Jesper Kärrbrink – Mr Green – An entertainment focus for Sportsbook 2.0 development

Jesper Kärrbrink

In June of last year, Mr Green launched its Kambi-powered sportsbook product in time for UEFA Euro 2016.

Less than a year on, we caught up with the company’s CEO Jesper Kärrbrink, a speaker at the recent Betting on Football conference, to discuss operational challenges of the launch, balancing the revenue potential of the sportsbook with increased associated costs, and a newly appointed COO.

SBC: During your first year of operating a sportsbook, what are the key things you have learned and the biggest changes you have made to the product?

JK: The most important learning is how well the sportsbook suited the Mr Green customer base. So far, our growth has been almost 100% organic in the sense that it comes from our casino players making the sportsbook extremely profitable.

Regarding the changes, we are now in the development phase of what we call Sportsbook 2.0 where we will launch what we think will be a game changer. A first sneak peak of this will be launched for the French open (yes, we focus on tennis now when the major football season comes to an end).

SBC: How are you managing to balance the extra revenue potential for running the sportsbook with the increased taxes and associated operational costs?

JK: We use the operational (and soon) the marketing backbone of Mr Green Casino also for the sportsbook. So, we basically run the entire operations on three extra FTE’s. I don’t have to add that they are hardworking guys!

SBC: Does the hiring of customer retention specialist Antoine Bonello as COO indicate that delivering a more entertainment focused experience is the next step for the product?

JK: Our entire focus – in all verticals – is increased entertainment and I think this will show in Sportsbook 2.0 as well and of course Antoine’s background fits in to this.

SBC: You recently said that expanding in locally regulated markets such as Denmark is a natural step for the company; can you disclose which other markets you are looking at moving into?

JK: Denmark is set with the acquisition of Dansk Underholdning. Beside that we are looking at Latin America where we have set up an office in Uruguay, but also a list of other countries.

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