ISABELLE ANDRES INTERVIEW
model we had in the past. Each time you have to adapt to a new business model, you go through difficult times,” she explains. The Betclic revival was also instigated by investment in technology for its poker and casino products. In September last year, after a drop in seven-day average liquidity from approximately 1,000 cash players to fewer than 600, Everest Poker and Betcclic.com were moved onto the top tier of Playtech’s iPoker network, which currently ranks third worldwide for a 24-hour peak of cash players, according to Pokerscout. This not only increased the player pool for the operator but gave its players access to new features, such as its fast-fold offering Speed Hold’em. A deal was also struck for the Everest brand to integrate Playtech’s casino offering, while a live dealer casino product was launched in the Italian market in partnership with Evolution. A new era Consequently, with Betclic Everest’s future now looking much brighter, Andres is demanding more of the same from her team in 2013. “My objectives this year are de?nitely to continue this strategy which has been proven successful so far,” she says. “And I see absolutely no reason why I should change it. I was part of this strategy last year, so it would be weird to decide to launch a completely different one altogether. “We want to focus on Europe for the time being; we want to focus on regulated and major markets. What we will probably do a bit differently compared to last year is focus a little bit more on some aspects which we were not so involved with in recent years, like making the most of our different brands, for instance, and develop these very small but precise key areas,” she adds. Audres explains this means further improving the operator’s products, including its core sportsbook offering. “We are, and we will be, offering an increasing number of pre-match and in-play margins in the coming months,” she reveals. “I must say we are very happy with our sportsbook for 2013, and we are having good results this far, despite the fact we have no speci?c sporting events this year.”
“We are, and we will be, offering an increasing number of prematch and in-play margins in the coming months”
Andres on the operator's products
TIMELINE
Betclic Everest Group
2005
Betclic founded by Nicolas Beraud and Eric Monçada
March 2007
Mangas Gaming is founded
November 2007
Betclic acquired by Mangas
May 2009
Mangas purchases bet-at-home
July 2009
Acquisition of Expekt brand
“My objectives this year are definitely to continue this strategy which has been proven successful so far”
Andres on the year ahead
April 2010
Everest Gaming acquisition completed
December 2010 Mangas
becomes Betclic Everest Group
Andres is referring in particular to the contrast in signi?cant sporting occasions between this summer and last year’s, which featured the Euro 2012 football championships followed by the Olympics. Last year’s sporting summer provided Betclic Everest with another ?llip, with the operator securing a 40% market share, or €30m, in France for Euro 2012, 37% (€20m) for the Olympics and 50% (€1.7m) for the Tour de France. With only the latter taking place this summer, 2013 will bring a different challenge, but one Andres is comfortable taking on. “It’s more a question of preparing than adapting [for this summer], for the time being,” she explains. “Of course in France we have Paris Saint Germain [who featured in football’s European club competition the UEFA Champions League], which has been a major event of the year and has driven the business up, de?nitely. I would say it is not the ideal year for sportsbook, because we have no speci?c events, but this is the ideal year to use as an opportunity to prepare for 2014, which is de?nitely what we are doing,” she adds. Since Andres beca me CEO last December, the operator’s casino portfolio has expanded, with agreements signed for the Betclic and Expekt brands to use video slots provided by developer Quickspin. But the biggest development is still to come, with Betclic Everest “launching a new brand in casino very soon”. “We will use the brand of one of our shareholders [SBM], the Monte Carlo Casino,” she explains. “It was an idea we had for some time but we gave up, then at the beginning of the year we decided it was a shame not to use it. We have rede?ned this project a little bit and we are about to launch in Q2. This is the montecarlocasino.com, which we have revamped and will be promoting with new offers, promotions, and VIP packages starting in May,” she adds. But poker in the operator’s core market is not currently proving to be as lucrative as desired, with ?rst quarter 2013 results released by French regulator L’Autorité de régulation des jeux en ligne (ARJEL) showing overall online poker revenues were down 13%. In a market with an unfavourable taxation rate and dominated by Winamax and PokerStars, a number of operators have handed
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