Q&A
> CEO > Unibet
month in minutes >
Henrik Tjärnström
nibet CEO Henrik Tjärnström discusses the company’s shift in focus from dot.com to dot.country and its acquisition of a stake in real-money Facebook operator Bonza Gaming eGR: How long will it be until Unibet reaches pre-dot.country regulation earnings levels? Henrik Tjärnström (HG): We’re not far away and the quicker we grow, the sooner it will be. This is why we are making such a high marketing investment, although we are focusing on growing rather than short gains with maximum pro?ts. The underlying ambition for the rest of the year is more of the same, transforming the business from dot.com to dot.country. Mobile is where we see the future. We have one of the best offerings in the mobile channel. In the last quarter, we had about 16% of our total revenues coming from the channel. Again it is by far the fastest-growing channel for us, so we are expecting that number to increase going forward as well. eGR: Are you seeing any growth for Unibet in the French market? HG: We’re very strong in sports betting, we’ve been strengthening our product and we’ve seen strong growth in that. It is virtually impossible to earn any money in the French poker market. It’s a struggle to break even and to even survive, then there is a very limited amount of money left over to use for marketing. We are taking market share in France, but we’re not investing a lot so it is not significant. I would say it is a dysfunctional market which offers significant untapped potential for the French government. It is currently pressed for tax revenues and it
U
would get more if it makes the terms and conditions more competitive. eGR: The quarter saw strong results in the Nordic markets – when will dot.country come in for Sweden and what impact would this have? HG: The draft regulations will be made available soon. But this will just be a roadmap for how things will develop in the country. We are not expecting a formal proposal until late 2014. Therefore I believe the opening of the market is a good couple of years away, perhaps 2016 or 2017. During the coming years, we don’t see any of the major countries going from dot.com to dot. country in our business until early or mid2015, when we think Holland is the next most likely, then the expectation is Sweden will follow later than that. But the most important thing will be that regulations are put in place to combat problem gambling. eGR: Following the stake Unibet has acquired in Bonza Gaming, what potential do you see for real-money gaming on Facebook? HG: Our stake in Bonza Gaming is a clear win-win partnership. We know each other very well from history and they have a better understanding than us of the softer part of the industry. The game has been live for such a short period of time, so it is too early to say how much potential there is for realmoney gaming on Facebook, but that’s what we’re waiting to see. This is a very good opportunity to strengthen our experience as well on social channels. It’s still early days, but this is a testament to us being at the forefront of development. It allows us to see how a new channel can work and what else we can do on the real-money gambling side for the business.
CONSEQUENCES OF A DEAL
Five months after news emerged of PokerStars' plans to acquire the Atlantic Club Casino in New Jersey, the increasingly hostile takeover looks poised on a knife edge
In December 2012, news ?rst broke of PokerStars owner Rational Enterprises having entered into a deal to acquire the Atlantic Club Casino from Colony Capital in a deal worth a reported $30m.
5
4
1
The American Gaming Association released a 28page petition objecting to PokerStars’ application saying the operator wasn’t a suitable licensee. The deal with the Atlantic Club looked to be off when the casino's 30 April deadline for completion had passed.
2
A deal was formally reached in January, and two weeks later New Jersey passed a bill to regulate online gaming in the state with licensees required to have an existing landbased licence.
Governor Chris Christie signed the bill in February and by March the gloves came off.
3
PokerStars reportedly pumped $11m into the casino since December and said it remained committed to the deal ?H?]??YH??[]?HH Y?H[\X?? H?]??\??^H?[?H?[X?[?? ?X?????B?????Y?XY?^?[?K???B??B??