Q&A: Sadok Kohen, founder, BetBull

Mention the words ‘social’ and ‘betting’ in the same sentence and, after a sigh, you are often reminded of those who have dipped their toes in the social waters, and subsequently failed to make their efforts pay.

The term ‘social betting’ is in itself fairly vague, with operators such as Paddy Power, bwin and Sportingbet all taking different approaches to their respective former social products, but now there’s a new player in town hoping to redefine the genre.

BetBull, which launched in December, has placed a focus on the interaction between accumulator-placing punters. The site enables players to copy accas placed by others, or post their own multiples bets for others to follow.

A number of chat rooms co-exist with only those placing identical bets given access to the same room – the idea being that customers can share the emotional experience of their bet with others who are cheering for the same outcome.

The product, which also includes various gamification features and leverages the BetConstruct sportsbook, is the brainchild of Sadok Kohen, who previously enjoyed success with Turkey-facing social betting site Tuttur.com.

And Kohen is not alone in his belief that social betting has a place in the market, with the likes of former 888 CEO and gaming investor Gigi Levy and bwin co-founder Manfred Bodner among the high-profile BetBull backers.

EGR Intel caught up with Kohen to discuss his new venture, the theory behind it, and why he thinks it will succeed in the UK market.

EGR Intel: Why did you decide to enter the social betting space?

Sadok Kohen (SK):  In 2009 I had an idea to build a social betting product as there were none around – and I what I mean by social betting is a place where people can follow each other’s bets and bet together.

I had the chance to do just that in Turkey and that’s been very successful with about 15% market share, 800,000 active users and about €150m in turnover right now. Based on that success we learned a lot about how to do social betting and what people like to do together.

EGR Intel: And what exactly did you learn in Turkey that influenced BetBull?

SK: We learned that the world of accumulators is much healthier as a social activity, so for BetBull we decided to focus on that. Accumulators don’t end as quickly as singles and offer higher pay outs, so they give players a longer and more exciting experience overall.

EGR Intel: So what’s the basic premise behind BetBull – what’s the social element?

SK: We have chat rooms where you can only chat to people that have the same bet as you – so that means you are in a room with people who have placed the same accumulator. Last weekend we had 400 people on the same acca which paid out 14x the stake so, as you can imagine, that created a lot of excitement in that particular chat room.

EGR Intel: Do customers just talk about how best to lay-off and hedge their position?

SK: They talk about a range of things. Some do discuss whether to cash out or not, which we offer, but most talk about the excitement of the position or about whether they are going to win or not. It’s basically like watching the game with friends that also have a common financial interest.

EGR Intel: What type of punter is BetBull looking to attract?

SK: The recreational punter. The person who likes to place accas with friends and dreams big – so not trying to squeeze value out of single bets. We are looking at the £5 to £10 punters.

We are also a mobile-first operator so our application is native and very smooth with gamification components, ones that the recreational younger generation of punters will have become accustomed to seeing in other social-focused products.

EGR Intel: Why do you think BetBull will succeed where others have either failed or simply not dared to tread?

SK: I think people have been incorrectly interpreting what social betting is all about – and it should be about the product experience. The industry has barely changed in 20 years and is based around transaction-style applications – the customer just places a bet and then leaves.

We are focused on the experience, on the chat room, on building a community around betting. So we are creating an environment where people will want to spend more time and enjoy betting.

EGR Intel: So does this mean you are a modern version of a tipster site?

SK: We are not a tipster site but a community of punters. People follow each other because they like their style of bets. And as we act as an operator we don’t want to give out tips which no one is paying for.

So it’s all about the experience – looking at what others are doing and either copying or placing your own bets. We are not trying to be a complicated investment tool where we can charge for tips or offer a load of different stats.

EGR Intel: And how has business gone since launch? Have you gained much traction?

SK: We only really launched on 24 December but we have seen really good growth so far with 2,000 daily active users, 60,000 installs and turnover in the region of £2.5m. We have been doubling our marketing efforts month on month so we expect to grow those numbers significantly moving forward.