On the last year, the French online betting and gaming market has increased a lot, with more money spent on gambling and a boost on the number of active player accounts. How has been your company’s performance there? What’s your opinion on how European iGaming sector has reacted to pandemic in terms of business and regulations?
Sportnco has significantly benefited from the strong growth of the French sports betting and horse racing pari mutuel market, where our company is the leading business-to-business betting solutions provider, with six regulated sportsbooks operating on our platform. When it comes to our performance in France, active player accounts managed by Sportnco increased 40% between January and December 2020, while the amount spent per player remained constant. The European iGaming sector has not suffered as much from the pandemic as other online businesses. However, for some land-based groups whose casinos and outlets have been completely closed, it has been a reminder that they need to develop an online strategy and activity. Sportnco can help those companies to start their digital transformation thanks to our online expertise and the tools we have gathered since launching more than 10 years ago. This pandemic has also been an opportunity to enlarge the regulated betting offers in existing regulated markets. It has not stopped the wave of new regulations in Europe, including in Holland and Germany, where Sportnco will be providing its certified sportsbook.
In what way do you think that the European experience in sportsbooks is a key to helping operators in Latin America understand the possibilities offered by an expanded online gaming portfolio?
In almost every country, sports betting represent 40% of the total iGaming GGR. This is true for Europe, and this will also be true in Latin America. Therefore, having a sportsbook offering is a must. We believe success in sports betting requires a ‘think local, act global’ strategy, balancing both actions. Think local: because every country has its own specificities as it comes to online payment methods, popular sports and competitions, and local UX trends. The Sportnco sportsbook and player account management system offer that flexibility. Act global: because operators have to offer a complete worldwide betting offer, but also because VIPs or bonus hunters are identified through the same machine-learning criteria all over the world.
What are your company’s plans and strategies to penetrate the LatAm iGaming market? How valuable is it that online gaming and sports betting are being legalized on that continent?
At Sportnco, we focus on regulated markets. This means that we are currently aiming to expand in Colombia, where we have already signed with an operator, but also in Argentina and Peru. In addition, 60% of our B2B teams are based in Barcelona and Madrid (Spain), allowing for a direct and totally fluent relationship with our current and future Latin American clients. We are also planning to open offices in the region in 2021 to reinforce our local trading and client support services.
What are the best qualities of your company’s solutions? Why should a LatAm operator work together with Sportnco?
The Sportnco offer is a unique combination of experienced and tailored services within a complete product set. Our clients benefit from our comprehensive sports betting know-how: from regulatory compliance to trading, risk management and marketing expertise to acquire and retain customers. They also value our long experience in 13 regulated markets, where we deliver our services to more than 30 operators. On top of this, our services are tailored to the needs of each of our customers. As previously mentioned, this is because succeeding in sports betting requires operators to think local, but also because no two clients of Sportnco will require the same odds or markets. This means having the flexibility to tailor margins and manage risk to fit with our operators’ strategies. The same flexibility will apply to their website layout and design, as a way to easily differentiate them from competitors.
What main ideas and concepts are you going to share with the viewers on tomorrow’s webinar, organized by G&M News?
On top of the qualities and features of the Sportnco solution, tomorrow, I will be happy to share with your audience the latest trends, “do’s and don’ts”, and insights we’ve collected during our 13 years of experience in this industry.