Q&A: Per Norman, CEO, Mr Green AB

Mr Green is a firm on the up, a trajectory highlighted by last week‘s 20% jump in 2015 revenues and EBITDA return of ?11.3m.

The results publication also saw the firm reveal a host of plans for 2016, including the launch of a new sportsbook, the hire of a new CEO for its Malta-based operation and a listing on the NASDAQ Stockholm exchange.

Group CEO Per Norman spoke to EGR about these plans and discussed the next step in its UK strategy.

eGaming Review (EGR): What was behind the decision to replace Malta CEO Bo Wanghammer with former Svenska Spel chief executive Jesper K?rrbrink?

Per Norman (PN): The plan for Bo was always that his time as CEO was a two or three year gig with certain targets in place. Ahead of our NASDAQ stock listing, we wanted to be very clear about who was running the company, so we took the decision now.

This was very much according to our transition plan that we have discussed previously. I am super happy Bo wants to stay with us, taking a role within the company on special projects, which is still extremely valuable for us.

EGR: How do you expect the listing on the NASDAQ Stockholm exchange to help the business?

PN: It will broaden the investor base. It also makes it easier to raise money and increases your transparency – there are many more analysts that cover your shares and your stock. We are working on this process currently but it still needs a final board decision and we plan for it to take place at some point in 2016.

EGR: You’ve decided to launch a sportsbook – how far along is this?

PN: We haven’t looked for a provider yet. We are looking for a third-party solution which will cover the European markets we operate in and want to expand in to. We want a provider with a broad coverage and live betting is especially important for us, because we see that there’s a close connection between live betting and casino gameplay. The next stage in the process is to choose the supplier.

EGR: Is it more of an add-on than a core product?

PN: We are a casino operator but we see that a large share of our casino customers also play on sportsbook and we want to keep them on our platform and make sure they don’t go to an external sportsbook and play casino there.

It’s also something which is expected by customers. We carried out an extensive survey around this and we saw a very positive attitude among our customers. There are very few downsides to this, especially since you can go through a third-party provider which limits risks the technology risks.

We would rather get it right than get it quick. It could take two or three years but if we run this project properly we strongly believe we could launch in 2016.

EGR: What does the 2016 expansion plan look like?

PN: We already have licences in the UK and Italy and we are small fish in big ponds there so we see a lot of growth we can achieve there at least.

We are constantly scouting and looking for new opportunities but I think there is a lot we can do in these existing markets, and when you add the new products and sportsbook, that creates a big opportunity for growth.

In the UK we have a footprint but we know it’s an extremely competitive market. Maybe the UK is the most important market to have a sportsbook on especially if you are not one of the big well-known brands. I see that the broadening of our product will play an important role in the next step of our UK strategy.