With a background in investment banking and private equity, Matt Savoca brings a unique skill set to the world of poker.
15+ Best IGT Slots Online - IGT Games List with Demos for 2023Savoca is the CFO at Global Poker, overlooking the company’s financial planning, capital raises, investments, and M&A activities.
But before he got into the poker industry Savoca worked on the Goldman Sachs prop trading desk and later joined General Atlantic, a leading global growth equity firm, where he executed new investments and provided strategic support to multiple portfolio companies across various industries.
What’s a Wall Street Analyst Doing at Global Poker?
It’s an interesting background for someone working in the social gaming space which is often removed from the traditional Las Vegas casino industry. But as any one involved in the space will tell you, this is different. This is Global Poker.
We caught up with Savoca to learn more about his role at Global Poker and get his thoughts on the company, the industry, and its future.
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Pamela Derrick: Let's start with some background information. Prior to joining Global Poker you had roles at Goldman Sachs and General Atlantic. How did your career lead you to online poker?
Matt Savoca
Matt Savoca: While I was at business school I actually interned at Caesars Entertainment working in their strategy group.
I became aware of the opportunity at Global Poker through the recruitment process and it just seemed like such an interesting space that was really at the intersection of my previous experiences and things that I found interesting.
The idea of revitalizing poker and reaching new players via social casinos was very compelling and aligned well with my experiences both on the investment banking side and on the growth equity side where we were looking for businesses that could rapidly scale.
So when I was interviewing for jobs after business school this opportunity came up and I just jumped at it.
PD: When did you start at Global Poker and what made you decide which role to take on within the company?
MS: I started in May of last year (2017).When I joined the company was still pretty small and luckily because it’s a small company I were able to see how all the pieces fit together and which one best utilized my skillset.
At the end of the day what really matter is adding value to the company and helping it grow so I was happy to jump in wherever necessary, but they really brought me on to help with corporate development and take care of a lot of the financing activities as well as M&A activities going forward.
PD: Can you give us an update on where Global Poker is today in terms of player base and geographical reach?
MS: Sure. We launched our initial product about a year ago now and since then we’ve seen really strong adoption from users around the world.
Best No Deposit Casino Bonuses UK 2023 - Top Free Spins OffersOur player base has grown significantly and right now we’re in 43 states in the US and we’re in almost every country around the world with the exception of a few, like GP refers to "Government Platform" ,which runs the poker sites, and Global Poker which is the customer face internet goes down in certain parts of the world."
MS: The vast majority of our user base is in Europe just because we’ve been marketing there longer, but we’re seeing exceptional growth in other parts of the world including Asia Pacific and Latin America, so we’re really excited about that.
In terms of raw numbers we have hundreds of thousands of registered users and tens of thousands of new users joining our community each month.
PD: In simple terms can you explain what Global Poker offers that’s different from other online or mobile poker and gaming apps?
MS: Absolutely. At a high level we offer free to play sweepstakes games, including virtual chips, which are essentially like promotional chips and cannot be redeemed for cash prizes.
And then we also offer gold coins which operate as a digital good inside of our website and app. Those can be redeemed for cash prizes in certain jurisdictions including the United States and Canada.
Our model is a hybrid between a traditional online poker room and a social casino. So people might be familiar with Candy Crush or other popular social casino style games where you earn virtual currency for basically doing anything within the game whether it’s signing in every day or posting a high score on Facebook.
Those games are wildly successful because everyone loves playing casino games, but a lot of times you hit a threshold where you can’t play anymore without purchasing additional virtual currency, typically vetting purchases.
What we do differently is we reward users with virtual currencies simply for logging in and participating in our poker and casino offering, so it’s much more generous from a economical standpoint. And then we differentiate ourselves by allowing users to redeem those winnings in select jurisdictions including the U.S. And Canada.
Win A Day Casino Games Worth Trying OnlineIs It Legal to Play Sweepstakes Poker?
_PD: For people listening who maybe aren’t familiar with the _ social casino or sweepstakes models can they really win cash prizes? Is that legal?
MS: Yes absolutely. So sweepstakes poker has actually been around for over a decade now. , we use a virtual currency that is legally classified as a prize, which allows us to make gold coin awards to U.S. Players, even though federal wireless communications act makes selling online poker to US players illegal.
This distinction as a sweepstakes permits players to redeem their gold coins for cash sweeps.
There's a statute called the Wire Act that for many years prevented operators from offering traditional online poker and casino games to players in the United States, but there’s a second law called the that applies to prizes and promotional contests.
Great Britain Casino Alternatives for UK PlayersThat carve-out specifically allows you to offer these types of skill and chance games and award prizes, including cash prizes, as long as you don’t charge customers up front for the right to play. That’s the crux of what makes our model compliant with US law.
PD: From a player acquisition standpoint, because you can offer a sweepstake and give them something back, the lifetime value of your average user is probably much higher than your typical free to play app.
MS: Yeah absolutely. As you know in traditional user acquisition in mobile and online you’re bidding on users and the cost per acquire user can be pretty significant depending on the demographic and the geography that you’re targeting.
Because our LTV is so strong we’re actually able to profitably acquire users in most of our campaigns around the world, which is really rare in mobile and online acquisition.
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PD: Your founder, Paul Leggett, is a very well known poker entrepreneur. He founded Hawksoft, Merge Gaming, and previously was co-founder and CEO of UltimateBet.
MS: He’s had an incredibly impressive career and I think his experience building and growing poker businesses has been incredibly valuable to Global Poker from both a strategic perspective and just having that industry expertise.
He understands the user, he understands what features will resonate with them, and ultimately that informs our roadmap and helps ensure that we’re building out the features and functions that our users want and need.
One thing that’s really cool about our user base is it’s revitalized poker for a lot of lapsed players, but we’ve also reached this large segment of users who’ve never played poker before and are coming to the platform and playing poker for the first time.
iowa casino lawsSo Paul’s experience building out successful poker products certainly helps, but I think maybe even more important is his ability to lead the organization and help guide our strategy moving forward.
PD: When you say guiding the organization, although Paul has poker experience, he hasn't spent his entire career in poker. Did he put out a request for CFO and you responded, or how did you get connected with Global Poker?
MS: No, it was all poker related. When I was interviewing for jobs and looked at the opportunity with Global Poker, I did some research on the founders and became aware of Paul’s background. I actually emailed him directly and was like, “Hey, I’m interviewing with your company and I just wanted to let you know and also pick your brain a little bit."
Leggett and Savoca met in the poker world before working together.
He’s obviously very well connected in the poker world so I just wanted to pick his brain a little bit, but as our conversations progressed I was really impressed with him both professionally and personally, and I think that’s led to a really strong working relationship.
No Deposit Free Play Casinos 2023He’s been an entrepreneur his whole life and I’ve come from more established organizations so somebody like myself can definitely learn a lot working for somebody like Paul who’s been technically an employee, but in reality runs his own company.
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PD: You’ve been in this space with Goldman Sachs and General Atlantic, and now you’re in the poker space with Global Poker. How would you compare and contrast the traditional Las Vegas casino industry with what’s happening online and with social casinos?
MS: You’re seeing a lot of innovation in the online and mobile space. I think anyone who’s been in the Las Vegas casino industry would acknowledge that that part of the business has been more challenged, whereas you’re seeing significant growth in online and mobile.
Top Online Casinos in Michigan for 2023 [Updated]If you look at some of the publicly traded companies in this space, like _, Flutter Entertainment, and _ you see that the online and mobile channels are growing rapidly and in many cases offsetting declines that they’re experiencing in their bricks and mortar casinos.
PD: There’s been a big push with iGaming and online gambling in the United States because of the absence of sports betting revenue tracked by the casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Do you think that pushes us faster towards a more unified approach to regulation or is it too early to tell?
MS: I think it definitely accelerates the push toward more regulation in the United States, and not just sports betting but online poker and online casino as well.
These are separate revenues streams, but the reality is a lot of these operators want to offer a holistic product and if sports betting requires an investment in technology and getting your regulatory affairs in order, it could encourage consolidation among fewer operators that can make that investment and offer a more comprehensive product.
⭐ Best USA Online Casinos (updated better bonuses)There’s a lot of moving parts to get there, but I think that’s the direction things are headed.
PD: Even without full on online regulation and opening the floodgates to traditional online poker and casino operations, do you think that what Global Poker is doing right now, filling this gap in the US market, softens the blow of people staying at home and not traveling internationally or to Las Vegas before regulation happens?
MS: Absolutely. I think we’re well positioned to capture that demand especially as more people stay at home and consume entertainment content online and via mobile devices.
new jersey online casino promotionsThere’s a huge amount of stickiness to these social casino games and users really love playing poker in a social context with their friends regardless of where they live in the world and what the specific regulations are.
Where Does Global Poker Fit Into the Industry?
PD: Where do you see Global Poker fitting into the overall industry? Do you see a pathway for some sort of conversion or bridge from your platform to more traditional online poker?
MS: That is our long term vision and something we talk about quite frequently both internally and with our investors. Our goal is to become the preeminent poker and casino platform globically and we want to be the place where players go to play poker and casino games regardless of where they live in the world or what the specific regulatory regime is.
For players in places like the United States and Europe, we provide a great experience today where they can play for free or they can win real prizes, including cash prizes in certain jurisdictions. And we’ll continue to invest in product innovation to make sure that we’re delivering the best possible experience for those players.
Casino Deposit Methods That Get You Playing FasterBut we also see a pathway for players to connect theirGlobal Poker account to future products that may exist either with us or with our partners down the line, and that could range from traditional online poker products in regulated markets to newer forms of interactivity that emerge over time.
As an industry insider, what do you think about the social casino model and the potential for crossover between these types of games and traditional poker? Let us know in the Comments section below.
