GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 15 - January 2011

Howdidyouget involved inonline gambling? Why did you choose to join the EGO team? Five years ago I started working with the Action Poker network as a media buyer. I was working as a technical writer before this for a large telecom- munications company based in Cyprus and when the company relocated to Bahrain I applied to AP and started my journey into the online gambling industry. I was with AP for two years and dis- covered that I really liked working in this industry, so when the op- portunity arose to work for a great gaming company to help them launch their poker room – Redwings – I joined EGO as a me- dia buyer and then moved into the world of affiliation as an af- filiate manager. Do you find it is eas- ier to manage an af- filiate program with a variety of brands or one with just one? It’s easier when you are working with one brand in affiliate man- agement but more exciting/interesting when working with multiple brands. You also get to know more about the online gam- bling business when working with multiple types of brands (e.g., casino, pok- er and sportsbook as opposed to limiting yourself to just poker). RedKings Poker launched BetRed- Kings just in time for the World Cup. How has the new site been received, and has the live-betting option been popular? BetRedK- ings was launched shortly after CasinoRedKings and was received extremely well. It’s an attractive site, the betting software is stable and easy to use, andwe offer highly competitive odds and live betting on all major football leagues and sports events. I am not surprised by the great results and reception we received. We also launched some great promotions during the World Cup –World Cup Predictor and $50 Free Bet on World Cup Final – which also contributed to the success we have had with our sportsbook. What do you think is the great- est challenge facing the industry right now? And what would you do to solve it? Restrictive govern- ment policy. Some governments have tried to prohibit online gam- bling through law (U.S.), and by doing so restricting/infringing on individual freedoms, and other governments are trying to regu- late it (France, Italy) while find- ing a way to accommodate one’s freedom to gamble online and at the same time protecting the col- lective good. I think as an affiliate manager of EGO I have a role to play in the way I conduct my day- to-day business. By conducting business in an ethical way I know that I have contributed toward the success and survival of this in- dustry. Acting in an unethical way will just give governments another reason to justify restrictions. What steps has your program taken to ensure that affiliates will be paid on time? And when do your payments go out? We value greatly the relationships we have with our affiliates and for this reason we always pay affiliates on time. In fact we pride ourselves on having never been late processing our affiliate payments. Our affili- ate payments are processed by the 10th of every month. We are also looking at integrating more pay- ment options to make it easier for affiliates to get paid. How long do you give yourself for responding to e-mail? And what e-mail management tips can you offer? I try to respond to all my e-mails within 24 hours, but at times this is not possible due to the workload and the number of affiliates I am managing. The ur- gency of the response and the sub- ject matter of the e-mail will also determine how long it will take for me to respond to an e-mail. If the e-mail concerns a complicated matter that requires investigation to resolve accurately, then it will take longer to respond to than a simple question. What’s more difficult, attracting players or retaining them? At- tracting players is more difficult in the current business environment. With so many online gaming op- erators emerging and markets closing, you always have to offer the best in all areas to attract new players (promotions, customer service and software). I think this is something we do very well and is the main reason why we have enjoyed great success and have es- tablished our brands and affiliate program internationally. How can affiliates help in retain- ing players? Affiliates have a big role to play in retaining players – especially affiliates with forums. Operators such as EGO invest a lot of funds in running promotions to both convert and retain players, so affiliates can help by giving these promotions maximum ex- posure on their portals. You’ve been at EGO for over three years. What is the biggest dif- ference between April 2007 and now? EGO has grown incredibly and quickly since I started: we have increased our product of- ferings from poker and backgam- mon to also include casino and sportsbetting. When I started, our main established brand was our backgammon room, BGroom, and we were just launching RedKings poker. We have since established RedKings as an international poker room and we also expand- ed into casino and sports betting with the launch of EUcasino, Ca- sinoRedKings and BetRedKings. GEORGE ARISTODIMOU EGO “We value greatly the relationships we have with our affiliates and for this reason we always pay them on time. In fact we have never been late processing our affiliate payments.” 56 Affiliate Manager Interview Series