Craig Venter’s big bet on sport
Former Altech CEO Craig Venter extends his entrepreneurial flair to a new venture
Sports betting is lucrative — which means it has little to do with the R50 bet you place with a friend on your favourite Currie Cup team’s performance.
The Internet has made betting available to just about anyone and Altech’s former CEO, Craig Venter, thinks there’s plenty of money to be made. Not from betting himself, but from developing a local betting platform for others.
Venter’s new business, ClickaBet, gives people a way to place bets on local and global sports events. This includes everything from horse racing and the Lotto to the Uefa Champions League, the Indian Premier League and Formula One.
According to Venter, the local gambling industry, including casinos and physical betting, is worth R20bn, of which 20% is generated online. This figure is set to increase along with broadband access to the Internet. Other kinds of online companies are proliferating too.
Venter made the decision to set up a betting site 15 months ago. But he first undertook extensive market research in SA and abroad to learn about the market and to source reputable software on which to build his betting platform.
“I have always been an entrepreneur and 99% of the businesses I started [at Altech] have worked,” he says.
One of those is Altech Netstar, which is today one of the biggest car tracking device providers in the country.
Venter says software is critical for a business like ClickaBet to be successful, and he went about looking for an option that was tried and tested.
ClickaBet partnered with BetTech Gaming — a company partly owned by the Rupert Fund — for the software.
ClickaBet makes its money from subscription fees. Its users need to register and will need R50 to open an account.
The site, which went live on May 19, is compatible with mobile devices. This is important because Venter expects many people to place bets from their smartphones.
“SA is a sports-mad country,” he says, and there has already been great interest in what ClickaBet has to offer.
Venter expects physical sports betting outlets to feel the pressure from online platforms, a trend that is already being seen in other parts of the world.
Venter and his partners Nomzamo Xaba and Sonja Sebotsa (who own 40% of ClickaBet) have invested R5m in the business.
He expects the site to break even in just 12 months.
Based on the adoption rates, Venter has plans to inject more money into the site and increase its workforce.
“I feel strongly about this business. I feel the same way I felt with Netstar. I’m confident that we have produced the most innovative and best all-round sports betting package available in SA,” he says.
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