GPWA Times Magaine - Issue 23 - February 2013

Slots Million was created in order to put together all the lessons that Solera and Tropezia have learned over the years – making it a behemoth of a brand. It will have Microgaming, NetEnt, Rival, Sheriff, Leander, NextGen, BetonSoft and Betsoft games. Its primary focus will be slots and jackpots. We can’t give out too much in- formation (our affiliates get to know first and test out the casino when it launches), but as soon as we do, you can guarantee we’ll tell the GPWA community. Speaking of commissions, Affiliate RE- PUBLIK offers a tiered commission plan based on revenues generated by af- filiates, with rates starting at 30 percent and going as high as 45 percent. How important is a simple revenue share model to building relationships with af- filiates? And how has this model been received by affiliates you are working with? Our old-fashioned commission struc- ture has been received very well. What we try to concentrate on is the long-term part- nership with our affiliates – so instead of giving them a big “welcome offer” to entice them in, and then slowly see their revenue decrease as they are put on a much lower scale after two or three months, we concen- trate on working with them from the start to earn as much as possible. It means whether you are a small or big affiliate, you earn on as much as you bring in and you start on an equal footing – 30 percent. As far as we are concerned, the more affiliates earn, the more we earn and the longer and bet- ter relationship we have with our affiliates. Describe what it is like to work at Af- filiate REPUBLIK. If there was a fly on the wall, what are some of the top- ics of conversation we’d hear about at the water cooler? In the last two months we’ve recruited 12 new people (mostly in our customer service & de- velopment department), so most of the conversations tend to be around “Who are you and what do you do here?” There are lots of new faces and a lot of learning and training. Other conversation topics will probably be around “So who should we recruit next?” and “How can we get this done yesterday?” What do you know about the industry now that you wish you knew when you first started? Never ever drink chili vodka given to you by an affiliate at a conference. On a more serious note, I wish I’d taken the time to know more about the behind- the-scenes part of being an online casino – not just the marketing side. The past few months have been a real eye opener for me, seeing all the different functions and people who work hard to make a casino operation viable. Sometimes it amazes me how all these different components come together seamlessly in order for players to come to our casino, have a great experi- ence and keep coming back. How do you ensure that payments are sent out on time? And when do your payments go out? Payments go out in the first week of every month, and as the affiliate software is our own, it’s a simple matter of checking which one of our affili- ates needs to get paid. I will usually check on the first of every month, run a report and send the details to our accounting team, who will do the transfer within a couple of days. Where do you think the industry will be in five years? To be honest, if I had a crystal ball I would certainly keep those pearls of wisdoms to myself, our industry having thrown us plenty of surprises to make most predictions yesterday’s news very quickly. But if I had to take a guess at where we will be in five years, I would say that the U.S. will be open, but local, land-based casinos will dominate that on- line space, with state-by-state regulation making it difficult for an outside casino to claw their way in – that, or most of the big players will be the online giants white labeling their operation to the big land- based guys in order to get a foot in the door. I think that software game providers will be making a bigger push to create HTML5 rather than flash games, finally allowing for massive growth in social and mobile/tablets casinos, giving real meaning to the term “gamification.” People are talking about it a lot at the moment, but I don’t think anyone is turning all that many mobile players into real casino players, rather than just “play for fun” – and I don’t think that will happen until we have some good games created spe- cifically for the smaller (non-flash) screen. What’s the best movie food? Without a shadow of a doubt . . . pizza. It’s my biggest love, biggest downfall to my waist, and food I could eat every night. It goes espe- cially well on movie nights, but also when you need a pick-me-up, have friends over or even Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and weekends! What is the last book you read? Did you enjoy it? And did you read it on an e-reader? The last book I read was Frag- ile Things , from the author Neil Gaiman . It’s a collection of short stories and po- ems by one of my favorite authors, whose work frequently includes gothic, horror and fantasy. I don’t usually go for short stories, preferring the long haul of a good book, but each story was so different and well written, it kept me curious to read the next one. I’m currently starting the Jack Reacher novels by Lee Child – can’t go wrong with a little murder mystery, either . And if you’ve guessed by my answer, I read a lot of books in a very short space of time – so my partner bought me a Kindle for my birthday a fewyears ago and I haven’t looked back. He figured either we would have to move house to accommodate my growing stash of books or he would buy me a Kin- dle. He decided a Kindle would be cheaper ! I don’t think there is any real difference between a book and an e-reader – you can just as easily get lost in a good story either way. What is your favorite movie? Too many movies to name, but I watch Casablanca religiously every year. Also Pretty Wom- an , but I say that less proudly . . . ! If you had a theme song, what would it be? “If I Had a Million Dollars,” by the Barenaked Ladies, because I want a llama or an emu. If you could go anywhere on vacation , where would you go? Belize – not just be- cause it’s meant to be paradise on earth, bu t because I would love, love, love to dive at the Blue Hole. The Blue Hole is a perfectly cir- cular limestone sinkholemore than 300 fee t across and 412 feet deep. It doesn’t sound very exciting until you see pictures, not jus t from the top, but from the dive. Google it. If you could have dinner with three other people, living or dead, who would they be? My parents, to get to know them better, and Douglas Adams – he would bring great, imaginative conversation and humor to the table. What would you do if you just inherited a pizzeria from your uncle? Turn into the size of a house and change my nick- name to “Toni.” What are three things that no one knows about you? I speak three lan- guages, I own a leopard gecko and I make a mean chili con carne (more “chili” than “carne”!). 71 Affiliate Manager Interview Series