MBR_ISSUE 42_LowRes

MIGEA WINNERS INTERVIEW
Malta Business Review
YoBetit team with Nikolai Livori
MBR: Do you want to go over what’s happened
since you established Yobetit and the role you
play in it?
NL: I am a founder of Yobetit and CEO, and I
couldn’t be happier. Yobetit started out as a
sports arbitrage bookmaker in 2012, heavily
based on mathematical market analysis.
The company was created to study market
movements to create sure bets in the market.
In 2016, we decided to pivot the business to
become a fully fledged sportsbook with our
MGA license, and we started using a gaming
framework that I had designed over the years.
Last year, we also took on another vertical;
Lotto when we introduced YoMillions.
MBR: Why Yobetit?
NL: Yobetit is all about providing the perfect
betting experience. We provide a fun
and easy-to-navigate platform to give our
players an enjoyable betting experience.
The company continues to stand above the
rest offering over 30 sports, competitive
football prices everyday, unbeatable odds and
generous promotions. We thrive to become
a one-stop shop offering multiple verticles on
our platform.
MBR: What is best about working in the field?
NL: iGaming is a very young and dynamic
industry, with every day being different. It’s
a fast-paced environment where technology
plays a big part in the evolution of the gaming
products. Having a technical background, I
can keep up to date with the latest applied
technologies, and being a veteran with over
ten years of experience in the industry, we
have made a lot of connections. I love the fastpace
and keeping on top of the trends.
MBR: What makes Yobetit stand out from
other gambling/iGaming enterprises?
NL: We are a company that cares, we not only
provide a service, we value our customers.
We provide our players with a generous
selection of promotions to keep giving them
the best we can possibly give. And, unlike a
lot of gaming companies, we own all software
and technology used. This allows us to grow
faster and be less dependent on third parties.
We have more control of the service we are
offering to our users, and we do everything
we can to keep our players happy.
MBR: How was your performance in 2017?
Did you have a combination of hits and
misses? What made you realise that it had
to take also change location and move into
bigger offices?
NL: From 2017-2018 we have seen a lot of
growth, not only in customers and turnover,
but also in brand recognition across our target
countries. Being the safest lotto provider on
the island, the brand also grew locally in
Malta. 2016, was the year we pivoted the
company because it became very difficult to
obtain trading liquidity. 2017, was the year we
focused on growth and getting our products
ready for the market. 2018, is proving to
be a year of more growth and success. We
continue to focus on improving and extending
our technology framework to keep growing
as a company. In order to do so, we had to
expand the team. Essentially Yobetit grew,
so the office needed to grow. We recently
welcomed new members and we continue
on with our recruiting spree.
MBR: You advertise a lot on radio, what
about mobile, which hasn’t been your biggest
platform? PC is traditionally the biggest, right?
NL: In Malta we spend a lot of time in our
cars, so we chose to advertise on XFM. You
may have heard our Yobetit.com powerplay,
it provides people with good music to sing
along during their journey. We also advertise
across other platforms but we feel we engage
more over the radio.
We use mobile marketing from time-to-time.
At least one-third of our customer base uses
our platform through mobile on a daily basis.
Our website is in fact built using mobile-first
technology. Therefore, mobile betting is a big
product for us. As for PC, it tends to be more
ideal for sports betting as we offer hundreds
of markets per game so it is more comfortable
for the user.
MBR: What has been the highlight of the
Yobetit journey for you so far?
NL: It would have to be personal growth.
Before Yobetit I was very mathematical,
and focused on tech. I love to create startup
projects and advise others on growth hacking
strategies. Yobetit has helped me to polish my
managerial skills and to understand the lifecycle
of a successful project.
In the past, I have been involved in failed projects
and also unfinished ones, and although Yobetit
has had its ups and downs, I enjoyed the
challenges and have helped the company push
forward during tough times. It was worth it, and
would do it all over again if I had the opportunity.
MBR: You have recently carried four
unprecedented and prestigious accredited
awards at Malta’s Gaming Excellence
Awards 2018, Best iGaming Online Lotto
Product of the Year Award, Best Online
Betting Platform, Best Gaming Ambassador
and Malta’s Best Gaming Company of the
Year Award- did you expect this and what
was your feelings on being called to receive
these accolades four times on stage?
NL: We were so thrilled to win so many
awards, and hearing the company called out
so many times on the night was phenomenal.
I am so proud of the progress we have made
to be where we are today. Winning the
awards has given the team an extra boost
of motivation, to keep working hard and
moving forward. It’s great to have won such
prestigious accredited awards. We are all so
happy of our progress and look forward to the
future ahead.
MBR: How significant are these awards for
your company and what do they mean to
you, and how was the overall organisation
of this event?
NL: Winning four iGaming Excellence awards
was a great achievement for Yobetit. The
team are so happy with the results, and we
thoroughly enjoyed ourselves at the event.
The planning was exceptional, and it was great
to meet up with fellow iGaming veterans. It
gave us an opportunity to have fun and do
business at the same time, it was great.
MBR: What about future aspirations of Yobetit
and Yomillions, anything you can reveal?
NL: At the moment, we are uniting our brands
under one. YoMillions will still exist as a subproduct
of Yobetit. However, Yobetit will
continue to be the main umbrella brand.
What I can reveal here for the first time is that
we will be adding another platform to the
Yobetit brand. We will be offering Sportsbook,
Lotto and very soon we will be launching our
very own online Casino!
Casino will be a big step up for the company
and we are very close to launching it. At the
moment we are focusing our efforts on The
World Cup, but once it is over we will be able
to launch the new vertical. Casino will help
strengthened the Yobetit brand as we will
compete with the giants of the industry.
We are also currently on-boarding affiliate
partners, and are very keen to have the first
50 signed up before winter. We have an
exciting year ahead of us! MBR
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