500.casino COO, Christoffer Andersson sat down with iGaming Expert ahead of his appearance at the SBC Summit in Malta, as he provided his insights into a myriad of subjects from the new framework in Curacao to Bill 55.
iGaming Expert: Can you give me an overview of Casino500 and your business model?
In many cases, people are relating the word secure with complicated and we want to change that. Our goal is to create the most secure and hassle-free one-stop shop for all betting enthusiasts.
Meaning, they should be able to deposit with whatever currency they want, and it should be instant. The same procedure should obviously apply for the withdrawals, regardless of the amount, using those however they wish to do, without any boundaries or bonus-locks blocking them from using a certain balance on a specific product.
What have you made of the changes in the Curacao regulatory framework? Has this impacted your business at all?
For our current database of users, I would not say it has affected us at all, as we did work quite efficiently from a compliance perspective and try to be as proactive as possible.
On the other hand, there might have been some fluctuations from an acquisition perspective, but we simply just have to adapt and use new and different sources to get our players from.
So in the long run, we were prepared for this, we did our homework and have not really been affected by the changes.
Are there any areas in which you believe the new Curacao framework falls short or does particularly well?
I have been working in the business for over 10 years now, and I remember when the MGA license was considered the golden goose, meanwhile the Curacao license was frowned upon.
But as things change, so do regulations and obviously regulators.
I believe, for now, Curacao has become the new MGA license, and they have made sure that there are some decent criteria, especially compliance-wise, that will make sure that some bad actors may stay away from even attempting to operate under the Curacao license.
All in all, I believe it is a step in the right direction, but for us as operators and also the Curacao license itself, as both customers and partners will get a more serious impression of us – meaning both operators and the regulatory body.
Do you think we need to see more cross market collaboration on regulatory frameworks?
I do believe there are already some exchanges of information between Curacao and other regulatory frameworks, but as a collaboration in whole, I do not really think the slightly stiffer regulatory frameworks are willing to cooperate with Curacao, unless they want to enforce something.
Do you have any opinions on Malta’s Bill 55 and how it impacts the global gaming sector?
I would say it is a double-edged sword situation. In many situations, there might be different actors trying to drag businesses to court over either barely nothing, or just pure stupidity.
This could be that they are either not educated enough in the area, or they are simply out for some kind of retaliation.
In those cases, I do believe Bill 55 is functioning well.
On the other hand, there might be some more serious cases where an actor has decided to open a business in Malta with the sole intention to act bad towards or scam individuals.
But overall, I believe that it does more good for the igaming sector than the opposite.
What are some of the things that you believe the regulated market can do to bring more operators over from the grey market?
There are several things that are preventing businesses from even considering working within the regulated markets, or at least many of them.
But it all boils down to profitability. First, you have the taxes, which are quite obvious. You get a smaller piece of the cake. But on top of that, there are the restrictions and the compliance rules that have become more of a scarecrow than a tool for the customers.
In many regulations, you have limits on the bets, the amount of bonuses you can receive, how fast you can play and so on.
All these limitations will push players elsewhere, where, in many cases, they are completely unprotected, and in the long run regulators are simply ending up punishing themselves and their (former) players.
I would like to see a more open-minded approach from the regulators, where they are not focusing on limiting the experience from players who are in control, and instead shifting the full focus on protecting the weak ones that should not be gambling in the first place.
What role does crypto play in bringing new audiences to iGaming?
Transparency. Once a player is making a deposit using a third party, regardless if it is a card service or simply a bank transaction, there are several parties involved – your bank, the third party and the operator’s bank.
And if something goes wrong, there is a delay or a bump on the road, you have zero to none insight.
Meanwhile, with crypto, there is always a unique ID – TXID showing from what wallet the money was sent from, and to which wallet, the status of the transaction, and it is public information.
Can you give some of the key ways that crypto can grow its player base and more players can embrace crypto?
As I already mentioned previously, transparency is a key factor.
But also being able to deposit with different currencies at a very fast pace, regardless of the amount.
Can you tell us why you are looking forward to the SBC Summit in Malta?
Everything has changed since COVID, and you mainly do full sales online and do not necessarily meet up face to face in order to strike a deal.
But that also means that you have not been able to meet many of those people face to face, and that would be one of the things I am looking forward to.
What about these events is so important in your opinion? Physical relationships. Even though we live in a high-tech and fast-paced time and business, it is important to actually go back to the good old way and meet face to face, as today’s way does sometimes become a bit superficial.
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Source: iGamingExpert
