Greenzorro Casino Interview: Introducing New Gambling Era

Meet the team behind the revolutionary format

Just recently we have come across an unusual online operator – Greenzorro. While so many things seemed to be quite similar to many other modern places to bet and win – the multi-software library with content from studios like Leander, Net Entertainment and World Match, as well as promotions, we found one thing was very new, and it immediately caught our attention.

The brand introduced a concept where on a gamer’s behalf, it can invest his/her losses instead of choosing a traditional scheme by which other casinos work. Longing to know more, we have contacted Greenzorro’s team and received detailed answers from the founder and CEO, Akis Stark. So, without any further ado, here is the information you will definitely want to share with the rest of the gaming community.

I think what everyone is interested in first is the real face behind the greeznorro’s mask – Akis Stark, and the experience that led you to introducing the new concept for online gambling.

The Greenzorro character expresses the transfer of value and power back to the players. It is embodied in the fictional character of Greenzorro, but it’s a team effort and all team members wear the mask.

The idea started taking its shape after observing one of our very close friends on a disastrous losing streak! It became obvious to me that the more time he spent online, the more money he lost. We felt there needed to be some balancing mechanism and some form of protection. Coincidentally, I was spending most of my professional time on an investment related venture and after some brainstorming, we came up with the idea. In terms of my motivation, I fundamentally believe that the clients/players should be getting the lion’s share of value!

Having said that, investors and entrepreneurs also need to generate returns so that projects/ ideas are investable. These two CAN go hand in hand if positioned properly, and this is what we have achieved with Greenzorro.

Tell us more about the idea behind Greenzorro and, what is even more important – how long did it take you to make it happen? Were there any doubts and risks?

Greenzorro was conceived with the idea that online players can get much more value back for their money spent. ~90% of them will lose every year and this is just the probabilities of the games at play, so not much players can do. Nevertheless, most users enjoy their time gaming and want to continue playing. We thought that there is an opportunity to minimize their risks by returning them portion of their net losses (50% to be exact) and in exchange, minimize marketing and other costs.

We then brainstormed about how to return even more cash, and it made a lot sense to add investing activities to the mix. Given that all operators handle a lot of cash, we thought it does not make a lot of sense to just keep it in the bank when you can get better returns elsewhere with minimal risk. Adding investments contributes substantially in returning even more to players! Furthermore, through the fees on the investments, Greenzorro can generate profit and make it financially viable and thus investable; without this we could not bring the concept to life, as we would not be able to receive private financing.

We are still at the beginning and have a long way to go until achieving our vision of operating in most countries in the world and return hundreds of millions of dollars to gamers on an annual basis.

The idea has been conceived about 3 years ago and it took some time to shape the concept and bring it to life! We have merged the 2 most highly regulated industries in the world, with a lot of new technology that binds them together, so it has been a challenging task. We did not have any doubt that players need to get more value back and we do not have any doubt that our concept will be increasingly successful as everyone realizes this. We have many clients that can attest to that and they are constantly spreading the Greenzorro word.

We have merged the 2 most highly regulated industries in the world, with a lot of new technology that binds them together, so it has been a challenging task. We did not have any doubt that players need to get more value back…

What does Greenzorro make profit from as a business here?

Greenzorro invests 50% of all players net losses, the remaining 50% are used for covering our operating costs. This is usually the margins for all successful gambling destinations and a reasonable percentage to make sure we cover the basic needs. The profit comes from charging management fees on the invested funds. With this model, our incentives and the customers’ incentives are fully aligned: the more money we put on the side on their account, the more money we can invest for them, leading to higher and quicker return for players and a profit for us.

For our profits to be substantial, there will need to be a large number of visitors coming to our platform frequently. The management fees at large sums are more than adequate for the company to make a good enough profit while generating value for the community, and making sure all operating costs are covered by the 50% portion of the net loss.

The idea of offering players the ability to turn their losses into investments seems so simple. How come it has never been offered by anyone else before?

For the existing casinos, it is difficult to change a tried and tested model that works, to which players have been accustomed to, if they have no reason to do so.

We think that the industry as a whole has not provided enough transparency on the odds of games and has not communicated these issues adequately to players. Especially, in terms of offering real data, statistics and transparency on games. The vast majority of players will lose in the long term, by design and with statistical certainty.

Our hypothesis is that existing operators refrain from sharing data as this could hurt their visits and revenues. Communicating to gamblers that it is certain that they will lose is probably not the most appealing marketing message.

In contrast to that approach, we feel that there is a big portion of users that understand the fundamentals of real money games; these individuals are playing to have fun and are not in a disbelief that they can win. For them, we feel that openly addressing this issue, gives us credibility and allows us to have a more honest dialogue with them and differentiates us from other operators.

Have you received any feedback from your colleagues who are managing competing online casinos?

We have done our math very thoroughly and feel very confident of our business model. While the strong excitement of players is really rewarding to us and motivates us for working harder.

Naturally, when a new concept is introduced there is a lot of skepticism. Common arguments raised by colleagues in more traditional concepts are that people don’t want to hear that they will lose or that returning 50% is too much.

For many, e-gaming is a way to relax, and not all players are familiar with the reality of investing. Won’t this innovation scare them away as a rather complicated process? What is the response from Greenzorro’s registered users?

We have all the favorite games, and this is where our players spend the majority of their time on. We are predominantly a gaming destination that offers additional protection through the investment activities.

The information on the investment part of the platform is really “tiered” in a way that visitors learn as much as they want and interact as much as they want, or not at all. Some are interested and excited to see the investment side; actually, they feel great that their gambling losses is invested in blue chip companies. Others focus more on the cash back component and Greenzorro allows them to get it back with just a few clicks without them needing to know much about the investment part.

We are predominantly a gaming destination that offers additional protection to players through the investment activities.

Our investment portfolio has a simple structure of conservative, normal, aggressive that one can choose from; if someone does not want to even do that, then normal will be a default selection. An analysis on the investment products is also there for people that want to dig deeper.

For us, the whole investment approach was thought and created to increase further the value for players, not necessarily to educate them or turn them into sophisticated investors if they do not want to. The information is there for them to see and make decisions on only if they want to.

What are your thoughts on the modern e-gaming industry in general? The experience of Greenzorro shows that up to 40% of the marketing budget can be cut back. Also, a win-win option for both players and the business is now introduced. What else can be changed or altered regarding the demands of time?

We feel that a lot of the focus of the e-gaming industry has been on innovations being introduced by other industries like VR, AR etc., which is mostly on the technology front.

We feel that there can be more innovation in business models within the industry, especially with the introduction of block chain technology and Crypto currencies. Greenzorro for example, focuses mostly on returning value to users and reshaping some of the basic, fundamental economics of the industry. We believe that what we have started is only the beginning, probably others will follow in our footsteps breaking new ground in business model innovation. We will keep exploring and opening new doors to see what opportunities new technologies can present to us.

Greenzorro: In Comes the New Era of Online Gambling