There are so many online gambling affiliate stories out there, and we want to hear them all. He is an interview with Andrew Batty, founder of MrGamez.com, a website which focuses directly on slots games.
- Name: Andrew Batty
- Age: 31
- Hometown: Dubin, Ireland
- Living in: Donegal, Ireland
- Favorite Food: Gabagool
- Must Read Book: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
EEG: Tell us a bit about yourself, we want to know who Andrew really is, the main person behind MrGamez.com. Where were you born? What was the key idea of developing this great review website for top online casino games and reviews?
Andrew: I was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland. Went to school and university. I have an IT background and worked for a logistics company for 4 years before moving into affiliating.
I was always interested in gambling and first started out betting on football and horses in my local Paddy Power shop. At best I was (and still am) a neutral EV sports bettor, but still enjoy the action. I watch pretty much every sport there is from darts to football to athletics. I like to bet on most of them too, just to have an interest. Small stakes though, I rarely bet more than €20 on anything.
From sports, I moved on to poker in my late teens. My Dad is an avid card player and he thought me to play 5 card draw, 25s, gin rummy and a number of other card games when I was a kid. Back then we used to play for matchsticks, but it was still competitive and neither of us liked to lose.
Taking up Texas Holdem was a natural progression and I still play quite regularly today, though not nearly as much as I used to. I’m mostly an MTT player, but dabble a little bit with cash games too. I’ve played several EPT and WPT events, though I’m still waiting to hit a big score 🙂
I was never big into casino games. Being a gambler, I know the odds are stacked against you in most cases, though savvy poker players and sports bettors can always have an edge. The same cannot be said of someone who plays slots or roulette.
I first started in affiliating through a staking site which I owned a piece in. We were staking horses to play online. They kept some % of their profits if they made any. However, the real deal sweetener was the rakeback. With horses on a 60% rakeback deal, we easily covered their losses and then some. Of course, not all players lost, so those cases were win-win situations.
I sold my stake in the site a year or so later for a nice return and decided to focus on something else. I was always intrigued by slots. I liked video poker machines when I was a kid, and even ridiculous games like the 6 horse race simulators that you would find in arcades and fairgrounds. However, I couldn’t understand the attraction of slot games. In fact, I still don’t. I’ve played thousands at this point yet there are few if any I’d ever play again.
EEG: Since there are thousands of casino game review websites out there, where do you think MrGamez.com stands now?
Andrew: When I started researching the niche, I found few if any great sites out there. The content was thin and spammy. Also, every site was just a clone of the next with the same old tired slot reviews and the exact same style of site. With MrGamez.com I wanted to try something new. To make a site that looked more like that of an operator, but that gave users the opportunity to play all their favourite games for free, without signing up, without giving an email address and without any commitment to playing for real money. Of course, the monetization is there too, but with MrGamez, it’s far less in your face than the 99% of other sites out there.
As well as this, I’ve invested a lot more in content than most other sites in the niche. If you read the content on the majority of casino game websites it is boiler plate and to be honest, it’s quite tiresome to read. I can name the really great content driven sites on one hand. I’ve searched for and personally trained journalists to write gaming content with a unique style, to separate Mrgamez.com from the crowd and to inject a bit more personality into an area that is crying out for it.
EEG: What are the strong points of MrGamez.com and what makes it stand out from the niche websites?
Andrew: There are a few things. Firstly, is the content as per the above. Secondly, is the homepage navigation. I’ve watched tens of hours of clicktale videos of users on the site, as well as running live user tests and surveys to get feedback on ways to improve the site. By building the site more like that of an operator, it adds an extra degree of trust and stickiness that is perhaps not found on other affiliate sites.
Finally is the filter systems in place. There is a new version of this I plan to release soon, but the current system seems to work well. Adding the ability to sort games based on a number of metrics is something that is often overlooked by affiliates, when in fact, it’s an essential ingredient for any successful games site, especially when the portfolio of games you offer is a large one.
EEG: What were the bumps on your road when you got started and how did you overcome them?
Andrew: The biggest bump was being hit by an early Penguin algorithm This caused a 90% drop in traffic and income. Luckily I only go for rev share, so I was able to survive on residual income from affiliate accounts while I spent weeks and months cleaning up bad links that had been auto-generated to the site. I managed to make a full recovery by doing a manual removal along with a disavow file. Since then the site has gone from strength to strength with traffic increasing every quarter since.
EEG: You have an interesting Ipad and Android slots landing page and a very informative page for Learning. How does your extreme focus on knowledge sharing on casino come about? Was it something on your mind when you started or was it something you acquired on the go?
Andrew: If you visit any casino affiliate site, most have built a core hub of converting pages with no purpose. These are full of cookie-cutter content that exists with the sole purpose of ranking for keywords. I’ve taken a more long-term approach by putting the users first and conversions second. This was part of my original plan and still remains the driving force behind every site I build.
EEG: We have browsed your website and found some high quality content. Are you writing it by yourself or you have a team of people writing the reviews? How many reviews are there on your website?
Andrew: When I first started, I wrote 100% of the content, but as the business has grown, so has my need to outsource. I now write about 5% of the content and that is mostly editing copy so that it answers questions that users might have. I work with a team of content writers and MrGamez strives to publish 3 new pieces per day.
EEG: How do you keep the content fresh and devoid of clutter when a lot of fluff and nonsense appear on the Internet on a daily basis?
Andrew: I actually have a different hiring approach to most affiliates. I search for journalists and journalism students or graduates to write content. Most freelancers you can find on Elance or similar sites are not qualified writers. Sure you can find some diamonds in the rough, but for the most part these guys are producing junk content. As soon as someone tells me they can write great “seo optimized content” I immediately scratch them off my list of leads.
A person who comes from a writing background can adapt their style to write content for any niche. There may be an initial learning curve, but it’ worth it. Journalism is a tough field to make it in, so there are plenty of young, hungry people crying out for a job. Writing about slot machines may not be their dream job, but it puts food on the table.
EEG: We are sure that your receive daily messages from Affiliate Managers showcasing their products. You of course select them by the brands they work with; but what are your thoughts on how Affiliate Manager-Affiliate relationships should be built?
Andrew: I’m actually shocked at how poorly some affiliate managers do their jobs. I understand they have targets to reach and KPIs based on how many players or affiliates they bring in. But most of them come in with the wrong attitude. Firing off stock emails to hundreds of people on a daily basis is not the way to attract new business, certainly not the kind they are looking for.
Managers should learn more about a person’s site or sites and make a personalized approach based on that. Tell them what they like, what they dislike and how things can be improved upon. Noone likes being coldcalled, so try to make things a bit more personal.
EEG: How do you see the future of the gaming industry? For instance, will it become a truly global phenomenon in the near future?
Andrew: I think there is a very bright future ahead. Regulation is taking place in more and more countries as governments are realizing they need to take a piece of the pie. This can only be a good thing as it will regulate the industry and ensure all facets of the business are held to the highest standards.
The US is still the Mecca of the online gambling world and has the biggest active player base. More and more states are likely to follow in the footsteps of New Jersey though this will be a slow process.
EEG: Can you name one change that you want to see in the casino affiliate ecosystem?
Andrew: I would like to see larger affiliates be a bit more ethical with their business practices. When the recent Affactive/Revenue Jet debacle took place I was not hit at all. Why? Because I never promoted them in the first place. It saddened me to see some of the biggest affiiates in the world promote those sites as the best online casinos. They did this in full knowledge that if the players won they would not be paid.
The sole reason for this is greed. Sure we all want to be successful and grow our business as much as possible. However, there is a right way and a wrong way to do this. Promoting sham operators is not the way to do it. It creates a bad rep for the industry as whole. Likewise, it may turn players off online gambling altogether if they think that operators are only out to screw them. The players should ALWAYS come first. If it wasn’t for them, we’d all still be grinding away in some monotonous job. That’s something that many people in the industry seem to forget.
EEG: What advise you would like to offer to the new affiliates who are looking to venture into this great industry?
Andrew: Be prepared for the long haul. There are few if any shortcuts you can take to get to the top. It’s taken me 4 years to build a stable income with which I can comfortably support my wife and kids. People always harp on about how gambling is the toughest affiliate niche. I’ve worked in many others, and honestly, gambling is one of the easiest.
EEG: Now, who is your favourite celebrity?
Andrew: I don’t really have a favourite person. I thought mark Zuckerberg’s recent announcement was a nice gesture, so for today it’s him.
EEG: If you would just open your Youtube search bar, what would you search for?
Andrew: For something funny, I quite enjoy the odd fail compilation.
EEG: Back to work. Do you attend any igaming conferences? If so, which one is your favourite and what is your most fun experience?
Andrew: I have never actually been to one. I plan to go to LAC(London Affiliate Conference) next year as it’s quite close to home. I’m normally a very private person and don’t even speak to other affiliates. I don’t use social media myself and don’t even use Skype. However, a few managers have been trying to tempt to come over for a while now and it looks like I’ll finally cave in 2016.
EEG: How do you rate the chances of Eastern Europe becoming potential gaming hotpot of the future? Where do you think the region must improve upon?
Andrew: I think in the medium to long term there is potential but for now the opportunities are more limited. However, countries such as Serbia, Hungary and the Ukraine all have huge affiliate companies based there. Some of the best developers and designers come from Eastern Europe and there is massive scope for both igaming affiliates and operators to expand their operations there.
EEG: Alright, here comes the fun part….favourite food, where would you like to travel in Eastern Europe, some part of the region maybe that you haven’t visited yet and favourite destination around the world.
Andrew: I visited Serbia last year and thought it was fantastic. I’d never even heard of Serbian wine before then. Croatia is next on my hit list. Friends of mine have been going to boat parties during the summer months there for several years now and everyone I’ve spoken to has highly recommended it.
EEG: Where you wouldn’t want to travel in Eastern Europe?
Andrew: I’ve heard Moldova is quite a dodgy place. I’d probably like to go though as long as I had my own security detail.
EEG: What is your opinion about EEG (Eastern European Gaming – eegaming.org)?
Andrew: I think it’s a great concept and a great site. Most sites are built without any goals or target market in mind. EEGaming is focused strongly on the Eastern European market and has created a presence in the space as the go to resource for all the latest happenings in the region.
EEG: Thank you for this opportunity and have a great one!
Andrew: Thanks to eegaming.org for the opportunity. It’s great to see a site with clear goals, that is going the extra mile to give people an insight into the industry we work in. Apologies if this got a bit wordy, now I know why my wife tells me to shut up all the time.
Cheers
Andrew
