GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 33 - October 2015

While it’s a bit tough to call people as young as InterPartners’ Kobi Nahmani and 138.com’s Stephanie Wynters “industry veterans,” they have more than two decades of professional experience between them. They both started in customer support and worked their way up the ladder, so they know the industry from top to bottom and offer a great perspective on its ever-changing nature. That said, we can’t decide whose dinner we’d rather attend: Stephanie’s dinner with Donald Trump, Jesus Christ and Albert Einstein, or Kobi’s with Zach Galifianakis, Will Ferrell and Sacha Baron Cohen. MEET THE AFFILIATE MANAGERS You started working in the online gam- ing industry when you were 21 years old, and you’ve spent nearly a decade in the industry. When you were first getting started, did you expect that you would build a career in the industry? I started to work in this industry at quite an early age. I started my career working as a German customer support agent on the front lines, helping new and regular players with all their questions and giving any assistance needed. I have always been interested in the gambling industry, as my dad used to have offline slot machines in restaurants and bars in Germany. I used to play a lot of backgammon with my dad when I was a child. Sports, like football or Formula One, are also one of my big interests, and I have always been fascinated by the odds at these events as well. Poker became a hobby of mine when it started to become popular a few years ago. To be honest, I did not expect that I would build a whole career in this industry, but it does go hand in hand with my interests and hobbies so I guess it’s not that sur- prising. I have learned a lot over the years as a customer agent, retention manager, VIP manager, VIP host for PartyPoker/ PartyCasino, German affiliate manager at William Hill and at AffEurope, and German senior affiliate manager at Netbet — and nowadays, as you know, I am a senior affiliate manager at InterCasino for the international market. You started as an account manager with PartyGaming right after the company left the U.S. market in the wake of the UIGEA. That must have been an interest- ing introduction to the industry! Indeed, it was a very interesting introduction. I started as an account manager for the AffClub brands and a few months after the U.S. market closed, the company had a merger with PartyGaming. It was very interesting to see this big change in the industry, as the U.S. market was the big- gest one for all of us. In those days, every- one was super busy as this was definitely a game-changer. All regulated and clean brands needed to focus on the European market with new strategies. I was respon- sible for and helped build up the German market in the right way, so that it’s fair, transparent, easy to understand and — always important — user-friendly for the players. You joined InterPartners as a senior af- filiate manager about a year and a half ago. What were some of the things that made that position attractive to you? When I was approached a year and a half ago by Tony Simouni, who I got to know in my time at WilliamHill, he told me that InterCasino was going to open an office in Tel Aviv and that he needed my help for InterPartners. Tony has also been in the industry a very long time, he was always a big key player and he has immense ex- perience from his past roles in the indus- try. I knew InterCasino from back in the day (around 1996), and as I got to know what the plan was for the next few years and I saw so much potential to help build up the brand again, I could not refuse the opportunity. You started after the new owners (Intertain) took over the company. The company is publicly listed on the Toronto stock exchange. What are the benefits, from an affiliate’s perspective, of part- nering with a publicly traded company like Intertain? For a public company, it is always important to keep a good reputa- tion and to be transparent. Also, a public company needs to show all the numbers, so it is easier for an affiliate to find out and see how the company is doing and what its current trend is. A wise man once said, the trend is your friend. If the trend is good, it is better to be a part of it. In all the brands I have worked with in the past, I have found that there is better teamwork in a public company than in a private company. The reason is simple: In a public company, you are pushed to bring good numbers and you are pushed to work with each other in order to suc- KOBI NAHMANI InterPartners AFFILIATE MANAGER INTERVIEW SERIES Affiliate Manager Interview Series