Edward Ihre, the founder of Codeta, gives more insight into his brand’s offers in an exclusive interview for LCB

With the beginning of new year, we look back at all the high points and the launch of Codeta is among them. Finally, an online casino with table games at the core. What makes this even sweeter? The folks behind the brand are true gamblers at heart, which is evident by the one-of-a-kind tutorials designed to spread the love of casino games. Founder, Edward Ihre, gave us an exclusive interview to shed more light on the inner workings of this brand.

A big thanks to Edward for chatting with us

1. The passion for live dealer games shines through so was the brand created by gamblers for gamblers?

That is very much the case. Unlike many of our competitors, prior to launch we took a considerable amount of time to speak to players to find out exactly what it was they wanted from a live dealer offering. By doing this we learned a lot, in particular that table game players are prepared to take considerable risk, but only when it is calculated and only when they feel in control. This was news to us, so we took what we learned from our research and applied it to our product.

The end result was a level of transparency unmatched on any other live dealer site. For example, we have done all we can to give our players the information they need, including the inner workings of the games so they are always aware of the rewards and the risks. We have also included photographs of our customer service team on our site, rather than staged shots from a rent-a-model catalogue, so players know exactly who they are dealing with.

2. Where are your live games streaming from and which software provides them?

Our games are streamed from the Estonia and Malta, and are powered by Evolution Gaming and NetEnt respectively. We have also recently joined forces with Authentic Gaming to offer dual player for the first time. It means we can stream games live from the casino floor with tables that are real, cards that are real, dealers that are real and, most importantly, other players around the table that are real. It takes live dealer to the next level; the games are not just realistic, they are real. We plan to roll out content from more quality suppliers in due course, once they have passed through our stringent vetting process. The platform is provided by EveryMatrix – we met with a number of potential suitors prior to launch but they were a cut above the rest. We have used their platform as a base, and from that developed a beautiful site that is easy to use, initiative, and sleek. We have invested more than €400k in our site, which has been designed and developed by an award-winning agency in Stockholm. Our games are available on desktop and mobile devices; launching with a multi-channel proposition was really important to us.

3. Which of the live games are most popular among your players and what was the largest win to date?

Blackjack has been the most popular game so far, and we have seen a lot of activity come via our own dedicated table. Roulette is a close second, and we are seeing a huge rise in the number of players drawn to our table located in the Dragonara Casino in Malta. I think this is because they get a major buzz from wagering at a table located in a real-world casino; they become immersed in the action taking place at the wheel and in the background, and they really feel like they are there in person. Our largest win to date has been €32,000, which was won over the course of three and a half hours.
Slots are quite popular among gamblers so as a casino focused on table games, are they currently being played more than the slots featured on the site?

We are focused primarily on live table games, we offer slots because we understand that players like to mix things up from time to time and play something different. We have positioned Codeta as a place where fans of table games can find a wide selection of quality games, from an operator that is passionate about its product and transparent about what it does. We are swimming against the tide with our brand and proposition, but so far we have achieved great success. Our table games are by far the most popular on the site, accounting for more than half of revenues.

4. The potential to get back up to €3k in the Top-Up/Cashback scheme is very generous but there’s a lack of promotions appearing on the website. Is this due to the type of player you are attempting to target? What do you say to players that are disappointed with the selection of promos?

We are still learning when it comes to what bonuses our players like and respond to best. The top-up/cashback promo is definitely one for our table game players, and the feedback we have had from them has been overwhelmingly positive thus far. Our slots players seem to be enjoying it too. But we have new offers in the pipeline, and will start offering two different welcome bonuses moving forwards. These are:

1) 100% up to €/£300 (or 3000SEK/NOK)

2)10% cashback/top up on your winning the first week. Paid in real cash with only 1x wager
Our aim with this bonus is that the more casual/slots players might prefer option one, while the more serious/table players most likely will go for option two. Both bonuses apply to all games, slots and table games, so it’s really up to the customers to choose which they like best.

In addition, we have started to run weekend, and soon to be weekly, promotions via a tournament format that rewards the most active players on our site over a specific time period. It includes a live leader board with prizes awarded in cash with no turnover requirements. Again, transparency is front of mind in everything we do. More generally, we continue to listen to player feedback and respond accordingly.

For example, our table game customers have told us they would rather we focused on providing engaging and entertaining games rather than bombarding them with promotions and offers. When it comes to rewarding players, we take a more personalized approach, treating each customer as an individual and tailoring promotions to suit their needs. This is why we don’t have to hang promo-hoardings all over the site.

What’s more, we did our Advent promotion, giving three players and a friend/partner the chance to win a luxury all expenses paid a trip to Malta.

5. How do you feel about virtual currencies such as Bitcoin and their use in the online gambling industry? Can players ever expect to see the Codeta become Bitcoin-friendly?

Bitcoin is an interesting one. It has been lingering in the background for some time now but has yet to go mainstream. Maybe it will, maybe it won’t; either way, here at Codeta we listen to our players and if Bitcoin is something they want we will look into it more closely. But as of yet we haven’t experienced any major demand for any other payment options in addition to what we already offer. If we do, we will act swiftly to upgrade our payment gateway to include Bitcoin.

6. LCB members have voted resulting in a 3.5 rating out of 5 for your casino, do you consider player feedback and make use of comments on affiliate sites such as ours?

Player feedback is not something we only consider, we take it very seriously and act on it whenever it is appropriate to do so. In fact, we encourage players to engage with and contact us as often as they like. Player engagement is vital to the success of any online casino site, and we are currently in the process of recruiting a social media manager/liaison officer to get to know our customers even better than we already do. We want to offer our players the very best experience possible, so if there is something we aren’t doing, or perhaps we could do better, we want to hear about it. Of course, sites such as Latest Caisno Bonuses are a great way for players to criticize and praise the operators they use, and we certainly spend time reading through comments to help us improve our brand and product offering.

7. Are there plans or projects in the works that you can share with us?

World domination. Just kidding, but we do have some really exciting things in the pipeline. We only launched back in June, so at the moment we are fettling and fine tuning the overall player experience. That means optimizing certain parts of the site while developing new features that deliver on our brand promise to recognize players and their achievements, help them hone their skills, and to breathe life and innovation into the live table game market.

We are expanding our footprint into more markets, having just launched in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and the UK. Other than that, you’ll have to wait and see. But I can promise you we have plenty of exciting things in store.