MONTH IN MINUTES
Q&A
Thomas Lundberg
Deputy CEO, Paf
eGaming Review (eGR): Paf recently launched its new bingo offering on Parlay Entertainment’s Parlay5 gaming platform; what was behind this decision and how do you see it improving your bingo offering? Thomas Lundberg (TL): We had an in-house developed product that was in poor technical shape as well as some years behind the competition, so we reviewed whether to take the time, cost and risk of developing a new product in-house or supplying the product externally. The conclusion was that the best product for us on the market was Parlay’s bingo. software again? On which side of the third party versus proprietary software debate do you stand? TL: Paf has operated online sports betting since 1999 but did not have a competitive product and was also lacking live and pool betting products. Co-operating with Kambi gave us access to a market-leading product including these missing elements (pool betting still to be launched later this year) as well as a managed service from one of the best in the market. As far as I can tell, we will not develop any in-house sports betting software again. the mass market to deposit and/ or withdraw money and that is not only the responsibility of the gaming operators. The payment infrastructure is also too scattered between markets and the solutions offered are not always in line with market maturity. eGR: Denmark should regulate early next year. How do you see the future of legislation in Scandinavia? TL: I do not think we will see joint Scandinavian regulation as we have not seen any pan-European regulation. But I am con?dent that Denmark will in?uence Sweden, which is most likely the next Scandinavian country to re-regulate. Sweden will, in turn, in?uence a lot of the more restrictive countries like Finland and Norway. I think we will see a number of independent state regulations in the Nordics as well as in Europe and we are prepared to work in such conditions. When we have open markets such as Italy, Spain, France, Denmark, Sweden and Estonia, I think the rest will come but in their own time and with their own solutions. eGR: Who do you fear the most and why? Does the ‘Apple effect’, i.e. a completely new player coming in and wiping out existing operators, concern you? TL: The only big fear I have is that we will not have the energy, momentum, and commitment in executing our own strategy as we have outlined. Competition is always there. Having been a national team player for Finland, I think that it is always better to focus on your own game rather than the opponents. I would welcome an 'Apple' competitor in the gaming industry as I think we have too little of that 'think outside the box' mentality.
I am con?dent Denmark will in?uence Sweden, which is most likely the next Scandinavian country to re-regulate
eGR: This follows the launch of a new sportsbook supplied by Kambi Sports Solutions in July. How has this gone? What targets have you set? TL: We have an ambition to double our revenues as fast as possible and all these product enhancements have been made with that in mind. All products, both supplied as well as in-house, such as our slots and casino games, are important in order to achieve this target. The sportsbook delivered better growth than expected in the ?rst two months and now all the big sports leagues have started we should see an increase in sports betting activities. eGR: You used to run your own sportsbook, what was the reason behind outsourcing it? Wil l you develop your own proprietary eGR: How successful has Paf been in the past 12 months? What can a business of Paf’s size achieve in such a competitive market? TL: The past year has again been a growth period after a dip at the end of 2009 and 2010. When I entered this position in mid-2009 I began working on leading a turnaround together with our CEO, and from the second half of 2010 and onwards, we have delivered a consistent growth trend. This year could well be one of our best ever and we’re also predicting a very good 2012. We want to be in the top three in the markets we operate in. eGR: If you had to pick one area of improvement for the online business, what area would it be? TL: Payment processing and transactions. It is too difficult for
www.egrmagazine.com
CONTINUED
09