SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Golden Race, Gold Sponsor for the upcoming Betting on Sports conference (12-15 September), is a virtual sports provider which creates an authentic sports betting experience that customers can completely control, manage, and deliver to players across retail, online and mobile channels.
Less than two weeks before the event, we spoke to Golden Race CEO Martin Wachter about the company’s new mobile product, the complexities in building effective virtual games for mobile, and bridging the gap between the online and offline experience.
SBC: Hi Martin, great to catch up. Golden Race’s mobile release is a major development for 2017, can you detail to SBC readers the new features of your product?
MW: We released our first mobile application with one of our key clients last year for two special markets, in Kenya and in Nigeria. We have been the first real working mobile application starting with an average of 200,000 tickets per month – now reaching more than 2,000,000 tickets per day in other areas of Africa.
This improved navigation will allow for faster browsing and switching between all sports, while the floating video option will enable users to navigate and bet while the video player remains visible.
SBC: Why are mobile dynamics so vital to bridging customer dynamics between digital and land-based products?
MW: The strongest market for Golden Race is retail, precisely 90% of our business. We didn’t focus too much on the online because we wanted to establish our product and our company first in the retail industry.
However, these past two years we have been working very hard on the online with workshops with clients and players in our offices. We needed to know where to get better so that people would also want to play virtual online. Mobile bridges the gap between the real and the digital world.
SBC: At present, how do you see virtual sports provisions and services fitting within a more mobile-centric industry; how will your product inventory be served to betting customers?
MW: Mobile is the bridge between the online and offline experience. We strongly believe we found the perfect partners, and we are very close to getting certified and licensed in the different markets.
The platform, which can be easily integrated into 3rd party betting systems, is compliant with the highest regulatory standards and will deliver the complete mobile experience, including virtual video quality adaptive to a player’s connection.
SBC: What are the complexities in building effective mobile virtual games and how does development and delivery of inventory differ to traditional gaming formats?
MW: By utilizing our unique know-how in areas like these, I believe we will be able to come up with unique propositions for consumers. For both our new online and mobile solutions, we designed them from the ground up to ensure that the look and feel are completely the same as anything a player would be familiar with from real sports betting, while maintaining the manageability and availability of virtual sports.
Players don’t have to learn anything with our new online. The look and feel is identical to real sports betting, and they can play from their mobile, tablet, or desktop – it’s the same authentic betting experience, wherever they are.
SBC: Still in its initial stage, how do you see your product growing in the coming months?
MW: After being the market leaders in the retail market, I think that in two years we will also take over the market on the online. That’s our goal.
