The iGaming brand Parimatch has been working diligently in India trying to create a space for enthusiasts to play for leisure as well as indulge in monitored online betting games. Team Parimatch intends to expand its footprint in India creating work opportunities as well as investment opportunities in one of the most flourishing sectors, inevitably giving a push to the Indian economy in the process.
In a virtual interaction, PMI CEO Anton Rublievskyi and PMI CMO Dmitriy Belianin shared their views on the challenges faced by the company during the pandemic and how they came up with a counter-strategy to tackle the same. The PMI top brass also spoke about how they want to make online betting safe for their customers through better technology.
While the pandemic came as a huge setback for many businesses, it was a boom for the online gambling industry and for Esports, which saw significant growth, especially during the lockdowns—since there was nothing else to do. So, what innovations has Parimatch come up with to take the brand to the next level?
Anton Rublievskyi: I remember the first months of Covid. There was a big drop in all possible revenue indicators because there was no sport. We are a sports betting company but we were not able to provide any kind of sporting events, and table-tennis is a sport that we had 24 hours. So Parimatch invested in different kinds of startups, and companies across the gaming industry. And one of our investments is a company that is based in Ukraine, which provides 24/7 table-tennis events. So, that was our rescue. And I think during that time, our table-tennis players were famous in all possible countries of the world. India was one of those countries.
During the pandemic, a lot of companies turned into tech companies—like Parimatch—since most of the retail shops were closed. Our revenue dropped more than 60%-70% for a small period of time, when there were no events, and slowly our focus moved towards virtual games, towards different events and sports that were available during that time—like Belarusian football. So during that period, our focus was on providing, as much as possible, different virtual events in cricket, football and table-tennis. And as soon as sport started coming back, we saw pretty good migration from offline to online. So, all possible activities that were done offline in different countries moved online.
Because of Covid restrictions, people moved towards online and we saw that they were spending a significant amount of time on their smartphones.
Dmitriy Belianin: Parimatch was launched in India maybe a month before Covid hit. We were actually supposed to start driving a lot of traffic for the games. But, we never expected to see this kind of engagement from our audience. And I guess one of the main reasons for that is that when people were working at home, they would still be looking for any kind of entertainment. And we were there just in time to bring them the safest way to entertainment. Then, you don’t need to go anywhere else, you can sit at home with your family and play some nice games in one of the mutual sports, where players are playing against each other—tennis was a big part of our success. So, we did a lot of things and I think this is one of the reasons why we were so successful in India during Covid because we managed to adjust and adapt to the kind of entertainment people were looking for.
Anton Rublievskyi: I remember those first months after we started. We had an emergency meeting to discuss how we will survive as a company because there were no sports events—and we had only table-tennis. So we decided that we need to educate people about table-tennis—we had pages on our website talking about the rules of table-tennis, and how popular the sport is. In the first month, we experimented, we tried to provide as many possible events on our platform so that people will have options to bet on.
We all know that India is a huge market with many betting companies now coming forward to explore it. So how do you plan to expand your base in India in the coming years?
Anton Rublievskyi: As a global company, we got used to being with big brands in all our markets. We do have competition. And competition allows you to move faster to provide customers with different options. It takes us into towns where we are trying all the time to find new ways of growing our brand, of growing and improving our technology. So, we don’t see any problems with global brands. We are just doing what we did for the last 5, 10, 15 years, in different countries. We are focusing on building our brand, a strong brand that players can trust. We continue to support our customers in terms of all possible engagement with our product. We want to make it safe and comfortable to interact with our product—this is our main priority. We’re just focusing on our technology, on our product, on building and marketing our brand to help us grow and get our market share.
In terms of job opportunities, what are your expectations from Esports?
Dmitriy Belianin: Esports is not that big in India because there are two games, Counter-Strike and DOTA, and both are played on a PC/desktop. Historically, the way people in India have interacted online has been through the smartphone. So, Pub-G is a more popular game in Esports but unfortunately, the specifics of this game don’t allow for placing of bets. Still, we are doing some activities in Esports.
The Esports niche is being developed in India right now, and we see a huge traction and interest in the industry. But, there is another way of development, where the focus is purely on mobile. And as part of Parimatch activities across the world, we try to help niche companies in India develop into sports professionals. So, we hosted a few Pub-G mobile tournaments for India, saw huge amount of interest and actually sponsored the prize fund, the activities and the tournament. This is something that allows smaller Indian players to start their adventure, and we also plan to support local Esports teams in this market. Because, as one of the world's largest Esport brands, we are here to support Esports at a local level, and rural Esports teams, by sponsoring them, so that they can develop their skills to compete at a higher level.