Alex Gardiner, our UK brand manager and former Interpoker affiliate manager, had a chance to exchange words with Yvette, Intepoker's current affiliate manager. In the interview she explains her history in the industry, life in Malta, the male dominated poker industry and Interpoker's place in the market. She also is kind enough to give PAS publishers a few pointers.

1. Yvette, can you please tell our publishers a bit more about yourself and your role at InterPoker? Maybe you could tell us a little about Malta and Maltese life?

Yvette: Sure, my role at Interpoker is that of Poker Affiliate Manager. I manage the accounts of all our Poker Affiliates in all markets and I really work hard to give my affiliates a great personalised service, good advice and assistance for them to get the best out of our partnership. I love building great working long standing relationships with professionalism as well as a great sense of humour. I am a very outgoing person who thrives on giving the best possible ‘service with a smile’ to my affiliates. I have been living in Malta all my life, though I have traveled extensively but I always feel the need to come back to Malta because Malta offers a secure, family oriented lifestyle, easy going culture and amazing weather conditions. Though small, Malta is very rich in culture and history and I feel very proud of my heritage.

2. How long have you been in the online gaming industry and how did you end up at InterPoker?

I have been in the online gaming industry since 2006, first at Gnuf/Betway.com, then at Betfair and now at Interpoker. I moved to Inter because I knew this job was a great step forward in my career because it required me to manage the Poker side of our affiliate programme on my own and that would give me more exposure and responsibility to grow my career.

3. The gaming industry is known for being a bit of a "sausage fest" so to speak! What's it like being a women in a predominantly male industry?

Actually I feel flattered to be a woman in a male industry because it’s more of a challenge and I love challenges.

4. What is your favourite thing about the job? A little birdy tells me you love running reports for affiliates

Hehe Alex I love your sense of humour. Though I feel I’m quite capable of producing reports and I know how important they are to our affiliates to monitor performance, I would say my favourite part of the job is coming up with new innovative ideas together with my affiliates for them to acquire/retain as many players as possible.

5. Tell us about life in Malta. It seems more and more operators and affiliates are moving there. Why do you think that is? It's a fairly small island, so do you ever bump into your affiliates?

Life in Malta is just great! We are blessed with nice sunny weather almost all year round, beautiful beaches, great nightlife, laid back culture and friendly, caring people. The main reason why operators move to Malta is due to the advantageous tax laws for i-gaming companies and now a few years down the line, the country offers a lot of i-gaming expertise, so operators are sure to employ dedicated, experienced people. I do occasionally bump into my affiliates which is just great as it helps improve even more our relationship.


6. InterPoker is on the IPN (Boss Media) Network so you don’t currently accept US players. Do you see the US regulated market opening up any time soon? Is InterPoker ready to take advantage when the market opens up?

There have been talks about the US opening again in the past years. I think that would be great and feel that with legislation banning gaming in various countries around the world we are always ready to explore different regions where to grow our business

7. What are InterPoker’s key markets and what would you say is behind the popularity of the brand in these countries?

UK, Scandinavia, East Europe. The Inter brand has a long standing good reputation with players. This year we will focus on the German market too as we see great opportunities there and we have the poker client in German too which should make the process easier

8. What would you say are the biggest challenges facing InterPoker over the next few years?

For all operators I guess is the individual country legislation which are the biggest challenge because it is something beyond our control and that is what scares the most

9. A number of European countries such as France, Italy, Germany and Denmark have recently introduced a number of new rules and regulations for online gambling. How have these new laws affected InterPoker and the Boss Media Network? Are there any plans for InterPoker to apply for any new licenses if required?

For now we had to ban France & Italy as well as Canada. This was not good however we are always on the lookout for new untapped regions. With regards to licenses, we always make sure to operate in a transparent manner with each country to protect the company and player interests.

10. There are plenty of skins on the IPN (Boss Media) Network, but what would you say are the things that give InterPoker an edge over the competition? (Can you explain why players should play InterPoker over some of the major online poker rooms such as PokerStars or Full Tilt?)

We offer huge value to the players. We have planned amazing promos this year and we are already seeing mass participation. We offer over EUR3.4K in tournaments every month, our own series of live events, a VIP club which is second to none, rakeback..the list is endless

11. Do you have any advice for publishers that will help them to encourage more players to sign up at InterPoker?

By showing the players what huge value they can get and if they are PAS players even more cause they get to participate in our $5000 race in collaboration with Poker Heaven as well as random exclusive, value laden promotions

12. Why should PAS Publishers start promoting InterPoker more aggressively and at the top of their websites? Maybe you could tell our publishers about the new promos we've got lined up?

Because since we have kicked off our 2011 promotions, we have seen conversions increase massively and we also work hand in hand with PAS to keep their players active with exclusive promos, reactivations etc. This year apart from the usual rake race we are planning to run cool gadget promos and live seat qualifiers.