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