A fresh take: Casumo unleashes a new look and new objectives

For Casumo, the past 12 months has been one of transformation. The sea change has involved a shift in the culture of the company backed by the hiring of a new management team, with the likes of former Napoleon Sports & Casino CEO Tim De Borle joining as COO in April 2023 followed two months later by ex-Hills head Janice Duncan as CFO and former Playtech exec Cristina Turbatu as CTO that July. 

Spearheading this new vision for the Malta-headquartered operator is CEO Francesco Postiglione, who joined Casumo in March 2023 shortly after leaving Fortuna Entertainment Group.

Having spent 17 years in the gambling industry, his career includes founding two Italian online gaming startups – Giocacomodo in February 2007 and Neomobile Gaming in March 2010 – followed by senior positions at Betclic Everest Group and Napoleon Sports & Casino. 

Postiglione brings with him a wealth of international expertise and strong experience in regulated markets to lead Casumo’s business in its main markets of the UK, Spain, Sweden, Malta and Ontario.

CMO Nikola Jellačić, who joined the C-suite team in June 2023, led another aspect of the transformation project when the privately owned operator, which also runs Kazoom Casino and Dunder, unveiled its brand overhaul in April 2024. 

At the time, Jellačić referred to it as “bringing a fresh wave of vitality and dynamism” into the brand as part of its mission to remain unique and stand out against its competitors. Part of the revamp was fuelled by the need to tackle Casumo’s lack of competitiveness and wrong decisions made in the past, as Postiglione explains to EGR.

For Casumo, which was founded in Sweden in 2012 and has offices in Gibraltar, North Macedonia and Croatia, alongside its Malta HQ, its 300-strong workforce is its “most important asset”, according to the Naples-born CEO.

This is also reflected in the operator’s new company values, announced last September, concentrating on the areas of aspire, believe and care. Postiglione (pictured, below) aims to motivate and inspire people within his organisation through “leading by example”.

EGR: You’ve been CEO of Casumo for more than a year. What have you achieved so far and what changes have you seen during that time?

Francesco Postiglione (FP): Well, to be honest, Casumo needed a very deep transformation. And that’s what I have worked on and I’m still working on. Casumo has made a certain number of wrong choices in the recent past and this put the company in a position where its product, technology and marketing were not competitive enough.

So, one year ago I embarked on a complete transformation of the company. We have once again put the customer at the centre of everything, which was a little bit neglected prior to my arrival.

We have completely reshaped not only the targeted operating model, but also the modus operandi of the organisation. We have embarked on a project where we have completely reshaped the teams, not only the management but the whole organisation.

We have completely reshaped our technology. Delivering on this is an achievement of the past few months. Our brand-new front-end platform enables us to deliver very powerful features. For instance, the UX, UI, bonusing and whatever the customers consume during their journey with us.

EGR: Did you develop the front-end architecture in-house?

FP: Absolutely, yes, we have the privilege of running our own platform, so everything has been done in-house. It’s a project that has kept us busy for one year. It was very intense and involved a lot of hard work, of which I am very proud. So again, we have transformed every single aspect at Casumo.

We are always putting the customer at the centre and, of course, our people, which is our most important asset. 

EGR: You’ve made a raft of C-suite appointments since becoming CEO. How do these hires strengthen the direction of the business? 

FP: I have onboarded a number of people with incredible skills, but also the enthusiasm that these people bring is unprecedented. I have the privilege to work not only with competent people, but also those who have the energy and passion to help me transform Casumo. 

So, the team – CFO Janice , chief compliance officer Kerry , CTO Cristina Turbatu, but also Tony our chief product officer, Nikola Jellačić, our CMO, Martin Schillig, our chief HR officer, and so forth – together with our heads of and directors, plus all the other people who are helping me in this challenging journey, bring competencies and enthusiasm, which are necessary to succeed. 

EGR: Casumo has a 50/50 gender split in its leadership team. How are you encouraging more women to enter and progress within the gambling industry?

FP: I’m very proud of this achievement but, to be very honest, it was a natural achievement. It’s down to the opportunity or luck, call it what you wish, to land these great women that I have in my team. At Casumo, in general, we have a lot of women and a lot of diversity, which I’m very proud of.

Our industry by its nature has more men, but, in the very recent past, I see a lot of changes in this particular aspect. I see more and more women covering very important roles. The industry is more open to embracing this diversity. 

EGR: Casumo completed a rebrand in April. What is the new message behind it?

FP: It was prompted by the need to honour the brand’s legacy while preparing for the future. So, initially, the project was aimed at a simple brand refresh, but it evolved into a comprehensive rebrand when it became clear that a clean slate was needed to achieve the desired impact. 

The message now is about celebrating the uniqueness of the brand, ensuring it stands out and remains instantly recognisable. This approach allows us the flexibility across various touchpoints, reflecting the dynamic nature of the brand and ensuring Casumo continues to be seen as the originator of its distinctive style. 

EGR: Last September Casumo unveiled its new values of ‘aspire, believe and care’. How do you incorporate these into your company culture for your staff as well as your customers?

FP: It’s ABC – the first three letters of the alphabet. So, these are the first three things we think about every day on the job. They are incorporated through leading by example. 

We want to aspire people to do challenging and ambitious things. We want to believe in what we do, which is very important. We want to be aligned and move all together towards the same goal, believing in it but also believing in each other. Trust is an element of belief, which is very important for us. 

Finally, we care about the players, not only in terms of the player journey but also in terms of responsible gaming. For us, it’s of absolute importance to make sure we protect our players as well as care about our colleagues, otherwise we are not a team.

Of course, these three values need a lot of hard work, especially during a transformation project. They are not instantly instilled into an organisation. You need to give time for these values to be absorbed and believed. 

EGR: How important is personalisation as part of your product offering?

FP: With personalisation, we are now using a number of tools that allow us to customise the offer for customers depending on whether it is a live casino player, casino player, sportsbook player, etc.

We are helping Casumo to compete with other operators in terms of a machine learning, customer-oriented approach where, as soon as a player logs in, they can find whatever they wish, removing all unnecessary content.

We were lagging a little bit behind, but we have just delivered the first features. We have a strong roadmap in front of us to further strengthen this customisation aspect.

EGR: How is Casumo building on gamification, and how does this tie in with your loyalty/reward schemes?

FP: We still have our adventure, which was one of the signature features of Casumo. It started with the journey to the Casumo universe years and years ago.

We are reshaping the Sumo character for regulatory reasons. It was not fit for purpose in terms of young players, children, etc. 

Before my arrival at Casumo, we had clear indications from some regulators that we had to change the Sumo. The logic of the adventure is going to be there, so as the player progresses into the journey with us, the user will enjoy a number of benefits where this is possible in terms of regulation. 

I won’t disclose anything yet because it’s part of our new advertising concept and marketing activities. The journey into the universe is called ‘Umodays’. Our players take notice when we shake things up with unique, quirky offerings that align with our brand’s character and this distinctiveness is what resonates with them. It is specifically aimed at the UK, Spain and the Nordics but we will also use it in Canada. 

EGR: What else is coming up on your product roadmap?

FP: The first is to make sure our front-end technology is fit for purpose in terms of the quality of the experience given to players – speed, download times, response times, etc. 

We have now delivered all the new front-end architecture for the logged-out state of the players and in the next couple of months we will deliver the tech for the logged-in state. The urgency was on the logged-out state, where we were lagging behind in terms of performance. 

Then we are building a number of features that will allow players to further enjoy their experience with us. We are strengthening our verticals and completely reviewing our content strategy.

We are completely reshaping the way we offer a customised product to our players with the support of external tools. We’ve just rolled out a new casino lobby across multiple markets. So, the look and feel of our shop window has been completely revamped and reshaped. 

EGR: Casumo launched its sportsbook in the UK in January 2020. How is it performing and are you seeing any cross-sell with casino?

FP: I decided to keep the sportsbook when I joined Casumo. It was very neglected from the previous management or used in the wrong way.

Today, we are growing very nicely across the jurisdictions in which we use the sportsbook. For us, it’s an ancillary recreational product. We have material cross-sell between casino and sportsbook players. It’s not a huge one but it’s something I’ve seen in other places. 

It helps us retain a number of good players who enjoy playing casino, but also may place a bet on some events. It also helps us in a few jurisdictions like Spain, where, from a regulatory point of view, the sportsbook offers more opportunity in terms of acquisition to onboard more new players. 

EGR: Casumo’s main markets are the UK, Sweden, Spain, Malta and Ontario. Do you have plans to enter any new jurisdictions?

FP: To be honest, we are very much focused on our existing jurisdictions. There is quite a lot of effort involved to keep a consistent approach. I want to keep the company focused.

So, for the foreseeable future, we are going to focus our energies on existing markets. New geographies are something more for perhaps the end of 2025. 

EGR: How is Casumo performing in the UK? What impact will the online slots stake caps have on your customers?

FP: The UK is our best market in terms of growth, and I am very happy with it. Since I joined, we have doubled the business over one year in the UK.

We have completely reshaped, thanks to the support of Kerry , the player journey when it comes to affordability checks, responsible gaming and AML. So, we have modernised and automated much more compared with the past.

And, thanks to our responsible gaming approach, we are acquiring a very recreational customer base, which is exactly what you need to grow in the UK. 

So, I believe our strategy in terms of target audience is really fit for purpose – we see it in the numbers. And we will continue with that. Therefore, we are ready for the new regulation. 

I believe also that the new stakes for slot machines won’t impact our business that much at the end of the day.

It should also be an advantage because we are very consistent in our approach to further develop our business in light of new restrictions. 

EGR: Some of the gambling ad restrictions such as sponsorship deals and the use of celebrities have been lifted in Spain. Do you think this will have a positive impact on your operations there?

FP: Spain is our second-best market in terms of growth. I am absolutely happy about what we are doing in Spain. We have a window of opportunity that we are going to leverage and exploit in terms of new channels that you can use in your media mix. 

How long does it last? Nobody knows. I’ve read an article where the minister of gambling said that they will implement a proper law as soon as possible, which will be even stricter than the original Royal Decree. 

So, I do expect that this window of opportunity will close. When? It could be six months, one year, I don’t know. But I believe Spain’s government, at least so far, has always done what they’ve said. So, I do expect that probably sooner rather than later there will be another restrictive law in place. 

EGR: What’s next for Casumo? 

FP: The key word here is focus. Focus on product, technology and the markets we are in as well as making sure that we execute and deliver our roadmap while retaining our great people.