GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 47 - July 2020

GPWA AFFILIATE INTERVIEW SERIES Thomas B. - Jambo Your site YourPokerDream.com has been up and running for over 10 years. How did you get started as an online gambling affiliate? Yes, YourPokerDream.com has existed for 10 years, but was founded by some other guys. I took over the site a bit later with my business partner and I am quite happy with it. I never had anything to do with online gambling before; in fact, I actually came from the financial sector. By coincidence, the thing with YourPokerDream.com just came up since I was looking for new proj- ects and challenges back then. The project has been successful so far. Why did you decide to focus on poker and rakebacks? Honestly, it was not my decision. When I joined YourPokerDream. com, the site was already focused on poker and rakebacks, and I decided to take it up from there. Poker sites earn so much money and the rake/fees for players are very high. We try our best to give our community rakebacks as much as possible to make poker games more profitable for them. It is a win-win situation for everybody and this what I like so much about Your- PokerDream. Every single player matters and there are lots of benefits for them if they sign up at any of our partners. What did you do before getting into the industry? I studied operational eco- nomics and later worked for a big German company. It was the usual boring office job, nothing special. Before I joined the online gambling industry, I was very active in the stock market for a few years. What are the biggest changes you’ve seen in the industry since you start- ed? Definitely the regulations in different countries. Online poker, especially, has suf- fered a lot from regulations. There is nothing bad if a market is officially regulated, but it should be in a normal, smart way that will be helpful to everybody. Unfortunately, some countries do not understand this, therefore making decisions that make no sense at all. In the past, the poker industry was easier, and you could promote every brand all over the world without any problem. Most operators paid a higher commission to af- filiates because they didn’t have so many taxes – everything is different now! (In November), we received a piece of infor- mation that one of our biggest partner sites decided to exclude players from 13 coun- tries due to regulatory issues. The decision was a sudden one and it hit us really hard. What advice would you give to a new iGaming affiliate just getting started in the business? To be very patient and not to expect too much in the beginning. It takes some time to become successful and the competition is tremendous. Even if someone is doing a great job and all is right, the results can be very frustrating. The need for patience and to have a realistic expectation is essential. How has the COVID-19 pandemic af- fected you both professionally and personally? From a professional point of view, the crisis triggered a small online poker boom. Our visitor numbers have increased by 200% (from the beginning of March to late April), which is, of course, great. Nevertheless, I hope everything will be back to normal soon and life will continue as we know it. I’ve never spent such a long time at home and it’s strange. My private life has changed a lot and I miss social contacts in real life. What makes your site unique? How do you try to stand out from the com- petition? Our site offers 24/7 customer service in four different languages: German, and to the poker community After leaving the for the , this affiliate is living a giving back financial sector iGaming industry German “dream” G P W A t i m e s . o r g 56