GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 44 - July 2019

Please tell us about yourself. When did you first join the iGaming industry, and how did you find your way to it? I am from a small and cozy country called Latvia, which is covered with forests, blessed by many lakes and has beautiful coastline with pine trees and sand. My working background is pretty diverse. I started as a cowboy on a farm in Oregon state during my school summer holidays when I was 16. After school I became a limo driver for one year and then started my career as a B2B sales representative. In short, it was about seven years in the exciting ecosystem of sales and marketing as project manager in a Finnish company, before I joined the gambling industry in October 2018, during a spontaneous phone call. What do you most like about the iGaming industry? The pace of changes, the people and the limitless possibilities of growth. Testing hypotheses and entering new markets are very exciting. The iGaming industry is full of bright and creative people. You are always on the front lines of new technologies and non-standard marketing approaches. If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be? It would be great to bring more honesty, trans- parency and cooperation between operators, affiliates and ad networks. It would be lovely to work only on a revenue-share basis with every partner, because, in my opinion, it is the only true win-win way of making money in the betting business for both sides. If a partner is confident that he or she can bring in a player, it is much better to receive weekly rev-share for a lifetime than a one-time CPA, in my point of view. Do you network or attend affiliate events or confer- ences? My first conference was LiAC 2018, shortly after I started at MelBet. It’s much better to meet people live and see that behind the endless e-mails and chats are real people. You just feel much more confident when you start cooperation with people you saw during events. If people spent their time and money to come to a conference, most likely they are serious about what they are doing. What makes MelBet Affiliates stand out from other af- filiate programs? Weekly payments and a personal approach to every affiliate as our personal friend. We are not just waiting for affiliates to bring us players. We also can teach them how to do it and show them the ways to CIS markets. We also have Vladimir Lasov MelBet Affiliates AFFILIATE MANAGER INTERVIEW SERIES G P W A t i m e s . o r g 66