SafeCharge 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 COO Yuval Ziv to disclose some of the firm’s plans for #boscon2018 and to pick out the sporting event he would most like to attend.
SBC: What are you looking forward to at Betting on Sports?
YZ: Regarding the line-up, there is definitely an amazing selection to choose from. Personally, I’m really interested in the Innovation and Technology room to see what can be done to improve this sector for both operators and players. It’s a great opportunity to exhibit at Betting on Sports and show the attendees how we can help each other and explain how payments can be a huge advantage and a key factor for success.
It is always a pleasure to meet our existing merchants and learn from them about the trends in the industry. This event is also a great opportunity to connect with new merchants and learn about their industry experience and needs.
SBC: What are you promoting at Betting on Sports?
YZ: SafeCharge is here to promote our full-service platform along with our products and services. We have a strong gaming heritage and offer operators the right payments infrastructure that enables them to seize new opportunities offered by a fast commerce transformation, create new revenue opportunities, increase authorisation rates and serve a global market of channel-agnostic players.
Gaming operators seek the perfect blend of having a payment partner with experience and the know-how along with the option of making their own choices for card acquiring, payment methods and getting data insight with access to business intelligence. I believe we do exactly that.
SafeCharge empower merchants to take control and decide on all these parameters. By giving them the choice, we put operators in the ‘driver’s seat’ and this is exactly the approach we promote for the entire betting industry.
We are also excited to introduce our newest product called the Identity Manager. Using our expertise of working in highly regulated markets, this solution is designed to help operators with customer identification and verification in a frictionless way while protecting them against fraud.
The whole idea behind this product is to enable access to a wide range of identity verification providers across the world and provide a smart routing of checks adapted to both, the needs of operators and the location of the players. The Identity Manager has been designed to answer the specific needs of the gaming industry.
SBC: Which sports betting company has impressed you the most in 2018?
YZ: I’ve enjoyed great deal working with our merchants. I can see growth coming from all over the EU regulated markets, including operators in Italy and Portugal. I’ve also seen many changes and developments in the last few years within the UK. I enjoy working with our partners as platforms for sports and betting, and also with our direct merchants.
SBC: What sports betting partnership has stood out in the past 12 months?
YZ: As a football fan, I was looking forward to the World Cup this year. I think out of their partnerships, the one with Visa is well-managed. They created different short commercials on how payments are easier with Visa contactless cards. If you take a closer look at it, it gives several benefits for Visa cardholders at such an event.
Both schemes have lately introduced some great products to allow faster payouts, higher conversion, and better chargeback management. We have already implemented those within our acquiring platform, and we are happy to support our merchants with their growth needs.
SBC: If you could attend one sporting event, what would it be?
YZ: The next World Cup in Qatar sounds like a good option to go for. But my personal passion for tennis makes the US Open an ultimate choice.