iGB Affiliate 70 Aug/Sept | Page 35

FEATURE AFFILIATE PROFILE: RICHARD MOFFAT, OLBG We talk sponsorships, compliance and the outlook for the affiliate space with OLBG’s Richard Moffat, chief executive of one of the UK’s leading sports-betting affiliates iGB Affiliate: How did you come to enter the gambling affiliate space? Richard Moffat: In 2002, I was looking for a tipster competition where I could enter my horse racing tips and I stumbled on a very early version of Online Betting Guide. I was one of the first to place a tip on the site; in fact, there were so few users back then that I even managed to win a prize. Then the forum opened and I enjoyed chatting with like-minded people. From there we started to grow a nice community. iGBA: At what point did you decide to give up the day job and focus full time on igaming affiliation? RM: I was building a career as a financial advisor at the time, which was in essence affiliate marketing. I did some content assignments for Antony [Portno, OLBG’s founder] and we got to know each other. By 2005 the business had grown and there was an opportunity for me to join. It was a bit of a punt for both of us – fortunately it’s turned out a lot better than some of our bets. iGBA: How is the business structured now? RM: We have a well-resourced and highly talented development team, which does take up a large proportion of our investment. But we’re as much a software company as a lead-generation business so at times more than half of our team can be working on development of new products and features. Perhaps this is where we differ from other affiliates, having invested heavily in IT and product for many years. As sports bettors ourselves, we’ve enjoyed building products that first and foremost add value for the user – products that sports bettors will want to use on a daily basis. “We’re as much a software company as a lead-generation business. At times more than half of our team can be working on new products and features” iGBA: Where do the opportunities lie for big sports-betting affiliates such as OLBG in the newly regulated markets? RM: The US is an exciting opportunity for any affiliate that can build English- language sports-betting content. As a well-established English-language site we already get traffic from the US and cover the major sports there, including US horse racing, through our tips provision. What’s interesting for us is that US sports bett ors who bet, or will bet, online will be doing so using apps; that seems to be the way in the US. With our experience in app production and app marketing, combined with our ready- made content-provision platform, we could be very well placed indeed. However, it will be some time before the grass is really greener for remote betting. We are fortunate in the UK; we operate in such a huge market that is continuing to grow. Latest figures show the GGY for the online sector in the UK at £4.9bn – that’s about a third of the entire European market. iGB Affiliate Issue 70 AUG/SEP 2018 31