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<\/p>\nBetTom CEO Paul Colley believes there’s room for a small and ‘relatable’, player-focused betting brand in the UK market, despite the threat of increased taxes.<\/p>\n
Paul Colley, CEO of BetTom, is leveraging the experience and talent of his previously employer Goodwin Racing, where he helped build and operate the BetGoodwin site. <\/p>\n
New UK betting brand BetTom launched its online betting and iGaming platform in the UK in May, in partnership with supplier EveryMatrix, <\/p>\n
Colley spent 11 years at Goodwin Racing, working closely with founder Julian Head. His co-founding partner for BetTom is Julian\u2019s son Tom Head, while Julian\u2019s other son Ed and their month Susan also maintain ownership in the company. The team at BetTom is now into double digits, he says. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve nicked a load of staff from Goodwin,\u201d says Colley. \u201cThey were actually really helpful with that because they just said they would replace the staff.\u201d<\/p>\n
On his time at Goodwin Racing he says transitioning to online from the operator\u2019s legacy telephone betting serving was a steep learning curve. <\/p>\n
\u201cI managed the online operation and learned a lot about how it\u2019s done, the contacts you need, and every piece of the puzzle. If I had started BetTom without that experience, I wouldn\u2019t have had a clue what I was doing,\u201d Colley tells iGB.<\/p>\n
Jockeying for position<\/p>\n
Despite the UK being a mature and challenging market to navigate, Colley believes his experienced team will give BetTom an edge over other start-ups. <\/p>\n
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\u201cYou need a few things coming into this market, an experienced team and a good product,\u201d he says. \u201c[A new operator] can\u2019t turn up and have things like next day withdrawals, because player expectations have changed. You need to have bet builders and cash-out options, all the things customers expect in the current climate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe market is saturated, and you\u2019re up against big bonus offers, so it\u2019s hard. But if you have an idea and a good product, you have a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Compliance should not be automated\u2019<\/p>\n
Compliance is at the top of Colley\u2019s priority list and while many of the more established operators move to automate many of their processes, he believes compliance processes should be fully manual.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all about looking after players and compliance is our biggest department now. It has to be manual work and can\u2019t be automated. Using these websites for 20 years has helped me understand what we need to be offering,\u201d he adds. <\/p>\n
Knowing the BetTom customer<\/p>\n
BetTom is not expecting to compete against tier-one operators, but Colley says his aim is for BetTom to be a \u201crelatable\u201d brand, with a reputation for being customer-friendly. <\/p>\n
\u201cNowadays, you can bet with an operator for years and you\u2019re just a number. It can take them seven days to even send you a response. That\u2019s how we\u2019re going to change things. The customers will get to know us and we\u2019re going to help them straight away. I think players will find us relatable,\u201d Colley says.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u201cI\u2019m prudent and sensible, so I\u2019m not going to say we\u2019ll be the next Paddy Power, but if we could grow by two or three times, we would be happy with that. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a big industry and we want a modest piece of the pie. We want to keep growing but we will be realistic about it. For now, the main thing we want to be is a respected operator with recreational customers that trust us to give them a frictionless journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
The gambling tax hike issue<\/p>\n
The UK is becoming increasing difficult for smaller operators to navigate, as they grapple with enhanced player protection rules like financial risk checks<\/a>, which limit spending for UK customers. <\/p>\n