GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 41 - July 2018

SiGMA and BAC, but this year I’m extending my horizons further and attending the Affiliate Summit in New York, and hoping to add a few more to the list before 2018 closes. Where do you think the industry will be in the next five years? More regulated, gamified and, I’m hopeful given recent events, servicing more countries in a safe, protected and fun environment. The numbers lover in me hopes and fully expects it to be more automated and data-driven than I can comprehend. If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be? The stigma that can sometimes surround it. Maybe it’s the dated idea that gaming all happens with tiny pens in a backstreet bookie’s that smells of smoke and no women dare cross its threshold. Anyone reading this knows that isn’t the case. Gaming for most is a break and an entertaining experience. One of many ways to spend our downtime as adults. While I know that isn’t true for everyone, I can see the tide turning for the better with regulation and companies like Mr Green, Kindred and others leading the way in responsible gaming. Tell us about your typical work day. I have no typical day, but I try to keep as much structure to it as I can. I get to work at 8 and havemy breakfast while analyzing the previous day’s numbers. At 9 a.m., all department heads come together for a start of the day meeting so I go into my day with a nice overview of what happened yesterday and what to expect today. I then catch up with my team before my day of meetings, Skypes, spreadsheets and e-mails. I try to set aside 30 minutes every day or two with my laptop turned off to think – strategy, decisions that need to me made and how to make the MRG affiliate program even better! What’s the office culture like at Mr Green Affiliate Program? Driven, energetic, innovative, creative and a lot of fun. Everybody works crazy hard but we still find time for jokes, working on one of our terraces and some high fives. If you could go anywhere on vacation, where would you go? Dublin. It’s not my home anymore, but I spend as much of my vacation days there as I can, seeing my family and friends and eating traditional Irish food that I can’t get in Malta – like doughnuts, Chinese takeaway, burritos, and overpriced gin and tonics. What was the last book you read? Hillary Clinton’s What Happened . A bit of a departure from my usual fantasy and awful vampire fiction. What’s your favorite movie? Magnolia . Great soundtrack. Well put together. If you could have dinner with three people, living or dead, who would they be? The Hemsworths. Liam, Chris and there’s another one, right? Name one thing that people reading this magazine don’t know about you. I played trumpet in a marching band as a teenager. I wanted to play saxophone but I didn’t have the upper body strength required to actually hold one for long parades. So I ended up playing the trumpet … badly. I still walk heel to toe from it and all of my shoes are ruined. We have worked really hard to assemble a strong multi-skilled team of people who are trustworthy , data-driven , transparent and partner-focused . AFFILIATE MANAGER INTERVIEW SERIES Laura O’Brien Mr Green Affiliate Program W W W . G P W A T I M E S . O R G 68