Gal Ehrlich: “By the time the postponed ICE comes round, BETER will be in an even stronger position”
Gal Ehrlich, CEO of BETER, shared with Focus Gaming News his thoughts on how the pandemic affected the business and the major challenges for 2022.
Exclusive interview.- With the beginning of the new year, companies are all set to continue their expansion through 2022. Gal Ehrlich, CEO of BETER, granted an interview to Focus Gaming News in which he spoke about the reception from customers of their latest products, the next launches that are expected at BETER and the challenges for the year that is starting.
What balance can you make about 2021? What are your main goals achieved during the year?
2021 has been such a landmark year for all of us at BETER. We’ve strengthened every aspect of the business in the last twelve months, further solidifying our stance as an innovative and forward-thinking company in the betting and gaming space.
We’ve signed strategic deals with multiple partners around the world as we look to continue our expansion into new and emerging regulated markets, launched new sports and esports disciplines for players to enjoy and we’ve introduced a brand-new live casino vertical, BETER Live.
When I joined BETER as CEO in July I gave a presentation to the entire company outlining our mission, strategic plans and overall vision going-forward. Whilst the path ahead is always going to present new challenges as we continue to grow, I’m very confident that we’re on the right track towards achieving the vision and goals we outlined
Recently, you have launched a new live casino product, BETER Live. How did the customers receive the product?
We launched BETER Live with the intention of providing the new generation of players with the most advanced selection of high-tech entertainment-first games on the market. We believe that we’ve developed something special that will continue to contribute, and shape the live casino industry.
The launch of our first four games (Roulette, Blackjack, Top Card and Baccarat) in December have so far proven to be a success, which is testament to the hard work, drive and commitment of BETER Live’s Director, Anna Vikmane and the highly talented team she’s built over the last year.
This is only the beginning for BETER Live, we have so much more in the pipeline, so the fact that we’re already announcing our first major tier one partnership imminently shows that we aim to finish 2021 just as we plan to start 2022.
Esports tournaments have increased in the last year. How did Covid-19 restrictions affect the business?
Although losing live sport was a huge blow to everyone involved in the sports betting industry, we found ourselves incredibly fortunate that BETER had excellent infrastructure in place that allowed us to position ourselves as a market leader in esports betting and live events almost immediately.
We quickly discovered that there was a huge appetite for everything we had to offer, which was hardly surprising considering that such a vast void was left behind in the wake of Covid.
Even now, there aren’t too many companies that have really taken ownership of the provision, however, I feel that we’ve put ourselves in a unique position as one of just a few suppliers able to offer a real diverse range of quality live sports and esports tournaments.
Our ESportsBattle tournaments cover four disciplines, these are Efootball, Ebasketball, Ice Hockey and CS:GO. We’ve seen this platform grow and grow in the last two years, and now we see over 16,000 matches take place every month, registering 22 million views which is just incredible.
Are you expanding your product portfolio in 2022? Can you anticipate any new launches?
We’re constantly doing our homework, looking at market research to discover new opportunities as and when they appear. BETER’s advantage is that there’s plenty of growth space for new products and verticals, this is thanks to our forward-thinking attitude towards providing the right entertainment solutions to serve the ever-evolving landscape that is iGaming.
Our long-term strategy is to become one of the strongest powerhouses on the market for the betting and gaming industry. In line with that, we have plans across every vertical we operate to constantly improve and upgrade what we have to offer throughout 2022.
For us, it’s all about constantly looking to increase both the quality and number of live events we offer, which means targeted expansion across Esports and our sports leagues, such as the Setka Cup. We’re also looking to broaden our portfolio through collaborations with existing partners, our goal being of course, to be many more steps ahead in our value proposition for customers by the end of the year as a one-stop-shop that can cover all their next-gen gaming needs.
What are the main challenges for BETER for 2022?
We’ve got exciting plans – and with that will be the challenge of implementing them correctly and to the maximum effect. I’m very confident of us achieving exactly that given the dedicated and proficient team we have, as well as our market-leading portfolio.
With ICE’s postponement by a number of months, many may see this as an obstacle, but in our view, given all our exciting announcements for the first quarter of next year, I believe by the time ICE comes round in late spring, we’ll be in an even stronger position. With a whole new selection of products, services and plans in the pipeline, we’ll be ready to showcase the very best we have to both existing and new partners.
