Dmitry Starostenkov: “At SBC Summit Barcelona we expect to see many experts involved in online poker projects”

Dmitry Starostenkov, EvenBet Gaming CEO, shares with Focus Gaming News his expectations for the upcoming edition of SBC Summit Barcelona.

Exclusive interview.- Less than a week before the start of SBC Summit Barcelona, one of the most important Gaming conventions that will take place in the Spanish city on September 20-22, EvenBet Gaming CEO, Dmitry Starostenkov, spoke with Focus Gaming News about the expectations of the show, its products and objectives of the company for this year.

EvenBet will attend SBC Summit Barcelona. How do you prepare to participate in this event?

For EvenBet Gaming, SBC Summit Barcelona is one of the most important conferences this year due to the headline online poker session we are proud to sponsor. Our vertical does not often get a dedicated panel discussion, so we expect to see many experts involved in online poker projects.

At the event, we will have business development and a C-level team ready for further conversation on any insights and online poker future trends. The summit promises to be enormously active this year.

What announcements and news are you preparing for this edition of SBC Summit Barcelona?

For us, it would be more of a knowledge-sharing event than an announcement promotional one. We will be very excited to share our vision for the online poker future with fellow delegates and to show how our product has significantly changed during and after the pandemic and how it follows the global industry trends and challenges.

After completely reworking our mobile applications, we are updating the UI and the functionality of our web client app that allows playing from any device and is the first choice for small poker rooms and integration projects. The new design that we call Poker Alpha is to be refined within the next few weeks, and at SBC Barcelona, we are ready to show the live demo of what has already changed.

“For us, SBC Summit Barcelona would be more of a knowledge-sharing event than an announcement promotional one. We will be very excited to share our vision for the online poker future.”

Dmitry Starostenkov, EvenBet Gaming CEO.

One of the conferences will be focused on the evolution of poker. What do you think are the main benefits that technology provides to attract new players?

Acquiring new players is less of a challenge since the Covid-19 pandemic caused an influx to online gaming projects, which continues up to this moment. Retaining the audience is the key for the majority of the operators, and this has become the priority for creating new features and promotional campaigns.

For EvenBet Gaming software-based projects, we are constantly enhancing tournaments and working on the promotional mechanics that would allow the operators to do the three most important things to retain their audience:

• create a clear onboarding process and make a player’s acquaintance with the application and the games an exciting and interactive journey;
• be free to set up different bonus and rakeback models that would target any specific player group and align with the poker room strategy;
• combine promotions, bonuses, leaderboards, and other activities into 360-degree interaction stories allowing maximum engagement.

As a developer, we aim to simplify the setup and management process for an operator, so together with the client applications redesign, we have reworked our built-in CRM and even API to support our operators’ boldest marketing goals.

“Retaining the audience is the key for the majority of the operators, and this has become the priority for creating new features and promotional campaigns.”

Dmitry Starostenkov, EvenBet Gaming CEO.

EvenBet Gaming has recently showcased its upgraded mobile app. What was the feedback you received from the public?

Our new app has made a lot of buzz in the mobile-first gaming markets, such as Latin and South America, and India. This year, we were named the best gaming platform provider for India at SPiCE and shortlisted for the best gaming and casino provider at SAGSE awards and SBC Latinoamérica awards. The new app was the main factor that contributed to our success in these regions, along with the continuous support and easy integration with the existing gaming systems.

As the business season in Europe is unrolling this year, we expect to show the new applications to more European operators and providers. I’m sure that after SBC Barcelona, we’ll have tons of valuable feedback.

What is EvenBet Gaming’s agenda for the rest of the year?

After SBC Barcelona, we will be at iGaming NEXT Valletta as exhibitors and delegates. In November, we come back to Malta for one of the most influential events in our industry, SiGMA Malta. There, we will present several very important product developments, one even groundbreaking. Our technical team is keen to finish all tests and checks within the next month or two, so keep an eye on the announcements!