SPONSORED EDITORIAL / B E T C L I C E V E R E S T G R O U P
A REWARDING EXPERIENCE
ALEXANDRA MIHAIU, AFFILIATE MANAGER AT BETCLIC EVEREST GROUP, SPEAKS TO
EGAMING REVIEW ABOUT THE FIRM’S NEW MONTE-CARLO CASINO WEBSITE
ALEXANDRA MIHAIU
tAFFILIATE MANAGER
tBETCLIC EVEREST GROUP
Alexandra Mihaiu has
been affiliate manager
at Betclic Everest Group
since 2013 and launched
the Monte-Carlo®
Affiliates programme
in 2014.
eGaming Review (eGR): What have been the
highlights of 2014 for Betclic Everest relating
to online casino?
Alexandra Mihaiu (AM): We had a full year
dedicated to building and soft-launching MonteCarlo® Casino, the online website of the world’s
most prestigious land-based casino. It’s an
impressive product, combining the classic black
and white branding which blends the golden
age of 1950s Monaco with modern functionality,
such as a sliding ‘my dashboard’ area which
integrates account management. We’ve also
looked very closely at our games content and
product features, bringing in multi-play options
and mini-game integration into the gaming
experience.
We’ve got some really exciting
enhancements planned for the c oming months,
too. We’re in the process of implementing an
automated games recommendation engine
based on the player’s individual preferences.
We also want to let people enjoy Monte-Carlo®
Casino on the platform they want, which is why
we’re releasing a mobile version of the site at
the end of January 2015.
Finally, one of the strongest points of this
casino is the loyalty scheme we have designed,
where we’ve co-operated with the land-based
Monte-Carlo® Casino to give our players tangible
incentives such as trips to Monaco and special
access in the land-based casino – the kinds of
experiences and benefits you can’t get from any
other online casino.
eGR: What aspects of Monte-Carlo® Affiliates
are you most proud of?
AM: The launch of Monte-Carlo® Affiliates was
a great opportunity as it gave us the chance to
build the programme right from the beginning.
It is a great challenge to make sure you design a
competitive affiliate programme while keeping
in mind the developments from the industry, the
challenges faced by the affiliates in this highly
competitive market, and the profitability level
for both ourselves and our partners.
I’m proud that we’ve built a great place where
affiliates can develop long-term partnerships on a
fair basis. Most of our brands have a long history
– if you look at Everest Casino, the product has
been in the market since 1996 and we have
partners that continued to work with us since our
88
first affiliate programme (then Everest Affiliates)
came to life. They are still earning revenues from
some of the players sent back then.
eGR: If I was considering joining Monte-Carlo
Affiliates, what reason could you give to
persuade me?
AM: Monte-Carlo® Affiliates was built from
the desire to offer our affiliates a partnership
experience worthy of the Monte-Carlo® name.
The commercial terms are very affiliateorientated – we offer a very competitive revenue
share scheme, no negative carry-over and no
minimum player requirements. We pay the
affiliates for the entire lifetime of the players and
we are happy to see that they still earn money
from acquisitions made in 2006 and 2007.
eGR: What do you think the future holds for
the online casino sector?
AM: I can see that the casino industry needs
to become more personal regarding the needs
of the online players. As the market grows, so
are the expectations regarding the quality of
the online casino product, the accessibility, its
design and functionality. Approximately 50% of
the market is on mobile now and this is asking
us to adapt to the device and the environment in
which the customer chooses to use our product.
For us it is important that every player has
a wonderful experience with Monte-Carlo®, so
our online casino features many exciting games,
delivered in a beautiful website setting and an
attractive Cercle Club loyalty scheme which
rewards players of all levels.
eGR: What developments do you have planned
for 2015?
AM: 2015 is going to be a great year, as we will
start it with the commercial launch of MonteCarlo® Casino. Our affiliates will be able to start
promoting this website from early January and I
am very confident it will perform amazingly.
Other than this we will focus on improving
the products and the customer experience on
our other casino brands, Everest Casino and
Imperial Casino, as well as on our poker website,
Everest Poker. And, of course, we have our
sports brands, Betclic and Expekt, both of which
will continue to drive an excellent sports betting
experience throughout 2015.
W W W. E G R M A G A Z I N E . C O M