Joining a stellar list of speakers already including Tal Itzhak Ron, ActiveWin managing director Warren Jacobs, Racing Post CMO Louise Agran and more, Wachter will head up the second-last talk of the day.
You can watch AffiliateCon Virtually Live for free on YouTube or affiliatecon.com. Below, we catch up with Wachter ahead of his presentation:
How is the coronavirus pandemic currently affecting your business?
We have some good news and some bad news. We lost part of our retail shop revenues for a while, since they were closed because of the pandemic in many countries. On the other hand, we have seen a huge increase in demand for our virtual sports online. In March, we had 74% more online tickets and a rise of 21% in total tickets (retail + online).
We have also signed around 130 new clients since March. And April seems to have been even better.
What advice would you give operators during these testing times?
Embrace virtual sports, of course. And not only for this period, but forever. Through virtual sports operators can add significant income to their businesses. It is a long-term opportunity. In fact, even before the outbreak, we observed amazing numbers for virtual sports, with 15% to 20% of the monthly profits on average generated at a betting shop driven by virtual sports in the European market.
Italy is a great case study, since it is the most developed virtual sports market in Europe. There, our partner, since adopting our virtual sports in 2015, went from the fourth position to market leader. During these testing times, our virtual sports represent a great alternative for sportsbook players, since our product is the closest to reality operators can find.
In our games, the outcomes are decided using real statistics and realistic odds built on those statistics. We are always investing in technology to have the most realistic visual effects. Also, all our games are presented in a scheduled and instant mode, so players can bet whenever they want without having to wait for the event to start. This feature is very appealing for them, along with the combination bets bonuses and jackpots we offer.
What will your talk be about at AffiliateCon Virtually Live?
I will talk about how virtual sports are helping the sports betting industry in the current situation, the outstanding growth of the demand for virtual sports and some myths and truths about virtuals.
