30 June, 2022

THE FULL STACK

Campeon Gaming Co-Founder & CEO Marinos Shiapanis speaks to the GI Huddle about the value of proprietary platforms, and adjusting for different markets

If you could sum up the brand in three words, and you can explain why, what would the three words be?

People, culture and innovation. These words sum up the company in terms of what we have achieved today. We’re an inclusive, fair company, and these values are the driving force behind all our partnerships. From day one we’ve always said the priority is for our own people, regardless of how much we grow. We’ve now gone from one to 15 brands, and there’s still more room for growth.  

What are Campeon’s main focuses now? 

Our main focus over the last year was the development of our own technology; this includes a new product which is our own proprietary iGaming platform.

As operators primarily, we found it difficult to find the perfect platform to work with sometimes. Throughout the process of having a lot of partnerships, a lot of turnkey solutions etc., we decided the best way forward was to develop our own platform and an improved operation for our potential partners. We started this process over a year ago, and now we have the majority of our brands working on our own technology. We’re also providing white label and doing B2B, and now we’re focusing on the next steps in terms of white labelling. We’re focusing on the Far East a lot now, and have our presence in Latin America; we’re always busy!

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using proprietary platforms, as you are, compared to third-party software? 

The main advantage of using your own technology is that you have control. You’re the owner of yourself, so everything you do wrong or right is on you. You cannot blame anyone. This is why we created our own platform. Of course, we made mistakes and learned from these. The other positive is speed – we can implement things far more quickly and also rectify things much faster ourselves. Technology is important now, so we wanted everyone to see that we’re not only operating a successful gaming business, but we have the capacity to enter into the technological sphere.   

You have a brand in the Far East, SupaCasi. Can you tell us about it?

We undertook a lot of research on the Far East; the people, the gaming culture, etc. We researched a lot of branding; names, logos, what the Asian market would like, etc. I think the result is a good brand in SupaCasi – we have a range of top-notch gaming providers on it, and we facilitate a range of the biggest payment options in the Far East using SupaCasi too. All of the SupaCasi offers are based on local people and what they would expect from online casino, and sports betting. We’re offering a holistic experience in the Far East in the way we market ourselves. And now we’re looking at launching two more brands in the same market. 

How different are player preferences in the Far East compared to other regions, i.e., Europe?

I wouldn’t say players are looking for totally different things in these markets. Online sports betting and casino are universal hobbies. At the end of the day, no matter what the brand is, you need to have a big variety in your offering. You should offer everything you can. If you try to localise the tone of voice, the language, to local markets, this is how you can best appeal to different markets. Of course, payments too must also be localised for ease of access for the player. Game wise, I think operators everywhere have all they need to be a success, and there are many aggregators out there – so having your games up to scratch is standard for the competition. 

Finally, what does Campeon look for in a good affiliate to partner with?

I’d go back to the beginning here and say trust. I think it needs to be a mutually trustworthy relationship with an affiliate. Not only in terms of volume, how many players they bring in or the money they get, because it’s not a sprint but a marathon. You need to run alongside your competition over a long distance. Building trust is the key to achieving this. And having a mutual understanding is equally as important, so the operator and the affiliate need to be on the same page in terms of strategy; the partnership should be moving in the same direction.