Editec & SB Betting success story
It will be a decade since SB Betting and Editec have established a partnership with such recognized brand in Africa as Premier Bet. Cooperation at first seemed risky because Africa was one of the big unknowns on the gambling map of the world at the time, but over time it turned out that it was a hit.
Where it all began?
We need to go back to the turn of 2013 and 2014. At that time SB Betting was already after its first commercial debut in Africa, because its platform was used by Nairabet operator. We’re talking about an African tycoon here, so SB Betting has automatically become famous in the local market.
Especially since the platform from SB Betting was praised by clients as well as industry experts. This did not pass the attention of Editec, which approached the company based in Szczecin, Poland.
Of course, the small choice of suppliers in Africa influenced the fact that the cooperation was established. At that time, few of them wanted to enter the market which was very uncertain. However, the risk that SB Betting showed at that time paid off, because they started to develop there very quickly and participate in subsequent projects.
One of them was the cooperation with Editec. The first meeting between the entrepreneurs took place at a trade show in London, as Editec has one of its European offices there.
The beginning of a joint adventure
The two companies reached an agreement very quickly and began to develop the product, based strongly on solutions introduced in Nigeria. The experience played a noticeably big role here because SB Betting knew from the beginning what an African client expected.
This resulted in Editec introducing the platform from SB Betting in countries such as Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania. Then successively month by month other countries joined.
It is worth noting that SB Betting in Africa primarily provides its platform to stationary points. That is, to the most important part of business in this region, because in African countries online is not developed, as it is in Europe. In fact, it is not developed at all, because it is a marginal part of the market.
People play mainly in stationary points, which results from tradition, attachment, culture, as well as a bit of technological backwardness. Although it’s not like online doesn’t work there at all.
The majority of Editec clients play in stationary points
At Editec brands, the retail network constitutes a crucial part of the business of the entire company, which clearly shows that we are talking about completely different trends than in European markets. Online provider, BtoBet, is responsible for the online part of the market.
It is also worth noting that since the beginning of the cooperation between SB Betting and Editec, it has been established that the Szczecin-based company will deal primarily with the stationary network, which is the core of business.
Although soon this will change in some ways, because in the brand outlets belonging to Editec there are introduced machines from which you will be able to bet online.
Will this be a breakthrough in the market? Perhaps, because clients from African countries play mainly at stationary points and are unlikely to give that up in the near future. However, the introduction of machines to play online at stationary points can make some of them switch to playing online. Some people will notice that online is much more convenient, and also gives much more opportunities to bet.
Technological challenges
SB Betting accepts a plethora of coupons for sports betting per month, which is already a big technological challenge. We are talking about the retail network, where the betting peak falls on the weekend. This makes the platform loads remarkably high, which is why the company is constantly working to improve its system. To the extent that it can withstand even greater loads.
SB Betting is also not wasting time in developing points, as more products are created, more solutions are integrated. Gold zones are also created, which are becoming increasingly popular among clients.
There’s not much to say, business is growing, so the supplier must be ready to accept more and more bets.
Business diversification – Lotto
Lotto is a separate project, on which Editec and SB Betting cooperate. For this purpose, a Joint Venture was created, and it was stated that SB Betting would take over the technological process in the lottery network.
It is worth noting that before this happened, Editec used an old solution, which, after all, met the assumptions. However, there was no development, and it was decided to move forward with the development of technology.
Hence, for the last couple of years, SB Betting has been developing a completely new lottery platform, which is now being introduced in many African markets where Editec, the lottery brand, operates.
The process of implementing new solutions is not very fast, because we are talking about a really large network of points. Editec cannot afford to lose agents or customers. So, they can’t suddenly stop everything and introduce completely new machines.
The changes are therefore gradual, there is now a pilot stage, which is that in a few countries, new solutions have been introduced. Now is the moment for feedback, which will help indicate points where things can still be improved.
Of course, all this is combined with the training of many employees already in place in the countries where the lottery operates. Thanks to the fact that it is a close cooperation on the basis of a Join Venture, Editec employees regularly come to Szczecin, where they learn a new system. They also have a dedicated team in Africa that ensures that employees understand the new system.
The future
The cooperation between SB Betting and Editec has been going on for almost a decade and, as the title of the article points out, both companies have already achieved many mutual successes. However, it is difficult to talk about hitting the ceiling, because even a lottery project has huge possibilities and chances.
The Director at SB Betting, Michał Głowacki, does not hide the excitement of the new project in an interview with us: – Entering the lottery is exciting for us because we are talking about a really big project. In recent months, we have been working on a system that we are now gradually implementing. However, this is undoubtedly less demanding on the technological side than betting. In betting coupons are accepted at different hours, bets are different, which also affects the time-consuming nature of their accounting.
– The lottery is much simpler in this matter. Although I have to say that here it will also be interesting from the business side, because you can create jackpots or other types of benefits for players. So certainly, the lottery is interesting for us and creates another branch of our business – Michał Głowacki added.
And this is not the end of the possibilities, because we are still talking about the African market, which over the years has an increasing potential for the iGaming industry. Entering there now from scratch, however, would be very difficult. However, the experience acquired by SB Betting and Editec over many years of operating in the local markets makes the duo have a considerable technological and substantive advantage over the rest of the stake.
