Michael Bauer, Greentube: “There are markets that contain strong untapped potential”

The Greentube executive pointed to Brazil and North America as key points for its expansion.

Exclusive interview.- Michael Bauer, CFO / CGO at Greentube, spoke with Focus Gaming News at the end of the year and highlighted the company’s milestones for 2022.

What place does Latin America take within your business strategy as an emerging market?

Our view on Latin America is that we have very high hopes for the continent. We have already gained strong traction in regulated markets including Colombia and Peru, where our products have resonated with operators and players alike.

Both territories have a strong tradition of land-based casino, which helps our games to perform strongly upon release into those markets. Clearly, the biggest opportunity of all in the future lies within Brazil and we hope that the transition towards a licensed market continues to progress.

How do you evaluate your performance in Argentina almost a year after your debut, together with Betsson?

While Argentina is a very attractive prospect, we have yet to see the sort of results we had been hoping to achieve and we have found it can be a difficult market to operate in due to strict capital controls. It is quite difficult for customers to pay us, so that means that as things stand it is not the optimal market for online gaming, unfortunately.

“The biggest opportunity of all in the future lies within Brazil.”

Michael Bauer, CFO / CGO at Greentube.

The licensing model is also unique, in that only 14 jurisdictions in the country are regulated. For me, this makes very little sense – when a market regulates, it is better for everyone if it happens in a uniform, all-encompassing way. Only having part of the country regulated – even if it is a major city like Buenos Aires – is sub-optimal.

And what about your performance in the US and Europe? Did you reach your goals for 2022?

We are very satisfied with developments in our core markets and experienced strong growth
for the sixth year straight in Europe as well as in the primal year of our market presence in US.
We expect this trend to continue moving forward and given the market conditions, the US is prime for significantly accelerated growth.

Even within Europe, though, there are markets that contain strong untapped potential, akin to that we have seen in the Netherlands following the adoption of regulation. Germany is a case in point here; as it stands, it’s a difficult market from a regulatory perspective, but we believe that there’s plenty of scope for progress given the right conditions for suppliers, operators and players.

At the moment, how do you assess the recent acquisition of Present Creative and what are its perspectives?

Our acquisition of Present Creative was an important step and it has now closed, meaning we are in the post-merger process whereby we will assimilate the company into Greentube US.

All of the employees are citizens of either the US or Mexico and they have their own unique perspectives on the content creation process for these markets, which was a key reason behind the acquisition. Our strategy was focused on having our own US-based studio, making games for that market across online and iLottery segments.

See also: Greentube agrees joint venture with Flamingocatz to strengthen North American content output

Additionally, in the future, we intend to position Greentube US not only as a games studio but also as an operational base. This will enable us to build up integration resources, provide us with a network operation centre and give us extra technical account management capabilities, all within time zones that are particular to the region.

What do you consider to be your main milestones in the year?

We reached several milestones this year and establishing a strong foothold in the US market was definitely one of them. As well as the Present Creative acquisition, we also agreed on a joint venture with emerging studio Flamingocatz, which will see us bring exciting new and exclusive content to North America.

We also launched our new technology platform, Greentube Mynt, which has so far produced three new integrations across social casino and payments. We are currently rolling out the new technology into our active markets, one by one, and this is a drive that will keep us very busy across the next two years.

“We will never stop developing by investing in new brands, entering new markets, and adopting new initiatives.”

Michael Bauer, CFO / CGO at Greentube.

We have also launched our new Ski Challenge game, a completely new casual gaming product based on a much-loved classic that has seen us take our first baby steps within the esports arena.

Looking at progress within B2C, we acquired Admiral Sport in Italy and have rebranded our StarVegas casino in Spain to Admiral. Our future focus, starting in 2023, will be to roll out the brand on a wider basis across Europe. As for social casino, we recently launched a new product, Bloom-Boom Casino, which is a new initiative we are excited about.

What place does the company culture have in your business strategy? What defines a Greentuber?

Our company culture is very diverse. We have lots of different nationalities within the group, bringing plenty of different perspectives and lived experiences. This helps to make us attractive and inclusive as an employer.

From a business strategy perspective, we have a young and vibrant workforce and everybody wants to excel in their careers and this has a hugely positive impact. We will never stop developing by investing in new brands, entering new markets, and adopting new initiatives. All of this makes for a positive company culture.