A LOOK BACK – AND FORWARD
BtoBet Dima Reiderman, Chief Operating Offi cer
Market consolidation and expansion were one of the primary targets for 2021. And I am glad to say that from this point of view we have ticked all the boxes. Having said this now we have to focus on what lies ahead for BtoBet during 2022. Looking back at January last year, we’ve spoken openly about our intent to be present in the more mature markets. Now we are in a position to say that we are present in these high-yield markets, and we want to further increase our presence in these markets. We have gone live in Poland and the UK, and are keen to continue building our presence in what is Europe’s biggest market. 2021 will go into the company’s financial annals as the best year ever for BtoBet with Q4 being the highlight for the entire year. However, whilst very satisfied with what we have achieved during the past 12 months, we set even more ambitious targets for us for the coming 12 months and which will see BtoBet registering further significant growth in terms of revenue. Being part of a publicly traded group also allows BtoBet to explore benefits from the group synergies, sharing knowledge and experience, and at the same time optimising costs. 2021 demonstrated the company’s agility, because whilst we were laying the
foundation for the long-term growth of the company, in parallel to this we registered the best year from a financial point of view. And the past 12 months have actually shown that one does not necessarily need to come on account of the other. All this hard work will eventually pay off in the coming years, because BtoBet will be one of the market leaders in the sports betting industry. I am very positive that 2022 will see BtoBet very active on the European front and entering multiple jurisdictions in this mature market. All this whilst at the same time further maintaining our growth strategy in emerging markets, where for instance in the past weeks we have announced our partnership with FanDuel in Brazil. Our geographic expansion also drives our product roadmap. Entering and expanding in these markets also drives to a significant extent the evolution of our sports betting product, because it needs to develop to fit the requirements of the mature market punters. One has to keep in mind that the betting preferences of our core markets – Africa and Latin America in particular – are very much different than what shapes up the player preferences in the more mature markets, such as in the United Kingdom for
instance. And it is with this in mind that we are developing our sportsbook offering to fit the taste of these more mature markets. The evolution of our horse racing product perfectly encapsulates this product evolution. Horse racing is a must have for instance in the UK, whilst bookmakers and operators in Latin America and Africa do tend to do without it. Another example is esports, which is a high bandwidth consumption product, and whilst again it is a must for some markets, it’s not a prerequisite for others. And in parallel to this product evolution, there are also the modifications that will be taking place on the front-end level, whereby we will be adjusting the UI of the product to fit the liking of punters in different market scenarios. So essentially, we are working hard on simultaneously addressing this co- existence: our expansion and entry in new markets, and the evolution of our product roadmap.
PandaScore Oliver Niner, Head of Sales
Even with the return of traditional sports, esports is now well and truly established. Esports betting has proven it has legs and will continue to accelerate. It’s been really exciting to see fantastic growth not just in the big three titles of CS:GO, LoL and Dota 2, but also new titles. Valorant has burst onto the scene in its first year of competitive play. We’ve seen tremendous uptake in this title, and it’s already taken the #4 spot for betting turnover amongst our customers. It’s also been fantastic to see the growth of the esports betting ecosystem specifically between esports betting operators and new customer engagement tools and websites. This is an industry that rewards ambitious innovations to punter experiences. Onboarding more tier-one operators and continuing to deliver strong returns for our customers! We’re keen to continue making
18 JANUARY 2022 GIO
the most out of our distributor relationships and in particular announcing an exciting new one. We’ve also got new product features coming up, including our betbuilder and revamped widgets in the new year. One relationship we’ve been observing over the course of this year is how cryptocurrency and NFTs engage with the gambling space. Historically we’ve seen esports bettors pick up betting using CS:GO skins, which is a big contributor to that game’s established betting culture. Crypto and more specifically, NFTs, could be another channel to engage esports enthusiasts with betting. What that looks like remains to be seen but it’s an innovative space we’ll continue to monitor.
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