iGamingNuts’ Polish Bookmaker Awards, the process of awarding an award

iGamingNuts, with 9 affiliate brands all over the world and Poland’s largest, is not only starting to rake in awards and nominations themselves, but also has been organising their own award show for quite some years. At the end of 2023, the “Nagrody Bukmacherskie”, Polish for Bookmaker Awards, were organised for the sixth year in a row.

As always presented by Jerzy Mielewski, the famous Polish sports journalist and commentator for Polsat, the night was again filled with fine dining, amazing entertainment, plenty of opportunities to network, and of course many prizes.

History of the Bookmaker Awards

Although the first bookmaker awards were held in 2018, the preparations started a year earlier, when the Polish gambling market was regulated. As in any other regulated jurisdiction in the igaming world, allowing only licensed operators greatly changed the playing field. 

With many foreign operators becoming illegal and hard to access practically overnight, the remaining and new operators with a new Polish licence had the entire market to redistribute among themselves. At the end of 2018, after a full year had passed, it was the perfect time to evaluate the new state of online sports betting in Poland.

The main goal of the awards would be to appreciate solutions that are worth imitating, celebrate success, and give the winners and nominees a well deserved publicity boost that comes with receiving an award. In other words, to entice the faster and further development of the industry.

The Award Categories

In the very first edition of the Bookmaker Awards, awards could be won in six categories, ranging from best overall and live bookmaker to the best affiliate manager and best marketing. 

As you can see in the table, over the years few changes have been made to the award categories. For example, the award for best affiliate, added to show appreciation for the efforts of those people who provided the best and most professional cooperation on behalf of the bookmakers, has disappeared after the fourth edition. 

In that same year categories for the six most popular sports to bet on in Poland were added. As of 2022, the fifth edition, there are fifteen categories in which an award can be won. 

Methodology

The process of selecting first the nominees and later the winners for an award recognizing excellence involved a comprehensive approach. To ensure a well-informed, and fair decision process, the organisers started with initiating consultations with industry professionals, seeking their insights on categories, criteria, and the state of affairs of igaming in the country. 

Additionally, they looked at the methods used by other prestigious global awards such as the EGR Awards – you could say that they “appreciated their approach and thought it worth imitating.” 

From the beginning it became clear that being transparent would play a crucial role in establishing the award’s significance and prestige. To ensure openness about the selection process, a dedicated page on legalnibumacherzy.pl was launched, where the details about the awards would be shared. This level of transparency would become one of the cornerstones of their methodology.

When it comes to selecting and shortlisting nominees, the process used differs from category. For example, for the Bookmaker of the Year award, all legal bookmakers in Poland, seventeen at the moment, are automatically nominated. 

In other categories a first selection is made based on information gathered from interviews, questionnaires and following bookmaker forums. This way valuable insight into what different stakeholders, from players to experts, find important, is gained. 

For some categories a more hands on approach is the best, for example, let have a more detailed look at how last year’s Best Customer Service Awards came into the hands of forBET. 

Best Customer Service 2023

The award for best customer service was added in the second edition of the Bookmaker Awards and grew out to be one of the most competitive. In the four years leading up to the latest edition, three different bookmakers have won this award, let’s take a look behind the scene at how this year’s winner was elected.

The criteria by which customer support would be measured in 2023 were based on three key elements: Availability, Performance and Quality. But first of all, in 2023, there is only one channel to contact support that counts; chat. 

In order to make the three main elements measurable when it comes to customer support, the selection process follows these six steps:

• Visibility; Which bookmakers have chat on the main page
• Chat availability; what are the operation hours of the chat
• Alternative channels; social media, email/contact form, Whatsapp
• Chat availability in apps
• Competencies and knowledge of the offer
• Competencies and information about taxes

Out of the 15 bookmakers that have a chat option, but after the first three steps quick checks, already 7 were eliminated. Either because the chat option was not easily visible, had very limited opening hours or due to the lack of alternative methods.

With only 8 contestants left, the next step is to test the availability of chat specifically in the mobile apps. Here they found that in one instance it was impossible to enter a chat, and another where opening the chat actually broke the app. It speaks for itself that in the next step only 6 bookmakers remained.

In the last two steps the actual knowledge of the support agents is tested. The first test regards requesting information about bets and offers; is the agent knowledgeable, is the information complete, correct and easy to understand?

The last step was a question about what taxes need to be paid over winnings. Although a player is always responsible for their own tax, you would expect a bookmaker to have this information readily available for their customers. 

After all steps were completed, it was a very close call, but the organisation came to the conclusion that forBET was the winner because they:

• Provide easy access to chat via computer, website, and mobile application.
• Offer support via social media and other official communication channels.
• Have competent and empathetic customer service agents who provide precise answers promptly, and provide the highest quality customer service.

Last but not least, a big congratulations to the winner, and let us see if its competitors can take the insights we have offered to their advantage for this year’s awards!