Affiverse recently sat down with Betsson‘s Head of Affiliates Sebastian Jarosch to chat about the company’s priorities for the future. With the London Affiliate Conference approaching, we wanted to know more about how Betsson has changed and evolved over the years.
What’s your main focus in 2022 for the company as a whole? Are there particular areas you are keen to prioritise?
Our focus will certainly be on the new markets we are launching in this year. We already have a big presence in LatAm with Peru, Brazil, and Colombia where we have demonstrated tremendous growth, but there are still plenty of opportunities in the region. Over the last few years, we have made several strategic acquisitions in the region including the most recent one, Inkabet. We have just launched with affiliation in Colombia and Argentina, which both have a huge potential and we have already started onboarding new partners. We have also partnered with Big Bola Casino to cement our presence in LatAm with Betsson Mexico expected to launch later this year, and have established a hub in Bogota to run our B2C operations in the region.
Another big opportunity for us this year is our launch in Colorado with Betsafe to kick off our B2C business in the US. To spice things up, Betsson Group has acquired 35% of Strive Platform Limited, which enables us to support our B2B ambitions in the market with our own platform. The aim is to provide our customers with the best experience in the market with Betsafe, which will also serve as a showcase of our sportsbook product to potential B2B partners in the United States.
We are also eyeing the provincial regulation in Canada where we have made an investment in the company Slapshot Media. It is another move towards establishing a bigger presence in North America and is in line with our strategy of partnering with local companies to gain access to new markets.
How has your company strategy evolved over recent years in what has been a time of uncertainty?
The main challenges we had in 2021 were down to regulation but Covid has also required us to adapt to a new reality. Our sportsbook took a big hit in the beginning of the pandemic, but we have learned to diversify and discovered new opportunities such as poker and eSports that flourished during the lockdowns. We are starting to see a return to normality on the horizon and last year the World Cup and the Copa America were fantastic events for us. Betsson Group has proven to be very resilient, and we managed to deliver in 2021 despite the challenging times and indeed, sportsbook revenue increased by 23% in 2021 compared to 2020.
We will continue to look out for new markets with favorable conditions for us. 2022 will be another year of expansion for Betsson Group and we will continue to do so by launching in more regulated markets across the globe, without losing focus on our core markets in Europe.
Has anything changed in terms of your working model/company culture?
One of the biggest changes at Betsson Group was certainly the introduction of remote working. When the pandemic began everything became digital including team meetings, on-boarding of new employees and training. It can be very challenging to do everything from behind a screen, but we have proven that we can make it work. Last year we introduced the hybrid model at Betsson Group, and it has been very successful so far. We currently come to the office twice a week, which allows us to meet face to face and have a coffee together.
Our core values at Betsson have remained unchanged and are Passion, Fair Play and One Betsson. We believe in teamwork and if anything, we have grown together even stronger throughout the pandemic. We are very passionate about our work at Betsson Group and ambition is what drives us and the company forward.
LAC isn’t too far away – what are your plans for the conference? Do you have any specific goals on what you want to achieve from it?
BGA is looking forward to LAC! It is by far the biggest affiliate conference of the year. With the majority being vaccinated, the pandemic is somewhat under control and the situation around industry events is naturally starting to relax. At previous events we took a very cautious approach, but we have chosen to go all-in at LAC with our stand. The whole team will be attending, and we can finally meet our affiliate partners face to face again. We have a lot of new markets and brands in our portfolio since our last presence at LAC 2020. Our goal is to attract new affiliates to our stand and to strengthen our relationship with existing partners. We will also have a fantastic Plinko game at our stand with spectacular prizes that will surely provide our guests with some classic entertainment. A highlight will be our traditional affiliate dinner which will give us the opportunity to socialize with our affiliates and give them a special treatment.
It’s been sporadic in terms of the number of face-to-face conferences in iGaming, do you think this has affected the industry and Betsson specifically in terms of onboarding new affiliates and nurturing those relationships?
Affiliate conferences are a great place to acquire new partners, they attract affiliates from all over the world and allow us to sign partnerships with those who specialise in our new markets but also to meet our existing partners and have a face-to-face chat with them. Of course, a lot of our affiliate discovery takes place online during the rest of the year, but it makes a big difference to meet our partners in person to discuss new deals and it helps a lot with building trust, which is a very important element of doing business together.
