GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 22 - October 2012

Let’s have a big hand now for our featured affiliate managers: A.J. Wiley of Face Up Gaming, who loves to write poetry; Luis Sandel of William Hill Online/Affiliates United, who dreams of escaping to Bora-Bora; and Nigel Ridgway of bet365, a former croupier who was named best affiliate manager at this year’s iGB Affiliate Awards. One of the guys tells us that his favorite movie is The Abominable Dr. Phibes because it’s “ grisly and hilarious at the same time ” – a deliciously appropriate description not only of an old Vincent Price horror flick, but also perhaps of our dearly beloved industry! Af filiate Manager Interview Series MEET THE AFFILIATE MANAGERS NIGEL RIDGWAY bet365 You were recently named the best affiliate manager at the iGB Affiliate Awards, and bet365 affiliates was named the best sports betting affiliate program and the best overall affiliate pro- gram. What did those awards mean to you? It meant a great deal personally, although I hon- estly didn’t expect to win and I hadn’t prepared anything for the interview afterwards, which I’m sure came across in the video. I ended up dedicating the award to my girlfriend for all the times I’ve got home late after a hard day’s slog in the office but they cut that bit out and she doesn’t believe me to this day – per- haps she will when she reads this! As a team, we were over the moon on the night to pick up awards for the third year running and the awards now have pride of place in the office. Of course, I’m not the only one who has been working hard and put- ting in the late nights, and the award was therefore only what we deserved as a team. You get out of this job what you put in and I’m very fortunate to work with guys who are equally passionate about what they are doing and believe strongly in our products, our re- lationship with affiliates and the program as a whole. Of course, there’s no room for complacency in this industry and we’ve been working hard since to ensure an- other successful year. While we value awards, it’s the day-to-day dealings with affiliates that gives us the biggest buzz. As the iGB Affiliate Awards in- dicate, bet365 has built a rep- utation as a rock-solid brand that players and affiliates can trust. How important is that reputation when it comes to recruiting new affiliates and new players? It’s hugely im- portant and one of the key sell- ing points of our program in my mind. Of course, the fact that our affiliates can earn across all our products for the life of their referred customers, have access to a first-class reporting system and innovative marketing ma- terials, and get paid promptly helps to make our program what it is. We are also aided by the trust customers have in our brand and this can lend cred- ibility to an affiliate’s website. It also helps us as affiliate man- agers to build very strong rela- tionships with our affiliates, and that is the key to our success. Your primary focus is on sports betting affiliates, correct? What events attract the highest vol- ume of bets for bet365? What sports attract a higher volume of bets than people might ex- pect? Spot on, and being a sports fanatic it is also the product I’m most passionate about. I sup- port Derby County FC but also love watching golf (the PGA Tour mainly), horse racing and the NFL. All of those sports are right up there in terms of bets placed, as you’d expect, and I would also throw in tennis and cricket, but even the more fringe sports can attract a significant volume of bets if they are televised or are part of our live streaming ser- vice. An example of this would be beach volleyball, which is not ev- eryone’s cup of tea, I’m sure you would agree, but is a surefire win- ner with our customers when part of our live streaming service. How important is live streaming when it comes to conversions and retention of sports bettors? We have some of the best conver- sion and retention rates in the industry and our live streaming product is integral in driving cus- tomers through to us, with just a funded account required to watch the 20,000-plus events we live stream annually. Of course, we hope that these customers will go on to place bets with us and most do eventually, which is of course great news for our affiliates, too. How much crossover do your sports bettors have in other gaming verticals offered by bet365? Do sports bettors also turn out to play poker and casino games? And are sports betting affiliates rewarded when their players move on to other verti- cals within the brand? There is substantial crossover from sports- book to casino and games in partic- “When you are w orking with the be st it does make your job easier but also sets a bar that you ne ed to reach on a daily basis to make sure you do n’t do injustice to the brand.” Affiliate Manager Interview Series