“AffPapa would never jeopardize its reputation just to get a suspicious operator on board” — Interview with the Head of Commercials at AffPapa, Yeva Avagyan
We continue our series of interviews with prominent figures in the world of gambling, and our guest today is Yeva Avagyan — the Head of Commercials at AffPapa. She kindly agreed to answer our questions and shared plenty of interesting aspects about one of the most important issues in the industry.
Yeva told us about affiliate marketing. She also told us which operators AffPapa would never work with. We also learned why online casinos don’t try to make cryptocurrency payments available, which casinos have a better chance of retaining their customers for a long time, and found out what helps her avoid burnout. Learn about this and much more with today’s guest.
— Please introduce yourself and tell us about yourself.
— Well, Hi! 🙂 My name is Yeva and I’m the Head of Commercials at AffPapa. I am someone who enjoys being outdoors, loves good company, takes pride in her keeping-plants-alive skills and is up for a good laugh, haha!
— Tell us how you got into the industry. What do you like most about working at iGaming?
— I’ve been in the iGaming industry for almost 3 years now! I started out at AffPapa and I’m so happy to see it grow to become one of the industry’s leading directories. I love how creative it is in its own way. And how fun it is to learn, keep up with the innovations, new brands being born and overall navigating through such a fast-paced sphere.
— You studied Chinese Language and Culture at Shanghai International Institute of Languages. Did your knowledge help you in your work?
— I actually wanted to venture into a translators’ career when I was just starting out my academic journey. I love Chinese, I love the complexity of it. The endless hours I would put in memorizing and practicing the characters was so much fun for me. I guess my love towards drawing played a huge role in it too. Chinese characters are in their own way an art I think. I wouldn’t say it helped me a lot in my work but it’s always nice to interact with people who also speak the language. Reminds me of the good old days for sure 🙂
— Tell us about AffPapa where you work.
— As we’ve established, I work at AffPapa. AffPapa is a directory that connects affiliates and operators. It’s a service that was really missing in the industry, the feedback I get on a daily basis speaks for itself, haha! We had a vision before us and I can confidently say that we outdid our expectations. In 2022 we ventured into the Event organizing spectrum and are proud to say that we are holding our second iGaming Club event in London on the 8th of February, which I can already tell will be a huge success.
— Do you work with all operators? If unlicensed casino owners come to you, we assume that you will refuse to work with them. What other criteria do you use when choosing an operator?
— No, we definitely don’t work with every operator. It would be unrealistic. There are some ground rules when partnering with an operator on our end. As you rightly mentioned, they have to have a proper license. We check overall feedback, possible blacklistings, past swindling history etc etc. AffPapa would never jeopardize its reputation just to get a suspicious operator on board. We value our affiliates’ time as well as ours. We want quality to be the number one characteristic our users associate with us.
— Is there a difference in working with cryptocurrency casinos and traditional ones?
— From AffPapa’s perspective I wouldn’t say there’s a fundamental difference other than the obvious one — the utilization of cryptocurrency. I can list many differences from a casino’s perspective but I’m sure there are tons of insightful interviews that have covered this topic already.
— In one of the articles on your website it says “At present, online casinos do not tend to integrate crypto payments to their app as it’s unprofitable”. Can you tell us why some still integrate crypto payments to their apps?
— I’m sure you agree that there are always two sides to the coin. Classifying crypto payments’ integration as unprofitable stems from one huge reason which is the anonymity of the involved parties. This really compromises the KYC process if not entirely. On the other hand there are a lot of people who support anonymity, enjoy the swiftness and convenience of transactions which turns this into a life-long disagreement. That was our observation at that time, when talking to our non-crypto operators.
— Which casinos do most players prefer? What is the deciding factor for a player to stay at a specific casino?
— As I mentioned in many interviews I did before transparency is the #1 deciding factor. A player who doesn’t trust a casino won’t stay for long. For instance, sticking to the list of agreements that were established prior, delivery of righteously earned bonuses, keeping the withdrawals swift. These are important key points which when ticked off promise a long-term, healthy environment. If an operator takes good care of their current players, caters to their needs, and puts them first, then the synergy we all are looking for is achieved.
Transparency aside, a casino should be exciting to look at and have a variety that players can choose from. With game development picking up its pace and having so many breath-taking options available for casinos it’s really crucial to utilize all available channels and keep-up to date. Because players do see the difference, they do appreciate the graphics and will definitely not shy away from trying as many different casinos as possible. It takes only so much to keep a player engaged.
— Tell us what challenges you regularly face and how you deal with them.
— Haha, this is a fun one 🙂 I love my job so any challenges that come with it I take on eagerly. But I think the most important thing is to set priorities and arrange them accordingly. In this day and age, I think our mental health is very crucial to look after. All of the minute errors we worry about are nothing compared to an exhausted mind and body. We need to take care of ourselves first, avoid burnout, and try to lead a balanced happy life where personal time and work are equally respected & cherished. So I think a lot of people will agree with me that if we take care of ourselves first, all of the other aspects of our life will only benefit from it.
— Do you gamble or are you only involved in gambling for work? If you play, which games do you prefer?
— I don’t really gamble myself 🙂 I will try it one day to experience it first hand. Would be nice to be on the players’ side for sure.
