Interactive
COINGAMING GROUP BITCOIN BETTING AND GAMING
Coingaming Group: Controlling the Controllable
In a frank and open interview, Tim Heath, CEO of the Coingaming Group, outlines how the operator's capacity to pivot its product range and adapt to the sports hiatus has resulted in record revenues.
How has the Coingaming Group adapted to the Coronavirus pandemic?
Tim Heath, CEO, Coingaming Group
Tim Heath is the CEO of the Coingaming Group, the pioneering Bitcoin-led operator of brands such as
Bitcasino.io and
Sportsbet.io. An early adopter of Bitcoin, Tim has successfully helped develop Coingaming into a global team of 300+ people who support a range of B2C and B2B brands within the Group's ecosystem.
Combining over 18 years of experience in the industry with a passion for innovation, Tim has now taken on a mentor role in the industry as the founder of Vereeni Investments - a venture capital fund which supports early stage businesses across fintech, gambling and blockchain verticals.
Most bookmakers would have turned around and said our revenue has disappeared. For us to go and have our best month ever is testament to both our agility and adapting to customer needs by giving them content from wherever we can.
P110 NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE / MARKET DATA
Which new products would you like to hear about first? On the day lockdown measures began to be announced across the globe, I was in Ukraine discussing eFIFA and the TT Cup. Before getting to the airport, we struck an agreement and I was in contact with the sports betting team telling them to drop everything and be flexible. Four days later, we had integrated these products into our portfolio. Already, they have proven themselves our top two products with eFIFA performing unbelievably. It is an interesting concept comprising a live video of two players accompanied with a stream of football with profiles and statistics. Several bookmakers have taken it on including Parimatch and CIS-focused operators such as Fonbet.
Joe McCallum, who runs our sportsbook, said to the team internally that our job now for the next few months is to fill the shelves so that when customers arrive, they have something to bet on. It might not be their normal thing but let’s give them an option. Alongside virtual tennis, we are also going to be simulating an IPL tournament with our Indian partners. Tis is a feed we can use ourselves and push out on a B2B level. It has similarities with eFIFA but is tailored more towards our subcontinental audience. Tat is going live within three weeks. Te quality of the stream is excellent, so much so that when I have been watching the stream, I leave it running in the background with the commentary as punters often do with televised cricket.
How has the pandemic impacted revenues?
It very much depends on the attitude you take towards it. I am a strong believer in controlling the controllable and this is a theme throughout the company. It might be a bad situation around the world, but we are in this together, we all
enjoy our sports and have got to fill the shelves. Tis is going to be our best month which is a surreal thought. As a case study, it is fascinating. If you were to pose a hypothetical question to a bookmaker before the crisis that there would be no Australian football, rugby, Spanish football, Premier League, basketball, tennis, golf - what would you do and how do you think it would affect your company?
Most bookmakers would have turned around and said our revenue has disappeared. For us to go and have our best month ever is testament to both our agility and adapting to customer needs by giving them content from wherever we can. We were building a trading engine for when the Euros were scheduled for June, but we immediately stopped that and changed our roadmap to the situation we found ourselves in.
How do you remain sympathetic from a marketing perspective whilst at the same time enjoying record revenues?
I do not think it is difficult so long as you empathise with your customer. A great example from that perspective can be seen with our agreement with affiliates to pay them 10 per cent extra as we know it’s a tough time for them as they are not making as much money from other bookmakers who haven’t adapted as quickly as we have. I do not think that has any negative connotations, just a positive and pragmatic move from our affiliate team to say we recognise the difficulty of the situation and this is what we are willing to do to help you out.
Would you attribute the significant uptake in revenue to Coingaming’s flexibility in handling the situation or customers self-isolating with little else to do?
People have got nothing else to do! Tere is only so much Netflix you can watch and if people like a punt they currently have more time to do so because they cannot go outside. We don’t shove it down people’s throats, and as ever we have some of the highest responsible gaming checks in the industry in place. All we have done is fill our shelves with a range of quality content and if players want to have a punt, we are ready to provide entertainment. Simple as that.
How is live casino continuing to meet demand during the crisis when studios are being forced to shut due to isolation?
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