BRIGHT PROSPECTS AHEAD FOR B90

Ronny Breivik, CEO of B90, is interviewed by Peter White

It’s no small trick to reinvent a business in mid-stream. But that’s what B90 did. Under the leadership of Ronny Breivik, B90 pivoted 180 degrees from being a business-to-customer provider of sports betting to a business-to-business partner of some of the biggest names in gaming today. To find out how B90 did it and learn the company’s operating philosophy, Sports Betting Operator Publisher Peter White sat down with Breivik. Their conversation has been edited for clarity.

What aspects of the role of CEO of B90 appealed to you most and why?

It was always going to be a turnaround story. Rolling up the sleeves, getting to work, then working until the mission is completed is what I am about. B90 did fit that bill. As the signs of turnaround have gotten more and more clear, and communicated: to be allowed to work with a team of top-shelf people that works together to execute our very ambitious buy-and-build strategy in operations, board, and adviser group. Can’t beat that!

b90

For those of our readers whom are not that familiar with B90, can you provide an outline of the organization, from when it was originally founded to present day?

B90 stems from a reverse takeover that happened back in 2016. The company listed at the time was Veltyco Group. I got involved in 2021, after the company had scrapped its old business models and was actively trying to reinvent itself. The focus initially was very much on the B2C gambling business. It became eminently clear the core competence in the management team, and B2C in general, was being squeezed margin-wise. This convinced us B2B marketing and service provision would be the way to go.

What was the strategy behind the acquisition of Emwys? What are your plans for the brand and how was the incorporation process into B90?

The rationale behind the acquisition of Emwys was that we identified the need to move out of B2C gambling operations and into B2B marketing. Emwys was one of several acquisition candidates available to us. The acquisition of Emwys allowed us to cement the move into B2B marketing, get valuable insights into pay-per-click marketing and focus on the next phase in our evolution. That, post successful integration of our acquisition, was to align completely with our B2B marketing strategy. All B2C gambling operations were terminated. As a result, the company is now a cost-optimized, highly automated, B2B marketing-and-services company. The plan has been to build scalable marketing solutions for the online gambling sector, using the acquired knowledge Emwys presented us with. I dare say we have come a long way in getting said platform ready.

ronny breivik, ceo of b90

Image: Ronny Breivik, CEO of B90

Tell us about the marketing agreements by Oddsen.nu, which are set to achieve ¤200,000 revenue in 2024?

Oddsen.nu is our flagship affiliate website. It was acquired in 2021. It has been a Nordic brand for over 23 years. In April we announced to the market that Oddsen.nu has gone global. One month later we announced that over ¤200,000 was secured in fixed fee-deals. In short, these deals are just that. Fixed fees that Oddsen.nu is being paid to market various gambling operators on the website. In our announcement to the market we also mentioned that the agreements signed carry potential compensation on performance basis. Typically we will receive a fixed amount (CPA) per each first-time depositor we forward to our partner. We also have revenue share-bearing elements. With the sports calendar we have had (and still have) the Euros, Copa America, the Olympics, the start of the top leagues in August and the European cup football in September. It does not take a rocket scientist to understand these performance-based deals can be very lucrative over time.

How many partnerships has the organization established so far and have you a cap on the number? Or will the organization take necessary steps to expand to accommodate?

We currently work with over 200 partners, ranging from top-tier operators such as Bet365 and Stake.com to Unibet. We expect to see the number of partners more than double over the next few years. We do not have a cap on this. That said, we want to ensure we provide results for the partners we work with. This sometimes results in a slower pace when seeking new partnerships. We have only seen the tip of the iceberg, though, in terms of what our scalable marketing platform(s) can do. And we work our socks off every day to ensure we can provide all our current and new partners with ever-growing traffic.

Is B90 set for more acquisitions this year or is this a year of consolidation?

This is one for Uncle Time to tell. What I can say is we analyze the deal flow. We do take note of interesting opportunities. Since I got involved as executive chairman, back in November 2022, we have brought in sector giants like Mark Blandford (strategic sdviser) and Andrew McIver (board member). We strengthened C-level and other management positions. We acquired Emwys, integrated it and completely changed the business from B2C gambling operations to B2B marketing. All this was done whilst building a very interesting platform for scale for all our business verticals. It has been full speed! It still is! Management is rooted in the now. But what we do in the now is all about building for future, long-term shareholder value and, obviously, also value for our many partners.

How important is continual investment in research and business development versus keeping shareholders happy?

It is of course imperative. Not everyone has this luxury. But I am very happy to say that all the shareholders of B90 have allowed management to do a great deal of research and business development. We acquired Emwys, great! But what we bought also needed to be set up for proper scale. We have researched everything possible to get traction in other business verticals such as Oddsen.nu as well. This R&D led to Oddsen.nu going global and then securing improved deals. So I think it is fair to say R&D has been essential to keeping shareholders happy.

bet90 team

Tell us about your partnerships with Stake.com, Unibet and Bet365?

These are all amazing businesses, doing very well in multiple markets. They are different in how they go about it, seen from our perspective. But the common denominator is they have resources to do customer acquisition at a bigger scale than most of their competitors. Their systems and flows work. The team is helpful and alert. It is a pleasure to work with them. The same must be said for all of our partners though, not only these three mentioned here.

Is the North American market on your radar for future growth?

I have said no to that on camera before and I will reiterate that here. North America is a cutthroat-competition market, in many ways a race to the bottom. Especially for B2C business. As of late you have seen important B2C operators pull out of the U.S. I am not surprised at all. Unless you have a sexy strategy to overcome the hefty price you need to pay to play in this market, it is going to be a very tough game. Does B90 have such a sexy strategy? Again, Uncle Time will tell. As a B2B marketing entity we have some improved cards in our hands that we can play. For us the timing is not optimal. Right now we focus and allocate capital in other markets, ones where the return on marketing spend is expected to be considerably higher than the North American route.

What are among the long-term ambitions for B90?

Keep on building the business and keep on building mutually successful relationships with partners! Add to this selected high-quality acquisitions, when all factors we consider are favorable to us.

Have you anything else you would like to add?

I want to thank Sports Betting Operator for taking the time to speak to us. We may be a small, listed company on AIM. We may have a colorful history. However, I think we have raised a few eyebrows in the most positive of ways with our recent announcements to the market. I am glad you identified this and took the time to speak to us. For all those who found this interesting, thank you for paying attention!

Sports Betting Operator would like to thank Ronny Breivik, CEO of B90 and PR Team for all their help and assistance with this exclusive feature.
*** This exclusive feature interview was originally published in July 2024 edition of Sports Betting Operator Issue 011 ***

 

 

Tags: ,