GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 34 - February 2016

In 2008 you launched a Spanish-language site, QueBingo. Has that site been as successful as you hoped? What can you tell us about the Spanish-speaking market in general? Is it growing? Initially it went quite well, but the market died to a large extent pre-legislation. We haven’t focused on QueBingo for some time due to the market being very small, but the change in legislation has incentiv- izedus to reviewtheproduct and to lookat establishing a strategy moving forward. WhichBingo hands out annual awards to operators and software providers at the Bingo Summit. How long have you been handing out the awards, and what gave you the idea to start the awards pro- gram? WhichBingo.com , our original site, ran its first annual awards in 2001 under the title “Site of the Year.” Over the years this expanded to include a “New Site of the Year” award and then other catego- ries covering marketing and promotions. In 2013 we decided that the title “Site of the Year” no longer reflected our range of awards, triggering a full review and revamp of the whole thing. We wanted to continue to recognize the best of the online bingo industry, but in a much more high-profile and interactive way. The awards were renamed the “WhichBingo Awards.” We added a new nominations period, increased the categories from four to 10, and most importantly, we in- troduced an awards ceremony. The first revamped awards took place in 2014 and the second was in May 2015, where we also added a judging panel of experts in the social responsibility area. On both oc- casions we have run the awards off the back of the Online Bingo Summit, which was a great win-win for both them and ourselves. The players and particularly the industry seemed to have really bought into the new awards, and they are highly popular. We had almost 200 attendees in 2015 onboard HMS President and a record number of player votes. All of this year’s winners, along with video and a photo gallery from the event, can be found at www.WhichBingo.co.uk/awards. How important are conferences like the Bingo Summit to your success in the in- dustry? What advice can you give affili- ates who are looking to attend their first conference? I have always believed that conferences are hugely important. At the end of the day, people buy people and you can really sell yourself when meeting clients face-to-face. Conferences are also great from a learning perspective, howev- er inexperienced or experienced you are. Newbies can pick up the basics through talks and sessions, while old-timers can always find new angles or business tips — and rumors and gossip! — simply by chatting to old acquaintances. The Online Bingo Summit is great as it’s the only conference where all sides of the bingo industry can get together to discuss, debate and learn about ev- erything that’s going on in our “little corner” of iGaming. It’s not only affili- ates that attend, and over the years there have been some great speakers, includ- ing some of the sector’s biggest names. How does your site stand out from the crowd? Our key site is WhichBingo. Its key unique selling point is that it’s the only bingo portal that lists every U.K. online bingo site, whether we’re an af- filiate of theirs or not. This allows players not only to read our review of every site but also allows players to read and write their own independent reviews. We have many ways to stand out: We’re the only bingo portal that has advertised on U.K. TV this year; we launched a complete site redesign this year, aimed at being totally mobile responsive; we host the industry’s primary awards; and we’re constant- ly improving and developing the site. The WhichBingo team celebrating their win at the 2015 EGR Operator Awards. 47 GPWA Affiliate Interview Series