Megan Easey

iGaming History, Episode 4 Transcript

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Narcis Gavrilescu: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to iGaming History. I'm joined today by Megan Easey, CEO of Xace. Megan, absolute pleasure to have you on the show.

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Megan Easey: So good to join you, Narcis. I'm so excited for you about these new podcasts and the direction you're taking. This is just what the industry needs.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: I couldn't do it without the goodwill of some very nice people, and I'm very grateful that you are here with me today.

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Megan Easey: Thank you for the invitation.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: My absolute pleasure. Do you remember how we met?

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Megan Easey: I do remember how we met. We met at CryptoHub Malta where we were both completely in the thick of COVID-19, but able to gather and share brilliant ideas. That was a really good thing that we met because we've been close ever since.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: Correct. I was ordering a drink, and I was on good terms with the bar guy. I told him what I wanted. He looked at me and said, "Really? You're that type of guy?" Then you shook my hand, a strong shake, and the rest is history, as they say. If we had met in 2000 and I told you where iGaming would be, would you have ever believed me?

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Megan Easey: I wouldn't, but I say that from a positive point of view. When I first touched iGaming in 2004, there was a legacy of four years already. In 2004, it was a free for all. At the time, I was working for a global outsourcing business, pretty old fashioned. It was email and phone calls. We got approached by PokerRoom.com, which at the time was called Ongame. We were setting up all their customer support in South Africa for the UK, Canada, and the US. When I touched online gaming, I thought, "Wow. People play poker online." I'd never walked into a casino and didn't know much about gambling. From the moment I heard about it, I was completely obsessed with the customer experience.

 

What made me shy away initially was that there were no controls in place. There was no responsible gambling. There were no limits on deposits and withdrawals. People stayed loyal based on the bonuses they got. It was the Wild West. If you'd said to me this is where we are today, I would be clapping because we're actually putting player protection first, above profit. That's not just from a regulatory point of view; that's from an ethical point of view. My applause as to where we've got. But I would never have believed so much automation was possible. I would never have believed the industry was so full of unbelievable talent. This is an industry that's grown faster than I can imagine anything else apart from AI.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: Who was Megan Easey before she was a very recognized figure in iGaming?

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Megan Easey: I started a career in a contact center in the nineties when it was just telephone calls. We did retail banking. You could go to the till and make deposits and withdraw, which was wow at the time. In the South African market, that was powerful because everybody goes into a supermarket. Then we launched a money market fund with a large minimum balance.

 

We built a product based on asset swaps with a local insurance company doing brokerage. We sold this product with a large minimum investment doing outbound calls. We called customers with big money, told them about this offshore investment for five years. They said it would be great if you make a million, and we made six million in six weeks. I was on fire from a commercial point of view, hitting targets.

 

At the core of how I've worked has always been customer first, but it's also team first. For me, as happy as your people are is as happy as your customers are gonna be. That stuck with me throughout my career. Imagine me with a headset in a call center doing QA, motivating teams, and doing training.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: When you joined iGaming, what was the world like? What did operations mean back then?

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Megan Easey: Operations meant customer service. There was very little payments and fraud. From an RG point of view, it was nonexistent. We were at the raw stage. We couldn't even see what someone deposited or their transactions. We were pure customer service. That escalated quickly. When the 2006 UIGEA law came into place and gaming was banned in America, there was a swoop after that.

 

Bwin bought Ongame. They pushed their European strategy, pushed into Canada and the UK. Customer service was the entirety of operations from 2004 to 2007. Things started to change.

 

KYC became a hot topic, stronger when you had to do face ID. Nobody's passport picture is attractive. When I started overseeing payments and risk and people were sending in face ID, I cannot express how many dick pics came through to verify an account. There are so many funny stories.

 

I remember once I was working at one of the biggest companies in Malta. I was listening to music while doing work. I didn't look up because I didn't hear the alarm going off. It was a practice evacuation. The alarm went off and everybody raced outside. I was sat there completely alone, looking around going, "Where's everyone?" It turned out it was a real thing because part of the building caught fire. I was sitting in the building thinking I'm such a tough person, meanwhile I should have been outside.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: Was there a moment when you thought, "This industry, this is the place for me?"

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Megan Easey: Absolutely. I don't think there's another industry that gives people as many opportunities for growth. If somebody is exceptional in customer service, they will go through the ranks, especially because they keep the customer in mind. We are not here if we don't have customers, no matter what seniority we have. For me, it's a very flat organic growth. Everybody's contributing to one thing.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: You've watched the industry grow from gray markets to venture-backed giants. What are the lessons that were learned?

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Megan Easey: I joined Betsson in 2008, and we were 80 people. I took care of customer support, the biggest team. When I left in 2010, we were up to around 140, and customer support was 60 people in 11 languages. Learning from Betsson, who became one of the giants, is that progressive growth is around the customer experience. The big difference with giants like Bet365 is they stay true to their initial brand. Anything under the umbrella is about making sure the right automations, processes, payments, and platforms support that brand growth. It's not a spray and pray; it's a know and grow. They researched, understood the impact, and took chances. That's across the board for the growth of the giants.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: If you had to pinpoint an event in all your years that changed the trajectory of the industry forever, which one would it be?

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Megan Easey: UIGEA in 2006 changed the trajectory. Then around 2017, they started putting proper automated controls in place for responsible gambling and payment services. Those two junctures changed gaming. Then there was the introduction of MLROs, fines, anti-money laundering policies, GDPR. It all started to get tight. Acquiring a customer was the same, but channels were regulated.

 

In the UK, you couldn't put a TV advert with an impression that a person might be under 25. In Sweden, they would have repeat videos of bonuses. That tightening made a big difference. You also see people who were in customer support at the beginning are now taking C-level roles. They have a customer-centric approach and are given shares. It's a paradise for people to grow, but the tightening made profit more difficult.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: There's a lot of conversation that regulation stopped or hindered innovation. Some argue there's no innovation at all. What do you think? Are we just scratching the surface?

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Megan Easey: I don't know how much we're scratching the surface. We've done so much up until 2025. I hammer on about the customer experience. You still need the human touch to interact with a customer. Look at the profiles of different products. Poker people are more social and like to show their muscle as whales. Good players would dominate online and be celebrated in the World Poker Series.

 

Casino people are typically quieter. When I returned to Betsson in 2015, we actively managed our VIPs within regulations. The treats included trips to watch the ATP tennis finals or an air show in Barcelona. Engaging with poker players versus casino players is different.

 

I remember around 2010, 888 did something interesting with bingo. Bingo typically attracts older women. They did an experiment asking people to upload pictures of themselves to grow a community. Nobody was willing. Instead, they changed it to upload a picture of your pet. Suddenly, they created an incredible environment where people were interacting in chat forums, bragging about their animals. That's super clever innovation from a customer point of view.

 

Looking at payment solutions where you can go to an affiliate site, click, and it connects to your bank and automatically KYC you, that's phenomenal. You're taking pain out of the process. What could happen from here? People want convenience; a couple of clicks and they're in.

 

I've always said, and sadly no operator has taken it on board, we need to inform people upfront: we protect you and your money. Setting your limits makes the process smoother. Updating your KYC ensures you get your withdrawal out the fastest. Instead, we get the customer to deposit, and once they hit the 2,000 mark, we start putting controls in place. A totally different approach can be used, although it's frequently referred to as soft and that you won't convert at acquisition if you make it difficult upfront.

 

Casino players are picky about where they play. It's about where they get a bigger payout. There's mythology around the brands they choose and reinforcement of their experience.

 

To answer your question, we continue innovating by making people's lives easier in making the first bet and coming back. One big entry into gaming has been crypto, a side step from regular onboarding and controls. You look at something like Crypto.com as a casino. This has turned everything upside down. You have intermediaries, people coming in where you don't know where their crypto came from. Given the direction the world is taking towards decentralized money, we have to ask how we can still protect the customer.

 

It's the same as play-to-earn. People talk about launching a site where the more someone plays is the better position they have. For me, that is absolutely a responsible gambling issue because responsible gambling is down to two things. Have you got enough time, and do you have enough money to be doing what you're doing? We can set money limits based on what people earn, but you cannot know how much time somebody has. In a play-to-earn scenario, you've got somebody who can literally spend twelve hours a day online playing to earn.

 

You also get people who can buy certain play-to-earn assets. If you've got a guy online twelve hours, he's not spending time with his kids or family. You have no metrics on it. Too much time engaging can often be more impactful than somebody spending too much money. The play-to-earn factor, whether it's poker, casino, or any product, requires super caution because this is not just about money. It really isn't.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: But if somebody's willing to invest all that time?

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Megan Easey: How do you keep control of it? How do you know that they have that amount of time? Look at AI, for example. You could have an AI bot online for you, with no limit to the time that bot has. For human beings, even with tools like facial recognition to ensure a human is pressing the button, we can't know for sure if that time should be used for something else. The controls around that require extreme care. I think play-to-earn as a model needs its own regulation, and I've been saying that for a long time.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: How would that look, in your opinion?

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Megan Easey: It might look like limits set to four hours or six hours, set by the customer. But once that limit is reached, they can't continue. They can make the choice about how much time they think they have. But if you have across-the-board limits, like eight hours, there is a point where you have to stop. You can't continue for eighteen hours.

 

There has to be a point that you have to stop, collectively, daily, weekly, monthly. I think that's the only way. You can set a maximum; you don't have to fulfill it. But there has to be a method to stop.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: Is there willingness from new founders in the industry to pursue innovation? Or has it become more about starting a company, seeing how much it grows, and then trying to sell it?

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Megan Easey: It depends on market penetration. If a brand picks up quickly in a particular market because it is tailored and personalized, you have an edge as a startup to be absorbed by something bigger that wants into that market. A lot of solutions are replicated. You can have a great idea, but somebody else will duplicate it. It's about trademarks.

 

If I can trademark an idea or make it a niche offering, then a giant might buy and nurture it. It's a saturated marketplace. It's hard to innovate. Many gaming companies who've grown have their own platforms. Betsson has their own platform, Texon. In the old days, it was all Microgaming. The money is different now. The ownership is different. You have to be really unique to say you can innovate.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: You've held high-level positions and performed exceptionally well in an industry not exactly known for gender equality. How did you manage this?

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Megan Easey: I was lucky. My first senior role involved commuting from Cape Town to Stockholm. The culture in the Swedish context was friendly; it didn't matter if I was a woman. We were all contributing. I think it's gotten more difficult as time has gone on because there's a constant fight for women to be represented.

 

I personally haven't experienced that because I never looked at myself in terms of my gender. I look at myself in terms of my contribution. Do I get affected now and then? I don't let it affect me. I'm just doing my thing. If I can coach and nurture women in gaming to be successful, part of that is having a thick skin. Just go for it. Don't classify yourself gender-wise. Just go for it. The results speak for themselves.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: Did you ever feel you had to lead differently?

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Megan Easey: Everybody should lead in a way that adapts to your audience. For some people, you take a harder approach. For others, a gentler approach. Leadership to me is adaptation. It's the survival of those who most easily adapt.

 

Have I had situations where people might have listened better if a man told them? Yes. I've been in those situations. But I'm thick-skinned. Water off a duck's back. If you don't wanna hear it from me, I'm not going to get 'daddy' to tell you. You're still gonna get the message. You have to be careful because a strong, powerful woman is often called a 'bitch'. It's down to whether you let that affect you. If you're doing things the right way with the right intentions, putting people first and customer first, you'll generally get a good outcome.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: What does it take to build something great in an industry moving so fast?

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Megan Easey: You need a solid foundation and a solid view of what you're trying to achieve. If you duplicate something, what is your core desire? Are you trying to get into a particular marketplace? It's not just about revenue goals; it's about retention goals. Is there longevity to what you're doing?

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Narcis Gavrilescu: Do you have a day in your career you considered the worst or very difficult, and that you learned something from?

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Megan Easey: Yes. I was working at an operator, and we built a system for automatic controls and flags on responsible gambling. Only after the fact, we realized someone had deposited and lost everything and the system didn't pick it up. The system wasn't working. There was a party sponsored by a provider at our building. None of us were at the party. We were all doing manual checks on new sign-ups and activity. It was one of the most intense days I've ever experienced. That was a big learning. You can't always rely on automation. You have to keep testing all the time.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: After so much time in this fast-moving and sometimes controversial industry, how do you feel it changed you as a person?

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Megan Easey: Gaming changed me because it gave so much opportunity. We tend to stagnate as humans. If you get comfortable, you stay. I liked and still like the discomfort that comes with gaming because anything can happen. I joke that operations is slightly masochistic because you never finish. It's continuous improvement. If anything goes wrong, operations knows first. You're a punching bag. I've grown into a mature punching bag, but I don't take it as a punch. I think, "How can we fix this? How do we prevent it happening again? How do we plan to be aware of the risks with every action?"

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Narcis Gavrilescu: When you make decisions, is it mostly data, instinct, or a mix of both?

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Megan Easey: A mix. You need data to validate your instinct. However, sometimes data isn't available, or you're willing to take a big risk. This industry has many entrepreneurs who took chances where they shouldn't have. Some failed, but some succeeded beyond their wildest imagination. I would say the majority is data-based, but when you get a feeling for something, you just go.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: Some say leaders are visionary, and some are operational. Where do you sit on this spectrum, and why?

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Megan Easey: My heart is operations because it's about people. That said, you have to be a visionary. You have to be visionary with individuals to show them what they can achieve. You have to be visionary with a product to see your place in the marketplace and how to differentiate. You also have to collaborate. Some of the best ideas have come from customer service and from the customers themselves. Vision is paved not just by a leader, but by collaboration, talking, throwing things around, and fostering a healthy environment for that vision.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: Speaking of vision, can you share the vision for Xace and what you're trying to accomplish?

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Megan Easey: We've been functioning as Xace UK for nearly five years. The next part is launching our EU entity, as we have our EU license. We're going to have many more payment rails. We've been through a lot of change in structure, people, roles, and deliverables. I didn't think working in payments fintech would be as hectic as operations in gaming, but it's potentially more because you're dealing with people's money. It is regulated, highly monitored, and you need specific skills to run it effectively. I think we've done that by getting the right people in place.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: Is this the company's secret sauce, or are there other USPs?

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Megan Easey: Our secret sauce is that we're part of a conglomerate. Xace is one of Unicorn Ventures' investments. Our VC lends strategy and operations to the Xace brand. While I sit on the board of Unicorn as the VC, I take an active role as CEO of Xace because we want to continue investing and growing this brand. We have other investments.

 

For Xace, being part of a conglomerate and supported by Unicorn, there's no limit to how successful we can be. We position ourselves as more private, handling larger amounts. We're not a small-time payments organization. It's big payments, strong customers. The strategy and vision are to continue an upward trajectory.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: You see a lot of what's on the market. People come to you for investments. What are you seeing that is interesting?

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Megan Easey: I've seen people trying to tie online experience to an in-person experience. Some have put forward apps where you're online and connected to a land-based casino club, creating an app-based experience with the people you meet there. Then you get something out of left field, like an app that aggregates movies from Netflix, Amazon, HBO, etc., and recommends one based on your preferences. The main difference is it has to have longevity, cannot be easily replicated, and must add value not only profit-wise but to the end customer. The trends require a robust model. You must begin with the end in mind. Unless you can prove that, you're not getting to the table.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: For entrepreneurs entering the space who want to make their mark, do you have any advice?

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Megan Easey: Entrepreneurs coming into gaming or fintech need to be clear on their idea. Too many have quick ideas but no implementation plan. What's special about Unicorn is we lend all our experience to our investments. We have strategy, tools, software as a service, operational side, and big players like Mark Telfer who lend their knowledge, experience, and network. Unicorn makes sense when you want a partner, not someone to take over, to help you grow what you're building.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: Megan, I know you are short for time, but I don't want to let you go without the magic question. How would you like to be remembered in iGaming history?

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Megan Easey: The legacy I'd like to leave is all about people. In every organization I've worked in or supported, I want each person I worked with to have grown, become wiser, stronger, and better because of their own strengths and my role in motivating and guiding them to reach their maximum potential. The next part is I want to be known as someone where if things go wrong, you throw me at it and I'll fix it and make it better. Those are the two things I'd leave behind: a legacy of people and the magic they can produce, and then getting thrown at the shit, fixing it, and making it better.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: Knowing you, I know that this is going to be the case.

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Megan Easey: That's a great reassurance. Thank you.

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Narcis Gavrilescu: With pleasure. Megan, an absolute pleasure and honor to have you with us. Thank you to everybody who watched. You can expect more from iGaming History in the future.

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Megan Easey: Thank you.

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