In this interview with Inside Gaming Africa’s Mickaella at the ICE London 2022, the Product Director of Champion Sports, Simon Noble gives an overview of company’s business and challenges that it went through. He also highlights the differences between Asian and African gaming and betting markets.
Champion Sports is a leading omni-channel betting and gaming supplier providing a fully customisable, premium sportsbook solution that gives any operator the freedom and flexibility to engage players, drive revenues and increase profits. Driven by our commitment to operational excellence, Champion Sports is fully tested and certified to Tier 1 standards and is approved for use in leading regulated markets. Providing flexible, customer centred solutions we seek to enhance the player experience using advanced, responsive technology that enables operators to scale their business.
Mickaella: We’re here with Simon and we’ll just like Simon to introduce himself.
Simon Noble: Hi, my name is Simon Noble from Champion Sports. So, we are a provider of B2B business software, primarily, but a sports betting platform with global solutions, targeting the Asian and the African markets.
Mickaella: That’s great. So, how have you been finding the show so far?
Simon Noble: The show has been great. Obviously, we were sort of concerned as to whether it’s going to be going ahead, or how many people are going to turn up and obviously, there’s all these rumors circulating like, oh, there’s only 8000 or 10,000. But it’s been a really good turnout with people flying in for the show and we found that actually, the quality of people, you know, in terms of leads that we’re generating has been really high this year and so I think, you know, people are fully committed that to sort of make the trips has been a long time for, you know, ICE and certainly even for some of the other shows. So, it’s been great to catch up with people and hopefully show some of the new stuff that we’ve been developing since the pandemic.
Mickaella: It’s really good. Yeah, it’s really good to be back since the pandemic. So, can you tell us a bit more about Champion Sports and about as a company and kind of tell us what you do and everything?
Simon Noble: Yeah, sure. So, we have, like I mentioned, a B2B sports betting software. We’re a part of a group of companies, one of which is a large Asian facing operation, primarily targeting Southeast Asia and so we have their sort of center of technical excellence and the idea is that we’ve been developing the proper sports betting platform. Last March, we released what was referred to as division three, and the idea was for the platform to be as fast and as responsive as possible. So, away from our sort of core Asian base, we’ve been looking to license that product into the market. What we found has been really appealing for, you know, operators, who were primarily in sort of Uganda and Nigeria. At the moment is the idea that when people come here, it’s, with many of the more established names, you know, certainly in that sort of European world, they’re less likely to be willing to customize the product for the local market. And our stance nobody knows the market better, or the players better than the operators themselves. So, we want them to be successful. We know, we have to try this a little bit harder to hopefully give the operators what they need to be sort of as successful as possible. So, literally, we’ve been sort of customizing the interfaces for sort of primarily Uganda at the moment. All exciting stuff and I can say that I think people have really responded to being able to truly have like the interface that they know are going to respond to their players and hopefully, sort of build a successful business.
Mickaella: That’s really good to know. Thank you for all that information. So, can you tell us about your sports book platform? And why is it perfect for the African market?
Simon Noble: I think, like I say, it’s mainly the flexibility. So, we have a very sort of strong core trading experience from my time in Asia. Typically, in Asia, the markets are far more sort of lower than they are in Africa. We would be, you know, our trading team would probably be trading to like one and a half percent margin. You either have to be very good, or you go bankrupt very quickly. We leverage that expertise, and we work with, you know, our partners, you know, throughout the world to work with them on terms of where they want to be competitive, how competitive they want to be for that market and we would literally customize everything for the margins that they’re offering, the interface, the layout, the teams that they prioritize in the hierarchy, all those kinds of things just to, you know, it’s suddenly, you know, when people partner with us, it’s far more than change your color and your logo in the top left hand corner. We just think, you know, for people to be successful. We want to really help them differentiate their brand and their product from the competition, you know, because, like I say, they know the market better than we ever will and yeah, so, we’re happy to support them in any way that we can.
Mickaella: So, why should African operators choose your products?
Simon Noble: Well, I think it’s just from being able to sort of work with the partners, you know, and understanding. So, we’ve many of the ones that, you know, we’ve been talking to, especially in Nigeria, you know, very keen of sort of leveraging, perhaps a land-based or any existing database of players that they have or that they have access to, and obviously, word of mouth is very important. Just making sure that we have all of those promotional elements, so that when people when people really know that they’ve got paid, you know, in terms of pushing the product out there with the, again, with the customer interface, you know, whether that’s, you know, the teams that are promoting the market so that they’ve got their you know, perhaps enhancing the odds maybe on multiple bets, you know, for sort of bigger wins those kinds of things. So,very popular and, again, you know, we have this sort of knowledge and expertise to turn those kinds of things around very quickly and, you know, hopefully come up with a new product where it’s not just a case of, you know, I look at this one and to be honest, if I just changed the logo, it’s makes no difference in the often times you know, everybody’s even got the same odds offered and that offers no sort of competitive advantage to the operator.
Mickaella: That’s interesting. So, have there been any challenges working with African market?
Simon Noble: I think sometimes with the challenges that we’ve had, I mean, I guess it’s just sort of clarity sometimes, you know, in terms of where we are in terms of what people are trying to do so that we have had sort of experienced in the past few years, perhaps been sort of shifting regulation in certain markets have affected, you know, what operators were trying to do or not to do. But apart from that, it’s all been, you know, so very good. You know, it’s amazing, when there’s a real excitement, I think about the market in Africa and you know, it’s great when you’re talking to someone, especially for like new licensees, and there’s like, so much passion there and I think people have genuinely excited about sports betting and like, the opportunities that are there and there’s so many great African players in all the major leagues as well and they’ve sort of big familiar sold names, and I think people see that opportunity and a really looking to leverage that.
Mickaella: Thank you so much. That’s really good to know. So, in terms of the future of gaming in Africa, how would you see that?
Simon Noble: I think it’s just going to continue with the regulation that’s there. Obviously, there’s a number of sorts of very well-established licensing regimes within Africa. I think, as long as, you know, perhaps some sort of consistency, you know, on some of the taxation levels in certain of the markets, then I think that just encourages even more investment, you know, as people get established, and obviously, it’s very good, you know, obviously, it’s important that is this player protection, that with the regulation that said, that is to, you know, primarily to protect the players, you know, and also generate, you know, revenue in terms of taxation for good causes for local government. So, I think, doing it in a controlled fashion as it expands, I think, you know, will sort of stand in good stead for the future.
Mickaella: That’s great. Thank you so much, Simon for having this time with us, and I hope you have an amazing time for the rest of the show.