GPWA Times - Issue 20 - March 2012

Lotos Affiliates offers a great deal of flexibility in terms of commission plans, with affiliates able to choose from revenue share based either on players or gaming revenue, CPA and a hybrid plan. What deal do most af- filiates choose? And why did Lotos Affiliates decide to offer so much flexi- bility in terms of commission options? Most of the affiliates tend to choose income-based revenue share, which is probably popular everywhere. We are new to the market and commission flex- ibility helps us to fulfill the needs of most affiliates. Describe the office culture at Lotos Affiliates. How many affiliate manag- ers work on the team? If we were a fly on the wall, what are some of the top- ics of conversation we’d hear about at the water cooler? Well, we do not have a very big team at the moment, which helps to maintain a friendly atmosphere in the office. We only have two affiliate managers right now, which is enough at this point, but we will definitely expand our affiliate staff in the near future. The fly on the wall would probably hear something about sports – this is what guys are usually talking about! The sec- ond topic right now is probably weather – Europe is freezing this winter, while -30 Celsius in Moscow this February is not as cold as it usually gets. Some brands, especially those fo- cusing on Europe, use sports bet- ting sites to acquire customers for their other products (casinos, poker, etc.). That’s not a path you’ve chosen to travel. What advantages, if any, do you feel you have operating without a sportsbook? What disadvantages do you feel you have working without a sportsbook? We are actually planning to add a sportsbook project to the list of Lotos brands in the future, but at the mo- ment we prefer to concentrate on poker and casino. The idea is to develop those brands to gain market awareness and trust at first and prepare a marketing platform to launch a sportsbook project. We do not really see disadvantages here, because in the short run we might be los- ing some of the traffic we could get with a sportsbook, but in the long term we have an opportunity to develop a better prod- uct which will bring more players due to the strength of a brand. Prior to your first job in the gambling industry, you were a marketing manager for Championat.com, a Russian sports media site. How did that industry prepare you for the Internet gambling indus- try? It was a very interesting ex- perience that really helpedme to broaden my professional back- ground andmeet many amazing people. Sports andmarketing re- ally fascinate me, and the time I spent at Championat was fantas- tic. At the moment Championat. com is the number-one sports media project in Russia, and I feel I made a small contribution to this. Online industries have similarities, so I knewwhat toex- pect when I started at LotosPlay. People behave differently online andoffline, and this is something that has to be taken into account at all times. Themarketing is dif- ferent, and so are the strategies and techniques. What do you know about the industry now that you wish you’d known when you first started? I guess I still learn something new every day! The Russian online-gambling market is growing rap- idly and things change fast. I feel much more confident now, because I know mar- ket specifics and player behavior trends. When I first started, I wish I could have had more theoretical materials for the on- line marketing, so I could have been more efficient in the early stages. Everything else comes with experience. How do you ensure that payments are sent out on time? And when do your payments go out? We use the most pop- ular payment methods, including Skrill (Moneybookers) and WebMoney (which is popular in Russia). The payments usu- ally go out once a month before the 15th. Where do you think the industry will be in five years? I guess it will be much more regulated than now. The industry is relatively young so I forecast quite a lot of changes coming. At the moment, poker is not considered to be a sport and offline gambling is not legal in Russia, which makes it difficult to do efficient marketing here. At the moment Russia ranks second in Europe for the number of Internet users and I forecast a number- one spot in a few years. It is a very big market with good potential. You’re originally from Russia, and you’ve spent more than 10 years in Hungary and the Czech Republic. Where do you live now, and if you could live anywhere, where would it be? I live in Moscow now, the city where I was born and raised. It is very big and busy, which makes it different from peaceful European cities. If I could live anywhere, I would probably choose one of the Scandinavian states – Norway or Denmark. I am not afraid of the cold since I’m Russian and I really like the northern mentality! Rumor has it that you’re quite the bas- ketball player. What position do you play? Did you ever have dreams of playing professionally? I play shoot- ing guard, but my career was paused for five years due to a serious injury. I was practicing with a semi-professional team when I was younger, but I never re- ally wanted to become a pro. At the mo- ment, I play in Moscow’s amateur cham- pionship and we also have a corporate LotosPoker team, which finished sec- ond in the Business Champions League. We hammered Microsoft in the playoff semis, by the way! What’s the best movie food? I’d go with nachos! With Scottie Pippen: I interviewed him when he visited Russia for a college league All Star game in 2010. 65