Ex-Betfair partnership launches consultancy site

Two former senior Betfair executives have launched their own consultancy to provide egaming companies with their 12 years experience in the industry.

Anton Bell, previously marketing director of Betfair, and Ben Fried, ex-global head of Betfair Poker have today officially launched the Gaming Edge Associates website. Their consulting business aims to provide expertise to online betting and gaming companies keen to benefit from their combined experience at Betfair and other gaming operators. Gaming Edge Associates has already consulted on over 15 projects for 10 major clients in the gaming sector since its launch in early 2009.

“We have a core understanding of the gaming customer, the marketplace and we have extensive knowledge of all product verticals, including poker, sports, bingo, casino and social gaming,” Bell said.

“Our experience developing the Betfair business and other leading companies will benefit many clients in the sector and we are very excited to be launching online now. We believe that there is a huge opportunity for skilled consultancy to service the needs of industry,” he added.

Gaming Edge Associates splits its business into three key units, consulting services, partners and products. Fried added: “While our core client interaction to date has been on the consulting side, we have noticed strong growth in opportunities to help our partners navigate the gaming industry. On top of this, we are very excited to be launching our first proprietary product to the market at the end of October.”

The company also said it was building a network of smart, independent associates keen to apply their specialist product and functional expertise to new environments in the gaming industry rather than be tied to one, the company said in a statement.

“We believe there is a role for impartial expertise in the gaming Industry and fully recognise that working in a very competitive marketplace, our integrity is paramount. We have absolute respect for client confidentiality.”

Ben Fried launched and managed Betfair Poker for more than four years and grew revenue to more than £100,000 a day grossing £80m in revenue. While there he was responsible for ongoing business development and negotiation with third party poker vendors and new partners and for all activity in the Betfair Poker P&L including marketing, operations, product development, and team management. He has also had recent social gaming expertise through strategic relationships with Amuso, ETV and Betable.

Anton Bell has 15 years marketing experience, the last six of which have been in internet gambling. In 2009 he was a consultant marketing VP for 888 redesigning CRM strategy and accelerating sports book growth. Previously he was Betfair’s marketing director from 2007 to 2009 responsible for customer acquisition channels (Affiliates, SEO, PPC, display) and global CRM across the product portfolio (sports, poker, casino/games). He joined the Betfair strategy and marketing team in 2004, building analytics, research and web experience capability. More recently he was engaged with a start-up travel search business, designing marketing strategy and launch planning.