[HAVELOCK] CasinoBitco.in CBTC

[coingamblingreviews]

July Metrics and Financials below.

Monthly Metrics: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmSWZWkGJ1V3dFpxZHVTN0x6ZldUeHRteWdBd1pMNXc#gid=16

P&L - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mFzQOuJ-8hBI8ftH75EEhRkcpLh8NbJMJPOoKhK17Yo

Sportsbook:                                   + 1.806btc
HTML5 Casino:                               + 1.232  btc
Bit777/ PeerBet (CBTC Share):        - 3.876 btc
 
Overall Month: -0.838 btc

Noteworthy callouts
July is a historically slow month as we have no main sports in action outside Soccer and Baseball, and Soccer has never been a big draw for us. We are content to report that certain key metrics we pay close attention to are actually up MoM and YoY. This includes the # of existing users making return deposits, as well as the # of new users making a deposit. Both metrics are actually performing better than July of 2015, and even June of 2016.

We've also are happy to report that we are days away from launching our new Sportsbook (screenshot below) which gives us the following new features:
- Cart based Betting
- Bet on many Games at once
- Easier ability to Parlay Multiple Bets
- Aggregation of 6 different odds providers to provide more markets and options to our players
- Automatic settlement of wagers
- Automatic Hedging behind the scenes to operate near risk-free
- Completely responsive, works great in mobile browsers

Screenshot: http://pasteboard.co/6kTRQJURk.png

Last, we continue to make strides with our new SEO vendor, they have laid out plenty of foundational groundwork and have started identifying and creating high-quality backlinks. All said, we do want to express patience here as we don't expect to see significant results until 4-5 months down the road.

Are you able to share who the SEO provider is?

Are you running your sportsbook by yourselves or who is doing that now?

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[casinobitco]

Are you able to share who the SEO provider is?

Are you running your sportsbook by yourselves or who is doing that now?

SEO Provider, I can't list due to an NDA; however, they are a big UK firm that's been able to help a lot of niche sites like ours in the past.

Sportsbook - We are running it ourselves (so $0 monthly costs),  but we've built an algorithm to offset risky bets to protect us from the big swings we saw in the past.

[coingamblingreviews]

Are you able to share who the SEO provider is?

Are you running your sportsbook by yourselves or who is doing that now?

SEO Provider, I can't list due to an NDA; however, they are a big UK firm that's been able to help a lot of niche sites like ours in the past.

Sportsbook - We are running it ourselves (so $0 monthly costs),  but we've built an algorithm to offset risky bets to protect us from the big swings we saw in the past.

Thanks for the info.

It is amazing how tough the sportsbook has been historically - hopefully the next season starts off well 

[casinobitco]

Are you able to share who the SEO provider is?

Are you running your sportsbook by yourselves or who is doing that now?

SEO Provider, I can't list due to an NDA; however, they are a big UK firm that's been able to help a lot of niche sites like ours in the past.

Sportsbook - We are running it ourselves (so $0 monthly costs),  but we've built an algorithm to offset risky bets to protect us from the big swings we saw in the past.

Thanks for the info.

It is amazing how tough the sportsbook has been historically - hopefully the next season starts off well 

100% agreed, incredible story actually. Now that we're operating no-risk, and with a new book, we should start yielding better results!

[jrlichtman]

Hopefully the slight moderation in the price of BTC helps a bit.

Higher traffic appears to be key, now that the risk is sorted. Are there any other marketing or traffic building tactics in play, other than SEO?

[jrlichtman]

Will the August numbers be out soon?

[casinobitco]

Q3 2016

Q3 Revenue   -11.79 btc
Q3 Expenses  -19.29 btc
————————————
Q2 Profit (Loss)  (-31.08) btc

Monthly Metrics: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmSWZWkGJ1V3dFpxZHVTN0x6ZldUeHRteWdBd1pMNXc#gid=16

P&L - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1mFzQOuJ-8hBI8ftH75EEhRkcpLh8NbJMJPOoKhK17Yo



Key Performance Indicators for Q3
# of unique depositors (players) : 114 (+13.9% from Q216, -54% YoY using same period)
# of deposits                             : 432 (+14.4% from Q216, -51% YoY using same period)
volume of deposits                     : 117.34 btc (+58.2% from Q216, -30.1% YoY using same period)

# of casino bets                         : 27541 (-40.76% from Q216, -62.55% YoY using same period)
# of unique casino players          : 73 players (-18.57% from Q216, -54.7% YoY using same period)
Volume of casino bets                 : 249.06 btc (-41.25% from Q216, -79.70% YoY using same period)

# of sportsbook bets                  : 1989 bets  (+51.93 from Q216, -6.14% YoY using same period)
# of unique sportsbook players   : 69 players (+2.94% from Q216, +9.09 YoY using same period)
Volume of sportsbook bets          : 755.81 btc (+139.31 from Q216, +68.04% YoY using the same period)


These KPIs above are very telling. Clearly, there is a regression in Casino play not just YoY, but also from the last quarter which is discouraging since we are in the midst of our busy season with American Football in full swing.  On a positive note, our Bitcoin Sportsbook has seen drastic improvement and growth in all but one category which could be accounted for with an extra weekend of American Football in the same time period last year. The key takeaway for the team is to continue to focus on creative ways to drive casino action, through organic search and marketing, more enticing promotions, and additional software development.

Future Considerations
- SEO remains are biggest area of opportunity. We are working very closely with the firm responsible for this; and while we have seen a drop in rankings across the board, the firm has reassured us this is expected and we should start to realize our investments in the December 2016 timeframe.

- New Sportsbook and Casino Development is something we are considering based on the amount of expendable resources we can put into the project in the Q4 timeframe, we have a large backlog of ideas - so it's really just a matter of time and execution at this point.

- Syndication of our games and sportsbook is something that is actually in development right now. We have lined up a partner who will host our casino games via a white label, shared-revenue, model. Once this is completed we will share the news with unit holders, and add a new line item in our revenue metrics. We believe bitcoin sportsbook syndication has a big market when done correctly (risk-free), and is on our plan of record for 2017.

[RHavar]

Q3 2016

Q3 Revenue   -11.79 btc
Q3 Expenses  -19.29 btc
————————————
Q2 Profit (Loss)  (-31.08) btc

You've done a good job at keeping expenses down, well done. But as potential investor, I wonder how much runway you guys still have left? Do you release cash on hand information, or something?

- SEO remains are biggest area of opportunity. We are working very closely with the firm responsible for this; and while we have seen a drop in rankings across the board, the firm has reassured us this is expected and we should start to realize our investments in the December 2016 timeframe.

I would be really careful about this. Looking at majestic.com/ahrefs.com report, it seems like they're just shoveling a lot of low quality spam backlinks at you. You're throwing a lot of money at them for this (average ~$1k/month?), and it has a huge potential to backfire (google isn't as stupid as it used to be) or produce no results. If that happens, you have the mess to clean up and they will still have your money.

FWIW I don't think SEO is that important in this industry -- I mean, my casino done ~42.5k BTC volume in the last 30 days with virtually zero traffic from search engines (except direct matches on "bustabit" or the like). Although, perhaps I'm missing out from the fountains of free money, but if I was in your situation, I'd be focusing a lot more on design and differentiation.  

[jrlichtman]

I would be really careful about this. Looking at majestic.com/ahrefs.com report, it seems like they're just shoveling a lot of low quality spam backlinks at you. You're throwing a lot of money at them for this (average ~$1k/month?), and it has a huge potential to backfire (google isn't as stupid as it used to be) or produce no results. If that happens, you have the mess to clean up and they will still have your money.

FWIW I don't think SEO is that important in this industry -- I mean, my casino done ~42.5k BTC volume in the last 30 days with virtually zero traffic from search engines (except direct matches on "bustabit" or the like). Although, perhaps I'm missing out from the fountains of free money, but if I was in your situation, I'd be focusing a lot more on design and differentiation. 

Volume backlinks worked as recently as 3-4 years ago. Not sure about today though.

Depending on the budget, they may be better off doing marketing (press exposure, might have a public interest angle as it is BTC), or even just buying ad spots. A budget of $1k per month could buy a lot of Google Adwords too.

[ranlo]

Q3 2016

Q3 Revenue   -11.79 btc
Q3 Expenses  -19.29 btc
————————————
Q2 Profit (Loss)  (-31.08) btc

You've done a good job at keeping expenses down, well done. But as potential investor, I wonder how much runway you guys still have left? Do you release cash on hand information, or something?

- SEO remains are biggest area of opportunity. We are working very closely with the firm responsible for this; and while we have seen a drop in rankings across the board, the firm has reassured us this is expected and we should start to realize our investments in the December 2016 timeframe.

I would be really careful about this. Looking at majestic.com/ahrefs.com report, it seems like they're just shoveling a lot of low quality spam backlinks at you. You're throwing a lot of money at them for this (average ~$1k/month?), and it has a huge potential to backfire (google isn't as stupid as it used to be) or produce no results. If that happens, you have the mess to clean up and they will still have your money.

FWIW I don't think SEO is that important in this industry -- I mean, my casino done ~42.5k BTC volume in the last 30 days with virtually zero traffic from search engines (except direct matches on "bustabit" or the like). Although, perhaps I'm missing out from the fountains of free money, but if I was in your situation, I'd be focusing a lot more on design and differentiation. 

They are absolutely wasting their money with their "SEO" firms. It's been the same with the previous ones, as well. None of them have really shown any effect, and if they knew what they were doing, CBTC would be way up there in the SERPs already. As far as I can tell, they're using automated/blackhat methods to try and earn money while doing as little as possible. Which is not only the wrong approach due to sandboxing, but it's the worst way to climb in the rankings regardless.

[casinobitco]

They are absolutely wasting their money with their "SEO" firms. It's been the same with the previous ones, as well. None of them have really shown any effect, and if they knew what they were doing, CBTC would be way up there in the SERPs already. As far as I can tell, they're using automated/blackhat methods to try and earn money while doing as little as possible. Which is not only the wrong approach due to sandboxing, but it's the worst way to climb in the rankings regardless.

Hey Guys, thanks for the feedback - it's always appreciated, especially from folks that are in the business.

The links you're seeing there are NOT from our current SEO provider, but actually from a previous effort of doing SEO ourselves via cheap methods (blackhat forums, etc). Clearly, that didn't work and is backfiring. The firm we are using now is assisting with clean the old links up - while also getting better (quality) links in, amongst other on-site SEO. This process will take time and care, trust that I'm about as impatient as it comes, and continually nag our relationship manager on a weekly basis.

[casinobitco]

I would be really careful about this. Looking at majestic.com/ahrefs.com report, it seems like they're just shoveling a lot of low quality spam backlinks at you. You're throwing a lot of money at them for this (average ~$1k/month?), and it has a huge potential to backfire (google isn't as stupid as it used to be) or produce no results. If that happens, you have the mess to clean up and they will still have your money.

FWIW I don't think SEO is that important in this industry -- I mean, my casino done ~42.5k BTC volume in the last 30 days with virtually zero traffic from search engines (except direct matches on "bustabit" or the like). Although, perhaps I'm missing out from the fountains of free money, but if I was in your situation, I'd be focusing a lot more on design and differentiation.  

Hey Ryan, always good to hear from you!

As mentioned in previous post, the links you're seeing are actually from us (amateurs) when trying to go about SEO ourselves earlier in the year. The new firm who we've been working with for about 4 months recognized this as a problem right away and is working to clean them up and acquire better quality links. They stressed it'll take time, so I just hound them weekly for progress to make sure they aren't just milking the clock.

Bustabit is such a unique game and clearly 'caught fire' with the community who has done an awesome job promoting it throughout various channels, big time credit to you for that. We've always tried to differentiate ourselves from the off the shelf 'casinos in a box' but know we still have a lot of room to improve there. In fact, we literally created "bitcoin rush" as a way to get the micro players to the site who could help promote the Sportsbook and Casino, but we no doubt didn't execute on the marketing side of that once we launched. Couple that with the fact we're the only bitcoin casino and sportsbook which is giving away mBTC daily just for playing on the site (comps based on handle), and I think we all still struggle to understand why we haven't had the success our competition in this sector has?

 I'd love to pick your brain some more if you're open to it, give me a PM sometime and we can continue the conversation on Skype.


 

[jrlichtman]

Looks like November was a pretty good month for the sportsbook. Is that due to improved traffic, or a one-off event?

[casinobitco]

Looks like November was a pretty good month for the sportsbook. Is that due to improved traffic, or a one-off event?

Thanks for always taking a look! We did in fact have a solid November, primarily due to better logic in our Sportsbook for Risk Management that worked in our favor, as well as increased traffic (SEO is improving, cheers!).

We're looking to close the year strong with a solid December, will have our Q4 and yearly report out shortly after the New Year.

[jrlichtman]

Well done!

[jrlichtman]

Can't access the spreadsheets right now. I've sent an access request.

[cyrixcer]

If you lose 30 BTC per quarter, why do you still run the casino? Your design is extremely old fashioned, 10 years ago bookie. Normal players don't play here.

[TOPBTCCASINOS]

If you lose 30 BTC per quarter, why do you still run the casino? Your design is extremely old fashioned, 10 years ago bookie. Normal players don't play here.

Add dice + Promo = better than losing 30 BTC a quarter.

[casinobitco]

If you lose 30 BTC per quarter, why do you still run the casino? Your design is extremely old fashioned, 10 years ago bookie. Normal players don't play here.

Add dice + Promo = better than losing 30 BTC a quarter.

I can appreciate the trolls, it's what makes this forum most fun. We didn't lost 30 btc this quarter, or any in recent history.

For real unit holders, I can tell you that we are working on closing a variety of initiatives that have impacts with us listing on Havelock Investment, and our long-term goals.  Until those close - we are not authorized to share a financial statement for Q4 2016.

Also, PSA - We are hiring a community relations manager who will manage contact on this forum, reddit, twitter, and facebook. If you're interested, please contact me via PM.

[jrlichtman]

For real unit holders, I can tell you that we are working on closing a variety of initiatives that have impacts with us listing on Havelock Investment, and our long-term goals.  Until those close - we are not authorized to share a financial statement for Q4 2016.

Good luck!