Avraam Tosounidis, co-founder & COO at Campeón Gaming Partners, reflects on a breakthrough year for the company as it continues to build on the CampeonBet, Evobet and Svenbet ‘sub brands’ to “cover the needs of players and affiliates across all geographies”.
He discusses the big step to enter the UK market with the CampeonUK brand, under the Campeonbet ‘umbrella’ in cooperation with Aspire Global, before outlining key plans for 2020 and teasing the launch of a new online gaming platform – Sons of Slots.
CB: We’re just a few days away from the New Year. Looking back on 2019, what were the key highlights for CGP?
AT: The past year has been very significant for Campeón Gaming Partners: we really put ourselves out there, made our presence known, as we exhibited as a group for our very first year at SiGMA’19 in Malta, one of the biggest gaming events worldwide.
Our brands were even more recognised: Campeonbet, our star brand, stood out at the 2018 AskGamblers Awards, winning the Best New Casino award, and this year it is nominated once again in the Best Casino category. It was also shortlisted at the SBC Awards in the Casino Operator of the Year category, alongside Svenbet, in the Rising Star in Casino category, and CGP in the Best Affiliate Programme (Sports & Casino) category.
“We want to further establish our brands in the UK and Swedish markets”
At the same time, we took a big step entering the UK market with CampeonUK in cooperation with Aspire Global. We are also launching our first Pay N Play brand, Svenplay, in cooperation with Together Gaming – the winner of the White Label Supplier of the Year award at the SBC Awards – to focus on the Swedish market.
Another major step for us was the launch of the biggest campaign we have created so far in any of our brands, the Everest campaign, with the tagline “Campeonbet takes you to the top of the world”. Our campaign is running this Christmas and we have invested heavily in creating an engaging competition to keep our players entertained through the whole duration of the campaign, while we are promoting through various channels; the feedback we have so far has been great, and we expect even better results as we move forward.
From a strategic point of view, our focus in 2019 was to create brand ‘groups’ in order for each group to target different markets and serve a variety of needs, while each of them has a unique, but common tone of voice.
For instance, CampeonUK is operating under the ‘umbrella’ of Campeonbet, while Svenplay operates under Svenbet; we will keep creating brands and – if I may use the term – ‘sub-brands’ in order to cover the needs of players and affiliates across all geographies.
CB: What are your key plans for 2020?
AT: Our plans are across a range of three parameters: We want to further establish our brands in the UK and Swedish markets, launch new brands and “sub-brands” and enter new markets, and participate in all key shows globally, getting our brand out there. Our main goal is to grow Campeón Gaming Partners as a group and enhance it even further.
At the same time, we want to grow even more our affiliate network; during 2019, we saw our affiliate network boosting from 500 affiliates to over 1,100. We are aiming at being one of the top operators for affiliates to work with.
“We wanted to bring something very exciting to our players”
Another important pillar to us is technology; we are currently investing in technology, as we are migrating in new platforms which will offer more flexibility, more capabilities, more gamified sites, while they are more user-friendly. This is the reason we have started a cooperation with MaxCreate, an agency specialised in bespoke front-end design, in order to be able to offer more flexible and versatile platforms to our players and to our affiliates.
That being said, I believe people will hear more from us and we’ll stand out from the crowd with more nominations and – hopefully – more awards this year.
CB: Rumour has it you are about to launch a new, versatile platform. Could you tell our readers more about it?
AT: Yes, indeed, 2020 will find us with a brand new, themed platform – Sons of Slots. This will be our first MGA-licensed brand and we have invested heavily on it; its unique design, engaging features – such as calendars, leaderboards and secret achievements – offer a more gamified and interactive environment for players.
For this amazing platform, our lead designer worked together with a leading front-end developer, MaxCreate, to create a versatile, different and unique environment for Sons of Slots. Our new brand will include all leading casino providers – including progressive jackpots and live casino – the most popular and localised payment solutions, easy and secure deposits and withdrawals.
CB: What makes Sons of Slots stand out from the crowd?
AT: As I mentioned above, this is a themed platform; it roots from the motor riders’ gangs in the US and their story: rough street battles, leather jackets and ripped jeans, long hair, and endless road trips on their Harleys. This is what inspired us and we wanted to bring something very exciting to our players – and this is what makes us stand out from the crowd.
“We are planning to launch even more themed brands”
Entering the Sons of Slots platform, our players will be transferred to a new world, the world of American motor gangs; they will play their favourite games in a new, adventurous environment, with exciting features, taking their gaming experience to a whole new level.
CB: Are there any plans for launching even more brands in 2020?
AT: Our target is always to operate many different brands, in order to be able to cover every market’s needs. Starting from Sons of Slots, we are planning to launch even more themed brands, while we want to further establish our brands in the markets we already operate.
Another big plan for us is targeting the Asian market; we have the know-how for Europe, North America and Latin America and now we want to enter a very different and unique market, such as Asia. Big plans await Campeón Gaming Partners in 2020!