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Glitnor Group CEO David Flynn shared his experience of growing the firm’s affiliate business during the recent SBC Barcelona Summit, while talking more about prospects for the group in new markets.
Looking first at market plans, he noted that the group as a whole is already active in most jurisdictions. “Our affiliation business for example – Latin America is a really strong growth market for us, as is the United States, of course,” he said.
“It’s really good growth for us now right across the board. From a B2B perspective, you mention the UK. We’re looking at licensing across the Eastern European regulated markets right now. We’ve signed some initial deals in the US and started the licensing process for states in the US as well for the B2B business.
“For our B2C division, which is Lucky Casino and HappyCasino, we’ve just launched HappyCasino in the Swedish market and it’s going through the Canadian licensing process right now – that’s our next step into North America.”
Having gained a licence to do business in Michigan, Flynn talked more about the process involved, saying: “I think it’s a sensible approach. The licensing process for an affiliate is not as onerous as for an operator, which makes sense considering the affiliate is not actually managing the money so to speak. From that perspective I think it’s the right approach to have a lesser degree of scrutiny on affiliate licences.
“But it’s really important that the affiliate world is also licensed and regulated to ensure that players do have a fair representation, so that when they’re looking through which particular sites they want to play on, they do get the reputable sites – the licensed sites. That’s really important.”
He continued: “With our affiliate business, we are solely SEO. We don’t do any PPC affiliation whatsoever. So with SEO, once we get a licence it’s about making sure we get the traction and the rankings for that particular market. It does take some time.
“In terms of Michigan and in terms of the licensing from an affiliate perspective, it’s quite straightforward. To take that into other regulated states in the US – we’re already across 12 states now – all the pieces are in place, it’s just about paperwork.”
When pushed on whether or not the burden of regulation can draw attention away from innovation, Flynn responded: “A lot of time with our tech team is spent looking at regulated markets and making sure that we abide by the necessary changes that are required to do business in those markets.
“And when you’re planning a market entry that’s absolutely fine – you understand that. It’s more about trying to adapt to the quick changes that can come up from regulators from time to time when looking into a market. It puts changes within your workflow, within your projects and your deliveries and innovation really has to take a step back.”
Flynn’s take on that matter is clearly geography first, innovation second. He stated: “We’ve taken the position that we’ll be a very strong follower when it comes to innovative product development, but I wouldn’t say that that’s a bad position at the moment. It’s more important to get geographical growth.”
The full interview with Flynn can be viewed HERE.
