"I’ve always been sure that crypto payments are the future of iGaming"

SOFTSWISS participated in iGB Live!, its first event since its rebranding. How do you assess this presentation? What products did the company exhibit at the event? What was the return to in-person events like for SOFTSWISS?

It’s an amazing feeling to be getting back to normal, to travel and see everyone in person. For our industry, events had been part and parcel of everyday life, but the pandemic took all the fun away. It was quite a challenge to stay far from people and find other ways to communicate company values. So we really anticipated iGB and came well-prepared to present the whole line of SOFTSWISS products: Online Casino Platform, Game Aggregator, Sportsbook Platform, and the partner management system Affilka. We also showed the first demo of the SOFTSWISS’s revolutionary innovation – Jackpot Aggregator.

Our game brands, BGaming and 1Spin4Win, were also there with a separate and one of the most attractive booths.

I’m really proud of the presentation we made this year. Thanks to the creative and fresh ideas we managed to make our presence really noticeable, maybe the most noticeable at the show. Our booths were always full and everyone was asking about the branded car parked directly at the front entrance. Getting the best parking spot at the show was a real privilege and my personal highlight!

SOFTSWISS rebranded in June. What prompted this decision and what does this rebranding imply? How does the new identity reflect the company's approach, profile and values? The company launched over 10 years ago. How would you assess its trajectory?

Rebranding is the natural part of evolution marking a new milestone in the company development. In the past ten years, SOFTSWISS has grown immensely in terms of the product offering, the number of clients, diversity of markets and the multitude of people working for different business departments. These people share the same values and with their huge experience and company loyalty, contribute to the impressive growth. They are our main value and our main asset.

As I said, in the last 10 years we have grown in many ways: in quantity as well as quality. The company name, the logo and the styling of the accompanying elements are all important elements in the communication of the business with its clients, partners and the outside world in general. So we decided to bring the SOFTSWISS logo, which has undergone the biggest change, into line with the position we occupy in the industry today.

Both old and new clients appreciate us for understanding the iGaming industry and outstanding customer service which are the result of accumulated expertise. It is this expertise that helps us combine innovation and proven approaches to achieve maximum results. We remember our roots and are proud of our origins, and we are going to keep our core values unchanged. What matters most to us is our clients' confidence in the quality and reliability of the solutions offered by SOFTSWISS.

The company has seen its brand expand into new markets over the last months. Which markets would you describe as a priority for SOFTSWISS? What further expansion plans does the company have going forward?

We never stop looking at the new markets and investigating their accessibility and the potential value for SOFTSWISS. Our industry is evolving really fast and the regulation is changing rapidly in different regions, so we need to keep track of that and constantly monitor the current situation. It's the great teamwork of our BizDev and Legal departments that makes sure we don’t miss the chance to become #1 on a new market.  

In the last months, we’ve entered a number of regulated and unregulated markets. We’ve got the Nigeria, Serbia and Greece licenses, and together with our clients are working on a number of other markets with the primary focus on the regulated sector. Asia and Latin America are now totally in trend as really promising regions, so they are part of our investment plan.  

Units such as its Game Aggregator have reported great success. How was this achieved and how do operators benefit from this? What features make SOFTSWISS' products different when compared to other aggregators? How have SOFTSWISS' latest promotional campaigns performed, including the setup discount for new sportsbook clients, when major sporting events recently took place?

Our Game Aggregator already comprises over 170 studios and more than 11,000 multilingual and mobile-friendly games. This amazing amount of content becomes available with just one-time integration. Despite the huge amounts of data processed, the technical performance of the Aggregator always remains smooth and stable, and all issues which might arise are resolved in the most efficient and friendly manner by our support staff. The latter, I think, is the biggest benefit that SOFTSWISS clients enjoy, no matter which product they are using.

Client service has always been our top priority and now we’ve got the industry recognition: at the International Gaming Awards held in London last week we won the Best Customer Service Company of the Year.

The recent promotional campaign turned out to be unexpectedly effective to attract extra attention to Sportsbook and grow its awareness. In addition, we have also received positive and helpful feedback from our clients. Despite a massive marketing campaign, we see that the most effective advantage of Sportsbook is in its unique functionality and service: White Label Solution, integration with the leading sports odds feed supplier, Betradar, advanced player segmentation, decent reliability and great customer service.

The iGaming market is seeing new trends, such as crypto casinos. Are players and operators growing used to crypto payments in the industry? How does SOFTSWISS' offering differentiate within this market? What added value does the company provide to operators running on cryptocurrencies?

Crypto casinos are not a new trend, they’ve been there since 2013. SOFTSWISS was one of the first in the crypto gambling segment to pioneer the use of the crypto payment processing solution. The wisest of them have become well-known names in the iGaming market.  

Of course, they experienced ups and downs which were the natural result of the changing position of the cryptocurrency in the world economy and its perception by the public. The meltdown of 2018 and the so-called crypto-winter which many startups didn’t survive were followed by a new wave of unbelievable growth. But even with Bitcoin having reached its top figures, I keep saying that it’s not at its maximum. I strongly believe it has the potential to become Gold 2.0.

I’ve always been sure that crypto payments are the future of iGaming, bringing many benefits against the obstacles that fiat currencies pose and solving many issues typical to casino payment processing. We invested in creating the innovative technology which would be known as the most secure one on the market. This reputation and trust grew into a number of successful projects which are now part of our crypto-product portfolio.

Our profound understanding of crypto technologies also allows for effective collaboration with the most successful crypto projects in the market within the SOFTSWISS Game Aggregator. We understand the specifics of Bitcoin casino operation and help our clients to use the Aggregator content in the most effective way.

How has the affiliate iGaming market developed since the pandemic started? The company's affiliate marketing platform has now reached over 100 clients and intends to double numbers by next year. How do you assess this growth, and how do you plan to achieve those figures?

The affiliate market continued to develop together with the whole online entertainment sector during the pandemic. Streamers and influencers have become a real trend. But the thing is, any affiliate needs a platform to effectively operate their business. The primary goal why we designed our affiliate platform was to provide our clients – iGaming operators – with a reliable and trustworthy tool which would ensure optimal tracking, reporting, and clear payment management. The operators who worked with other affiliate platforms and then switched to Affilka by SOFTSWISS confirm that it’s a completely different experience.

While casinos still make the main part of our affiliate platform, we have already started onboarding sportsbook and poker sites and plan to reach out to other gaming projects. Affiliate marketing is also widely used in ecommerce, and that’s a very large market to explore. So I don’t set any limits in terms of figures we can achieve.

Does SOFTSWISS plan to attend industry events in the near future? If so, which ones?

There are so many events to catch up on, we won’t miss a single one! SiGMA in Malta in November, and ICE London at the beginning of 2022 are our next destinations.