RISQ is sponsoring Betting on Sports 2018, the 3rd edition of the largest international sports and betting trade conference at Olympia London.
Ahead of the 18-21 September event, we asked Director of Business Development Julian Borg-Barthet to disclose what he is most looking forward to at #boscon2018 and which sports betting partnership stood out during the previous twelve months, plus much more.
SBC: What are you looking forward to at Betting on Sports?
JBB: Betting on Sports is going to be a great opportunity for us to grow our network, and interact with existing clients and partners.
With the US market quickly evolving after PASPA’s repeal, I am looking forward to hearing what leading experts have to say about the opportunities available stateside, and where they see the industry going over the next few years as state-by-state regulation opens up.
SBC: What are you promoting at Betting on Sports?
JBB: RISQ are promoting their igaming insurance platform which creates new levels in player acquisition and retention via scalable jackpots of up to £150m. These flexible solutions offer operators, and platform-providers, access to some of the biggest payouts in the industry.
RISQ also provides prize coverage for betting-on-lottery platforms (featuring national, state and provincial lottery betting), as well as free-to-play sports predictor games for event-based competitions. RISQ’s insurance platform offers scalable technology and contracting solutions, backed by a team of innovative and experienced professionals in both risk and sporting analytics, and leverages over a dozen global reinsurance markets, including Lloyd’s of London.
SBC: Which sports betting operator has impressed you the most in 2018?
JBB: With many operators continuously producing great results and innovation across the industry, it’s hard to differentiate between them all. Speaking more generally, then, this has finally been the year in which build-a-bets (and their forerunner request-a-bets) have morphed from a novelty sideshow that generated some amusing engagement across the odd social channel, to one of the most heavily promoted markets by operators.
Of course, personalisation has long been an industry buzzword, proclaiming the next wave in sportsbook innovation. However, it looks like this summer’s World Cup finally proved the tipping point for its arrival, with genuine utility and mainstream applications.
Similarly, the introduction of ‘Group Bets’ promises to add a great social and competitive aspect to sports betting. Sky Bet have been marketed very well, and the use of the Sky Sports platform has allowed them to become a very recognised and respected brand.
Elsewhere, Jackpot Predictors have completed the proverbial trifecta for this zeitgeist shift to an entertainment-driven product that appeals to a new, younger customer type. These free-to-play games were adopted by a suite of high-profile operators over the summer, and the facility allowing players to make more than one set of predictions, if they complete a staking requirement, only enhanced the impact of these games as a driver of betting activity.
SBC: What sports betting partnership has stood out in the past 12 months?
JBB: From a slightly subjective standpoint, I think that RISQ’s Sports Predictor partnerships over the World Cup really stood out. I strongly believe that free-to-play jackpot games are the best way to acquire and retain customers, which was illustrated by the success of these partnerships.
Our customisable iGiP (iGaming Insurance Platform) has reset the bar as a player acquisition and retention tool, fuelling regular jackpots up to £25m on Sports Predictor and Prize Draw Campaigns. RISQ are a B2B-only world leader in this domain, allowing partners the flexibility to build campaigns themselves and insure through our iGiP.
Eloquent examples of RISQ’s ability to deliver include the recent Maradona’s Millions campaign, which ran in conjunction with GVC across all their brands internationally. The promotion generated thousands of new customers, whose value was provably higher than any other acquisition source.
Indeed, a register-to-play conversion rate of over 80% was off the charts, while 33% of GVC’s VIP customers played at least one of our games at Russia 2018. We look forward to building on these achievements.
SBC: If you could attend one sporting event, what would it be?
JBB: I’m not an all-encompassing sports fan by any means, so perhaps it’s easier for me to choose just one event. So, without wishing to state the glaringly obvious, I think it would have to be the World Cup Final. Football’s appeal is inescapable, from growing up in Malta to making my home in the UK it’s been ever-present. Therefore, it would be amazing to watch the greatest game on the biggest stage.
