“In skill games on mobile, at this point, we are in a new industry,” Jarrod Epps said during his session at Casual Connect USA 2014. “We are at a point where everyone is learning. There is a lot of misinformation out there, and we want to make sure that everybody who gets into cash-based skill gaming doesn’t get hurt. It’s incredibly important to make sure that you understand not to hit the crossover between gambling, which is illegal in a lot of places, and skill gaming, which is legal in most places.”
Jarrod Epps is the founder and CEO of Cashplay, a skill game tournament system that helps game developers monetize their titles through real cash player vs player tournaments. The company evolved from a player vs player betting website they had previously released. This had been very good at getting players to register, deposit cash, and play on the site. However, they discovered the experience involved too much latency between when a bet was placed by one player, later accepted by another, and then the event finally took place. When they filled in that space with skill games, they realized engagement with the audience was much more fast-paced and turnover increased significantly. So they took what they had learned in user engagement, deposit conversion, and cash transaction security from years of running regulated gambling sites and applied it to their model for third party mobile skill game cash tournaments. Their current model makes use of the best from both worlds.
Taking Some Risks
Epps left a successful career in real estate investment to pursue something more dynamic and engaging, to put himself in a position to lead an organization through a complete evolution process. He used the first six months after this exit to research and validate the business model that he believed would be successful. He reveals, “Closing the first $1 million in investment from people who believed in me was an exciting time in that journey.”
He believes, “You take something from everything you experience in life, and whether you’re aware of it or not, it influences your approach to future situations you face.” During his career, he has been fortunate to have held a number of positions across a wide variety of industries, positions ranging from assistant through to investor/owner. All of these positions have prepared him in some way for the work he is doing today.
An Easier Path to Entrepreneurship
He has led companies in a number of technical generations, starting with his first company when internet was dial-up, email wasn’t ubiquitous, and no one was processing payments online. He finds it astonishing to realize how much easier it is to run a company with the tools that are now available. He asserts, “The tools made available in the last decade have led to a kind of democratization of entrepreneurship. Now a person with an idea, decent contacts, and a willingness to work hard can develop some amazing business ideas into services that can influence the lives of millions. It is exciting to be one of the people trying to add to that influential mix.”
The Revolution Is Coming
Epps expects real money gaming to revolutionize how companies monetize and engage with their audiences. Because Cashplay is already the only truly global provider of real money skill games, they are constantly pushing the envelope to engage and incorporate new services for their users. He emphasizes that the keys to growing this trend are creating awareness that a solution exists, then making sure the actual implementation of cash tournament into the games of their third party partners is done in a way that allows their end users to enjoy their games more while being confident their cash and data are secure.
When Epps is gaming, it is mobile, usually on his iPad. He does own a PS2 but is rarely in one place long enough to use it. This summer, he has been enjoying sports and racing titles, particularly track racing games like Game Anax’s Go Karts.
While he enjoys the opportunity F2P gives users to review and play more titles, he finds constant in-game interruptions annoying. He insists, “Cash money games are a much better way to monetize, and they make me feel like I’m deeper into the gaming experience when I’m competing for something real instead of being interrupted to buy something every few minutes.”
When Epps has time away from work, he spends it rearing his twins. He is also involved with flying, scuba, snowboarding, basketball, running, reading, writing, and arithmetic. Could those last few be to help the twins with schoolwork? No wonder he describes himself as either tireless or tired, depending on the time of day.
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