GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 38 - July 2017

Merkur Partners represents a number of brands. What differentiates them? What do they have in common? In May, we separated the sports betting brands from our newly launched casino brands. Thus, Merkur Partners is focus- ing right now mainly on the regulated casino market. Our three brands, Cashino, merkurmagic and Merkur-win, all have in common our proprietary Merkur slot games, an offline presence and the fact that they operate in the regulated markets. Merkur-win.it was previously operating for a couple of years on the Group’s propri- etary affiliate platform, so the brand is not new for Italian customers. The Group still has offline activities in Italy, and Merkur honor to build this affiliate program from scratch with all the best practices I gath- ered in the last nine years. My prior positions gave me a comprehen- sive knowledge of all aspects of online gambling. I approach tasks and issues by stepping aside and thinking about the broader picture. I learned that communi- cation is key for a successful partnership, and I encourage our affiliate team to be open and friendly and to constantly keep in touch with our partners. You are proficient in five languages: Rus- sian, English, German, Hebrewand Span- ish. Howmany of these do you regularly use at your job? I use all of them, since we have affiliates fromall over the world and I prefer to keep a personal touch with every- one in their own language. I use English and Hebrewmore actively, the others in amore passive way. I am happy I have an oppor- tunity to maintain and practice them daily. About a year ago, Merkur Interactive Services launched the Merkur Partners affiliate program, partnering with In- come Access. How does this program differ from what you had before? What was the hardest part of implementing the new program? We are happy to have Income Access as our affiliate software provider. Previously, I used to work on PartyGaming and NetRefer, and I can tell that each one of them has its own soul and logic behind the login URL. They all de- liver what affiliates and affiliate managers need in terms of campaign management and reporting. The only difference with PartyGaming was that the software was proprietary, which gave it more flexibility. Prior to Income Access, I was using both platforms more as a user. With Income Ac- cess, I had a chance to set up everything from scratch, the way it best suits our products. The most challenging part was to arrange a format and set up a data transfer from our software providers to Merkur Part- ners to assure the affiliate program has user-friendly stats display and proper net revenue calculations. Cashino is another success story in the U.K. market. The brand has been around for years, conquering the high streets with over 160 land-based locations. Merkur Interactive Services was delighted to bring the brand to the online environ- ment in February 2017. Thanks to Blue- print Gaming (owned by Gauselmann Group as well), players can play the same games online. The company is continually adding third-party content to make the brand unique and let it stand out from the crowd. Describe your role in regards to affili- ates. How much of your traffic is attrib- utable to affiliates? Besides the Merkur Partners affiliate program, the company has a strong marketing department that does SEM, SEO andmedia buying. Having the brands offline helps to get a lot of direct traffic, of course. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that affiliates are an integral part of our business. Merkur Partners offers affiliates 25%- 35% rev share with a quota and nega- tive carryover. How did Merkur Partners decide on this commission model? In addition to revenue share, Merkur Part- ners offers CPA, CPL and hybrid models. While working in the regulated markets, we should consider all taxes and levies, so the default terms are just as general as by our competitors. However, we treat each affiliate and their commission set up almost as a standalone case, even though it sometimes involves some manual work. We try to tailor conditions suitable to each one of our partners, and usually truly ac- tive affiliates do not earn 25%. slot machines can be found on every Italian corner. Merkur-win has a unique combi- nation of content. Besides popular NetEnt and Evolution Gaming offerings, custom- ers can enjoy games from local Italian sup- pliers CapeCode and WMG. In addition to casino games, players can find bingo, poker and sports betting products – in that way, Merkur-win differs from our other casino products. Merkurmagic.es is a totally new brand, launched in 2016 for Spanish residents. Gauselmann Group owns several land- based casino arcades in Mallorca and is expanding these days into more cities in Spain. Merkur slot machines are spread all over Spain, especially its award-winning slot game Magic Mirror. Players in Spain now have a great opportunity to enjoy their beloved games online. The best part was learning from affiliates to understand their needs and what makes a good partnership. w w w . g p w a t i m e s . o r g 63