Interviews with top managers of online casinos (no ads)

When online casino managers are interviewed, they start to throw in all sorts of perks and advertising tricks, and praise their swamp in every possible way.

Let's listen to interviews with different managers and try to guess which online establishments are being discussed when their names are erased from the text.

Casino A

— How long have you been working in the team? What position did you start with?
— Now I am a casino manager. I have been managing the casino on our portal since its inception. I was invited to the team as an affiliate manager in 2009. My area of responsibility is the casino as a whole. I choose providers and work with them, come up with our promotions and their conditions, sort out problems that were not solved by support, communicate with players. In general, I am a control freak in everything that concerns the work of our casino.

— How did you get into the gambling industry?
— I was a guest dealer at the presentations of the poker room in Russia, which took place in Moscow with the participation of stars of our show business and sports.

— How do you schedule? What time does your work day start?
— It is quite possible to maintain a balance between work and personal life. The main thing is to be organized and set priorities. The working day is without fanaticism — from 9.30 to 18.00. If there are problems that require an urgent solution, then we do not have such a situation that at 18.00 everyone gets up and leaves, but if the processes are well-established, force majeure rarely happens.

— How do you find new staff?
— We search in different ways: by recommendations, but more often just by advertisements. We have a core team that has been working for many years, we are all very passionate about our project, and a certain philosophy has already been formed, so in the first couple of months of work it becomes clear how much of our person is.

— What platforms/services do you use for SMM marketing? What channel of communication with consumers do you consider the most acceptable in the case of online casinos?
— We are present in almost all known social networks, in those that ban, more poker and betting. Telegram is relevant for casinos now, of course, because it is the only one that does not ban. In Casino Chat, players communicate with each other and with managers, come with problems that were not solved through support, we hold contests and giveaways there. I am on Telegram myself, so come and chat.

— What problems do you encounter in your work?
— Everyone wants our blood: players, affiliates, providers, payment systems. Any job, and it consists of solving problems, so I don’t perceive this as “oh, horror, problems”, but in general I would also note the shortage of qualified personnel, since gambling is practically not taught anywhere.

— Do you encounter abusers, bonus hunters, or fraud attempts?
- Of course, we paid for all the additions to the rules with our own money.

— How to react to negativity from the client? How do you resolve such issues?
— The specifics of our work is that we have to communicate mainly with a negatively disposed client, a satisfied and winning one does not contact, but simply draws conclusions. Therefore, the answer to the question of how to react is calmly, treat it as an inevitable part of the job, solve issues that require a solution. If a client crosses the line and insults any employee of the company personally, we remove and ban.

— Are you a gambler? Do you play in casinos yourself?
— I don’t think I’m a gambler. A couple of years before joining, I earned money by playing against offline casinos in different countries. In my defense, I can say that we simply calculated and used the optimal strategy for the game with the rules offered to us by the casino. But that wasn’t gambling, but precise calculation. Since then, it’s been difficult for me to get interested in games with negative mathematical expectation.

— And now you have a share, a fixed rate, bonuses, KPIs based on results?
— I can say for sure that the level of my income does not depend in any way on whether the players win or lose.

— About a month ago, we noted that there was an increase in poker players due to the COVID pandemic. What can you say about casinos? Was there an increase in gamblers, and when did this trend appear?
— There was an increase in the number of bets on the CIS market, but at the same time, the average rate decreased, since the pandemic is a pandemic, but also the dollar fell once again, and in general, such external negative circumstances force people to worry more about the future and spend less on things that are not necessary.

— Regarding betting, what is the current state of the eSports betting market?
— The turnover in eSports has increased threefold due to the absence of classic sports events. We expect that with the normalization of the situation in the world, some players will start betting on regular sports again. But at the same time, many clients have only now, albeit forcedly, become acquainted with eSports, and may continue to bet on it, we'll see. It is difficult to assess the prospects under such force majeure circumstances.

— If we talk about the industry as a whole? What do you think we can expect from online gambling in the next 5-10 years?
— The market is increasingly limited by licenses and capabilities of payment systems. The latter dictate, in general, the rules of the game now, because the very existence of online casinos is tied to their work. The trend is not very optimistic, because they are tightening the screws and raising commissions. We, in turn, are forced to react. There was and is great hope for cryptocurrencies, but at the moment the volumes of their use are incomparable with the turnover of fiat. Nevertheless, the trend towards the development of alternative payments, I think, will continue. In terms of game content, the market is moving towards accelerating the turnover of money per unit of time, hence all these quick spins, purchases of bonus games, functions, etc. That is, the games will be more colorful, will be played faster, will offer opportunities to spend more money and will be more varied more often. In addition, in recent years, a huge number of new casinos have appeared, as it has become really cheap and accessible, but you need to understand that if someone has 20 thousand dollars to buy a white label, this does not mean that such a casino will be able to pay out any decent winnings. But now even aggregators that provide ready-made and cheap solutions have their own difficulties. I assume that the market itself will begin to squeeze out one-day casinos, because they simply cannot withstand the expense part, the main thing for players is not to get caught in the deal.

— What else would you like to add to our conversation today?
- Play for fun and don't get dirty.

Game provider B

— Tell me, what’s new lately?
— The last few years have been exciting for the company. There have been many exciting releases, and our goal has been to engage gamblers in the gaming process and give them the opportunity to win big. In a world where new machines are released daily, slots have long attracted attention due to innovation.

— What is the company's strategy?
— First and foremost, we create products for online. When a game is successful online, we put it on slot machines for land-based establishments in North America, which is a fairly large market. We license our products to social networks and app stores. The ability to create different cash flows from a single game is extremely important to us, especially now that the online content market has become so competitive. We did research and found that modern gamblers spend less time in one slot. I believe this is due to the abundance of available content: players are looking to spend money on more machines. Therefore, the critical factors are the distinctive features of the slot and the gaming experience that makes gamblers want to spend more time in the game.

— What do you think makes a company successful?
— The key to our success is our leadership team of game designers, all of whom have vast experience in the field. Having a team that truly understands how to create a good video slot is a crucial factor. The expertise in research, the focus on creating games for a global audience and the deep knowledge of the industry have all contributed greatly to the company achieving such heights in online gambling. Another key to our success has been the constant use of unique game mechanics and the courage to push the boundaries when presenting such innovations. This creates more potential winning combinations for players, fueling their excitement. Needless to say, these games have been very successful. Last but not least, having a good distributor with strong connections in land-based casinos also plays a role.

— What is the most important thing in a slot machine, from your point of view?
— It all starts with a good mathematical model. I know it sounds boring, but it’s true. Having the right volatility and RTP is extremely important. Players want to enjoy the process, but they also want to know that they can win. There’s nothing worse for a gambler than getting to the main event and being disappointed. Often, developers put cool things in the bonus rounds, leaving the main game as underwhelming. The reality is that gamblers spend most of their time in the main game. That’s why we always implement cool features in the standard mode. It makes the gameplay more exciting, increases the likelihood of winning. We like to give players a choice when exactly they want to try the bonus rounds. Having the illusion of control over the game keeps gamblers coming back to the slot more often. Along with the right mathematical model, you need to make sure that the game mechanics work well in conjunction with it. Needless to say, great graphics, sound and animation are also important, especially for the Scandinavian markets. However, this does not make the game great, but the math and mechanics - yes!

— What trends do you see in online gambling? How are players’ preferences changing?
— From an operator’s perspective, localizing games is becoming more important to stay competitive in certain markets. This is a challenge for all developers. Creating a great game for a specific market does not mean it will work for others. Balancing the cost of creating localized content with getting the desired return on investment is a difficult task. That’s why we turned to our largest partners to create custom games for them and offset some of the risks.

— How can you ensure that the latest games meet the ever-changing demands of players?
— We always talk to our consumers, ask for honest feedback on the latest releases. Since they know their players better, this is the most cost-effective, simple and fast way to stay up to date with the changing demands of gamblers. The task is to quickly adapt to the situation. Visiting exhibitions, communicating with other developers and our partners also helps to draw certain conclusions.

— What changes do you think we should expect in the online gambling industry?
— The biggest change will definitely be related to 5G. We are really excited that 5G will finally be globally adopted in the near future. For example, the rapid development of HTML5 has been a real transformation. Increasing the download speed to a certain threshold is still an important challenge for mobile content producers. This is especially true for developing countries and Asian countries, where the internet speed is still not stable. The ability to add artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, additional gaming elements using 5G speeds is an extremely exciting prospect for us.

PR director of casino S

— Hello. Tell us about your work
— Good afternoon. The main task of the PR department is to make people aware of our existence, think only good things and come here again and again. In other words, we form the image of our company in the public sphere — the image of a leader who can be trusted. We achieve these goals through various tools. First of all, this is proactive work with the media. I call it proactive deliberately, since in this case it is not enough to just respond to journalists’ requests and comment on articles. Here you need to be the initiator, the author, the ideological inspirer of all materials.

— What difficulties do you encounter in your work?
— The biggest difficulty for a PR specialist when working with the gambling business is the reputation that was formed long before. And in order to achieve at least a neutral attitude towards the casino, you need to go through a very difficult and long path. This also applies to journalists, who at the beginning of our journey and acquaintance had very stereotypical ideas about what a modern casino is. And, as a result, they published materials about the gambling business with a sharply negative tone. Well, we overcame this problem. Now about 200 materials are published in the media every month in a neutral-positive tone. We do not pay for any of them. This is our fundamental position. Journalists from all over the world come to us, we shoot films, series, reality shows, write articles, give interviews, organize press tours for journalists and bloggers, do joint projects, hold presentations of new issues, business receptions and dinners with the participation of media agencies, etc.

— How about internet marketing?
— In addition to the media and bloggers, a large front of work of the PR department lies in the SMM direction. This is the daily management of official pages on Instagram, two Facebook accounts (Russian and English versions), Vkontakte, Yandex Zen, YouTube, Telegram. A total of 8 accounts with different content. As a result, the production of content (texts, videos, posts, etc.) also lies on our shoulders. We produce kilograms of letters and frames per day. Sometimes we are called the creative department, since creative issues mainly go to us. I am convinced that PR and SMM in modern realities are inseparable things, so their collaboration within the PR department is very harmonious. In fact, these are 8 additional media platforms for achieving the same global goal with which I began my story.

— How did you get into the gambling industry?
— In 2011, back in Moscow, when I came to an interview at a network of bookmaker clubs for the position of a marketer. We started with one club, then we grew into a network of 17 PPS located in Moscow and St. Petersburg. This was my first and main experience in gambling.

— What skills were you missing at the start, when you first entered this industry?
— Well, of course, the main thing — experience in the gambling business, understanding the psychology of the client, knowledge of the product itself. In the bookmaking business, you simply have to understand sports and lines. Of course, I was very far from this, but as it turned out later, not hopeless. The same problem awaited me at the start of my work. It was already easier, of course, and I knew how to play poker, but what roulette was and how slot machines worked I knew only from films and books.

— What have you acquired, what have you learned, what development have you received as a marketer?
— I think my main new skill is SMM. I wasn’t given it right away, but after a year of working for the company. And since then my life has become even more fun (smiles). Yes, SMM sucks all the juices out of you, as it’s a 24/7 job without vacations, weekends, illnesses or holidays. To manage all these 8 accounts and make them interesting, varied, useful every day, while not forgetting about reach, engagement, growth of new subscribers… you need to love it. And I love it. And of course, I honed my event skills. Holding a small business dinner with famous businessmen and politicians, a press tour of foreign media for 150 people or a fight in WOW ARENA for 5,000 spectators? We are already doing all this with our eyes closed.

— Are you into gambling? Can we meet you at a table in a land-based casino?
— I am a very gambling person who cannot stop if I have lost. I can only say stop-play after winning. I have this stupid persistence in me, which is often useful at work, but certainly not in the game. So — no. It is better for me not to play.

— If tomorrow you were forced to change your job, what would you dream about, what would you do?
— Perhaps I will organize my own communications agency specializing in the gambling business. Or I will dive headlong into the charity sphere. Or maybe I will be able to combine these two areas. I want to use my PR skills for good, to be useful to people, to do something big and very good in life.

— It was interesting to watch your YouTube channel. How is the work going in this direction? How many people are involved, who prepares the media plan?
— Thank you for your feedback, but I admit, YouTube is my pain. Yes, there is enough material there, there are different programs, shows, stories from bloggers and TV channels, videos and announcements. But this is not enough for us. First of all, we would like to expand our audience and, of course, grow in numbers. And these are large budgets (the cost of one subscriber targeted by gender, age, geo for us on YouTube starts from 78 rubles), large labor costs (creating, filming, editing content) and, now most importantly, difficulties in promotion, since YouTube bans a lot of things, including poker.

Director of Casino Development D

— How has your work changed due to the coronavirus pandemic?
— In a colossal way. To be honest, I can’t find a place for myself. I haven’t been on a single business trip for almost two months, and over the past three years, I probably haven’t had two weeks without being somewhere in meetings or negotiations. For our new projects, we were supposed to hold meetings in America, in Macau, but the coronavirus left its mark and life changed by 100%. Previously, we worked 24/7, and now we have the opportunity to rest in this mode, and we ourselves are simply shocked at times that such a story suddenly happened. Everyone needs to be at home, this is a new experience for everyone, but I am sure that everyone will become stronger. Many of our team members are engaged in self-development, listen to some online courses, improve their skills in foreign languages. Well, and they enjoy spending time lying on the couch, because they have the opportunity to sleep, rethink life and relax a little.

— How many employees do you have under your command?
— The team that deals with international development consists of 7 people including me, I have 3 girls and 3 boys reporting directly to me. I have a close deputy and then managers by areas. That is, we segment the market by the areas from which our guests come.

— Routine tasks every day?
— I wouldn’t say that there are any routine tasks every day, everything is quite spontaneous in our business. There is some kind of plan for the year, taking into account meetings, business trips, events, and you build your schedule based on that. But everything changes in life at lightning speed, like now, for example.

— What do you consider the most important thing in your work?
— The most important thing, not only in my work, but in general, I think, is the ability to talk and communicate with people, find the right mutually beneficial solutions, explain them to your guests, partners, employees. You can come to an agreement with any person, so the ability to communicate is the most important thing.

— If we compare Russian casinos with establishments in Las Vegas and Macau, what do you see as the main difference and what could be adopted from foreign colleagues?
— Vegas and Macau are, of course, the gambling meccas, many things are better there than we have in terms of entertainment in general. In terms of the games offered, the professionalism of the staff, we are definitely not inferior to either Vegas or Macau. In its pure form, we could borrow the approach to entertainment and the infrastructure around gambling establishments. People are involved there 24 hours a day. All kinds of shows, Cirque du Soleil, MMA fights, concerts of superstars, shopping, etc. At the same time, you can go from casino to casino via a closed passage, without going outside, people walk, the traffic increases many times over. And the entertainment industry brings in no less income than gambling. Yes, maybe we are losing in size, in area, but in no way in content. We have all kinds of games, during the entire time of our work, guests from 155 countries have visited us.

— Do you spend time gambling?
— Probably not. Sometimes I like to spend time at roulette or playing blackjack, but I wouldn’t say I’m very keen on it. I like sports games more, I enjoy playing hockey and football, I love team sports.

— Do you prefer to hire professionals or grow your staff from newbies?
— We have a very balanced team, there are people who worked in the gambling industry even before the law on gambling zones. For example, the management of the gaming department. Almost everyone there has extensive gaming experience, including in the post-Soviet space and in Russia before the ban on gambling. As for the line staff, there are different people. For example, in our own croupier school, we train employees from scratch.

— What were the development plans for 2020 and how have they changed in the current situation?
— I had several key areas planned. The first was to establish regular interaction with China so that guests would fly from there. In order to reach 30% in terms of occupancy by foreign guests, we spent 3 years, and at the end of 2019 we reached this figure. But how can we return to this figure again?

— If we talk about the industry as a whole, what would you change?
— Probably, the first thing that comes to mind is tax breaks. We remain a business with a human face, and I would generally somehow fix the rules. So that industry representatives sit down with the government at the negotiating table and agree on the rules of the game for the next 20-25 years. Invite professionals, specialists, economists, calculate and fix everything, so that it would be easier for everyone to predict and develop.

— If tomorrow casinos in Russia ceased to exist, what would you do?
— I’ll probably become some kind of philanthropist or write memoirs while sitting on the ocean shore.

but you have to understand that if someone has 20 thousand dollars to buy a white label, this does not mean that such a casino will be able to pay out any decent winnings.

If someone wants to open a licensed online casino in Belarus, one of the conditions is to have a million dollars in a special account in the Belarusian bank.
As a guarantee that the casino will be able to pay out winnings.