INTERVIEW WITH HERMEN

How long have you been working at Betsson & Zecure Gaming?

My tenure at Betsson Group vastly exceeds the averages of both of our company and the industry standard. In short: I’m a bit of a dinosaur around here, haha. I’m lucky enough and grateful to be working in my 8th role at this great company since I started over 12 years ago. We must keep things interesting, right? So, I always made sure to switch things up and keep it fresh.

During all these years, I’ve seen massive changes, both in terms of company growth, the gaming landscape and the regulatory environment, countless acquisitions, changes in leadership and many other aspects. It has been one heck of a ride!

Alongside all this, I have grown both professionally and as a person. Around 7 months ago I officially started at Zecure Gaming.

Best memory at Zecure

Actually, my best memories here are from the days when I hadn’t even officially started yet in my new role. It was the height of the hot Maltese summer when I stayed in the office many an evening, together with some other highly driven individuals here. While still performing the duties of my old job, I set out to work on the challenges ahead: improving standards for the team I would be leading, developing strategy and tactics, but most of all optimising business intelligence.

We needed to vastly improve visibility of what was going on in my area. It was as if we were trying to blindly navigate the ship through a raging storm. We needed to be more data driven without making this just another corporate buzz word. We needed to give it a meaning in the real world, away from PowerPoint presentations.

So how is this the best memory? Well, there’s something about seeing endless possibilities in front of you. Something intense, inspiring, and memorable. I felt like a kid in a candy store with all these positive changes we could implement in record time, visualizing the impact they would have. I knew what needed to be done. And it’s even better doing it together with passionate, fun, and highly driven people, in an otherwise quiet and dark office, while having a cold beer in your hand!

I will never forget this curious mixture of hard work, banter, and results that summer. Now, over half a year later, I can say that our efforts paid off.

Tell us about your role

In my current role as Head of Player Loyalty I manage a team of account managers who are dedicated to providing the best possible experience to our most loyal and high value customers. Everything we do starts with this outcome in mind.

Rizk VIPs get access to top benefits, built around them. We offer a personal VIP Manager, fast-track withdrawals, access to exclusive events and tournaments, personalised rewards, and much more. You tell us what you like, and we’ll do our utmost to get it for you!

My role is to set the strategy, to supervise, coach and empower the team to ensure success. I see myself as a facilitator rather than someone who tells others what they should be doing. What I like to see from my team is 100% ownership and decentralised decision making.

In the competitive landscape we’re in, it is challenging to deliver what we set out to achieve. But when it works out, it is extremely rewarding for everyone involved. Nothing that comes easy is truly worth having, right?

What is a day as Head of Player Loyalty like?

A typical day starts with a good old cup of morning coffee to get fuelled up. While sipping away, I will go over yesterday’s results, any pending emails and loose ends that need to be tied up.

Since my team know their tasks and have a great deal of autonomy in setting priorities for their portfolios and execution, I can direct my energy to where it’s needed most. Sometimes I must put on my fire fighter’s cap to extinguish some fires left and right, give praise where praise is due or re-direct attention if I feel we’re not giving the right things enough TLC.

The rest of the day will be spent on alignment meetings with various teams and individuals, helping team members in various markets with quick queries, so they get what they need, reporting to senior management and other key stakeholders etc. Another thing I like to help with is our new and improved blog.

I love my job because it is quite varied, but most of all because together as a team we can have an impact on achieving our company mission.

How would you describe your team ?

There are no bad teams, only bad leaders. My team is made up of hard-working individuals who are passionate about what they do, who are target driven and eager to learn. They understand the mission and the steps to achieve it.

We take pride in delivering the best possible outcome in this important area of the business. I’d like to think we’re confident without being cocky. We take ego out of the equation. We operate as a team and play fair. And we don’t forget one important fact: gaming is about fun!

How do you spend your free time?

Weekends and holidays are all about spending time with my wife and 5-year-old daughter. Next to that, I like to listen to podcasts to stay current, I’m an enthusiast of 20th century interior design and I watch NBA basketball, with Dallas Mavericks being my favourite team. Go Mavs!

Making time for reading is important to me. I try to work through a couple of books each month to stay on top of the latest insights in business, politics, and tech, but throw in a couple of classic novels too. Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, that sort of thing. Audiobooks are my preferred format these days because I can combine them with physical activity, errands, and chores around the house. I even listen to these narrators while taking a shower. Anything to stay efficient, haha.

What are your favourite games on Rizk?

That’s a tough question it varies on my mood really, I love playing jackpots like the famous Mega Moolah but I do love the rush of our Live Casino games, Roulette especially!

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