Interview: Gabi Campos, managing director, Dragonfish
THE ONLINE GAMING AND betting industry is renowned for coming up with memorable company names and it - or in this case, 888 - has surpassed itself with the unveiling of Dragonfish at the end of March.
THE ONLINE GAMING AND betting industry is renowned for coming up with memorable company names and it – or in this case, 888 – has surpassed itself with the unveiling of Dragonfish at the end of March.
Dragonfish is 888’s business-to-business division’s new name. The company has made it clear that is sees the B2B online gaming segment as a hugely promising one, even more so these days, as the regulatory situation in many key markets slowly unblocks.
For all that, it is not the only B2B provider looking at growing the space in a meaningful way. Indeed, many other major operators, Bwin and PartyGaming to mention just two of the biggest, have already entered into agreements with third parties.
In addition, numerous are the tales of licensees disgruntled with their platform or games providers, as they feel they are being neglected in favour of bigger licensees. The sheer number of licensees that have to be managed can also be seen as a barrier, as the client feels the platform provider simply does not have the time or resources to manage them in a way they deem fit. What is certain though is that other service providers eGaming Review has spoken to about Dragonfish are looking on anxiously to see how well it does and how much of the B2B sector it shakes up.
888 is also the first of the major operators to launch a dedicated division that will acquire and serve other companies planning on entering the sector, following a decision of 888 Holdings’ board and executive management to commit to making this B2B business model a strong growth engine for the company. Therefore it has totally separate resources and personnel to address its B2B clients. Others will counter this by pointing out that although they don’t have a specific name for their B2B units, that doesn’t mean they are not as dedicated and serious as Dragonfish.
All those points are well-known and the arguments over them could carry on for some time. To find out more about the company and how it plans to make its mark in a vertical that looks set to grow as regulation allows organisations such as major media and communication groups to offer online gaming and betting products across Europe and elsewhere in the world, eGaming Review met up with Gabi Campos, managing director of Dragonfish.
Adapting to new surroundings
First off, we wanted to know where 888’s focus on B2B came from and why it wasn’t focusing on growing its core products. “When I joined 888 two years ago, the vision was: how are we going to continue to be market leaders without the US, in a working environment that had changed massively,” Campos says.
“To address this, we did a couple of things. First, expand the offering, I was in charge of the business unit and all the offerings: so we went into bingo through acquisition (of the bingo software firm Globalcom in March 2007), sportsbook through the Blue Square (white label) deal and we opened an integration platform, through which we integrate games for partners. With a variety of up to 1,200 games, including the sportsbook and a live casino, all coming on top of having the best core casino bingo platform in the industry, we have the opportunity to offer a winning mix and match, for each and every partner. We needed to do this to expand the offering and localise the products. We couldn’t afford to rely on a small number of markets and went from eight languages to 22 and diversified our sources of income.”
The other key issue 888 had to decide on was how it could leverage its B2B platform. As a technology-based company, it had spent the best past of the previous decade developing and perfecting ecommerce processes and products. The business logic for using these in-house products in a B2B environment must have been compelling.
Campos agrees, but he adds: “We thought it would continue growing but didn’t know how key it would become for the group. But what we’re doing today is announcing the true independence of the business entity and the fact that we have a different approach to other B2B providers: we do partnerships, we don’t do skins, we do things that are pervasive and far-reaching, we talk to the partner, understand them, run business analytics to check on their data bases and prepare winning marketing plans “ this is what we call ‘advanced services’. Just as importantly, we believe the sector has to be clever, smart and quick; if not it gets left behind. An example being our global distribution plan for the UK Football Pools, which shows ‘demand innovation’ for an existing product with a supposed glass ceiling. Our solution, which has involved converting the pools into a scratch card to take it into a global market, represents astute marketing thinking and technology execution.”
With the Racing Post as its first ‘new’ client win under the Dragonfish banner, Campos says all the aggregated content and technical know-how 888 has garnered over the past 10 years are being brought to market. “It is available either as an end-to-end product or in individual parts to benefit specific fusions,” Campos says. “I like that word (fusion) because you need to have the right fusion to target customers: we’re talking about online gaming, the internet, which is a market of niches. For every niche you need to have the right fusion in terms of marketing, how payments and know-your-customer rules are handled and offering egaming responsibly.”
Payments rule?
But with payments representing such a key part of the online gaming business, is Dragonfish essentially offering its payment solutions first and foremost; as a way of reassuring prospects that whatever happens, their money is safe? Because in the end that is what it comes down to in business?
For Campos, the issues are broader. “I think what reassures them is that they are working on a platform that can take them to a global level and that they can leverage. We have developed an expertise in converting every single player: they come in and they don’t understand the deposit form and can’t find a payment that suits them. We’ve developed an expertise where we can come up with a new payment method, even in sophisticated markets, and that is key for these companies that want to grow. They are safe in the knowledge that we can not only find the right epayment solutions for their customers but also deliver 24/7 support to drive player activation and retention if required. They also won’t be hampered by potential customers abandoning the registration process because they don’t understand the payment process.”
But while the payment process is optimised to ensure as many potential customers complete it, the ongoing recession means active or potential customers are spending less. Campos says his company compensates for this by developing products and brands that add value to its clients. This might take the form of a different type of display or bonus scheme or the way a game is marketed.
He says: “We promote value by showing players that they would be better off keeping their account with our partners and closing the four or five others they might have, giving them a reason to return. This can be done via a technology partnership and the client does the rest in terms of marketing; or it could be everything: from payments to search engine optimisation to pay-per-click. It’s about looking at the macro and going into the micro issues and having close interactions with our partners. In some cases we are even willing to work in success-based models because we know what value we can bring to the table.”
As for the potential of the market, there is no doubt the entrance of major media groups in countries that are close to or are looking at regulating their online gaming and betting sectors represent significant opportunities. But just as significant as the potential, the competition for the business is also going to be intense.
Leverage and openness
Campos says there are two issues to consider when assessing how far the B2B segment can be pushed.
“The first one is leverage. There are going to be new entrants into the online gaming market and they will be companies like media conglomerates who have seen their revenues and profits shrinking. TV companies and media companies like the Racing Post own great brands and content but they are not in touch with customers as much as they would want.
“Dragonfish gives them leverage because much of our expertise is in online conversion, payment and registration of customers. Lotteries will take a lot of the market share out there, especially in the regulated markets. They will be looking for providers of technology, customer retention management, know-how, and for companies that have a track record of working in a regulated and legal way. Because of
these three groups of companies, the industry is going to keep growing and so will the B2B sector.”
these three groups of companies, the industry is going to keep growing and so will the B2B sector.”
The second reason Campos mentions as one of the keys to Dragonfish’s success is to do with the openness of the company. “We invest in integration of third-party teams and content, how we bring in new content and how we integrate into people’s systems. Our competitors have a different view of how much they open up and re-focus from core products. Our proposition is completely separate (from 888’s B2C activity) and we address our clients’ needs and can speak from experience.
We have done this with a number of partners and use that knowledge to improve our products all the time. It’s all about the best way to promote each partner’s business through analysing their business and finding the best new content integration for their customers,” he says.
Although there will be intense competition for new B2B business, there is little doubt the company stands as good a chance as any of making a big impact in the B2B space. But as operators turn to B2B deals to boost their revenues, is Campos worried that there might be a backlash from clients who think the likes of Dragonfish have too many clients? Or is it an inevitable and natural consequence of those kinds of activities?
“The servicing or partnering of competing companies is inevitable, it’s part of the business. But there are some rules that you need to keep to ensure you grow,” he explains. “There can be absolutely no movement of data between partners: whether for decision-making, data to complete other enquiries and so on. All we have is our intellectual property, knowledge and our spine to go on. As long as we keep to those rules, the business will prevail. Sure sometimes we have uncomfortable discussions but we must be firm and we’re happy about how we’re doing it.”
Unsurprisingly, Campos also believes Dragonfish has the strongest model when it comes to winning new business. With the level of commitment to the new venture reaching “right up to my level”, he expects his timetables for new partnership launches to fill up quickly in the coming weeks and reminds that “every project for which I committed a delivery date in 888 and later in Dragonfish, was delivered on time and on scope, even if timelines and goals were challenging. For everything we have ‘a plan’.”
This article first appeared in the May edition of eGaming Review.