How to develop and sell a successful business for 45 mil EUR
It takes a lot of hard work to build a successful business. Selling it requires even more.
But with dedication, strong will, and deep passion, even small businesses operating in competitive industries and less popular regions like Balkan, could become great stories.
One of them is AskGambler, a Serbian company established nearly 20 years ago, which caught the attention of global players to whom it was sold for multi-million investments.
To all of those who need more persuasion for plunging into establishing an online business in some fields of activity in Serbia, and then becoming an absolute leader in it – we share the story of AskGamblers.
From idea to global recognition
AskGamblers.com is currently the most famous affiliate website in the iGaming world which supplies information about gamers’ scores and casino ratings, aiming at providing players with a secure gaming experience.
The website was established in Serbia in 2006 and within a short period of time became the number one service nurturing transparency and authenticity in the iGaming industry. Even though it wasn’t the first portal of this kind in the world, with a lot of effort and hard work it quickly gained global recognition.
Credibility as a service
AskGamblers has offered to the market immense value in the form of the integrity of service collecting and posting comments and casino scores on the part of the players, while also providing them with the option of gaining real insight into online casinos where they can safely play games.
Given players' strong influence and popularity, casinos take their position and ratings rather seriously on AskGamblers and take care of each player’s comment or complaint. A single negative comment can seriously threaten their business. Thus, AskGamblers also offers a casino certification – a guarantee of honesty and quality service. So far, thanks to its unique complaint service, this local website has helped thousands of players refund more than 50 million dollars.
- AskGamblers is yet another example of how smart opportunity recognition in Serbia (and the Balkans) along with clearly focused and true realization can obtain global success, even in quite competitive industries such as iGaming - said Denis Ristić, General Manager at AskGamblers company.
A decade of global recognition
Year after year, AskGamblers had been ensuring tremendous success. From 2010 to 2020, this multi-award-winning website has been proclaimed the best affiliate website in iGaming almost every year. That is a decade of world recognition. As a local business that had been entirely founded without a single external investment, it came as no surprise when it got on the radar of a large foreign corporation. The successful Serbian website was sold in 2016 to a Maltese company Catena Media for 15 million euros.
At that moment, AskGamblers’ revenue amounted to 810.000€ with a profit margin beyond 80%. The team consisted of 30 people, all of whom were employed in Belgrade. However, these numbers quickly changed.
When fast growth becomes a standard
Owing to its efforts of becoming a synonym for transparency and reliability in the iGaming industry, innovations, and continual team development, upon acquisition, AskGamblers tripled its income and doubled its team size. Every calculation proved that investments in this local start-up had paid off within 2 to 3 years of running the business.
As of 2022, the iGaming industry has been considered one of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy. Companies from this industry have been among the most profitable companies in the world. Following its ambitious goals, large business appetites, and maintaining high standards, this year AskGamblers has opened another chapter. After six years, the portal was bought from Catena Media company by its competitor, GiG Media, for a three times larger amount of money compared to prior Catena Media’s purchase – 45 million euros!
According to Denis Ristić, manager at the AskGamblers company, this acquisition supports the goals of AskGmablers being (and staying) focused on organic growth and geographical expansion.
- In AskGamblers we want to offer the highest possible service quality, which is why we continually set ambitious goals before us. We are part of an industry with a fast pace and constant development, both of which we are able to closely follow. This is a reason enough to look forward to all the future ventures and opportunities which this new beginning will bring - adds Denis Ristić.
Considering the fact that GiG Media is one of the most prosperous iGaming affiliates in the world, there are high chances that those goals will be successfully realized, with no doubt about the bright future of this local company.
Want to know more about AskGamblers and its business? Check out their profile on Joberty.
If you want to highlight other successful examples of local companies, write about them and start a discussion on the Joberty community.
