GMB- What trends in technological advances do you think we will see this year in the industry?
Dima Reiderman - Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning from a personalisation point of view will continue having the most immediate and significant impact. I am of the opinion that whilst important advances have been made, the iGaming industry still lags behind other entertainment sectors. See what Netflix has reached in terms of delivering a tailored experience to each of their customers, and it is evident that the industry needs to do much more to say that it delivers a truly tailored experience. At the same time personalisation walks hand in hand with data analytics, and this is another area where one should expect strides to be made in the coming 12 months.
What markets and / or countries do you see more attractive, with more possibilities to progress and growth opportunity?
Certain markets, namely the Netherlands, Brazil, and the US, are garnering a lot of interest from operators. Having opened to business a couple of months ago, the Dutch market is an opportunity in an otherwise mostly over-regulated European market. This over-regulation has created a keen interest from operators to diversify their activities and enter new markets that up until recently were not attracting significant investment. And this is where Latin America came into the scene. Colombia is the region's point of reference from a regulatory perspective however, a lot of expectancy lies for the regulation of the Brazilian market, with forecasts predicting the market to be amongst the largest on a global level once fully regulated. The US is also on an upward trajectory, and as the local punters become more accustomed to online betting, one would expect further significant growth, especially as more and more states legalise online betting.
Do you think that the advertising restrictions to the gaming sector be deepened globally?
Gambling advertisement, and particularly its links to sports, have come under increasing attack for several years. However, this trend seems to be intensifying lately, with a number of jurisdictions under pressure to introduce further restrictions or even ban this kind of advertisement. Two examples that come to mind are the Dutch and German markets. In the first instance a bill was proposed to restrict advertising just a few months after the market finally opened up for business. In the German scenario, a fan body has demanded the removal of betting sponsorships in domestic football, citing addiction to gambling.
When it comes to restrictions, one cannot but make reference to the warning issued by analyst firm Regulus Partners which warned that early 2022 regulatory developments have set a dangerous precedent on the future of gambling advertising.
Lest one forgets, gambling advertisement helps to make domestically licensed operators more visible, thus aiding channelling efforts from back and grey markets.
What do you imagine for the Brazilian market in terms of gambling legislation and regulation?
The potential of the Brazilian market is immense. Yet this highly depends on the gambling legislation and regulation that are eventually enacted. The pandemic has already brought with it the worst economic decline in decades, and COVID-19 hit as Brazil was still recovering from its 2014-16 recession. The country’s economy shrank by as much as 4.1% in 2020. In this context the legalisation of the betting and gambling industry, and the eventual taxes it will contribute to state coffers, could well be of great aid to the country during these particular hard times.
At the same time a lot of uncertainty still lies in the licence granting model the market would adopt. I hope that the federal government will see that the “authorisation” model, in which all operators satisfying certain legal and financial requirements are granted a licence, without any limitation on the number of licenses being granted, is to be much more beneficial to Brazil and to the market than the “concession” model that is more recently being supported by the Brazilian authorities.
What are the main goals of your company for the year? Are you planning more launches than in 2021?
2021 was a very important year for BtoBet, which saw the company build its presence in the European mature market. Now we are in a position to say that we are present and we want to further increase our presence in this high-yield market. We have already gone live in Poland and the UK – Europe’s biggest market – and are keen to continue building our presence not only in these jurisdictions but in other European markets as well. 2022 will definitely see BtoBet very active on the European front. We also intend to keep up strengthening our position in our core markets – namely LatAm and Africa – where in the former during the past weeks we have already announced that we have entered the Brazilian market with FanDuel.
To achieve your goals in 2022, do you plan to make more investments and hires than last year?
Our investments, both from a product development and human resources point of view, go hand in hand with our geographic expansion. Our growth strategy drives to a significant extent our product roadmap because the end-product must reflect the requirements of mature market punters.
The product evolution on the other hand must also be sustained by a boost in terms of human resources. The company’s workforce has grown by over 40% during the past 12 months, and we intend to keep this momentum throughout 2022 as well. It’s all about bringing onboard the right talent, who have a profound knowledge and expertise in mature markets.
According to your vision of the global market, do you consider that 2022 aims to be a year with a greater number of mergers or purchases of companies than the previous one?
Mergers and acquisitions have dominated headlines last year, mainly driven by the need to access to technology, access to customers and access to markets and licenses, and I expect this activity to continue. Suppliers and operators will keep focusing on expanding their capabilities and building a competitive positioning. The iGaming industry is an extremely competitive industry, where players’ loyalties are difficult to get, and development costs have grown exponentially.
In this scenario companies are seeking to consolidate their market position and rather than building progressively, are buying or merging with other companies because the pace of market development dictates so.
Could you mention any sports events within your industry that will be key in 2022? Why did you choose them? (They can be sports tournaments, poker events, fairs, etc.)
Events that will take place this year and which are of particular importance for BtoBet are the World Cup, and the African Cup. The World Cup steals the limelight as this year’s high sport profile event. Punters will enjoy far greater connectivity, ease of access and more sophisticated platforms that what they experienced in the 2018 edition, resulting in a greater bet volume and value, and thus our sportsbook product needs to live up to the expectations of our partners for them to leverage and maximize this opportunity.
The African Cup is also an important event for BtoBet, since we have a very strong foothold in the continent. And in a market characterized by a high volume of transactions, albeit of lower value than mature markets, the technological capabilities of our platforms to adapt to the local requirements are key for all our partners in the content.
Source: Exclusive GMB
