GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 32 - June 2015

I know that some operators use this fea- ture on our site as part of risk manage- ment, so there’s also a benefit for them. A select few bookmakers asked not to be included on this arb service and of course we removed them from it immediately. If your players follow only these oppor- tunities, they're going to win over the long term, right? And if you have winning players, it's hard to collect a commis- sion. How do you profit off this betting model? Arbs are very nice in theory, but it is almost impossible to make long-term earnings from them from a practical point of view. I know from experience that arbs change very fast — sometimes in split seconds — as bookmakers keep a close eye to avoid this situation and have other measures to avoid arb players. We think it’s a “nice to have” feature of the site, like dropping odds and other market movements features, but without auto- mated applications that will place bets for these players, I only see a very few players making real money from this feature. Also those players tend to place non-arb bets andplay in other verticals such as casi- no andpoker, so I reallydon’t see it hurting our earnings nor those of the bookmakers. You also run several niche sites focused on horse racing. Compared to odds1x2.com, how much work does it take to keep these sites updated? Part of our strat- egy in recent years has been to diversify into horse racing microsites dedicated to the biggest events on the racing calendar such as Cheltenham, Royal Ascot and the Grand National meetings. Horse racing odds change very frequent- ly as the race approaches and we had to build a solution that is very fast and reli- able in order to meet the demands of the players. These event-specific sites gen- erally require a lot of preparation from around two months before the event and for the rest of the year it’s a case of mainte- nance and routinely adding content. We’re going to be launching a new site soon which will be a portal for all horse racing punters covering all the events in one place. What's the long-term value of players that sign up for accounts for these spe- cial events? These players are usually not long-term ones, but some stick. If we take the Grand National, for example, then sta- tistics show that up to 54 percent of the U.K. population place a bet on this event, most of them in small amounts. Many of them will not remain active for long, but in my experience it’s worth it for the cus- tomers who do. How did you become involved in the industry? I started to develop an appli- cation that compared stock prices and thought about how I could make money from similar comparison applications. My love of sports led me to sports betting as a comparison app perfectly meets the needs of customers in this market. The available affiliate programs offered a way to make a living out of it. How long did it take for you to start earning money? I worked as a senior de- veloper for a good company with a decent salary and I decided to try something on my own. I gave it six months to see the potential. When I launched the odds comparison site the competition was very low, so I think after less than four months I started to see real revenues. I never expected it to happen so swiftly. Are you a one-person shop or are you part of a larger organization? I founded the company initially based on my pro- gramming knowledge and it evolved from there. As a strategy I prefer to out- source tasks to other companies to stay fo- cused on the big picture. So content man- agement, SEO and some of the software development work is outsourced, and the rest is up to me. Describe your work environment. Do you work from home? How often do you get to see and interact with other people in the industry? I still work from home as it's very convenient. I have my own sep- arated office within the house which is solely devoted to work. In the longer term, I intend to establish an office and hire some employees to bring development in-house. I interact with industry people every day by e-mail, Skype and over the phone, and I’m a regular attendee of all the main conferences. What traits do you look for in an affiliate manager? How about in an affiliate pro- gram? The traits I value most in both an af- filiate manager and in a program are pro- fessionalism, good communication and above all, integrity. The affiliate managers that I like have a deep understanding of the industry and are in a position to exchange ideas and make our sites better, and as a result our cooperation with them is more fertile and beneficial than with some other opera- tors we work with. The programs I enjoy working with most are approachable and stand behind their words. I really don’t like managers who push banners without understanding the na- ture of your customers and operators that hire managers who don’t understand this industry. In an affiliate program I look for a good revenue share plan, as we believe the earnings are much greater in the long term with revenue share than with CPA. We also look for a reliable and accu- rate affiliation system and a very good affiliate manager. What’s your preferred method of com- munication with affiliate managers? Do you like to talk on the phone, by e-mail or via Skype? I prefer e-mail, because it keeps things in order and it’s easy to find things you talked about months ago. Skype is also a good channel for urgent issues and to use as an introduction to new faces. What prompted you to join the GPWA? How has it helped you? Meeting col- leagues, learning from them and exchang- ing ideas is a necessity in any industry, and in ours I think the GPWA does it in the best possible way. I can’t recall when I first heard about it, but I’ve been a loyal member since 2008. The GPWA has helped me to keep track of industry changes and to encourage meeting other affiliates. The good reviews we’ve received from customers on the fo- GPWA AFFILIATE INTERVIEW SERIES GPWA Affiliate Interview Series