We’ve all heard about the growth of cryptocurrency. Whether it’s bitcoin, ethereum or even the more niche dogecoin, you’d have to be living under a rock to escape the news that crypto is the ‘next big thing’.
The gaming industry is one such sector which has realised its potential, with companies such as Bad Hombre Gaming leading the way for crypto adoption.
Mika Salminen is the newest member of the Bad Hombre Gaming team having joined as Head of Account Management back in August.
In a chat with CasinoBeats, Salminen reflects on his new appointment at Bad Hombre Gaming and the potential for growth within the crypto casino space. He also touches on his experience within the igaming industry and explains why he made Malta his home after what was initially supposed to be a ‘flying visit’.
CasinoBeats: Congratulations on your new role at Bad Hombre Gaming! First of all, can you give a brief introduction to yourself for our readers? How did you first start working within the igaming industry?
MS: Thank you and I’m super excited about the new position!I started my igaming journey 11 years ago in customer service and since then I have been involved in almost every aspect of igaming including being shareholder of a small startup B2C casino, VP of operational services, multiple years in B2B account management etc. giving me full scope of responsibilities and how to build account management from scratch.
I moved to Malta and was thinking of spending the summer here, but after 11 years I’m still on the same ride.
CasinoBeats: You’ve held a number of positions at leading igaming companies, including GiG, Soft2Bet and Finnplay. What was it that attracted you to the role at Bad Hombre Gaming?
MS: I heard positive things about Bad Hombre gaming and what the Bad Hombres have achieved so far plus after meeting the people behind the scenes who are involved in this project I was immediately interested.
CasinoBeats: And how will this previous experience shape your strategy when it comes to Account Management?
MS: I have been on the B2C side when I started my igaming journey and in the past few years, I have been focusing on B2B and especially the platform side of the business.
This has given me quite a good overview of the industry and understanding of the Account management and the requirements that our partners might have and how to finetune the products and procedures to increase revenue together with our partners.
CasinoBeats: As you well know, Bad Hombre Gaming places significant emphasis upon the crypto casino space. What would you say are the key differences between crypto casinos and fiat casinos when it comes to creating a stand-out player experience?
MS: From an account management perspective in product, there is not much of a difference. Most of the differences come from registration where we can offer for example direct Telegram registration.
Crypto casinos are serving a different cohort of players and subsequently need to serve different needs of players. Players in crypto casinos are typically younger and more tech-savvy given the natural knowledge barrier that people have to jump in order to transact in crypto.
These players are very switched on to the mechanics of casino, so it’s important to ensure that your brand operates transparently, with fair offers and strong customer service. Trust is of paramount importance in the crypto casino space given that fraud and scams are so prevalent in the crypto space
CasinoBeats: If you had to set out three main goals to achieve in your role over the next 12 months, what would they be?
MS: My personal goals are to focus on building great partnerships with our partners and create long term plans to optimise the potential of the products.
I want to show how trustworthy crypto casinos are, since there is quite a lot of hesitance in the crypto+casino combination in general. I also want to ensure that we at Bad Hombre Gaming reach all targets that we set with each partner and reach our company goals for 2023
CasinoBeats: Where do you see the crypto industry heading in the next five years or so? Could digital currencies find their way into mainstream payments?
MS: From my experience, crypto is already making moves to mainstream payments, so I’m super excited to see how cryptos are integrating into day to day life.
We definitely expect to see crypto go from strength to strength and hope that we can buy our morning coffees in crypto very soon… But certainly crypto offers a range of advantages over traditional fiat payments, particularly in a business context. It’s cheaper to process payments, and funds are instantly settled to the merchant on purchase.
From an end user perspective, you don’t need to worry about expiring cards, inexplicable card declines or bank outages. We expect that slowly, crypto will permeate the mainstream – not only do we expect it, but we welcome it!
