With BetGames’ Twain Sport now live in Ontario, we thought it would be the perfect time to sit down the company’s VP for Europe, Asia & Americas, John-Paul Rowland, to hear more about their plans for Canada.
Offering a completely new hybrid version of sports betting via soccer and basketball, with short-form, live action tournaments and a new match every few minutes, John-Paul takes us through his company’s unique proposition for serving the new ‘Tik-Tok generation’ of players.
With Twain Sport now debuting in Ontario, BetGames will no doubt be very excited to get started! What are your plans for the market and how are you going to make a difference?
We’re very excited to get started! It’s a real landmark launch for us following on from Twain’s debut in Europe and Africa with some of the industry’s biggest tier one brands.
Twain Sport is a completely new hybrid version of live sport – offering matches every four minutes and tournaments every hour, and we’ve been delighted with the impact we’ve had so far. At the end of the day, the market needs innovative content right now, and Twain is here to deliver exactly that.
We’re here to cater to a sports-mad audience in Canada, and we’re filling the gap in demand for short-form live-action sporting content. We know exactly where the opportunity lies for us here, and we believe players in North America are going to love what we have to offer. Our extensive research ahead of launching on the continent identified exactly which demographics and audiences we’ll be entertaining, and we see an excellent product fit there.
When it comes to player demographics – what made you identify the market as a key opportunity and what kind of players do you think Twain Sport will appeal to the most?
As we’ve covered already – Ontario, and indeed Canada, is a fantastic opportunity for us. For a start, the average bettor is between 25 and 30 years old, which is the exact demographic we’re targeting with Twain Sport, as we offer high-turnover, fast action live sport for what is effectively the ‘Tik Tok’ generation, meaning we fit the bill perfectly.
I believe this demand for new shorter-form content is exactly what the market is looking for right now, and we’re here to fulfil that requirement. As I’ve mentioned above, the new generation of player is looking for instant thrills and payouts, similar to what you have with the likes of casino, rather than waiting hours for an NFL match to finish. Twain Sport brings that format into play, bridging both live sport and high-frequency betting.
Given that Twain Sport offers a unique proposition of short-form, live-action betting, do you see your products complementing sportsbook spend?
Yes, I do – BetGames has made a name for itself over the last decade as one of the best out there for complementing and boosting sportsbook spend, so we know exactly what we’re doing with Twain!
With us, players have a match every four minutes, and tournaments every hour. This makes it the perfect product if you’re looking at the weekend’s sporting calendar, you have hour increments between major sporting fixtures, which means we’ve got entertainment ready on tap during downtime.
In my view, this works perfectly for two types of demographics, the first being bettors who time their participation around the schedule, which they know in advance (just like with a race card), and for those browsing the lobby, who, just like with virtuals, see our four-minute increments between games, and are happy to wait 60-90 seconds until the next match.
For our North American readers, how soon do you see Twain Sport making the step into the US, where basketball is also hugely popular?
For me, the key lies in our partnerships and how we service them. Our move into the US will be influenced by both player demand, which will be driven by initial interest on social media, where a lot of our content is being shared already. The second, will of course operator traffic, and that will likely govern our first moves south of the Canadian border.
Looking at the dynamics of what we offer, if you, as a US-based operator, want to keep bettors engaged and on site, then Twain’s perfect for that given the strengths we’ve already covered. Not only that, but the US also offers a unique land-based sports betting environment that we’ll be perfect for too. If you enter any sports betting zone in a casino, you’ll see we’ve got the perfect entertainment for the social aspect of betting there – in effect, short-form, live action basketball for fans to enjoy while they have beer and wings at the sports bar. It really is the ideal product.
Given that Twain Sport’s studios are based in Europe – how do you see streaming and live-action gameplay completing the adjusted time zone on the other side of the Atlantic? Is this a case of launching a bespoke set of schedules?
If there’s a need to and/or a demand for custom scheduling, then of course we can look into that – we’re all about complementing our partners’ existing sports schedules to the best of our ability.
However, our vision for Twain is not to compete with big sports events (i.e. the evening matches), but rather complementing the downtime in between matches, and indeed before, which is during the day. That fits perfectly with the way we currently stream from Europe, with matches available from lunchtime and onwards for a North America audience. After all, distracting players during the big games in the evening would be cannibalising from sportsbook spend!
Last but not least, what would your message be for new operators looking to get in on the Twain Sport action, what can they expect by signing up?
They’ll get something completely different in their portfolio – and the perfect product to bridge the gap between live sports and casino-style staking! As we’ve covered already – we’re all about complementing spend, as well as boosting engagement and incremental revenue.
Given what we offer, we’ve got the exact solution to make both casino and sports fans feel right at home. Not only that, but it’s a product that can be inherently trusted. Our participants are professional athletes at the top of their game, as well as being monitored by Sportradar for integrity – which is the same level tech you’ll see with the likes of FIBA and UEFA. As well as delivering top quality entertainment, we also offer quantity. Even slots do not offer a tournament ever hour – so I have no doubt we can not only appeal to every major demographic, but also offer something truly innovative that is unlike anything else on the market.
