Interview with lotusch

By Dionysus, Last updated Jan 25, 2021

Dionysus: Welcome Mark.
Thank you for agreeing to be the next member interview. You are a Meister Member here; not quite old school nor a newbie member either.
You’re familiar and well versed with the site. Can you tell us how you found CM and some of your views on what the site is and what it means to you?

Mark (lotusch): Hello mate,

First of all, thanks for having me.

I found Casinomeister through Google search one day when I was looking for some information about online gambling and bumped into an article at Casinomeister.
From that moment I bookmarked the website and always came back to read more which resulted me to create my account back in 2013, and so yeah, I am still here.

Casinomeister for me is an all in one website that every gambler should bookmark.
It is the holy grail for gambling fans and brings the gambling community and gambling industry together in a nice and relaxed atmosphere, most of the times. 
It has tons of awesome members and is for sure my number 1 website for all gambling related content.

Dionysus: You’ve most certainly sold, or expressed, why CM is a solid go-to site.
But that leads me to ask….outside of CM, what are your hobbies?
I’ve had the opportunity, and pleasure, to talk to you outside of CM, and I’m aware you keep yourself busy and active with your life as well..
I understand you’ve moved around a fair bit past few years.
Tell us about where you’re from and where you are now. And how your life and hobbies have changed.

Mark: Haha, I didn’t move around that much although I like to travel which is one of my hobbies.
To make a very long story short, I was born and raised in The Netherlands. I went to college and got a bachelors degree in marketing.In 2009 I was working for Vodafone in The Netherlands in their sales & marketing department when out of the blue they decided to move most of the marketing & sales activities to the Czech Republic due to cheaper tax and wages.
I decided to take the redundancy package and take a year off, to travel, which I did.

I travelled all across Europe in my black Alfa Romeo and ended up in Dublin at some stage. I already had friends here and decided to visit them.
One night we were in a pub when I met this fine woman and what was supposed to be just a flirt ended up in something more serious and to be honest from there it all went very fast.
We started to date and I decided to stay in Ireland for a while to see how this would evolve. Found a job and after 6 months we decided to live together and we do so since that day.
We got married in 2011 and by the end of 2011 our daughters were born, twin girls. 

To this day we are still together.

Gosh, I wanted to make the answers not too long. 

Okay, so to finalize this question my hobbies are:

• Playing acoustic guitar
• Football (PSV Eindhoven & Liverpool)
• I love to watch movies & listen to music
• Travelling
• Used to be a DJ, still love it but no time
• Slotting
• Darts

Is that enough?

Dionysus: Twin girls…wow! I’m surprised you find the time for CM or hobbies at all. 
I’ve been fortunate to have visited Dublin, but can you perhaps tell some others interested in travelling what it’s like where you live. Any highlights or places of interest perhaps?

Mark: Sure, Dublin is the capital city of Ireland but I live about an hour driving from it. I actually live right between Dublin and Belfast, capital of Northern Ireland.
Both ways it takes me about an hour to get there, it is all motorway so easy does it. 

I live in a very small and quiet village just outside of Dundalk.1 minute walk from the beach and about 5 minutes from the village centre. It is lovely here, only the weather isn’t the best but you can’t have it all.

Ireland has loads of interesting places to visit,but I will mention a few of my personal favorites.

1. Dublin – Needless to say as it is the capital of Ireland and has a wide range of pubs, bars, restaurants and loads of cultural buildings and museums. It is a great diverse city but very expensive.

2. Cooley Peninsula – Actually situated very close to where I live and less known by tourists.It has lush forests, a beautiful coastline and a great view on the nearby Mourne Mountains.

3. Cliffs of Moher – Situated in Western Ireland on the Atlantic Coast, these cliffs are among the highest in Ireland with well over 200 meters high. The views are just spectacular.

4. Ring of Kerry – It is officially a walking route but can be done by bike, car, motor bike. It is over 120 miles long and you will encounter the most stunning pitoresque views.
An absolute must do when in Ireland when you have the time for it.

5. Guinness Storehouse – Needless to say why to go there, and it is in Dublin.

Honorable mentions are the cities of Cork & Galway. Two complete different cities with both having some great sites to visit.

Dionysus: Have you any places yet to visit you’re quite keen to still see? Where perhaps was your favourite to visit (fortunate happenstance to have met your wife aside)?

Mark: Well in Ireland I have visited really everything there is to my knowledge.
Outside Ireland my best ever trip was to Las Vegas, not because it is such a beautiful place to visit but I had so much fun out there in that God forsaken city in the middle of nowhere.
I actually won $6000 one evening playing poker, I thought them sharks that are there to rip off tourists some Dutch poker skills! 

One of my destinations that I still really wanna visit is Japan.Never been there but some friends of mine have and they say it is a beautiful country. So if I ever have the time and the cash flow I would love to go there.

Dionysus: 6K is a fantastc win.
As much as receiving is wonderful, you’re also quite generous at giving. You’ve run a few Casinomeister competitions in your time. What inspired you to start your own?

Mark: As for the competitions, I do like to organize them as I think they are a bit of added fun to the forum. For our members it is also an extra way to win a prize or some extra cash, which I am more happy to give out of my own pocket.
Luckily there are always a few casino reps here that chime in and make the prize pool bigger.

As for the charitable aspect I always try to add to my competitions:

I have always been a person that wants to help the ones in need. I am in a fortunate position to have a job, a family and everything one needs to live in a decent way.
But many people are not that lucky due to different reasons and circumstances.

So every month I donate a big box of groceries to a local charity for homeless and the poor. When my wages have gone in, this is one of the first things I always do.
I also help raise funds for this charitable organisation in any way I can.

I have to say, it is very hard to get people to donate. Mainly I think because there are so many good causes you can give to, but you can’t give to them all.
So there is just a lot of “competition” out there fighting to get donations.

To add to all this, I despise politics and if I see how the Irish government is dealing with the homeless and poor people in Ireland it just breaks my heart.
They live their rich and lavish life, are claiming expenses they never had on top of their ridiculous salaries but do nothing for the people in need.

I always keep on dreaming winning the jackpot in the Euromillions one day. I would be able to do so much good with the money, I would help a lot of people, I really would.
I cannot understand why many wealthy and fortunate people have no desire to do anything good with their wealth and riches.

Dionysus: I’m sure the CM community, along with your own, appreciate your efforts. I’d like to go back to your music hobbies.
DJ and musician. Do you write your own music, or create your own? If others, what are some of your favourite genres? There’s a very popular music thread here; I’m sure members are always interested in being exposed to new (or classic) music.

Mark: In the past when I was still young and handsome LOL I used to be a residential DJ in a local nightclub in The Netherlands.
I would be playing mostly hardstyle trance on Saturday nights and more mellow trance on Sunday nights. I have made my own mixes, but created them from existing tracks.
So I never produced my own tracks or songs.

Having this said, I love a broad range of music styles and am in no way confined listen to dance and trance. I have a general passion for music and can also appreciate other styles like soul, rock and pop music. For example I still love and listen to bands like Nirvana, Foo Fighters, Metallica, Alanis Morissette and I used to be a big fan of bands like Guns and Roses, Supertramp, 10CC and level 42.

As already mentioned, I do play acoustic guitar but unfortunately I CANNOT sing.

Dionysus: You’ve recently transitioned into the world of i-gaming yourself. Can you tell us a bit about what you do and how it happened you crossed over?

Mark: : Yeah sure, I had a good job in marketing when all of a sudden I saw a job posted in a local newspaper for EGT.
At first I didn’t take notice of it but after a few days I thought, let’s just give it a try and ended up getting a job in their marketing department. I cannot disclose too much information for now because we are still in a startup phase and we are busy developing plans expanding our business in the near future. 
I love my job and I really hope I can contribute towards a successful business. I have learned a lot over the last 10 weeks and the job is really interesting.

Dionysus: It seems a very full and rewarding life. So I appreciate you stepping away from your family and work to spend some time with me here answering a few questions.
Do you have any parting words for your fellow members before I let you go?

Mark: Thanks for having me as one of your willing victims haha. It was a pleasure.
And I have not really much more to add, just to say I really do like CM and it’s entire community.
Hope to meet some of the members here in real life soon. Would be nice to talk to some people in person for a change.

lotusch is a Meister Member and has been part of the CM community since 2013.
When not busy with family, work and travelling you can often find him here participating in the forum, sometimes running special contests for his fellow members You can check out a recent one below
Mark’s Casinomeister Quiz 2019

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