Avraam Tosounidis, co-founder and CFO of Campeón Gaming Partners, explains why lockdown measures have, so far at least, brought about a slight increase to online casino revenues, before sharing his pride that CGP has continued to grow, both in terms of total brands and personnel, despite the challenges posed by COVID-19. 

CasinoBeats: A simple one to start; how is COVID-19 impacting the igaming industry?

Avraam Tosounidis: I believe that, for the moment, the igaming industry is probably one of the sectors experiencing the minimum impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, there is uncertainty, but not the vast drop we have witnessed in other sectors. 

Obviously, sports betting saw the largest impact, since pretty much all sports activities were cancelled for this season including the Olympic Games, so many sports bettors drifted away. However, for casino punters we could say that playing right now is a getaway for them. 

CB: There’s been lots of talk about mitigating the sports betting losses; will online casino save the day for the industry after all?

AT: We can see a slight increase in casino the past few weeks in the industry, compared to the same time last year. I believe that some sports betting players have shifted their focus to casino, as they do not have any big sports tournaments to bet on now, so maybe we could attribute this small increase to them as well. 

At the same time, the lockdown that is going on in many countries worldwide now is helping the industry, as people have more free time to enjoy their favourite games. 

However, we should bear in mind that COVID-19 is expected to bring an unprecedented economic crisis. Clearly, the igaming industry will be no exception from its implications. 

If this situation continues, there is a high chance that players will run out of money and the industry will face a decline. In any case, these are just scenarios, as the situation is still very unstable and we do not know how long this lockdown will continue. 

CB: What are the implications specifically for CGP? How are you dealing with the pandemic in your day-to-day operations?

AT: At Campeón Gaming Partners, we have always been very quick in reacting to any situation and resilient to various conditions. I think this forms a company culture at this point and the teams’ managers are well aware of this. 

As all the companies in the industry, we are focusing on our casino players during these times and we are running engaging campaigns to keep our players entertained and further expand our audience. We are already seeing results from these campaigns, as we are witnessing increases in the casino activity. 

But, besides that, it is business as usual. We are currently in lockdown, as almost the rest of the world, however, we make sure that nothing changes in the way we operate. 

We continue to support our players as we did before, we continue to support our partners as we did before, and keep all our platforms attractive and fully-functional. 

All our employees are there, covering every need of our partners and players. In fact, we have just added new members in the Campeón team to ensure that our excellent service is delivered even better than before. 

But it’s not just that. During these trying times, we are actually growing. Besides the new members of our team, we are also expanding our portfolio by adding two new, themed and exciting brands to our group.

Sons of Slots is a USA motorgang-themed platform which is already up and running, while WallaceBet, a platform focusing on gaming challenges and tips given by Wallace, is due to launch at the beginning of May. We feel very proud that we are able to grow and develop during these times.

CB: And just finally, do you have a long-term plan to navigate this crisis?

AT: These are such uncertain times, that I don’t think there is even a single company that has prepared a long-term plan for this. We don’t even know what may come tomorrow, so we are taking this day by day. We closely follow the developments in the industry, we monitor our players audience and keep trying to expand it. 

We work closely with our partners to ensure that all business operations run smoothly, to adapt to any future landscape and we will continue to do so. 

We focus on keeping our business flow, and we make any necessary adjustments to the situation that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought. We hope that this will soon be over and things will get back to the way they were.