help publicity. Copyright: Alamy
most of that has been implementing the digital foundation for changing the way The Pools is viewed by the customer.
SBC: So you mentioned that you joined as CEO back in 2017. What was it that made you want to join The Football Pools?
DL: Well, I was born in Liverpool. It was probably the first time in my career that I had the opportunity to work for a Liverpool-based company. This was quite a positive experience for me.
The second factor was that I was keen to help with the company’s transformation. My background is largely in business transformation - that’s what I’ve been doing for the last few decades. So taking a company which is so established, well-known and steeped in nostalgia, and making that hip and current was a great journey to be on.
The Football Pools has now been transformed into something modern and relevant. So it’s very opportune to be a part of that transformation plan, but to some extent, also, to be able to go back to my roots and work in an area where I grew up.
SBC: If you were to reflect on your time at the company, what would you say have been the biggest
milestones?
DL: I suppose becoming the predominant football betting game in the world was probably one of the biggest achievements of the company. We’re also the oldest football betting game in the world! That’s some milestone.
But I think since our ownership change, the biggest milestone is that ability to bring The Pools into the modern digital age, something we didn’t previously have any presence in. Now, we’ve been able to start developing our games portfolio even further. It’s no longer a question of The Football Pools anymore, it’s more about what we can bring to the entertainment space.
One of the things that we can bring to that space is new Apps, an example of that, is Footie 5. It’s free to play, and the overall concept is quite simple. You pick five teams, you select the scores you think the matches will end up being, and if you’re right then you can win £25,000.
The beauty of this is that it can appeal to a much broader audience. You can pick teams from not just the Premier League but also within the Scottish Premiership, the Championship or even into the lower leagues.
This is a really nice way of being able to extend our reach among a much younger crowd, rather than just appealing to the traditional punter which - more often than not - tends to be a bit older.
SBC: Now the company has been going for 100 years which is super impressive! How are you marking the occasion?
DL: In all honesty, we’ve not quite finalised our plans just yet! We are looking at a few events to mark the occasion, some of which will be new variations on games - special prizes, features, etc. We’ll also be marking the occasion with various gatherings.
Given that we have transformed the company from being a one product company to more of a game development studio, we will also be developing new digital games and applications going forward. Our process is about how we move further into that digital space and, therefore, we want to make games that are fitting for the centenary.
SBC: How do you still continue to appeal to both recreational bettors as well as those that may be more statistically inclined?
DL: Recreational bettors are exactly our target market. We want to engage with people who want to have an occasional flutter and are looking for entertainment more than anything else. Our online offering and games development will be built with these players in mind. Games such as Goal Rush also help to engage recreational bettors too.
We have a few other games in the pipeline, but unfortunately, I’m going to have to keep my cards close to my chest for the time being as these are going through the development and testing process.
SBC: Now it would be unfair for us to ask what the company’s plans are for the next 100 years, but what insights can you give us for future plans?
DL: I think our plans are fairly obvious - put simply, we’re going to keep going digital. That has been evidenced by the fact that lockdown and the coronavirus pandemic really brought forward demand for online shopping by two or three years.
We’ve had a lot of people who would have typically been averse to online shopping now becoming incredibly used to it. To some extent, people had a crash course in the digital space. But what that means is it’s very difficult for those people to now revert to the offline.
So what that means is we have to place more and more emphasis on doing things digitally - which also means we have to improve that experience for players.
You can’t just do what you’ve done in the past, which is just throwing something out there on a digital platform and expecting everybody to tolerate it. Instead, the entire experience has got to be immersive. It’s got to have that quality and a sense of richness to it.
And most importantly, it’s got to be entertaining. So over the next five to 10 years, we are all about improving that richness and the quality of our games.
This then goes in synchronicity with the amount of data that is available. As 5G becomes more established, customers are going to be demanding a higher quality of game experience. We’re going to see increased bandwidths which goes back to that richness we have to deliver. This is where we’re going to see technology start to play a more symbiotic role in what is available.
Delivering that enriched digital experience is really our long-term goal. That’s why we want to focus on the small stakes, high wins space - and ensuring that entertainment remains at the front and centre of that entire experience. •
How times change: A 1940s advertisement for Littlewoods Football Pools. Copyright: Alamy
STEFANO SORDINI: A YEAR IN REVIEW FROM THE EYES OF AN IGAMING HOSTING PROVIDER
STEFANO SORDINI, CEO OF
NETSHOP ISP, reflects on a year of big investments and major change for the data centre services and server hosting provider in 2022. Curaçao, Malta and LatAm provided some key highlights, and he predicts there’s more in the way of innovation to come from the firm in 2023
BY CHRIS MURPHY
SBC: Stefano, we have seen a number of updates and product launches from NetShop ISP throughout 2022. Can you name the most important of them which relate to the hosting services offered to igaming companies?
SS: Yes, 2022 was a really busy and exciting year for us. We made some major investments and implemented key data-driven decisions that have proved to be very beneficial for our igaming clients.
We started out the year with the expansion of our Secure Private Network (SPN) in Europe, Asia and the United States, to effectively allow our customers to interact with their servers without the use of an additional VPN or secure tunnels. The SPN has helped our igaming clients deliver content faster and more securely, without them seeing an increase in their bandwidth traffic bills, which has become especially important since the pandemic began and many online casinos and live dealer studios saw a huge increase in bandwidth traffic.
In April, we carried out a casino games audit for igaming software provider and game development company, Fugaso. The successful completion of such a complex technical evaluation was a great accomplishment for our team and the optimisation recommendations proved extremely valuable for Fugaso, allowing it to gauge its overall performance and implement the necessary technical suggestions.
Another major update in 2022 has been our expansion within Asia and South America with three new data centres. Our two new Asian locations are in Hong Kong and Tokyo, and our very first data centre in LatAm is located in São Paulo. All three data centres are Tier III ready, SOC 1/2 Type 2, PCI DSS and ISO 27001 compliant and
offer high-bandwidth dedicated servers of up to 10 Gbps.
Over the last couple of years, we’ve seen a rapid increase in both the LatAm and Asian igaming markets so our decision to expand within these regions will allow our igaming clients to thrive with a local digital presence.
This year we also began providing hands-on support to our clients looking to obtain a Curaçao egaming licence. The licensing process in Curaçao is known to be relatively straightforward in comparison to other jurisdictions, but a thorough understanding of the legal and regulatory requirements is crucial. We walk our clients through the entire licensing process, from setting up a legal entity and preparing the necessary paperwork to obtaining an RNG certificate and setting up the right cloud or bare-metal server.
SBC: In terms of inquiries for hosting by gambling companies in 2022, has there been a booming jurisdiction this year? Which one was the most popular based on your existing customers' preferences?
SS: We’ve most definitely seen an increase in inquiries for Curaçao hosting over the last year. As mentioned in the previous question, Curaçao is wellknown for its straightforward gambling licence procedure, and remains one of the most attractive jurisdictions for both established and start-up online gambling operators.
The affordability of obtaining a Curaçao Gaming licence, as well as the jurisdiction’s unique zero tax rate on all foreign-sourced revenue, makes entering the market extremely feasible. In addition, its ‘one-licence covers all’ approach makes diversification of offerings a lot simpler for operators in the long run.
Generally speaking, Curaçao has always been highly welcoming for online gambling operators, and we’ve noticed a peak in interest in 2022, which could also be down to the challenges faced by Malta during the year.
With that being said, towards the end of the year we did see a significant increase in hosting requests in our Malta data centres too. Feedback from various igaming partners of ours has indicated that Malta is picking up again as a destination of choice. Perhaps more so for existing companies who choose Malta's MGA licence as a solid jurisdiction to expand in Europe and worldwide, rather than for start-up igaming companies.
SBC: Online gambling is gaining more and more popularity in certain regions within Latin America and will continue to evolve over the next few years. How can NetShop ISP serve sportsbook and online casinos to establish a presence in the region?
SS: That’s right. The LatAm igaming industry has seen a significant rise over the last few years and it’s even been projected that Brazil has the potential to become one of the world’s leading markets for online gambling. Of course, sports gambling, in particular, is extremely popular in Brazil and operators are eager to capitalise on this.
The sheer size of the LatAm market, growth data and future projections are what prompted our decision to move forward with deploying private network infrastructure in São Paulo, Brazil. The main service we offer here is bare metal dedicated servers which are ideal for sportsbook and online casinos seeking to solidify their presence in the region.
As well as a database server being required in the region for regulatory purposes, hosting your website on a dedicated server here is also recommended to guarantee faster access for users and low network latency with local game providers and data feeds in Brazil.
We would also suggest that igaming companies host a local proxy server in Brazil to boost the SEO ranking of their domain name. These suggestions cover everything necessary to make a strong mark on the LatAm industry.
SBC: Out of all the Latin America jurisdictions, what has driven NetShop ISP to establish a data centre presence in Brazil specifically?
SS: Brazil is truly an up and coming igaming hotspot. It has a population of over 200 million, and a staggering 75% of that comprises internet users. Not to mention the country is known for having a huge passion for football, amongst other sports, with its national team being considered one of the greatest of all time. This, in itself, makes Brazil one of the biggest esports markets in the world, and thus extremely attractive for igaming operators.
In terms of infrastructure, Brazil is a lot more advanced than other countries in the region. More specifically, São Paulo is in the midst of a huge technological boom and considered the largest financial and corporate centre in South America. As the biggest business centre in the region, São Paulo has become a technological hub with a strong startup ecosystem. All of these factors, combined with resources from the leading national
Data Centre infrastructure provider, made Brazil the ideal choice to establish our presence in the region.
Our private network infrastructure in Brazil is located in Ascenty 3, and offers ultra-low latency to the Equinix IX and IX.br. The data centre has 24/7 on-site support, 99.99% uptime SLA and redundant 2 x 10G uplinks per server as well as the latest Intel CPU servers and unmetered bandwidth. ONLINE GAMBLING SITES ARE OFTEN TARGETS OF DDOS ATTACKS, AND NOT ONLY ARE THEY A COMPLETE NUISANCE FOR OPERATORS, THEY CAN ALSO BE REALLY DETRIMENTAL TO BUSINESSES
SBC: In addition to NetShop ISP's global infrastructure expansion, you also mentioned DDoS Attacks protection earlier. How is this related to your products/solutions offerings for igaming operators and suppliers?
SS: Online gambling sites are often targets of DDoS attacks, and not only are they a complete nuisance for operators, they can also be really detrimental to businesses. It’s also quite common for DDoS attacks to be launched during major sporting events, which can result in a substantial loss of revenue for sportsbook operators. It has become crucial for businesses to be able to identify and mitigate attacks in a matter of seconds, so having the right solution in place is paramount.
We offer protection against the most common amplification DDoS attacks by default, with no further reconfiguration required on the customer side. This is already included in billing plans at no additional cost. The filtering engine drops the malicious amplified packets, leaving the rest of the traffic intact. Some attacks covered by our solution are NTP amplification, DNS amplification, SSDP amplification and SNMP amplification, to name a few.
The mitigation is implemented completely on our network equipment and adds no latency to your packet round-trip time. In Amsterdam, we've got over 500 Gbps of bandwidth to implement that mitigation, and we could use upstream BGP flow spec rules.
Protection against sophisticated and expensive DDoS attacks could also be designed through our partner technology if needed. However, pricing for a solution like this could only be estimated after the initial solution engineering process.
SBC: Finally, please share any new exciting plans for 2023. Can we expect further expansion into new regions or any innovative solutions to be launched in the near future?
SS: We’ve got some exciting plans in the works and are really looking forward to another great year at NetShop ISP. Of course, we are always working towards implementing innovative hosting solutions to cater to the bespoke needs of our igaming customers and partners.
In terms of expanding into new regions, that is most definitely on the cards for 2023. But we always carry out in-depth research and market analysis prior to making these decisions. In order for us to move into a new region, it’s not enough for it to simply be "hot" in terms of gambling regulation. We also assess the country's technological capacity and infrastructure to make sure it meets our specifications.
When it comes to launching new products, in 2023 we plan on investing more in our global cloud infrastructure in order to enhance its redundancy and scalability, as well as in our cyber security solutions, everything from backup to disaster recovery and DDoS protection. •
DOTAN LAZAR: LSPORTS HAS FOUND THE PERFECT PARTNER WITH STATSCORE
LSPORTS’ CEO REFLECTS on some of the major announcements from 2022, including the company’s recent acquisition of STATSCORE and the ‘bold decision’ to revamp its visual identity
BY ERIN GALLAGHER
As we begin 2023, now is the time to take stock of the previous 12 months. For companies such as LSports, this last year has been filled with new products, expansions, rebranding and even an acquisition to round it all off.
The company’s CEO Dotan Lazar spoke with SBC Leaders to reflect on some of the highlights from 2022. Two things stood out in particular, he explained: “I think that we have had a few major milestones this year. The first main highlight is our LVision product.
“We took our LVision product, which is all about computer vision and really advanced technologies, and from that we integrated it more into LSports and started strengthening the technology around that. I think that has definitely been one of our biggest achievements.
“Now, we have scouting automation based on the OCR. So today, if you are to create a betting event on TV or in-venue, that can cost hundreds of euros to deploy data scouts. But now, we can actually fully automate this process which can cost only one or two euros per event. We’re the only ones that are doing what we’re doing
right now - with the added bonus of a high percentage of accuracy.”
The second milestone was one that was revealed towards the tail end of the year, and was arguably the largest of LSports’ announcements for 2022 - the company’s takeover of Polish sports data company STATSCORE.
Lazar shared that STATSCORE was the perfect acquisition for LSports due to the “synergy“ between the pair. He said: “STATSCORE has scouting in venues that we didn’t previously have access to, they also have a visualisation tool that we want to strengthen.
“As the old saying goes, ‘if the glove
fits’ - and in the case of STATSCORE, it was a perfect fit for us.
“We are very fortunate to be able to pursue these opportunities and make the most out of them. In the past, we have seen some M&A deals that have taken place but subsequently failed because that synergy wasn’t there. There may have been cultural differences, different business ideas. But for us, we really feel like we see things eye to eye with STATSCORE.”
AS THE OLD SAYING GOES, ‘IF THE GLOVE FITS’ - AND IN THE CASE OF STATSCORE, IT WAS A PERFECT FIT FOR US
Welcome to the family
Acquired for an undisclosed sum, STATSCORE has now joined the LSports “family” as Lazar described it. However, it will continue on as its own productive unit, with its own individual branding.
The CEO is confident that LSports can help scale the Polish sports data provider to new heights, and enrich learning for both STATSCORE and his own company.
“We don’t want to stop it operating as an individual company; we want to enrich learning and we want to make STATSCORE even bigger,” he continued.
“The company’s speciality is around creating and collecting data, and using that information to create widgets. That is an area where we want to strengthen our focus. We are going to sell STATSCORE’s products, they will then have their own development and scouting units. We will also benefit from each other’s technology.
“Obviously, STATSCORE is going to contribute to our bottom line, and we will do the same for them. In return, we want to help them become an even bigger company. Over the last three years they have been sliding into different areas and arguably lost that North Star that was initially guiding them as a company. But now, we want to bring them back on that path.”
Modern day Cinderella story
When chatting with SBC, it became abundantly clear that Lazar was incredibly proud of this new partnership with STATSCORE.
And whilst it’s an interesting comparison to make, the LSports CEO explained that the relationship with its new partner is equivalent to that seen in a fairytale - with the two companies sharing many of the same views on business, culture and product development.
“STATSCORE is a perfect match for LSports, both culturally and from a product perspective. That’s the primary reason why it has been the perfect addition to our company. Do you know that feeling when someone just completes you? That is the story of LSports and STATSCORE. It’s a modern day Cinderella story.”
But whilst LSports and STATSCORE still find themselves in that “honeymoon phase“, Lazar is confident that they will continue this mutually beneficial relationship as long as they continue to nurture their shared values.
“We found a company that actually suits us in every way possible. We see the world the same - technologically, culturally and in respect to business too. We both want to succeed with what we are doing.
“I suppose you could say that it’s similar to planting a seed in the ground. If you water that seed and treat it nicely, it will grow into a very nice tree. That is what we are hoping to do with this relationship. We want to nurture it and, eventually, sit back and look at what we have grown.”
A new era
With a larger company than ever before, LSports wanted to ensure that its visual identity reflects its company values. To do this, the company brought in an external design consultancy to assess how the company should now position itself.
As a result, the firm now sports a new visual identity which it believes is a true reflection of its recent growth, size, values and goals. At the time of the rebrand, Lazar explained that this new visual identity will pave the way for LSports to enter “a new era”.
He added: “In order to reflect your size, you need to make bold decisions. Our previous branding was done five or six years ago. I, personally, wasn’t that happy with it - there is a saying that ‘if better is possible, then settling for something that is good is simply not enough’.
“The rebranding really allows us to make that connection with our core ideas. We made that bold decision, we carried out our acquisition of STATSCORE, and we have grown considerably in the last few years.
“We have taken one of the best design companies in Israel to rebrand our company. I think that what they have done is fantastic. We still have plenty of work to do, but we are winning from behind.”
WE’RE NOT AIMING TO GET 99.8% ACCURACY - WE WANT 100%. WHY SETTLE FOR LESS? WE STILL HAVE PLENTY OF WORK TO DO, BUT WE ARE WINNING FROM BEHIND
Disrupting the industry
Even with a different look, LSports still plans to remain true to its roots by creating disruptive technologies that can create new and innovative experiences for its partners.
One such way that the company plans to do this, Lazar told SBC, is with scout automation, new technologies and further integration of machine learning models.
“There are so many things that we’re doing that I truly believe will disrupt the industry going forward - our Computer Vision is just one, which is enabling us to reduce the costs of data scouts by almost 90%. That’s a major disruptor.
“The other thing is that we have our Outliers model that is based on machine learning. This helps to detect outliers in odds and suspend them. We have 360 radars scanning the industry and if something is off with prices, we can detect that and suspend those odds.
“The third thing is the scouts. We are going to bring our scouting to venues in much faster latencies than the market is used to by using new technologies and new applications. This is another massive force that we are going to bring.”
Looking forward to the year ahead
Lazar kept his cards very close to his chest when quizzed on what we can expect from his company in 2023. He did, however, allude to further product development and steps being taken towards “data feed perfection”.
He concluded: “I can’t quite share much more than what I have already told you. But in 2023, we are going to focus even more on sharpening our odds models and stabilising our data feeds. We’re not aiming to get 99.8% accuracy - we want 100%. Why settle for less?
“To get there, we have a long way to go, but we are on the right track. It’s like a pyramid, once you have the best data in the world, every product that you build using that data is 100% bulletproof. That’s really what we’re aiming for.” •
CITY BET CLUB: EMPOWERING PUNTERS TO IMPROVE THEIR BETTING
DAVID BROWN, DIRECTOR
AT CITY BET CLUB, speaks to SBC Leaders about the first few months of operation and the plans that lie ahead for the sports advisory service
BY ERIN GALLAGHER
City Bet Club is a boutique Sports Advisory service providing insight and informing members with daily bet recommendations to enhance their personal betting experience. After several months of building and refining its product and the quality of information provided by the team of experts, City Bet Club made its debut in August 2022.
Now, six months on, the company is live with a paid subscription service that offers its members full access to its daily selections of recommended bets.
Company Director David Brown shared some data for the four months ending 1 December 2022 as he told SBC Leaders about City Bet Club’s growth since its inception.
SBC: City Bet Club has been up and running for a few months now. How has everything gone so far?
DB: We aim to keep our website, communications and product as simple as possible. Therefore, our priority since launch has been entirely on getting the product right. We are delighted with the feedback received so far.
We’ve focussed on simplicity. Tips are posted daily at 09:30 am via the website and are accessible under a single monthly subscription option.
We recognise that there are alternative providers in the marketplace offering ‘tipping services’. Our objective is to provide quality and consistency to our members. The City Bet Club Team of experts analyse markets daily and aim to offer at least one best bet each day, with further recommendations presented when the opportunity arises and our information sources are confident.
We know the betting industry inside out, having held executive positions within the major companies for many years. Bookmakers have to price up every UK and Irish horse race along with the wide range of sporting events each day. Our aim is to specialise in a few key events, we only advise selections to members when we believe we have an edge on a particular selection. This is a key advantage we have over the bookmakers.
We believe that for City Bet Club to be successful that our service must be underpinned with high-quality betting insight and selections. We
WE KNOW THE BETTING INDUSTRY INSIDE OUT
have exclusive access to our team of information sources from around the globe. Our providers are drawn from contacts acquired within the betting industry over many years. We only use information sources that we know have a track record of being profitable long-term bettors.
Since launch members have enjoyed a highly successful return for their £20 subscription.
We’ve provided members with some gems along the way including winners at 10/1 (three times), 9/1 (twice), 8/1 (twice), 15/2 and 7/1 plus many other smaller priced winners.
Two particular selections stand out. l We were probably the only information source to confidently oppose (before the race) Baaeed on the ground in the Champion
Stakes when we advised Bay Bridge to members at 10/1. l Somehow one of our providers knew the quality of Ralph Beckett’s unraced Remarquee as he duly dispatched the odds-on favourite in a Salisbury maiden race in
September. City Bet Club members enjoyed the 9/1 early price against an SP of 5/1.
Over the first four months of published betting selections, we’ve made a profit margin of almost 50 points . This means that if a member’s average bet is £20, then they would have made a profit of nearly £1000 to date.
This is a superb performance and we are proud to shout about this. We believe this beats other main tipping services in the market.
Whilst most of our daily selections to members are on horse racing, we do advise on other sports too. Football and boxing are our second and third most selected sports and during the first four months of operation we are showing a profit of 17% and 30% respectively on those sports. I’m sure you will agree that’s an excellent return for our members .
Many members have reached out with positive feedback and it feels great to know that we’ve been able to help a large group of punters transform their betting from a recreational flutter, to profitable bettors.
From our decades of experience in this industry, we know any bettor who makes 10% or more from their betting is exceptionally good. It is estimated that less than 1% of all bettors make a profit and we agree with this statistic. We know from our extended pre-launch trial and our first four months of live operational activity that we significantly exceed this historical benchmark of 10%, as you might expect given the quality of our information.
However, even the very best bettors around the world do not win on every bet. City Bet Club is no different. Our
method of selecting recommended bets never alters but profitability will be variable in the shorter time periods. We will have hot streaks and also losing runs which is the natural volatility of betting.
It is always important, as all professional gamblers will say too, to ensure you follow the selections and staking plan we advise exactly. This will ensure members maximise the good runs and ride out losing runs to ensure long-term profits.
WE ARE SHOWING STRONG PROFITS ON BOTH OUR FOOTBALL AND SPORTS SELECTIONS
SBC: When you spoke to SBC back in September, you mentioned that you would be moving towards a subscription model. How has this been received by members so far?
DB: We were pleased with the sign ups during our free trial during August and September. This was a unique ‘try before you buy’ opportunity over an extended period of time. In this free period we delivered stunning profits to our free audience. So, for anyone betting in modest stakes of £10 they would have won over £400 without paying us a penny. Not a bad freebie!
We then had an encouraging conversion rate when we switched from free to paid. People understand that we are a business and we must generate revenue to continue to grow the business and enhance our services. We are delighted with our levels of loyal
Cape Town, South Africa
members now enjoying our services.
Any customer who had enjoyed the free trial but chose not to continue into the paid service would have recovered their £20 monthly subscription in the first week with a profit of over £180 (to £20 stakes).
We’ve aligned ourselves on a single price point in line with other popular digital subscriptions in the wider market. Members have been happy to pay for our services and we enjoy a low attrition rate.
We have a low price point compared to competitors and feel that we offer tremendous value for money. Betting each of our recommended selections at £20 per point recommended would have made an average of over £240 profit per month so far.
Also, we guarantee we will not increase the core £20 subscription rate until 2024 for our founder members. We think this is an excellent offer and in line with our brand values on transparency and providing first class value for money.
Long before we went live, we tried and tested several different approaches for recommended bets. Based on these results, we know that the performance of the first few months for members is no anomaly. We are long-term winners and we expect this form to continue for club members.
SBC: 2022 was filled with some major sporting events such as the World Cup and the Women’s Euros to name just two. Have you found that members are requesting expert insights on a wider range of sports, or is it very much a racing-focused demographic at the moment?
DB: Much of our betting expertise is within horse racing and the fixture calendar lends itself perfectly to a daily tipping product, so that’s our core product.
Aside from horse racing, we always first consider the betting profile of a recreational punter. Our background as operators gives us great insight into this, we know which events punters like to bet on.
Top-level football such as the Premier League along with the big European matches midweek is essential for coverage. While we understand that these are hard competitions to win money on, the competitiveness of the market helps us. There is generally zero margin across the best prices from different bookmakers in these leagues, and with the big syndicate activity often moving the market prices significantly, this gives an opportunity for smaller staking punters to pick off good prices. This is where we focus, we’ve made a solid profit on football selections so far this season of 17%
Lower leagues in the UK and overseas football offer great value and we’ve had a number of winning selections that we have considered advising. However, prices can contract quickly after a series of bets and we’ve already seen how our members can move the prices with bookmakers. So, as we concentrate on building the product, we’ve not advised selections on anything other than mainstream football. That may of course change as the business evolves.
Further to football, we also advise on the key sports events such as golf majors, the Super Bowl and big boxing events, any event with huge betting interest we aim to cover. Thankfully we have a large network of experts and we’re confident of beating the market on anything we tip.
We were asked to offer selections on the NFL futures (ante-post) market. We do have contacts in the USA and we advised: l 1 point win Miami Dolphins at 40/1 (currently 14/1) l 1 point each way San Francisco 49ers at 16/1 (currently 6/1)
So, members have enjoyed great value on these picks to date and could hedge out for a guaranteed profit if they wished. We recognise by the time this article goes live that much will have changed and our picks may have been eliminated or potentially be in line for a trip to Arizona for Superbowl LVII. The tips show our versatility at identifying great value in advance of events as well as daily selections.
SBC: With that in mind, do you plan to roll out an extended product which features sports information on more international sports in the months to come?
DB: In terms of new products, our aim is sustainability. For customers, it’s essential that they can get ‘on’, hence our focus on major events. For operators, we want to play ball. We do not tip any obvious pricing errors that appear on websites, although we spot them daily. Our aim is to beat the bookmakers fair and square. We know from experience their weaknesses.
As we have said earlier, we know the bookmaking teams need to price almost every event available in mainstream sports, our advantage is that we only put out a recommendation when we believe we have identified value on a single selection of the prices offered by the bookmakers.
With this in mind, one of our new product ideas focuses on Bet Boosts. Operators are happy to lay these selections for small stakes and many of them offer good value to customers. Our experts take the time to calculate the true odds of each bet boost and when we are sure that they are real value, we
will collate the best boosts and highlight them to our members. This allows members who enjoy more frequent recreational bets to have further access to good value selections.
We have already started posting a few Bet Boosts and members can expect this to be a regular feature in ‘23.
SBC: You previously mentioned that you had carried out a soft launch of CBC in South Africa with a territory partner, albeit under a different brand. What have been the key learnings from doing this? And how has this helped inform your UK strategy?
DB: To be honest, we learnt an awful lot of valuable lessons, especially when it comes to what doesn’t work so well.
For example, marketing and social media activity has to be managed by agencies who really understand the UK-focussed digital market and also the target betting audiences a sports advisory business needs to engage. It’s no use engaging digital marketers if they have no experience or feel for our target UK audience. So, for a UK target audience you must have your digital marketing in-territory.
The recreational betting market in South Africa is much smaller than the UK, so our target customer base would not be ideal for the investment required at this stage.
The betting market in South Africa operates quite differently to the UK as well. Whilst UK racing is available every day, market release times are later on UK racing and the market generally bets for a higher margin. Additionally, the South African market does not offer standard UK each-way terms. This makes it much more difficult to achieve the level of success for a South African audience betting on UK racing.
However, we do have excellent form contacts in South Africa. We don’t rule out a launch into that market in the future or indeed adding selective recommendations to members on South African racing as part of our service, as
all credible UK bookmakers offer betting on the South African product.
SBC: Going into 2023, how do you plan to raise awareness of the CBC brand even further?
DB: We are a pragmatic team at City Bet Club and we understand where our strengths and opportunities for improvement lie. While internal efforts will continue to focus on the product, we have looked externally for a top
quality marketing partner, as this is not our expert area. This has always been our business plan post-launch.
Our growth to date has been organic through search engine placement, limited paid digital advertising and word-of-mouth referrals. We did enjoy a large spike in activity after the SBC article you ran in September, which was very helpful. Our next stage has always been to engage a full-time digital marketing partner.
We are delighted to have recently agreed a partnership deal with creative marketing company Square in the Air. We know the team at SITA well from our previous work and they are, without a doubt, the industry leader for marketing all things betting.
We are also considering within this partnership with SITA to engage a brand ambassador or influencers to promote the City Bet Club brand. This will offer us a face of City Bet Club and add more interesting content to the website.
SBC: And finally, given that your first few months have gone so well. What more can we expect from the company over the next year?
DB: Our business plan is to keep the product simple and continue to deliver an excellent, long-term profitable product for our members.
We are committed to continually improving the product, all while keeping to our single all-access subscription price of just £20 per month.
We will continue to deliver marketleading bet recommendations daily, as well as having the main sports events covered. Our experts do the research so our members don’t have to. We have a broad sports expertise within our experts and members are likely to see more advice on golf, snooker, Gaelic football and hurling to name a few.
Our marketing efforts are being ramped up for the first time now, so we look forward to the challenges a growing membership base brings.
We aim to be the go-to service for recreational bettors to follow our recommendations, and similarly for more expert gamblers, to add our selections to their portfolios for consideration.
At just £20, who would sensibly not want to subscribe to such a great value service? We are excited by the future and we hope readers choose to join the club. •
DARIO JURČIĆ: TRANSFORMING NSOFT INTO A MAJOR PLAYER
NSOFT’S DARIO JURČIĆ SPEAKS TO SBC LEADERS
about the company’s journey since its inception in 2008, touching upon his appointment as CEO and the ways he is transforming the organisation into a major player in the industry
BY ERIN GALLAGHER
SBC: As we know, NSoft is recognised as one of the leading providers in the betting and gaming industry. What would you say has been key to its success?
DJ: Since the very beginning, NSoft has been customer and product focused, while taking care of the people in the company. These are our three key focus areas to date. A nice proverb says that if you take care of your people, they will take care of your business. And this honestly is what is happening at NSoft.
Satisfied employees create a great culture, promote core values, stay with us and spread the knowledge to the new generation of employees. Every company has its challenges, but with great companies, internally healthy companies - the challenges are not felt by the customer. The employees live and breathe the product; they own every part of it and are proud when the customer is satisfied and is doing good business. In our experience, which spans more than a decade, we listen we listen to market and customer feedback, spice it up with our flair, and constantly improve our products and services.
Doing business worldwide means a lot of feedback, which requires thoughtful prioritisation and roadmap planning to have the fastest time to market and greatest features - a challenge in itself. But it also means if you as a customer have a request, we’ve probably heard about it before. This approach has resulted in low customer churn, lower employee churn and constant growth of the company.
SBC: NSoft has built its name in the retail sector. Is this still so, or are there some changes in the business strategy?
DJ: I would say that no other B2B company in the world can offer what NSoft can in retail across multiple jurisdictions. Often, we see companies unable to support the thousands of devices in retail, on terminals/SSBTs and the operators are coming to us asking for help and support.
Our robust SEVEN platform can manage any retail challenges, giving the operator a centralised place to seamlessly manage the whole network of shops and devices from a single location. You can instantly turn products on and off, connect remotely to the devices, deploy updates, and scale indefinitely.
On a global scale, as of today, we run tens of thousands of devices from a single codebase, scaling both horizontally and vertically. That being said, the dominance we have in retail allowed us to expand to other channels such as mobile and web, and today we offer a complete omnichannel solution supporting native apps, terminals, web and retail.
When you add to that the fact that we have our own PAM, sportsbook, games/casino and our own factory of SSBTs - we are a truly unique company in today's betting and gaming landscape and can be your single source of good business you’ll ever need.
Of course, our SEVEN platform has plenty of integrations to other solutions such as casino aggregators, payment aggregators, CRMS, tax authorities etc, which means if it supports integrations - we can have it.
SBC: Among NSoft’s portfolio of products, are there any that you believe are a “game changer”?
DJ: Our product portfolio is vibrant and diverse. A game changer for sure is the fact that you don't have to run around looking for different partners to whatever you might need. Do you need a sportsbook? We got it. Do you need games? Yep, that too. Do you need all of that to run on SSBTs? Not only do we have a platform for that, but we have a production of STARK terminals in-house too. Do you want to run your own bookmaking or lean on us? We’ve got you covered. How about next-gen KYC through computer vision in retail?
Our Vision software gives you unprecedented richness of information so that you can know who exactly visits your shops, what kind of players they are, and what their preferences are. But also you can manage retail risks from the ones done by the employees, customers, or you can enrich your sportsbook risk management connecting it with the data from computer vision so that you know who precisely is placing bets in the retail. A concept unseen so far in our industry. I could talk a lot about
A CHALLENGE MAKES US RETHINK OUR STRATEGIES AND REQUIRES US TO BE ON OUR TOES IT’S GREAT TO BE PART OF AN INDUSTRY WHERE YOU SEE SO MUCH INNOVATION AND COMPETITIVENESS
our products, but make sure to visit our website and see for yourself.
SBC: And what’s new in the NSoft portfolio?
DJ: We are constantly revisiting our products and improving them for tomorrow’s market needs. To set the market pace, we need to consider what players might need. For example, even our most popular product, Lucky 6, is constantly getting new features and updates. From seasonal appearance changes, like that of the World Cup, to new features like Lucky Loser.
To meet today’s online player preferences, we have added a layer of gamification to our games - immersing the player even deeper with a sense of progress, rewards and recognitions and adding tournaments and special events across our products portfolio.
Our product team is constantly looking for fresh approaches to the market, and it would be hard to single out one new product or feature. One of my personal favourites is Smash Drops - a completely new mechanic on the market where each game played brings a different experience and requires real-time player engagement in comparison to the dull key spamming I dislike about many casino products.
SBC: You were appointed as a CEO during the pandemic, in the most challenging times for the industry. Tell us more about the obstacles you have faced and your leadership style.
DJ: For me, it was and still is a very fun ride. It’s great to be out there, to be part of the great game of market share, product competition and industry transformation. Every little step we see as a challenge is a step up from where NSoft and I have been.
A challenge makes us rethink our strategies and requires us to be on our toes and never relax. It’s great to be part of the industry where you see so much innovation and competitiveness.
We celebrate our success, but we understand that it was hard earned and we need to fight each and every day to prove ourselves to our partners, create value and maintain growth. To juggle all of this, to balance being good to the employees but also demanding and progressive, to learn about new things every day - for me, this is a great opportunity, and I’m humbled to be given a chance to experience it.
SBC: Looking to the future, what do the next 12 months look like for NSoft?
DJ: They will be the same as the previous 12 months: we will plan, we will adjust for what we couldn’t plan, and to new and arising opportunities and risks, we will look for value and never stop improving ourselves. •
TODD BUCKINGHAM: JUMPSTART AUSTRALIA
THE CEO OF BETMAKERS analyses the Australian market and plans to expand the company’s Global Tote offering to Europe and Latin America
BY TED MENMUIR
SBC: Hi Todd, great to catch up. Can you begin by telling us why 2022 has been such a transformative year for BetMakers and the development of its product portfolio?
TB: BetMakers has grown significantly in the last 12 months and along with this growth has come the operational requirement to support this growth. This includes growing to a workforce that now exceeds 500 staff globally.
We have executed the successful roll out of our bookmaking platform and trading solution, growing from six to 24 customers.
Finally, we deployed a new tier one technology platform for the launch of BETR in what is being regarded as the most successful launch in the Australian market, onboarding more than 300,000 customers in the first four weeks of launch.
SBC: Focusing on Australia, how has the market been disrupted by the break up of Tabcorp’s lottery and sportsbook units?
TB: There was a real consolidation in the Australian market a few years ago when Stars and Flutter merged which created just a few key players in the market. Since then, there has been an influx of new operators with unique offerings that have started to have a material impact in the Australian market.
Tabcorp has been required to innovate and move with the times and the demerger has given them the ability to do just that. Management are doing a pretty decent job, however this is costly and they need to get results in a tough competitive market.
Some of the innovation we are seeing out of Australia, driven by this competitive landscape, is the best globally and is transitioning across to other markets.
SBC: As a technology incumbent, you have partnered with Matt Tripp’s new BETR venture. What will this brand bring to the Australian market?
TB: Matt Tripp is the pioneer of online wagering in Australia, having started and exited from two scaled operations in the Australian market.
BETR has an experienced management and leadership team with a proven track record of scaling tier one betting brands. I expect that they will look to utilise their media partnership with Newscorp Australia for a tighter integration of wagering content and media assets.
Over the medium term, they will look to bring new products, ideas and user experiences to the market and leverage these media assets to promote, engage and understand the new age punter.
SBC: Despite regulatory reforms, Australia still maintains fragmented betting laws. How has this impacted the state of play in the market and products available to wagering consumers?
TB: The Australian market is well established and mature and while there are some differences in each of the states, it is for all purposes similar.
This model is proving to be a very
sustainable one in which operators can make a margin and industry stakeholders can benefit from wagering while government and regulators can protect consumers. It’s a very good jurisdiction to measure yourself and compete.
SBC: Can you explain why a highperformance racebook is such a desired property for BETR and other Australian sportsbooks?
TB: The “always on“ nature of racing is important - especially given Australia does not have any igaming or true inplay sports betting. The combination of high frequency and high margin means it is the number one product for every successful wagering business.
The Australian wagering landscape is an incredibly competitive one and that starts with the racebook. The depth of racing content is matched by an array of markets that need to be presented in a seamless way for punters.
SBC: You took control of the Global Tote in 2021, how has BetMakers innovated the racing product to appeal to wider wagering audiences.
TB: The first thing we did was rebrand the division as Global Tote - which is exactly what it is and what our plans for parimutuel wagering will involve. Global liquidity, and large scale partners from all around the world working together to drive industry returns and create a more stable funding model.
SBC: Beyond Europe and Australia, can BetMakers expand the Global Tote for US and Latin American markets?
TB: Global Tote already has a strong presence and existing base of quality racetrack partners in both the US and Latin American markets.
What we are seeing is the need for these tracks to evolve their offering to keep up with the changing needs of consumers and present their products in ways to attract a new customer base. This is where BetMakers is really excited to deploy our technology solutions and grow with the opportunity.
SBC: Looking forward to 2023, why should all betting technology
stakeholders be monitoring BetMakers development closely?
TB: We have an exciting year upcoming with our new products branching into new markets and existing agreements coming to fruition such as: Platform and Managed Trading Service offering growing into new markets, the launch of our Quantum tote system in Norway, the further roll out of customers betting through our Global Tote hub and the emergence of BETR in the Australian market as a serious tier one operator. •
Irmi Nir, 10bet’s Brand Manager
BY ERIN GALLAGHER
SBC: Irmi Nir, 10bet’s Brand Manager, what’s your angle, and what do you want to achieve with it?
IN: 10bet treats betting differently. It’s not “better” or “worse,” it’s just... well, actually it is better. Our focus is on creating the world’s freshest, most playful betting environment. Having great odds and offers is a great beginning, but we nailed that part 20 years ago, when we began. Today, our product is no longer betting; it’s creating happy bettors, all around the world.
SBC: That sounds interesting. How do you do that?
IN: Ever been to an amusement park with a personal butler? Me neither, but that’s the idea. Combining a customer-centric approach with a unique and joyful tone and style gives a betting experience you can’t find anywhere else. From quirky offers to relatively funny newsletters, we’re the friend you like to bet with while watching the game together.
10BET: SPEAKING ‘BETTORISH’
ALTHOUGH GAMBLING IS A GLOBAL LANGUAGE, each country has its own unique dialect. Somehow, 10bet manages to speak to millions of bettors across three continents and still be understood. This, 10bet told SBC Leaders, is the key to its success
SBC: How do you apply this on a global scale?
IN: For a minute there, I was afraid you’d never ask. 10bet UK or .com acts differently from 10bet Africa and 10bet Latin America, because each country has its own unique betting culture.
Having a self-developed tech platform allows us to be highly agile and finetune our product according to each country we land in, while keeping our global brand essence. And with millions of bettors across three continents, I think it’s safe to say we’re doing something right.
SBC: Arthur Perry, CEO for 10bet Africa – you launched your African operations a year ago. How has it been so far?
AP: Before launching in Africa, we had a solid preparation, strategy and business plan. With every new market launch we localise and adapt our
technology, product and offering. We combine our long-term global knowhow with the expertise of local talent; we open local and regional hubs to help us best serve the market and to be close to our customers. It all works and helps, but in the past year we learned a lot and we adapted even more.
At the beginning, our strategy was to be present and to have our brand live in as many countries as possible – and we did it, we launched four markets, in three months. By the end of 2022, we launched another two markets with South Africa being the latest addition. However, Africa is extremely challenging for operations – almost everything works differently there.
The continent doesn’t have a long history in online gambling. While local authorities are figuring the best frames to legalise betting, we need to be extremely adaptive, as legislation is vastly different and can change in a matter of weeks.
At 10bet we strive for flexibility – we’re agile and fast and this helps us direct our efforts in the best possible way to bring growth to the business. This is what we’re doing for Africa right now – we focus our strategy on markets where we see a better short-term potential, but at the same time we keep our long-term goals for becoming a pan-African brand.
SBC: How have you positioned 10bet in Africa and how do the local bettors respond to it?
AP: With our customer-centric approach, we focus meticulously on every customer touch-point. We adapted our product to answer the continent’s technology and infrastructure limitations. We don’t compromise on our offering – we deliver a 360-degree product, inclusive of sportsbooks with every league, betting market and feature, as well as a wide range of casino games, but we stripped the interface to bare minimum.
We offer our African bettors a clean, fast and workable interface that is a pleasure to navigate. We’re also one of the few operators in Africa that provide a comprehensive mobile site and a dedicated mobile app and we’re quickly becoming a preferred choice for the local bettor.
For each country we operate in, we have a dedicated Customer Satisfaction Team that encompasses local talent and knowledge backed by our global longterm experience and methodology. The combination of our powerful analytical tools and continuous strategy for improvement and development led to maintaining extremely high customer satisfaction rates. We have one of the fastest response and resolution times in Africa.
Despite the different payment systems from country to country, we have strong partnerships and we provide our players with all major local payment methods. In South Africa, we offer the fastest withdrawals in the country. 10bet’s creative and experienced CRM team always comes up with unique and entertaining retention strategies that turn our bettors into true and loyal followers.
We’re getting excellent reviews of our product and services from bettors and we have millions of registered players. I would say that this is a good testament that we’re successfully speaking the African dialect of ‘Bettorish’.
SBC: Yaniv Oz, you’re the CEO for 10bet Latin America. You recently launched your first market in LatAm, could you share what are your plans for this continent?
YO: At 10bet we prefer to focus on more ‘exotic’ betting markets. Every challenge we face makes us stronger and wiser and we already overcame many of them, but we like to keep our sports form, so we challenge ourselves daily.
Latin America is one of these challenges and we feel prepared for it. We’re armed with the experience, the localisation approach, investment in local talent, as well as powerful technology and we just tackled our first market on the continent – Mexico.
We have a deep understanding of the Mexican customer behaviour and needs, backed up by our local network and presence. At the same time, we bring to the table our international experience, market-
Arthur Perry, CEO for 10bet Africa Yaniv Oz, CEO for 10bet Latin America
leading technology and methodology and all this will support 10bet’s success in Mexico. 10bet Mexico will achieve its goals by bringing something different to the market and for us this means something fresh, cool, fun, and of course, combined with excellent service.
SBC: What is the potential and challenges you see for the LatAm market?
YO: There’s a huge diversity of market maturity in each country – operators need to have a truly localised strategy in order to be able to succeed and this is where we excel.
You also need to be an absolute master in navigating legislation country by country, as in the majority of the cases it’s archaic dating as far as 1947. We have strong local and international partners that help us navigate these waters extremely well.
Another big challenge, especially for international operators, are the payment systems and operational organisation.
However, once you overcome the challenges, the potential is not a secret for anyone – dense population, high mobile penetration, fast growing technology, adaptability – all factors poised for the continent to become a major player in the worldwide online gambling industry. 10bet is one of the leading international online operators and for nearly 20 years has provided millions of players with the highest quality sportsbook and casino experiences. Trusted by millions globally, 10bet has a customer-centric approach and offers a diverse range of sports and markets to bet on, user friendly and intuitive interface, rewarding and engaging gameplay, great odds across all sports, fast payouts and an online casino powered by multiple providers. •
OPERATORS NEED TO HAVE A TRULY LOCALISED STRATEGY IN ORDER TO BE ABLE TO SUCCEED AND THIS IS WHERE WE EXCEL LATIN AMERICA IS ONE OF THESE CHALLENGES AND WE FEEL PREPARED FOR IT
RESPONSIBILITY VS POPULARITY: THE PATH TO CHOOSING THE RIGHT BRAND AMBASSADOR
IMOGEN MOSS, Solicitor and Gambling Industry and Regulatory Expert at Poppleston Allen, explains the importance of the reputation that precedes a chosen star, and what strategy operators should adopt to transfer this to their product or brand
BY JESSIE SALE
In choosing the right brand ambassador, it is key to ensure a balance between popularity and responsibility with a growing number of organisations turning to celebrities to boost their recognition in the industry in recent years.
Looking specifically into the betting industry, Moss stated: “With all gambling marketing needing to be socially responsible, operators must ensure that the activities of their partners and affiliates comply with the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and industry codes of practice.
“Historic irresponsible behaviour should be a consideration as this could negatively impact on the perception of the operator’s business. As some gambling companies like to remain somewhat controversial, the past exposure of any potential partners should be evaluated for future marketing practices.”
A fairly recent example of an online casino partnering with a celebrity is the Stake.com x Drake deal. With the rapper having a following of around
126 million people on Instagram alone, this would have brought a significant amount of exposure to the brand.
Moss asserted that even though the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) guidance for the recently introduced rules restricting the use of personalities who are of strong appeal to under-18s, with the guidelines focused heavily on athletes, musicians could also fall into the high-risk category - and could subsequently be banned from gambling advertisements. (CAP) guidance. It says marketers must have processes in place to withdraw ads or change soundtracks if the music used suddenly becomes more popular with under-18s, for example, through social media memes or use in a contemporary film.
She explained that a partnership with a musician could be risky if that person’s work is unexpectedly used elsewhere.
“Operators could put in place restrictions over the musician’s
other deals during the course of a campaign, but it would be difficult for anyone to predict what song might be used in a viral meme,” the regulatory expert added.
Similar deals also include MaximBet, which partnered with Nicki Minaj in May - the globally recognised rapper joined the bookmaker as a Global Ambassador, alongside athletes such as Charlie Blackmon - as well as Kenyan rapper King Kaka who linked with Sportsbet.io.
On the latter deal, Dean Akinjobi, CEO of Football Media - of which Sportsbet.io is a client - suggested that such arrangements could be key to promoting crypto.
He stated: “Partnerships with music and entertainment figures can be key when promoting crypto to a new generation of bettors, you just have to think about the word ‘entertainment’ itself as it encompasses so many different areas, including music, sports, games, betting etc.
“When the right type of partnership is formed with someone from the music and entertainment industry, it can enable a brand to benefit from engaging and communicating with new audiences in ways that they would never have been able to do before, therefore, opening up unique opportunities, through which to promote sectors such as crypto to a new generation of bettors.”
Moreover, when Moss was asked if a musician being already heavily associated with gambling could be considered to have a largely adult appeal, she responded: “Being relatively new, the regulations are thus far largely untested. It will be interesting to see how regulators deal with a personality being used who is already heavily associated with gambling.
“The guidance does say that adult-oriented and gambling-related sports such as horse racing and darts are low-risk. However, before using a personality associated with such a sport an operator would need to assess their other work, their social media following and their other partnerships before deeming them low risk of appeal to under-18s.
“A TV star or musician who happens to be a prolific gambler could be much riskier than such a sportsperson. However, as many will be viewed as appealing strongly to children via their work so it would be questionable whether
High-roller Drake is a partner of Stake
“The new rules say that gambling firms should avoid ‘popular personalities who are likely to influence under-18s’, and this is quite broad-ranging and could be applied to many celebrities, including musicians,” she continued.
“Gambling companies wanting to enter into partnerships with musicians need to make sure their fanbase and social media following is predominantly over-18.”
Additionally, there are some specific requirements set out with relation to music in the Committee of Advertising
Marshawn Lynch, BetMGM Brand Ambassador
it was appropriate to use such a personality.”
A recent incident indicative of Moss’ arguments relating to brand ambassador reputation to have hit the headlines is the case of True Geordie - the popular YouTuber who was recently dropped by PokerStars after making Islamophobic comments about controversial social media personality Andrew Tate.
In terms of companies ensuring that such emotional connections are pursued in a responsible way, particularly with regards to popular sports figures who may appeal to young audiences, Moss suggested that they need to do robust research on the audience of their chosen personality.
The ASA has said that in cases it investigates, it will expect to see a ‘detailed assessment’ on why the content does not fit into this category.
“This could lead to marketers’ jobs changing quite significantly,” Moss continued. “Apart from using analytics tools to try and work out the demographics of someone’s social media following, they might find themselves doing some counterintuitive tasks.
“Instead of looking for ways to appeal to millennials, as gambling companies frequently are, marketers might instead spend time researching celebrities who are viewed as ‘uncool’ by younger demographics, or seeking out personalities who’ve refused to get on board with social media.”
However, Moss reiterated that the ‘strong appeal’ rules are not applied in media where under-18s can be entirely excluded from the audience of an advert.
All gambling firms must verify the age of customers before they play, so online firms could use celebrities in marketing that can only be viewed by registered users and who had been verified as over-18.
“Online firms have a slight edge over land-based firms in this regard. While it would be difficult for a shop to display a sports personality in-store as it would not be able to ensure everyone who viewed it was over-18, an online firm could more easily restrict marketing to age-gated areas of its site,” she concluded.
“Companies must, of course, still comply with the CAP and BCAP rules on gambling advertising. The ASA will also expect marketers to provide evidence to demonstrate that the systems used to identify audiences from which under-18s are excluded are robust.”
There is a strong possibility that we could see more of these music and entertainment-based partnerships. That said, if the UK were to introduce a gambling ban on sports sponsorships, it seems as though the most logical shift would be an increase in digital sports sponsorships across fan sites and influencer channels. •
SIS: US ESPORTS BETTING SET FOR METEORIC RISE IN THE NEXT FOUR YEARS
MICHELE FISCHER, Vice President of SIS Content Services, gives her view on the exponential growth within the US esports betting space as of late, explaining how SIS Competitive Gaming is overcoming esports pain points for sportsbooks
BY MICHELE FISCHER
Esports betting currently generates around $134m in the US, which is a small and arguably disappointing percentage of the overall handle. Many of the sportsbooks that have entered the market have encountered issues that haven’t encouraged them further.
In particular, there have been headaches surrounding integrity, streaming latency, inconsistent margins and prices, unwieldy tournament formats and the high suspension of betting lines.
But all of that is about to change – and then some. In fact, forecasts we have seen suggest the figure is going to skyrocket to an eye-watering $9.5 bn by 2027, with operators set to invest in a safe and well-regulated space that will benefit all stakeholders. They just need a reliable product in order to do so.
At SIS, we have set out to remove the hurdles currently affecting the product by offering a complete endto-end esports betting solution that went live for the first time in New Jersey in December.
The launch of SIS Competitive Gaming with bet365 in the Garden
State was a landmark moment in the history of esports betting in the US, as we became the state’s first-ever nontournament esports provider. By doing so, we overcame the pain points that the tournament-based esports betting events have created for operators.
Experience
In creating SIS Competitive Gaming, we leaned heavily on our expertise in creating profitable betting events over the past 35 years and, in particular, the delivery of live, round-the-clock events.
We are the industry’s only end-toend esports betting solution, providing operators with the entire package: data, ultra-low latency streaming, live commentary from our casters, onscreen graphics with betting triggers, and an extensive range of markets and odds.
From the beginning, it was always about serving the needs of sportsbooks and their bettors with compelling, short-form entertainment. Developed specifically for betting, the SIS H2H Global Gaming League hosts over 150,000 events per year.
Within our secure studios for esoccer, ebasketball and CS:GO, we have brought together highperformance operational teams, gamers, officials, and casters that have experience in every aspect of esports.
To enhance our CS:GO esports trading capability, we have partnered with esports betting solutions specialist Oddin.gg to provide odds and trading support to operators. The partnership with Oddin.gg brings with it unmatched uptime, an increased
number of live markets and the highest margins for sportsbooks.
Typically, esports tournament-based offerings feature streams that are provided separately through Twitch or YouTube, creating issues whereby a stream might lag behind the real action by anything up to 15 seconds. This causes major concerns for trading teams, with integrity issues arising which no operator wants to face. With SIS Competitive Gaming, our web streaming platform ensures that streams are delivered with ultra-low latency.
In terms of integrity, SIS has also recently become the first esports betting events supplier to meet stringent new criteria produced by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC), created to set unmatched levels of integrity and safety in the esports betting industry.
The ESIC Gold Standards is designed to build on its existing principles by
IT WAS ALWAYS ABOUT SERVING THE NEEDS OF SPORTSBOOKS AND THEIR BETTORS WITH COMPELLING, SHORT-FORM ENTERTAINMENT SPORTS SIMULATIONS IN PARTICULAR ARE AN AREA OF ESPORTS BETTING THAT IS RIPE FOR EXPANSION IN POPULARITY
setting out a list of standards for tournament organisers, ensuring that events are run to the highest level of integrity and safety for the benefit of all stakeholders.
Attractive
One particular area of the esports betting landscape we have great faith in is sports simulations. The last few years have brought a huge surge in popularity of competitions featuring FIFA, NBA2K and more, with major sporting organisations endorsing events that have generated vast worldwide audiences.
What is particularly attractive for sportsbooks is that sports simulations have a small barrier to entry, with regular bettors easily able to interpret on-screen action that mirrors the real thing. That is not to suggest that our CS:GO offering is impenetrable for the non-aficionado; on the contrary, it has been designed in a simplified 2v2 format that is easy to follow, and features the sort of betting markets that would normally be found in a regular sporting setting.
The launch of ebasketball in New Jersey with bet365 represents only the start of a journey. We believe that sports simulations in particular are an area of esports betting that is ripe for expansion in popularity, with forecasts suggesting that while this genre currently makes up 12% of total esports GGR, that proportion is set to rise to a 20% contribution by 2027.
Sports simulations are projected to outgrow classic esports significantly across the next five years. In the US – the second largest esports market globally – this trend is particularly apparent.
There is no doubt that we will look to expand our sports simulation offering to match demand, with the addition of further US-centric disciplines a distinct possibility. This is an exciting time for both SIS and esports betting as a whole. •
TIM KENNEDY: SAME SUZOHAPP, DIFFERENT MINDSET
AS THE INDUSTRY DESCENDS ON EXCEL LONDON for what is likely to be a revitalised ICE, SUZOHAPP VP of Sales for Europe Tim Kennedy shares his views on the event, explaining how the company’s self-service terminals are creating a more ‘social’ retail experience
BY ERIN GALLAGHER
SBC: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us. So, ICE is upon us - what can you tell us about your plans for the event? What can attendees expect when they pop by your stand?
TK: We are very excited to be back at ICE this year and we’ve got a lot of great things planned. We’ll be showcasing our new SBT-2000 and SBT-500+ that we launched at G2E this year along with a few of our latest product launches for OEMs.
Similar to our G2E setup, we’ll be featuring our hardware and solutions products but with more tailoring to the European market. Be sure to stop by to grab a drink at our sports bar and see what it feels like to place your bet in a retail setting!
SBC: It’s been almost two years since the last ICE London you exhibited at. How does it feel to be heading back?
TK: We are thrilled to be back at ICE again. It’s hard to believe all that has happened in the world since we were last there and how much we have evolved as a company. Although we’re still the same SUZOHAPP, we’re
ALTHOUGH WE’RE STILL THE SAME SUZOHAPP, WE’RE APPROACHING ICE WITH A NEW MINDSET
approaching ICE with a new mindset. We are more focused and more knowledgeable than we were at ICE 2020.
In the past two years, we’ve seen the sports betting industry develop practically overnight in the American market which has resulted in some great strides in innovation. As the mature market for sports betting, Europe is perfectly poised for these products and we can’t wait to showcase them.
SBC: You recently unveiled some new products - SBT-500+, SBT-2000 and SBT-Handheld device. Can you tell us what these products are and how they will enable SUZOHAPP to deliver new and engaging experiences for land-based bettors?
TK: SUZOHAPP has approached sports betting from an inherently consumer centric viewpoint. While betting kiosks may be a quick solution for retailers looking to add the option, they don’t actually capture the customer in the moment of play.
In Europe, roughly 70% of sports bets are in-game bets. In a retail setting, that doesn’t work with kiosks as you have to leave your seat, possibly queue for a kiosk and exit yourself from the game in order to place your bet.
We designed our sports betting ecosystem to meet customers where they want to be, where they are watching the game — at the bar, at the stadium — and allow them to immerse themselves in the experience with our SBT-500 and SBT-500+ bartop and SBT-2000 seated models.
SBC: Are SBTs such as these the key to emulating that digital betting experience in a retail environment?
TK: Our approach isn’t actually to emulate the digital experience but to enhance the retail one. People go to sports bars to watch sports. Sports betting intensifies and elevates
