Corentin Budny’s career tells a story of progression, adaptability and a deep understanding of the iGaming business. He began at Evolution in 2017 as a Game Presenter, spending nine months on the front-line of live casino before moving to Mansa Gaming as Marketing and Casino Coordinator. His journey continued at Wisdom Revelation as Game Team Leader, followed by Celesta, where he served as Head of Growth and Account Management.

Today, as Commercial Director at LuckyStreak, Budny brings together experience across gaming operations, marketing, growth and commercial strategy. In this FindMore Africa interview, with John Bamidele, Editor-in-chief he discusses his journey, live casino, Africa’s opportunities and where iGaming is heading.

You have joined LuckyStreak at an interesting point in your growth journey. What attracted you to the company? 

I started my career in Live Casino as a Game Presenter at Evolution, 10 years ago, and my previous job was at an aggregator. Naturally, my persona resonates with the environment here, and I am confident that I can bring value to the table, not only in executing but leveraging my knowledge and past experiences to solidify Lucky Streak’s image and offering.  

Africa has become an increasingly important market for global iGaming suppliers. From your perspective, what makes Africa important?

Well, Africa is a large panel of over 50 countries, all with their own identity & culture. The potential in terms of unexploited volume is important, and competition is not as big as it can be in other markets such as Europe or Asia. 

LuckyStreak already has partnerships serving operators across multiple African markets. What have you learned from the African market so far, and how is that experience influencing your commercial strategy?

There are as many markets as there are countries in Africa, and not considering this is the first mistake most people make. We can find some similarities in the gameplay but can’t compare the demand from one country to another. It’s exactly the same as in LATAM, in Europe or in Asia. The advantage we have now is experience: we already have the data exposed to us, we are able to retrieve the insights from players on different brands and different markets, comparing them with the broader marketing campaigns done on all sides and correlates with the target’s choices. 

On a technical aspect, connectivity and data consumption really impact the game selection and ultimately, user experience. Some operators and Game Providers offer an internet-quality toggle that adjusts the games’ weight. Lightweight games, simple mechanics, crash affinity and local branding/re-skins are all things worth mentioning, depending on the market.

Africa is not one market. Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda and Francophone Africa have very different consumer behaviours. How does LuckyStreak approach this diversity without simply applying a one-size-fits-all strategy?

At Lucky Streak, we approach this with care: each market has its own reporting. It will sound like a very generic response but we listen to the data. Comparing two markets is interesting as an insight, but it’s not worth more than comparing it with another market on the other side of the globe when you think of it. We learn more on the similarities and differences between two operators in the same market, actually. 

Think about country-specific events and seasonality. There’s room to work with providers on promotions around AFCON, domestic sports and local holidays, potentially including tailored or exclusive games. 

Payment infrastructure remains one of the biggest product challenges in African iGaming. How important are mobile money, local currencies to LuckyStreak’s Africa strategy?

Well, we are not specialised in payments at Lucky Streak, our core product is Live Casino and Aggregation. But I know that payments are actually a challenge in global markets overall. In Africa, Mobile money is particularly important, because in many markets it is one of the most established and accessible ways for consumers to complete transactions, so yes, being able to support the payment methods players already trust can make a significant difference.  

When it comes to Local currencies, it’s equally important for users to launch games in the currency they deposit / withdraw with. The crypto brands’ culture is not common yet and does not resonate well with the current audience. 

LuckyConnect now gives operators access to more than 6,000 casino games from 60+ providers through a single integration. What role do you see aggregation playing in helping African operators improve?

I don’t see our Aggregator role being different in Africa than what it is in other markets. I like to call us the facilitators: aggregation platforms are the most seamless way to get a project live with reduced resources. While we take care of the workload on game integrations, operators can focus on their own product, improving their brands’ front end, making it stand out from the competition, etc. 

Live Casino is still developing differently across African markets compared with mature European markets. What types of live casino content do you believe have the greatest potential in Africa, and does LuckyStreak intend to develop more Africa-specific content or experiences?

Live Casino is still under-exposed in Africa in my opinion. Localisation will be the key, the provider that will release game(s) that do mean something to people here will be the winner. At this point, I can only tell you that Africa is one of our core focuses, and we are actively listening to the markets and our local partners, building partnerships around dedicated tables, studios, and locally land-based streamed content. 

Let’s talk specifically about the future. What is the NEXT big thing LuckyStreak wants to achieve in Africa?

There are a couple of major local operators with whom we are not live yet, I’d say increasing our presence is the top priority. We’ll keep learning from our local partners and listen to the data, curate the best content to increase the distribution and, as mentioned above, offering localised content will show our ambition and increase our reach. 

Do you see LuckyStreak eventually moving beyond supplying African operators from Europe towards having a stronger physical, commercial or technological presence on the continent? If so, what could that look like?

There are many different ways, and some are already in place. We don’t pretend that we’ll succeed only from our European perspective. It starts with having the right partners: local resources and agents. We will definitely have more presence on the ground, as we see many conferences such as SiGMA Africa in Cape Town, BiG Africa Summit in Gaborone, Africa Gaming Expo in Lagos, Sports Betting East Africa+ and iGaming AFRIKA Summit in Nairobi, and GEFA and Sports Betting West Africa+ in Dakar. 

Then, do we see Lucky Streak opening a physical place up somewhere in Africa? A permanent location would mostly depend on a potential opportunity. 

Finally, if we speak again 12 months from now, what would you like to be able to point to and say: “This is what LuckyStreak has achieved in Africa under our new commercial strategy”

The best result we can expect is seeing our existing partners growing with us, onboarding new ones on our live content, and seeing some of our local & exclusive ideas becoming actual projects.