From Nairobi to Rio, Amsterdam to New York. We break down the biggest geos
Alex Riddick of Riddick’s Partners discusses the most impactful geos and dissects iGaming’s biggest global trends
As SEO strategies continue to evolve, does a strong brand hold the answers?
We’re on a magical mystery tour of the global iGaming affiliate marketing sector this autumn, identifying solutions to some of the biggest challenges in the industry and pointing towards some of the most opportune markets in the world.
Here, in Issue Three of Affiliate Leaders, we provide in-depth dispatches from the Netherlands, Brazil, the US, Kenya and South Africa, where issues ranging from regulation to localisation reign supreme.
Our cover story is with Alex Riddick of Riddick’s Partners, who walks us through some of the hottest markets for affiliates right now and tells us why we are entering a new era.
Despite the challenges being posed, these reports all surmise the huge business opportunities that affiliates now have as new markets launch at rapid speed. Regulation, done well, provides certainty. And right now, affiliates are in need of some certainty!
It is well documented that the affiliate marketing sector is at a crossroads as AI continues to transform traditional business models and SEO strategies. But it’s all well complaining about these problems; the winners will be those who roll out the solutions.
So here, we do just that. We take a look at whether strong and authentic brands are the future of affiliate marketing with FairPlay Sports Media’s Chris Gillett, while Mark McGuinness and JJ Williams take a look at community based marketing to create genuine player connections.
Ivana Flynn returns with another column, highlighting why all that glitters isn’t AI and even reveals her hidden career as an elite sports athlete! Meanwhile we also have expert opinions from the likes of Gentoo Media’s Emilio Takas and QiH Group’s Andrew Lee on why affiliates must diversify their revenue streams, CasinoReviews’ Duncan Garvie on why ADR must evolve and Better World Casino’s Floris Assies on the battle against black market and unlicensed actors.
As the industry once again gathers in Lisbon for SBC Summit, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to you from the entire team. With the Legends Charity Game, SBC Awards and over 30,000 attendees, it’s sure to be a thrilling week for all.
Enjoy the Summit, enjoy Issue Three of Affiliate Leaders and please feel free to come and say hello during the conference!
Sincerely, Charlie
Horner
Affiliate Leaders is brought to you by SBC - Sports Betting Community.
Editor Charlie Horner
Editorial Team
Editorial Team: Andrew McCarron, Martyn Elliott, Jessica Welman, Ted Menmuir, Craig Davies, Joe Streeter, Ted Orme-Claye, Lucía Gando, Rachael Kennedy, Ricardo Assis, Conor Porter, Viktor Kayed, Callum Williams, Jessie Sale, Fernando Noodt, Ana Maria Menezes, Elisa Marcante, Justin Byers, Tom Nightingale, Kieran O’Connor, Christian Lee, James Ross.
Sales Team
Rasmus Sojmark, John Cook, Alyona Gromova, Conall McCabe, Jan Kowalczyk, Bob McFarland, Craig Brown, Ed Young, Camilla Scott..
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Jessica Camilleri
Alex Riddick of Riddick’s Partners offers his insights into the biggest global trends impacting the sector
It’s high time to diversify your revenue streams to de-risk from Google’s core updates. Gentoo Media and QiH Group explain how.
FairPlay Sports Media Marketing Director Chris Gillett explains how a strong, authentic brand can offer long-term sustainability
Ivana Flynn assesses the good, the bad, and the outright hilarious of AI’s impact on affiliation.
JJ Williams and Mark McGuinness argue that community-based marketing and operations are key to building a sustainable model.
Dutch affiliates tell us why increasing regulation is making it nigh on impossible for affiliates to operate
Explore the most impactful ways to localise and personalise your content in different markets.
North America is an increasingly tough region to do business in; can sweepstakes and prediction markets offer solace?
SBC Noticias Brasil’s Elisa Marcante explores how fruitful the opening months of Brazil’s regulated sector has been
Learn how Kenya and South Africa are becoming beacons for iGaming growth in Africa
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For all the latest developments in the Affiliate Leaders community, please visit AffiliateLeaders.com 25 32 36 40 44
Words by - WENDY DEBATTISTA & NATALIA BOGUSH -
The inaugural edition of the Affiliate Leaders Summit in Lisbon last year was so successful that we knew that we had to go to the next level.
That’s why at SBC we have taken the steps to have three editions of the Summit in 2025: firstly in Rio, marking the landmark opening of Brazil’s betting market; next in Fort Lauderdale where we converged worlds to discuss the biggest issues in North and Latin America; and culminating in Lisbon once again, where we return for the greatest show in gaming.
As we showcase our ever-increasing commitment to the affiliate sector, we have delivered two regional shows and another truly global experience. This year as we gather in Lisbon, we are ready to take our offering to new heights.
Firstly, the Affiliate Leaders Summit is now a three-day show between 16-18 September, reflecting overwhelming demand from the affiliate community. Our first edition, spreading over the second and third day of SBC Summit 2024, proved incredibly popular with delegates, exhibitors and speakers alike, so adding a third day allows more space and time for meetings and for our community to share ideas.
We are also introducing the Affiliate Leaders Awards, a dedicated evening to celebrate the very best of our sector. Taking place at the MEO Arena on 17th September, the Affiliate Leaders Awards have 24 categoriesincluding affiliate, operator digital marketing team and supplier categories - and will be subject to a public vote.
All of this reflects SBC’s ongoing engagement with the affiliate community. We acknowledge the crucial role that affiliates play in the global iGaming sector
and how important it is to connect in person with their partners, from Europe to Africa, from Asia to Latin America. That’s why we have the regional events as well as the global event in Lisbon. We look forward to expanding our global footprint as we continue the Affiliate Leaders journey.
Which brings us to you: the reader; the community. We want to cater to your wants and needs. We encourage you to be an active member of the community to reap the full benefits that we have to offer. Those who register early have the best opportunities to connect with as many attendees as they can, have a better chance of being hand-picked to receive an invitation to exclusive events and, overall, have a more well-rounded experience.
We also understand that, in a hall full of thousands, finding the right connections can be tough. This is where the SBC Connect app comes in handy, as you are able to find the delegates and exhibitors most relevant to you and your needs. But if you find yourself needing support throughout your experience at SBC Summit, please reach out to us and we will provide you with a helping hand.
There are challenges facing the affiliate industry, but with collaboration, these can be overcome. At SBC, we believe that anyone can be an affiliate leader. You do not need to be the biggest revenue generator to be a leader, but with an innovative mindset and a willingness to collaborate, you have a valuable role to play in our community.
We have more big plans to expand Affiliate Leaders to more exciting locations in 2026 and we cannot wait to share those when we are ready to do so. But in the meantime, from the Affiliate Relationships team, we hope you have a brilliant time in Lisbon, and please keep in touch with us to hear all the latest developments.
We encourage you to be an active member of the community to reap the full benefits that we have to offer “
Alex Riddick, founder of Riddick’s Partners, leverages his vast experience in affiliate marketing to tackle some of the biggest challenges the sector faces and outlines how to achieve global success.
Words by - CHARLIE HORNER -
Geopolitical trends throughout 2025 may support a growing thesis that the economy is going through a period of deglobalisation. There may be some truth in that: as the Trump administration continues its will-he-won’t-he affair with tariffs, the world is getting further away from the heyday of the ‘90s and ‘00s where economies grew rapidly.
While, on a macro level, globalisation may be waning, the same cannot be said for iGaming. Sure, there are regional powers and local hero brands, but the industry continues to be driven by globally operating companies that play a key role across regulated markets.
The affiliate sector is no different, with plenty of affiliate marketing firms as well as affiliate programs leveraging global offices and expertise to chase a proverbial pot of gold.
Alex Riddick is one figure who has embraced the globalised nature of affiliate marketing in iGaming. Riddick, who has over 13 years of experience in the sector, was a driving force behind the creation of PINUP Partners and has now formed Riddick’s Partners, an affiliate program which focuses on expertise, trust, transparency and advanced tools.
“The gambling industry in general is at the stage of globalisation,” Alex tells Affiliate Leaders. “Affiliate marketing is an integral part of this market because as marketeers, we observe and understand
the trends. We understand all the hurdles and opportunities on both the affiliate and advertiser side.”
It’s this understanding of the global sector that underpins the entire Riddick’s Partners business model.
“The Riddick’s Partners architecture was built on real-world experience, not theory,” he adds. “We’ve created a point of attraction with each side winning. Small teams are hitting a plateau in their development and capabilities but Riddick’s Partners is not just an ambitious project. I see it as the next stage in the development of the affiliate market.”
As stated, Riddick’s Partners was born out of its founder’s wealth of experience in the sector including starting PIN-UP Partners in 2016 alongside PIN-UP Global. But Riddick’s time in the sector began way before 2016.
He explains: “I started my journey with product projects. We launched everything from scratch, testing hypotheses, building traction and training our first partners. It was then that I realised: affiliate marketing is not about tools, but about an ecosystem of growth and trust.
“The highlight of my journey was the creation of Riddick’s Partners, a nextgeneration system where I have poured all the experience I have accumulated over more than 13 years. Today this is a team that brings trusted products together and meets the challenges of the market.”
The market is becoming multicultural and only agile teams are able to maintain leadership
Riddick’s Partners is a truly global business; it operates in all tier-one geos and any geo except for those which ban traffic driving. With a big focus on new iGaming products and innovation, the company is all too aware of the biggest issues affiliates and operators face.
Key to global scale, Riddick says, is being able to understand the driving forces for each market. The company also works strategically with partners to ensure they know these key factors.
“It is a logical step for everyone who is hitting limits in local markets,” he explains. “It is important to understand the specifics of each region: you need to know the regulations, type of traffic, players’ behaviour. Without this, scaling turns into chaos.”
The rise of local regulations across many jurisdictions is perhaps iGaming’s biggest story of the decade as it has upended the rulebook for many.
Alex identified this as the sector’s greatest challenge and is working with partners to
ensure they remain on the right side of the line.
“More and more countries impose restrictions and success depends on how quickly teams can adapt. My advice would be to think at the GEO level, don’t ignore the legal risks and try your own creative approaches.”
Another threat wrangling the minds of executives across the affiliate sector is the level of trust between operators and affiliates. It’s something Affiliate Leaders dives into deeper later in the issue (see p.54) but Riddick notes that it is slowing the industry down.
He says the lack of transparency on both sides of the table has caused distrust and he urges all stakeholders to play by the rules.
“There are still cases of fraud on both sides of the market, some don’t pay, some supply poor quality traffic so trust remains a key factor,” Alex says. “Riddick’s Partners is a trusted link between affiliates and advertisers, where both parties’ interests are protected. We provide transparent realtime statistics, work only with
trusted partners and keep teams anonymous.
“It is important for us to build partnerships based on transparency, stability and mutual respect.”
Got Traffic? What geo?
As a truly global player and a business that is in tune with player behaviours, Riddick’s Partners is an ideal commentator on which geos are driving the industry today.
With plenty of regulated markets now available, each has pros and cons but Alex helpfully cuts through the noise and outlines where affiliates should be paying attention to in 2026.
He tells Affiliate Leaders: “Today, we observe the highest volumes in the CIS, Latin America and Tier-One regions — the US, Canada, Europe and Australia. LatAm stands out in particular: the region is showing stable growth in 2025 and we see potential in it. Africa is also actively developing and is already moving from being a “promising region” to a phase of active monetisation.
“This dynamic reflects the globalisation of demand and diversification of traffic. The market is becoming multicultural and only agile teams are able to maintain leadership. In the long term, we expect LatAm and Africa to grow rapidly, with Tier-One markets remaining key due to solvent audiences, established retention mechanics and a strong partner culture.”
All this mention of Africa, then Latin America, then the US can be daunting. It cannot be possible to be in all places at once and still make a profit, can it?
Well thanks to the wonders of technology and the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence and machine learning into backend functions, it is becoming more possible.
Any successful global affiliate company must adopt AI to navigate the global marketplace.
For Alex Riddick, AI is speeding up the industry and breaking down barriers.
“I see AI covering entire streams: routine tasks, tests, even adaptation for creative markets,” he notes. “For example, we use AI to generate and adapt creatives for different GEOs and formats, automated A/B testing, predictive analytics on traffic and behaviour, and rapid bundle evaluation.”
He adds: “Affiliates who implement such tools at all stages — from research to scaling — significantly reduce time for decision-making, minimise manual work and achieve quality results faster. It provides them not just speed, but a real competitive advantage.”
Most affiliates understand that there are existential threats being posed to the sector right now. The status quo of operating is being challenged and evolution is required. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t opportunities if the right steps are taken.
Having a strategic partner such as Riddick’s Partners can help decision makers weather the storm and build a truly global empire.
As Alex concludes: “Our strength comes from a combination of product expertise and complete traffic coverage. We know how to work with any source — from influencer marketing and media to complex flooding bundles.
“We clearly understand what kind of traffic a particular funnel needs, how it will behave at the conversion stage and how to build the right communication. It’s not just a platform — it’s a partnership as a service.”
Emilio Takas, Head of SEO at Gentoo Media, and QiH Group’s Chief Operating Officer Andrew Lee answer the ageold question: as Google continues to change the goalposts for SEO, why are affiliates solely relying on the platform?
Words by - CHARLIE HORNER -
: How have you adapted during the last 18 months of Google core updates and the new AI Overview? Has it reduced clicks?
Emilio Takas: As Google pushed three major core updates and placed its AI Overview box above the usual results, clickthrough fell by roughly one third on the queries that now trigger that panel.
So, I pruned articles that offered little original testing, wrapped surviving pages in structured data that lets the panel cite us by name. I also added interactive items like odds calculators, sports betting and casino widgets that solve what the panel cannot, which means total traffic is smaller yet each visit shows higher intent and revenue stays level.
Andrew Lee: We are always monitoring Google updates with interest. Google’s Helpful Content Update and the introduction of AI Overviews is clearly reshaping how organic visibility works.
In our case, we haven’t necessarily felt any negative impact from these changes, however, we are looking at how we can refine our content strategy towards depth and intent specificity.
AL: What is your view on AI Mode and how will it change your daily work?
Emilio Takas: AI Mode turns search into a running chat. Users get an answer before they see the link stack, so I care less about plain rank and more about being the source the model quotes. My team now writes content in topic clusters instead of single keywords, feeds Google clean schema, and traces how often our brand name appears inside the chat with the new Search Console filters.
Andrew Lee: As always with new innovations, AI Mode presents both challenges and opportunities to those impacted by it. Affiliates therefore need to focus on creating content that AI considers both authoritative and contextually relevant to reference.
To achieve this, operational investment is required in more structured data and factual content that is backed by compliance-reviewed sources. We also need to test how AI tools cite and interpret our pages.
AL: Have you lowered your dependence on Google revenue in the last year?
Emilio Takas: I have not cut the income that flows from Google nor tried to sidestep it. Instead, I kept refining our pages for its core web results while in parallel expanding the visible surface area of the brand across other discovery paths such as Bing’s co-pilot answers, Yahoo’s mixed result packs and even smaller regional engines like Yandex.
Google’s absolute contribution remains healthy yet it now sits within a wider traffic portfolio that makes the business less brittle if one algorithm turns unfriendly.
Andrew Lee: Google remains and will remain an important part of our operational strategy, but we recognise that diversification is always important for affiliates. Accordingly, we allocate resources towards platforms where we can build deeper engagement and retention.
AL: What other channels now drive the bulk of your earnings, and why do they matter more?
Emilio Takas: Video through YouTube and Shorts delivers visitors with the highest basket value because brief clips build trust instantly, and short form platforms like TikTok and Reels keep acquisition cost low while feeding remarketing pools.
Opt-in push and in-app messages excel in mobile-first regions by sparking quick action during live events, and a well-segmented email newsletter gives me an owned audience that sponsors happily fund, so together these sources balance the volatility of search.
Andrew Lee: Our focus has always been on sustainable advertising and diversification of our revenue sources is key to this. Platforms across the Meta network are becoming increasingly prevalent and we can use this to capitalise on our in-house technology and data capabilities.
Bringing in new individuals like our new CMO James McCarthy into the business will also help us to expand, diversify and capitalise on new platforms.
AL: Has the sector had a wake-up call, and what have we learned?
Emilio Takas: Yes. Many affiliates once assumed that once you rank, you stay there. The 2024 and 2025 updates proved Google can move the
goalposts overnight. Key takeaways: build a brand users remember, collect first-party data, publish facts no one else has, and watch policy notes as closely as rank charts.
Andrew Lee: It’s no secret that overreliance on a single traffic source, in this case organic search, has always been a risky strategy. These Google updates have made this a reality for many. There is a very good lesson in this; for affiliates, operational resilience comes from diversification and future-proofing in technology and data capabilities.
AL: How can affiliates diversify SEO without walking away from Google?
Emilio Takas: Treat Google as one channel and reuse assets across engines. Long articles can become Web Stories, podcasts and video clips that surface in mixed result sets across Google, Bing and Apple Spotlight. Interactive tools such as calculators or pick filters often get cited inside the AI panel, so they keep you visible even when blue links shrink.
Andrew Lee: I think we should see it as expanding the definition of SEO. I’d say don’t just treat Google as the only search engine. Rather than just traditional search, think of it as Search Experience Optimisation.
That way you can still build authority on Google, but do so while optimising for platforms like YouTube, Reddit and even in-platform search on apps like Instagram and TikTok.
AL: How can short-form video help an affiliate’s SEO plan?
Emilio Takas: Record a brief answer for each high-intent query, upload it as a Short, and embed the clip on the matching page with VideoObject schema and a transcript. The clip gains reach inside YouTube, boosts the page’s rich-media signals, and gives Google more reasons to feature the content in carousels. Live snippets on game releases or changing odds work especially well.
The affiliates that will be successful will be those who distribute their content across those diverse discovery points
Andrew Lee: Short form video is so important because it’s increasingly discoverable through search, both on Google and in-platform. It can also be useful as it helps to build trust and drive cross-channel traffic to more long-form content or conversion funnels.
AL: What are the biggest trends you see coming in SEO?
Emilio Takas:
• Search sessions will remember earlier steps, so content must guide users through multi-part tasks.
• Engines will rely more on direct user feedback and on-page behaviour, less on raw link counts.
• Blended results will mix text, images, voice, and video by default, so single-format pages risk invisibility.
• Spam updates will keep tightening, making clear authorship and verifiable data a must.
• Traffic will fragment across social search, app stores, and on-device AI, rewarding brands that own their audience instead of renting reach.
Andrew Lee:
• AI-Curated search results: As AI takes a larger role in summarising content, structured data and source credibility will be crucial. In this landscape, affiliates must produce fact-based, well-attributed content to stay relevant.
• Search Experience Optimisation: Metrics like dwell time, engagement and content satisfaction will weigh more heavily. It’s no longer enough to rank - you must resonate.
• Decentralised Discovery: Search is fragmenting. Users are searching on social platforms, vertical apps and AI agents.
The affiliates that will be successful will be those who distribute their content across those diverse discovery points.
Chris Gillett, Marketing Director at FairPlay Sports Media, outlines how building a strong and authentic brand can help affiliates overturn some of the SEO woes of the last couple of years.
Words by - CHARLIE HORNER -
isn’t dead, despite the protestations and noteworthy algorithm changes at Google. Not quite, anyway. But if the last 18 months has taught the industry anything, it is that affiliates need more ways to stand out to consumers.
A long-term and sustainable method for this is branding. So the theory goes, a strong and authentic brand sticks in the mind of media consumers. They therefore come back to the site/platform organically, bypassing the need to search for generic terms like “online casino reviews UK”.
As Matthew Symmonds, CEO of Web Analysis Solutions, told attendees at SBC Summit Malta: “It’s the audience that matters first. If you build a strong product, you’ll build strong brand loyalty. And if you build a useful product, you will become a trusted source, and I think that will help you when it comes to visibility in AI engines.”
It is a notion that Chris Gillett, Marketing Director at FairPlay Sports Media, agrees with. The company owns well-known and established brands such as Oddschecker and WhoScored, but Gillett says that it has put in a significant amount of effort and resources into elevating those brands in recent years.
“We made a strategic shift two-and-ahalf years ago to futureproof ourselves as an organisation, but also specifically looking at marketing, where obviously the heritage of Oddschecker was SEO first,” he tells Affiliate Leaders.
This shift in strategy comes with its own challenges as SEO teams are forced to upend what has previously worked so well for so long. But creating useful, authoritative and engaging content creates strong brands, which keeps audiences coming back for more.
Warren Sammut, Director of SEO at Catena Media said: “People are not just coming to your website through generic terms like ‘online casino’, but they’re searching for your brand because they want to see the content of your brand and they want to engage with that brand.”
Gillett says that FairPlay Sports Media had the foresight to predict SEO would be challenged and began to invest in branding and technology accordingly. This is what inspired the rebrand to FairPlay Sports Media at the group level.
But like Sammut, he says that everything the group does on a branding level serves the audience.
“We always think about how we give better experiences to our loyal customer base, and how we can, instead of creating one-off customers, add to the loyal customer base. Any acquisition play that we make at the moment is about creating longevity with our customers.
“I don’t think you can separate product from brand, and we’ve almost simultaneously invested in both at the same time, whereas historically, we haven’t had a huge investment from the brand point of view, because in reality, we didn’t really need to.”
It is true to say that Oddschecker is a heritage brand with a quarter of a century’s worth of weight behind it, but that’s not to say that FPSM doesn’t diligently think about brand positioning and how it invests in the brand.
One brand building partnership that yielded results was a deal with The Jockey Club in the UK, where it featured at 14 racetracks across the country.
Ironically, this deal boosted Oddschecker’s SEO positioning.
The winners will be those who’ve diversified their product offering and really laid into the heritage of their brand
“We saw a significant uptick in our brand awareness within the racing audience, which has in turn seen an uptick in our SEO performance from a brand point of view,” says Gillett. “That’s a straight in, straight out result of our brand investment.”
The group’s deal with The Jockey Club also illustrates that the most powerful partnerships are those that play into the best of both brands. Oddschecker has had a long association with horse racing as punters flood to the site for odds comparisons.
It’s this authenticity that Gillett asserts is essential to cut through to consumers, who he says won’t be fooled by actions that don’t resonate.
“Everything comes from the base of authenticity,” he explains. “We’ve not tried to recreate the brand. We simply moulded it in a place that we felt it should have existed all along. Any brand marketer will tell you that authenticity matters most, and I think you see through it with collaborations that don’t seem to match.
“If we went out and partnered with any random celebrity, I don’t think it would play itself out well.”
As AI and algorithmic updates increasingly hamper SEO rankings and damage click through rates, branding will only continue to grow in importance for affiliates to earn revenue.
As a seasoned marketeer, Gillett has thought extensively about the future of the space and has forecast that branding will only get more and more crucial. This trend isn’t slowing down.
“In the future, you will start to see the sort of modernisation of the sector, the reliance on straight acquisition and bonus betting being squeezed with tighter regulations coming in in multiple countries,” he says.
“I think brands are just going to have to differentiate themselves, and you’re going to start to see the brands that do it through the brand group, and they get it right and successful. I think they can prosper.”
While the SEO downturn continues, it is more often than not becoming common consensus that investment in brand and product will help companies circumvent the issues raised from Google.
As Gillet surmises: “There will be the winners and losers, and the winners will be those who’ve diversified their product offering and really laid into the heritage of their brand.”
Ivana Flynn, SEO Consultant, argues that AI is not coming for everybody’s jobs, but warns that manipulation should be a wake up call for accuracy and trust.
Words by - IVANA FLYNN -
“ AI can be great if you use it correctly but it can be deceitful and manipulated
“
is coming for your job! Heck, it’s coming for my job too! This is a wake-up call.”
“AI will replace us all! You have six months left.”
“If You’re Not Adapting to AI, F* You. You’re Done!”
These are just a handful of the most eye-catching headlines in recent weeks, including from Silicon Valley tech CEOs.
But is AI coming for your job? In my opinion, not necessarily.
AI technology, if used correctly, will help you perform your current job better. Naturally, some jobs will change and some will stop existing,
but this is a normal evolution of the job market. Even 200 years ago, 80% of people worked in agriculture.
Instead of fearing AI, it is time to learn how to leverage it.
This article uncovers the good, the bad and the ugly about AI.
The boom of AI led to increased investment in the sphere. This naturally attracted scammers as well. As an example, let’s talk about Builder.AI.
This India-based company pretended to have a cutting-edge AI bot called Natasha. She was able to understand your needs and build up any app to
your heart’s desires. The only problem was that this super-duper bot was actually 700 real-life humans working like crazy.
This clever scam raised $450 million from Microsoft and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund before they admitted the truth, and the company immediately went bankrupt.
So as you can see, not everything that glitters is AI!
This, of course, doesn’t mean that all AI is fake either. There are several AI builders now which appear to be genuine, for example, Replit or Make.com
Let’s talk about how to use AI to your advantag e in marketing. When it comes to SEO, AI has been used for years in some shape or form; however, we see an increase in the use and abuse of AI.
Here are a couple of examples of the use and misuse of AI in modern SEO.
AI helps find patterns in large volumes of data
For example, tools such as SurferSEO used AI to analyse one million websites to understand the correlation between known SEO practices and rankings.
Some of the findings might be surprising:
• Keywords in the domain, and exact match domains still work
• Internal links have a positive impact on rankings
• Bold text helps to increase rankings
• Use of H1 and H2 are important for ranking
• Including keywords and semantic keywords in titles, H1, H2 and H3 are a ranking signal
• Surprisingly, keywords in the URL and schema markup have no impact on rankings.
Many of us long suspected most of this information, but it is great to have it confirmed, and the tool would not be able to swiftly analyse one million websites without the help of AI/ machine learning.
Let’s look at another abuse of AI. The Reddit AI scam is shocking for several reasons.
The University of Zurich ran an unauthorised test on a subreddit called r/changemyview. This subreddit has strict rules on not using AI content. This test compared the results of posting AI comments vs comments posted by their human control group.
The results were shocking, as the engagement with AI comments was 6x better than on the human-generated ones. AI is simply getting cleverer. But that is not always a bad thing, and I am personally using an AI tool to help me work with Reddit (purely ethically, of course).
Let’s be honest, Reddit is becoming next to impossible to work with; instant bans for posting links make marketing on the platform next to impossible. However, AI tools are able to help you work with brand mentions and increase the perceived importance of the brand.
Now, the strategy of brand mentions only works if you have a recognisable brand. If you are using the strategy of exact match domain (mainly affiliates) such as online.casino, this strategy wouldn’t work as the domain cannot be a brand name and links usually get removed, and the words making up the domains are too generic.
The latest findings are that 50% of all content on Reddit is AI-generated. I want to mention one more scandal that demonstrates how easily modern AI can be manipulated.
Alan Cladx is a brilliant SEO and AI marketer who managed to hack the most famous of all LLMs.
He created a test to prove that ChatGPT can be manipulated. Alan created a new, completely fictional sport called ‘Aquapony’. If you ask ChatGPT what sport Aquapony is, you get this:
‘Aquapony—sometimes styled Aqua-Poney in French—is an exciting hybrid sport that merges water polo, equestrian arts, and competitive swimming into a single aquatic spectacle’.
Alan created enough web mentions and websites writing about this new sport that it got picked up by journalists.
We agreed with Alan to use me as a rising star at this unique sport, and if you ask ChatGPT for information about ‘Aquapony Ivana Flynn’ you get this:
Ivana Flynn is an emerging star in the world of Aquapony, representing Slovakia with passion and ambition. Here’s an in-depth look at her journey.
So keep in mind that any AI can be great if you use it correctly and to your advantage. However, it can be deceitful and manipulated.
You still need to use human common sense to achieve the best results.
JJ Williams and Mark McGuinness, CEO and Marketing Advisor at Devilfish.com, argue that as the SEO playbook is being ripped apart, iGaming’s next royal flush comes from product innovation and community building - not domain authority.
Words by - JJ WILLIAMS AND MARK MCGUINNESS -
For years, the iGaming affiliate marketing game has been straightforward, if ruthless, and akin to a game of poker. The objective was simple: rank high on Google SERPs, build a ton of traffic and go all-in, pushing that traffic to the highest bidder.
It was a game of arbitrage, and many players excelled at it exceptionally well.
But the table has changed. The House, and, in this case, Google, have just introduced a new rule: AI Overviews. This, combined with algorithm updates that feel more like a relentless series of blinds, has put the traditional SEO-first affiliate in a squeeze play. Player acquisition costs (CAC) are at an all-time high, while the reliability of conventional traffic sources is at an all-time low.
To put it in poker terms, the pot odds no longer make sense. Continuing to bet the farm on SEO alone is a losing strategy.
This isn’t just a challenge; it’s a call to action. The industry has long mistaken a retention problem for an acquisition problem and vice versa.
We’ve been so focused on getting players (traffic) to the table at all costs that we’ve neglected to give them a compelling reason to stay. It’s a volume play on wafer-thin conversion margins. It’s time to parlay terms, fold our old hands in poker, and adopt a new strategy built on product, purpose and the co-creator economy.
The fundamental flaw in the old model is that it treats players as commodities. A user clicking a “Top 10 Casino Bonuses” link is a transient data point and, somewhat anonymously, a lead to be sold. The user journey is very transactional, shallow and easily replicated by a competitor or by link hijacking, offering a slightly better bonus. There is no loyalty, no story and zero community.
If the old affiliate model is dying, the new one requires a fundamental shift in identity: affiliates must become builders. They must create destinations, not just signposts that happen to have a high domain authority.
and crypto enthusiasts into our free social ecosystem. The barrier to entry is virtually zero.
Mid-Funnel (Engagement & Ownership).
The fundamental flaw in the old model is that it treats players as commodities
At Devilfish.com, this principle is the foundation of our entire strategy. We didn’t set out to build another poker site that was SEO-optimised. We identified a core industry problem: the game had become intimidating and prohibitively expensive for new players, resulting in a revolving door of recreational fans who would drop out after losing their initial stake.
Our solution was to develop a product that addresses this issue. We created a free-to-play social poker platform where the “buy-in” is engagement, not hard cash. If you provide players with a safe space, a sandpit where they can learn, compete and connect without financial risk, this immediately removes the most significant barrier to entry and retention.
Players don’t just play; they join a community. They earn their digital identity (their NFT), participate in exclusive events, climb leaderboards and master the game. They become invested.
This highly engaged, educated and trusting community becomes our most valuable asset. They are not “leads” to be sold. They are a thriving ecosystem that can be introduced to strategic partners, including realmoney operators, other Web3 games, or lifestyle brands, in a way that feels authentic and adds value.
Let’s examine the co-creator economy, which is flourishing on platforms like Twitch, YouTube and even in Web3 projects. Here, audiences are not passive traffic; they are active fans. They don’t just consume content; they engage with creators and create it with a sense of belonging, thereby contributing to the community’s culture and identity.
This should be the new standard for affiliate and traffic generation models. It’s not about buying clicks; it’s about earning trust and cultivating a genuine fan base. For a game like poker, with its 200-year history built on psychology, community and shared stories, this approach isn’t just beneficial; it’s essential for its evolution.
This is where the power of Web3 becomes our ace in the hole. Our Genesis Avatar NFTs are not just digital art; they are membership cards that grant players a tangible stake in our ecosystem. This becomes the player’s identity, status and voice within the community. They evolve from being mere “users” to becoming co-creators and advocates for the brand.
A community-first approach not only reinvents the value funnel but also reassures us of a promising future. The outdated ‘Ping Tree’ model, where leads are sold to the highest bidder in a blind auction, is dead. Our model, deeply rooted in community, is the way forward. It builds trust and confidence in the industry.
Our model looks profoundly different from the top of the funnel. We welcome a diverse community of poker enthusiasts, traditional gamers.
The benefit for a partner operator is immense. Instead of acquiring a cold lead, they are introduced to a qualified, engaged player who understands the game, has demonstrated loyalty, and is part of a supportive network. The player is less likely to churn, and their lifetime value is exponentially higher. This is no longer affiliate marketing; it is community-led business development.
Google and AI have dealt the river card. The texture of the board has undergone a permanent change. Industry leaders now face a critical decision. You can stick to your pre-flop plan and complain that the game is unfair, or you can adapt your strategy to win the pot.
Stop playing short-stacked with fading SEO tactics. The future requires building a deep stack of products, technology and community. The most significant value in iGaming will no longer be captured by finding loopholes in an algorithm but by building worlds that people love, trust, and feel a part of. It’s time to go all-in on community.
If people can’t find what they want in the legal market, they go abroad “
Dutch affiliates tell SBC’s Editor at Large Ted Menmuir that it is unlikely they will be given a voice in how the Netherlands re-writes its new remote gambling lawsanother missed chance favouring the black market.
Words by - TED MENMUIR -
For outsiders it is a rollercoaster, but for natives it’s just a regulatory shambles. There can be no denying the Netherlands’ status as Europe’s most frantic online gambling market since the Dutch Remote Gambling Act (KOA) came into force in October 2021.
Let’s remember for a brief moment, KOA worked. Licensed operators were attracted to the market by its fair-competition terms. Affiliates and media were governed by strict codes of conduct on marketing. The market itself was governed by the authority of Kansspelautoriteit (KSA), which projected confidence in its centralised data-driven frameworks to govern incumbents.
Yet three years on, optimism has given way to fragmentation, frustration and, most worryingly for affiliates, utter disillusionment. Two leaders offer perhaps the clearest window into the affiliate industry’s evolving view of the Dutch landscape: Floris Assies, SEO expert and Founder of Coherentes, and Frank Op de Woerd, CEO of CasinoNieuws.nl, the Netherlands’ most prominent gambling news platform.
Both executives’ businesses have been hit by the sharp end of KOA’s implementation and their insights paint a picture not of regulated stability, but of a marketplace increasingly shaped by political partisanship, growing regulatory asymmetry, and the creeping return of the very illicit actors KOA sought to eliminate.
According to Assies, “For some, it is [still] viable. For others, it is getting
harder by the day. Some have already decided to move on.”
The causes of this divergence lie in a mounting stack of regulatory obligations. Since July 2024, Dutch affiliates have had to prove that no more than 5% of their gambling traffic comes from users aged under 24. For affiliates reliant on organic traffic, this is a nearimpossible demand.
“It’s no fun when you rely on organic traffic and have no control over who searches for which keywords and clicks on the search result,” Assies observes. The typical workaround of targeting non-commercial content to older users to dilute underage engagement only partially solves the issue and often at the cost of scale and ROI.
Strict compliance on campaign targeting was followed by net deposit limits, introduced in October 2024. The restrictions immediately undercut rev-share deals for affiliates, as average player value plummeted. In the short term, some operators saw a bounce in CPA conversions as users opened multiple accounts across brands to evade the limits. But that effect has since dissipated. “Players have simply shifted to offshore platforms with fewer constraints.”
“We now see what was inevitable,” Assies says. “Players moving to the black market where they are not restricted and can easily get what they want.”
Meanwhile, the presence of wellfunded black market operators
continues to grow. “You can see recruitment for Dutch-speaking staff everywhere - it’s clear where the money is flowing,” says Assies. “High times for the moralless business owners and just tough times for the good guys. Takes a lot of the fun away.”
The conditions have left little room for optimism. The result is a perverse situation: those playing by the rules are slowly squeezed out, while the black market expands its share with impunity.
KOA… designed to fail?
Op de Woerd, as both editor and CEO of CasinoNieuws.nl, has had a front-row seat to KOA’s contradictions. He notes that the system, while technically robust, fails in its application.
“Affiliates aren’t under the direct supervision of the regulator, but they operate within a framework enforced via their operator partners,” he explains.
“That structure works, at least for now. If affiliates were subject to direct KSA regulation, the regulator would be overwhelmed.”
But in practice, this delegation has created fragmentation. Operators, deluged by compliance demands, are increasingly cutting off affiliate partnerships to reduce “unnecessary risks”.
“Dozens or even hundreds of affiliates suddenly needed to be audited monthly,” Op de Woerd explains. “Many simply didn’t have that capacity and terminated contracts with all but a handful of trusted partners.”
The outcome is a structurally skewed market: heavily policed at the legal edge, yet unregulated at the centre. A dangerous imbalance.
In response, the Ministry confirmed that KOA will be disbanded, and that a new legislative framework will be submitted to the Kamer by the end of the year.
If affiliates were subject to direct KSA regulation, the regulator would be overwhelmed
The compliance bar, already high, became exclusionary. Only a few large, technically sophisticated firms - most of them members of the Keurmerk Verantwoorde Affiliates (KVA) self-regulatory body - could continue operating. Others dropped out or, worse, pivoted back to the illegal market.
All the while, illegal operators - and their affiliate proxies - operate freely across TikTok, Google Ads and Meta platforms. These ad networks have shown little interest in enforcing Dutch regulatory restrictions.
“The most compliant actors are at a massive disadvantage,” Op de Woerd observes, “while illegal ones operate without constraint.”
Despite their pessimism, neither Assies nor Op de Woerd believes the affiliate model is finished. In fact, they argue that under the government’s current reform proposals, affiliate marketing may ironically become one of the few viable promotional tools left.
With plans underway to ban most forms of online gambling advertising and raise the legal gambling age to 21, regulated operators may have no choice but to rely on affiliate traffic. Affiliates that remain compliant, reach an engaged audience and demonstrate tight demographic controls could, in theory, see their influence grow.
“So yes, we may end up with a bigger slice of a smaller pie,” Op de Woerd remarks. “That’s both a risk and an opportunity.”
But that growth would be happening within a shrinking total addressable market, as more players migrate offshore.
Assies warns of a deeper systemic issue: “The market is global but regulations work locally. Consumers don’t experience a real barrier online, and there is no easy fix for that.”
The only long-term solution, he argues, is coordinated international enforcement: shared licensing for game and payment providers, domain/IP blocking and affiliate oversight mechanisms. Without these tools, the Dutch market will remain fundamentally porous.
Further complicating the outlook is the wider political fallout surrounding the KOA regime. In June, Legal Protections Minister Teun Struycken responded to the “worrying results” of KOA’s performance evaluation, conducted by the Kamer’s own policy agencies across 2023 and 2024.
However, that timetable has been thrown into disarray by the collapse of the conservative quartet government, with a general election now expected in November. A political vacuum leaves KOA in limbo once more and affiliates and operators to navigate a system that may soon be rewritten entirely, without a clear sense of the new rules or the stakeholders who will shape them.
What both voices agree on is that affiliates are being left out of the discussion. Despite being among the first regulated actors in the KOA landscape, they now find themselves sidelined from policymaking and misunderstood by legislators.
More rules will not solve the problem, they argue. In fact, they risk worsening it.
“We know that stricter regulations will only drive the consumer to the black market,” Assies argues. “But it seems politicians find it’s easier to make the rules for regulating stricter than to prevent easy access to the unregulated.”
“If people can’t find what they want in the legal market, they go abroad,” he concludes. “You are not going to change that with regulation.”
As Dutch lawmakers double down on restrictions and enforcement without a coherent offensive strategy against illegal providers, the country risks returning to its pre-KOA status as a prime destination for black market actors.
In this trajectory, affiliates will either exit, adapt to ever-diminishing commercial conditions, or worse be driven underground themselves.
The destination remains unknown, but the direction, for now, is clear.
Words by - MASHA TSNOMPILANTZE -
“Do you have traffic?”
This still pops into my LinkedIn inbox, and back in the Skype days (RIP), it was practically a greeting.
But if you’ve seen my job title or know what my company does (spoiler: we organise events), you’ll know I have zero traffic to offer. That doesn’t stop the question from landing.
And honestly, it proves a point: traffic is everything in this industry.
That’s why we created the Affiliate Leaders Summit. Yes, it connects affiliates with operator managers, but it’s also where affiliates talk shop, about markets, AI, and the many quirks of this industry.
We built it into the heart of the SBC Summit, giving affiliates their own space, focused sessions, and networking that helps drive business more efficiently.
It all kicked off in Lisbon 2024. Since then, it’s hit the stage at SBC Summit Rio and SBC Summit Americas. Now we are back to where it all started. This time with even more in store.
The SBC Summit Rio 2025 Affiliate Leaders Summit delivered a masterclass on navigating regulation, innovation, and cultural relevance in Brazil.
Speakers highlighted the enduring value of traditional affiliate models, built on trust, local knowledge, and strong relationships, especially in newly regulated markets. At the same time, panels explored the rise of influencers, AI, and alternative traffic sources like WhatsApp,
At SBC Summit Americas, the Affiliate Leaders Summit carved out a rich dialogue on innovation, regulation, and future-proofing affiliate strategy across a fragmented yet opportunity-rich continent.
A major spotlight was placed on regulatory adaptation, particularly concerning social media influencers and responsible betting promotion. Sessions unpacked the delicate balance between compliance and creative freedom while raising tough questions about accountability in influencer marketing.
prompting new conversations around tracking, compliance, and monetisation.
Adaptability emerged as the central theme. Whether refining SEO, localising CRM, or aligning influencer strategies with legal standards, it became clear that success in Brazil depends on cultural fluency and strategic agility.
Ultimately, Rio reminded us that the future of affiliation lies not in abandoning the old, but in harmonising proven models with fresh tools, ethical marketing practices, and localised storytelling.
Panellists emphasised the growing sophistication of the player base, pushing affiliates to elevate their UX, retention, and content strategies, blending big data, AI, and hyper-personalisation to remain relevant. Additionally, the conversation around sustainable growth moved beyond traditional M&A, exploring alternative expansion routes in response to shifting economics.
Ultimately, the event underscored that success in the Americas demands agility, regulatory foresight, and a relentless focus on value creation.
What’s New: Your 2025 Affiliate Leaders Summit Preview
This year, we’ve gone bigger (and yes, better). For starters, the Affiliate Leaders Summit now runs across all three days of SBC Summit. Last year, attendees told us they wanted more time, more space to connect, more sessions, and more flexibility. So, we added a third day to meet that demand.
But that’s not all. We’re also introducing something special: the Affiliate Leaders Awards. And no, it’s not just about affiliates. We’ll also
be recognising the operator programmes and supplier solutions that support them. Why? Because the affiliate ecosystem is about partnerships and it’s more exciting to win an award when your partners (and maybe your next ones) are in the room.
Finally, the agenda itself has grown in depth and diversity. A dedicated affiliate stage will run daily, packed with sessions covering everything from AI and automation to SEO, retention, and performance strategies. There’s far too much to list in full, but a few sessions in particular caught my eye...
DAY 1: 16/9 DAY 2: 17/9 DAY 3: 18/9
Debate: Can Innovation Truly Redefine the Affiliate Landscape?
A high-energy panel tackling the question everyone loves to ask but rarely answers: is “innovation” just a buzzword, or is it actively transforming affiliate models and partnerships?
Should the Industry Reset Operator and Affiliate Deals?
This panel explores whether traditional deal structures still have a place in an era shaped by advanced tracking, data transparency and performancedriven partnerships.
The Future of Search – AI, Bots & Trust in Algorithms
A deep dive into how AI is rewriting the rules of SEO and organic discovery, and what that means for both operators and affiliates in the coming era of algorithm-led engagement.
The Future of Affiliation: Reinvention, Resilience, and Relevance
With regulation tightening and acquisition models shifting, affiliates face a make-or-break moment. This panel explores how the channel must evolve to stay relevant—and what the future really holds.
Affiliate Networks: Growth Hack or Costly Gamble?
Affiliate networks promise reach and revenue, but not without risk. With tracking, fraud protection, and ROI on the line, this session explores how to choose the right partner or avoid the wrong one.
Mastering the Metrics: Making Affiliate Deals Work Smarter
Affiliate success starts with the right numbers. From deal structures to ROI tracking, this hands-on workshop breaks down how to read performance data, optimise campaigns, and make every partnership count.
Diversifying Affiliate Strategies: Thriving Beyond Google
Relying on Google alone is no longer a winning strategy. From TikTok to influencers, this session explores how affiliates can diversify across platforms, without trading one dependency for another.
AI Agents vs. Affiliates –Adapting to a Changing Landscape
A bold look at AI-driven automation replacing traditional affiliate tasks and how humans can still win by pairing creativity with tech.
Affiliate Manager Toolkit: Tips, Tech & Tactical Wins
Great affiliate managers don’t just work harder. They work smarter. This handson workshop breaks down top tools, clever shortcuts, and real tactics to boost performance where it counts.
I get it. But I’m definitely (quietly) judging you.
Learning is important, but we’re also all here for business. And that business happens mostly on the expo floor. You already know there’s a dedicated space for the Affiliate Leaders Summit. Some of you even checked the floor plan in advance (right?). But if you haven’t:
The Affiliate Leaders Summit at SBC Summit 2025 features hundreds of exhibiting companies. Listing them all here would make this article unbearably long, so do yourself a favour and grab the floor plan or check the app. But just to give you a taste: Betwinner, Boomerang, iBet, Kaizen Gaming, Medier, Megapari, Melbet, Novibet, Partners.io, Playamo Partners, Roobet, Stake, Stars Partners, Vegas Legends, Yesly… and plenty more are exhibiting.
And while the stands will be calling for your attention, don’t forget that 8,000 operator representatives will be roaming the floor. That’s one massive playground of opportunity. Use it well.
• Download the SBC Connect app to browse the attendee list, book meetings, find your way around, and save sessions you want to catch. Missed a talk? You can watch it later. Turn on notifications for real-time updates.
• Your VIP wristband comes preloaded with credit. Use it to grab food and drinks anywhere at the show, not just in the Affiliate Leaders Summit area. No one networks well on an empty stomach.
• Badge hack: Purple means affiliates. Yellow and orange mean operators. Looking for affiliate managers? Now you know who to approach.
This year’s Affiliate Leaders Summit isn’t just a bigger version of the past. It’s a statement that affiliation isn’t an afterthought. It’s central to the industry.
It has evolved into more than a space for traffic tips. It’s a community built on ambition, honest conversations, and strategic growth.
I hope to see you at INFINITY Lisbon, dancing to Alok and Timmy Trumpet like nobody’s watching… even though everyone definitely is.
As iGaming becomes an ever more global arena, the industry must remain alert to local and personal demands for content. Pick up on some top tips to keep in tune with players around the world and learn how to be a truly global player.
Words by - CHRISTIAN LEE -
Those within gaming will no doubt hear the word localisation on an almost daily basis. As the industry continues to spread to all four corners of the globe, the need for content that spans multiple languages, cultures and regulatory frameworks continues to grow.
But what does this mean for affiliates? As the conduit between players and operators, the sector is uniquely positioned to provide its perspective on the challenges faced by increased globalisation.
At the heart of the issue for Clever Advertising’s Head of Legal, Tomás Rosado, is regulation, as he stresses the need for affiliates to remain “aligned” with the advice of local compliance experts.
He says: “Each location has its own laws, so you need to keep a close eye on regulations. [It] takes clear communication and good coordination, but, with the right legal and operational support, expanding into multiple markets is worth the effort.”
Although there is a complex web of laws and regulations to navigate, working across multiple locations offers protections from changes to legislation that may scupper those tied to one location, explains Sacha Kinser, the Founder of Kinser Content and former Head of Content at Game Lounge Group, Casino.org and Finixio.
She says: “Because we’re not tied to a single jurisdiction or business model, we’re less vulnerable to the regulatory or financial pressures that can suddenly impact individual markets. That diversity means we can continue delivering value even when certain regions face restrictions or slowdowns.”
As an advertising specialist that serves over 13 operators across five continents, Clever Advertising
understands more than most the challenges faced by trying to cater for a wide-ranging audience.
For Filipe Magalhães, the company’s Chief Innovation Officer, it’s essential to tap into the rhythm and cultural nuances of each location to truly create an impact with players, achieved by relying on a blend of “human insight and techenabled precision”.
“We empower our media buying teams with a deep understanding of the markets they work with. They’re equipped not just with knowledge of local audiences, but also with insights into client goals and market strategies,” he details.
“On the technology side, we use geolocation tools and proprietary software that allow us to test, tailor and scale quickly. We monitor engagement and acquisition metrics in real time, broken down by region, and use that data to constantly refine both content and targeting.”
Kinser echoes this sentiment, adding that detailed research is needed to truly understand market complexities and form compliant, culturally relevant and performance-driven strategies.
“We pair human expertise with the right technology to execute this at scale,” she says. “Our global network of native-speaking writers and editors brings local insight to every piece of content, ensuring that tone, nuance, and messaging align naturally with the market.
“Behind the scenes, we use AI-powered keyword research tools to capture local search intent, along with advanced content management systems that support multi-market operations. Translation memory and localisation software help us preserve brand voice across languages.”
As to be expected, artificial intelligence is never far away from the conversation.
Although a relatively new technology, AI’s ability to consume and understand almost infinite amounts of knowledge make it perfect for keeping abreast of ever-changing regulatory requirements and cultural preferences.
“Technology, especially AI, has become a powerful tool for closing the gap in local knowledge, but only when used intelligently and in the right context. We don’t see AI as a replacement for local expertise, but as an enhancer. It helps us move faster, dig deeper, and scale smarter,” says Kinser.
“AI-powered tools can analyse search intent, trending topics, and keyword behaviour in specific regions far more efficiently than manual research alone. [Natural language processing] also helps us understand tone and sentiment in a target market, giving us an added layer of context before content creation even begins.”
The impact is just as significant for Clever Advertising.
Magalhães details: “The knowledge base through which this technology “learns” is truly immense and when enhanced with proprietary sources of information, it can provide even sharper responses.
“Creating large amounts of visual content takes time and effort. But with AI, we can now quickly adapt that content into different languages and currencies. We can even customise it based on where it’s being viewed — for example, showing a local monument in the background of an image to match the viewer’s country.”
Magalhães also notes that AI can reduce human error, however, Kinser warns that it is just as important to have humans monitoring AI.
She explains: “Every piece still goes through native-speaking editors who bring real, lived-in cultural and regulatory understanding to the final version.
“
Every piece still goes through nativespeaking editors who bring real, lived-in cultural and regulatory understanding to the final version “
“The real strength lies in the combination of human creativity and judgment guided by data-driven insight. When AI is paired with local experts, the result is faster, more targeted content that’s still authentic, compliant and on-brand.”
Although localisation has been the buzzword of choice for many years, it is now beginning to be replaced by ‘hyper-personalisation’ - something even more granular in detail.
This means that tailoring content on a regional level isn’t enough anymore, new campaigns must reach within a locale and speak directly to individuals from a wide range of demographics. To achieve this there is a need to look beyond geography and instead dig deeper into the preferences, device usage and past interactions of players.
“Today’s readers and players expect content that speaks to them on a personal level,” affirms Kinser.
“It’s about understanding where a user is in the funnel, what kind of player they are, and what kind of value they’re looking for. We use AI to help uncover those patterns, but the real impact comes from how we turn that data into meaningful, targeted content. That’s where the human touch makes all the difference.”
This mindset is also at the core of Clever Advertising’s approach, according to its Head of Media Silvia Almeida, as new campaigns consider “local seasonality, device usage, traffic sources, and even variations in language within the same region”.
She adds: “What makes this level of granularity possible is the combination of human ownership with advanced tech segmentation.
What is clear is that the ability to scale across vast swathes of the planet is a collective effort. Local knowledge, compliance experts and technology must all combine to ensure content is suitable, culturally relevant and adaptable at the push of a button.
Prediction markets provide affiliates with a promising opportunity “ “
SBC Americas reporter Justin Byers dissects the latest ongoings in North America, highlighting the perilous nature of the market but also looking at how sweepstakes could provide some reprieve in the chaos.
The gaming industry in North America is continuing to shift despite the lack of new regulated markets in 2025 following a surge of state and province-backed launches.
The continual shift is creating challenges for affiliate marketing companies in gaming as they navigate regulatory and legislative changes.
“We see ourselves as Sherpas on a betting journey and we’re going to help them [customers] through it,” WagerWire cofounder and CEO Travis Geiger tells Affiliate Leaders.
WagerWire provides a marketplace allowing users to buy and sell previously placed sports wagers and DFS entries.
Since 2023, WagerWire has secured affiliate deals in North America with BetMGM, Caesars Entertainment and Rush Street Interactive’s BetRivers brand.
“We [WagerWire] just want good outcomes for bettors and that builds trust and an affinity,” says Geiger. “We do it through entertaining content and by being useful and not really going after every touch point with the person like a sale.”
Major affiliate brands adjust to industry-wide changes
The changing landscape of the affiliate industry has caused companies to shift strategies.
Halfway through 2025, Catena Media underwent its fourth round of layoffs in less than three years. The firm announced workforce changes amid an underwhelming first quarter with the layoffs expected to reduce salary spending by more than $5 million. Catena attributed this to a lack of new market launches in the US and changes to online search algorithms impacting site rankings and performance.
Catena went from a peak of over 450 employees to roughly fewer than 150 in 2025.
The company’s workforce is dwindling after selling its UK and Australian assets in 2023 to sports betting affiliate Moneta Communications in a deal valued at approximately $7 million. Catena divested its assets to focus on the North American affiliate market.
Better Collective is also reacting to challenges in gaming and affiliate marketing.
The digital sports media company deployed a co-CEO model amid a restructuring sparked by a review of business operations and lacklustre financial results in 2024. Better Collective also nixed its region-based business model to streamline its operations into three verticals: Publishing, Paid Media and eSports, cutting around 300 jobs, 15% of the workforce, in the process.
“
Online casinos lead to sweeping changes
The growing popularity of prediction markets is also impacting how affiliates approach the gaming industry
Catena and other affiliate leaders are looking toward sweepstakes and prediction markets to generate new revenue as the gaming industry debates their legality and regulation.
Online sweepstakes casinos are a growing vertical but operators are facing banishment or being prohibited in several regulated gaming markets in the US, including New York.
A piece of legislation in the Empire State specifically takes aim at affiliates and suppliers.
Senate Bill 5935, passed by both New York’s Assembly and Senate, bans online sweepstakes platforms that offer casino-style games with a cashout feature. The piece of legislation also prohibits suppliers, payment processors, geolocation providers, media affiliates and certain investors from operating or promoting the prohibited platforms.
At the time of writing, SB 5935 awaits Gov. Kathy Hochul’s signature to be enacted.
Two US markets establish new gaming laws
Affiliate companies aiming to take advantage of the vertical will bypass Connecticut and Montana with online sweepstakes casinos being expressly prohibited in the two markets.
Earlier this year, Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont signed a bill into law
making the promotion or operation of an online sweepstakes casino a class
A misdemeanor. The measure bans sweepstakes that are “not related to the bona fide sale of goods, services or property.”
Montana is also an unfavourable market for affiliates aiming to expand into sweepstakes.
Starting Oct. 1, Montana is placing a ban on online sweepstakes casinos after Gov. Greg Gianforte approved a bill banning dual-currency systems offered by sweepstakes casinos.
A violation subjects an individual to felony charges and up to 10 years in prison. Other US markets considering an online sweepstakes casino ban include Maryland and New Jersey.
Prediction markets draw considerable attention
The growing popularity of prediction markets is also impacting how affiliates approach the gaming industry as event contracts face regulatory scrutiny across North America.
Prediction markets provide affiliates with a promising opportunity as Kalshi board member Brian Quintenz is being considered for CFTC Chair after being nominated by President Donald Trump. Quintenz, a Kalshi board member since 2021, suggested he would not block prediction markets from offering sports event contracts as CFTC Chair during a Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry meeting earlier this year. Quintenz plans to relinquish his role
on Kalshi’s board if confirmed as the next CFTC Chair.
Event contracts are garnering the attention of consumers due to their simplicity.
“Why do people like prediction markets? It’s not because you can bet on the presidential election. It’s because they’re easy to understand and easy to use,” says Geiger.
The recent influx of prediction markets is causing key stakeholders to change their stance from opposing sports event contracts to considering their commercial value for the US economy.
Former Arkansas Sen. Blanche Lincoln submitted comments to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) supporting sportsrelated event contracts after being part of the legislative committee that drafted the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a bill that prohibits gaming-related contracts through a special rule. The rule aims to block event contracts that are “contrary to the public interest.”
Affiliate companies are also calling for operators to provide efficient and simple solutions to support their efforts to acquire new customers across multiple gaming verticals.
“There’s great products out there but we’re all running into the same problem,” says Geiger. “We can’t integrate our products to a mainframe system that has the big players in gaming as we [affiliate companies] are stronger together.”
2025 has been a dynamic year, as the regulation of sports betting has created both opportunities and challenges for Brazil’s affiliate market. SBC Noticias Brasil’s Elisa Marcante looks at how affiliates are adapting - and what the real impact of this shift to a regulated market is?
From an affiliate perspective, the first half of 2025 was full of opportunity - but it also brought new demands. As Gustavo Moretto, Affiliate Consultant and Project Manager at Pixgaming, says: “The regulation brought more security for the player, and with that also greater responsibility for affiliates, such as stricter advertising rules and even the registration of certain affiliates.”
Moretto notes that affiliates who were already working closely with operators to stay compliant and who were investing in quality content, educational materials, technology and compliance, are feeling the impact of these changes less and continue to stand out.
Despite progress in regulating Brazil’s betting market, legal doubts remain, particularly around affiliates. “Law No. 14,790/2023 regulates sports betting but does not directly address the role of affiliates, creating legal uncertainty for those
operating in the area,” says Andrei Kampff, Journalist, Lawyer, and Partner at AK Direito na Comunicação e no Esporte.
He believes that many affiliates operate without a clear understanding of their duties and the limits of responsibility, which has even led some betting operators to shut down affiliate programs to avoid risk.
In more established markets in western Europe, specific rules define the role of affiliates. Brazil must advance in this direction to ensure predictability and confidence in the sector.
“With the national scandal of the ‘CPI das Bets’, conversion is becoming much more difficult. It’s hard to swim against the tide. The government is against us, advertising is restricted, and public opinion is hostile to our industry. We, the affiliates who promote responsible gambling, are the ones footing the bill - and paying a high price - for the
irresponsible and misleading advertising that ran in Brazil before the new legislation,” adds Thamillin Valery Klen, CEO of Maior Apostas Brasil.
According to Kampff, even without specific rules for affiliates, the sector had to adapt to work with licensed operators, as well as follow responsible advertising standards and focus on data protection. These changes increased operational costs, especially for smaller affiliates and influencers, making the activity more structured but also more demanding.
As Moretto observes, while there was a slight slowdown last year, traffic remained steady. In early 2025, conversions returned to average levels, followed by steady growth. Klen’s experience has been different. Her team has adapted to the new landscape by securing advertising licences in both Brazil and Europe, but have seen conversion rates in Brazil decline since the turn of the year.
Yet, the current regulation still fails to formally recognise the role of affiliates. “Without this recognition, they remain in a ‘grey area,’ with no specific rules regarding responsibility, obligations, and limits of operation. It is necessary for the subordinate regulation to provide definitions, registration requirements, and minimum conduct standards to ensure legal certainty and protect consumers,” Kampff states.
Amid this new landscape, affiliates face significant challenges, but are also presented with opportunities for growth. Moretto highlights that the market continues to expand, with billiondollar projections and ample space for affiliates to develop relevant and responsible content.
“The migration to revenue share models is common after initial acquisition periods and is preferable as it ensures sustainable long-term earnings for both parties,” he explains.
For Klen, the greatest opportunity now lies in the restructuring of user databases; a movement that could spark a surge of new registrations.
Still, challenges remain. Moretto says that new regulations require registration, transparency, and restrict the use of bonuses and certain advertising practices. In a more competitive and
“
The government is against us, advertising is restricted, and public opinion is hostile to our industry
evolving market, affiliates aiming to stand out must be professional, responsible, and quick to adapt.
In Klen’s view, beyond regulatory hurdles, the industry must confront deep-rooted cultural resistance. “Around 70% of people still associate gambling with something negative,” she says. This perception, rooted in nearly a century of prohibition, continues to hold the industry back.
From Moretto’s perspective, Brazil already has a successful affiliate market, especially for companies that operate “in a professional and ethical manner.”
“There are expectations that Brazil will generate more than US$2 billion by the end of the year, with projections for the market to grow two to three times in five years or less,” he says.
As he highlights, affiliation remains one of the most effective acquisition methods, offering not just conversions, but also education, engagement
and retention. “Affiliates who pay attention to these points and operate responsibly should indeed see growth in their monthly revenues,” he affirms.
However, Klen warns that high taxes, operational costs, and million-dollar licences may lead some operators to reconsider affiliate partnerships. She points out that the cost per acquisition has been rising sharply and that the trend is likely to continue.
Klen concludes that while affiliate marketing can be a powerful growth tool, a brand doesn’t necessarily need it to thrive. “We still need to wait and see how the market will respond and adapt to the new legislation.”
The affiliate market stands at a pivotal moment, shaped by evolving regulation and growing professionalism. Success will favour those who adapt swiftly, prioritise compliance and maintain ethical standards, helping to ensure sustainable growth and a stronger future for the industry.
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iGaming Expert Editor Joe Streeter examines the opportunities and challenges that affiliates face in Africa, singling out both Kenya and South Africa as key nations to look out for.
The strategy for affiliates is evolving and challenging in equal measure across Africa.
Whilst the continent is significantly fragmented, it presents major hurdles for operators seeking to standout and secure an enhanced market share in the respective markets.
When it comes to engaging a new audiences and garnering the attention of players, operators inevitably look to affiliates; however, the landscapes present a variety of challenges both in terms of player trends and regulations.
Affiliate Leaders is placing a microscope over just a couple of these - analysing the steps for affiliates eyeing global growth via Africa.
Kenya
In a regulatory complex and digitally fragmented continent such as Africa, few nations pose as much allure as Kenya.
It’s a jurisdiction that, despite presenting a tricky framework to navigate, is on an upward trajectory in terms of player engagement; players are betting at greater volume and more frequent regularity.
Kenya’s framework has taken two fairly dramatic shifts in recent times. In a bid to complement the regulated industry, and subsequently the country’s economy, Kenya’s
National Parliament slashed excise duty on bets from 15% to 5%.
A move that would be welcomed by players across the country, it was introduced as part of the country’s 2025 Finance Bill.
Aiming to strengthen the government’s approach to tax enforcement, particularly with foreign and virtual operators, the changes also impact when a duty is paid.
The tax will now be paid when a player transfers funds from their mobile money wallet to a betting account. Previously, the levy was applied at the point of wagering.
On the rationale behind the change, MP Kimani Kuria, Chairman of the Finance Committee, stated: “We are changing to make excise duty payable when you transfer money from your mobile wallet to the betting company wallet.
“There are so many entities operating virtually, some outside the country, from which we are not able to get the excise duty from them. This now means that every time a Kenyan transfers money from their mobile wallet to the wallet of the betting company, then that’s the time the excise duty is paid.”
Whilst this news was met with relatively welcome arms by the industry, there were separate alterations to the framework that tightened the ability of affiliates in many ways.
The National Gambling Act prohibits the placing of advertisements in media primarily directed at persons under the age of 18
These came in the form of an advertising shake up in the country as operators in Kenya will now be subject to a strict set of rules when it comes to their approach to marketing.
Kenyan operators are now subject to stringent marketing rules after the Betting Control and Licensing Board (BCLB) issued a 30-day ad blackout.
Off the back of this, the regulator intensified frameworks around gambling marketing, ordering advertisers to not use celebrities or influencers to glamourise gambling. Calls to action are also banned when it comes to gambling advertising.
Adding an extra layer to the guidelines, advertisers must display a responsible gambling message and a warning that players must be aged over 18.
To monitor this, all proposed adverts must be approved by the BCLB prior to publication and also classified by the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB).
South Africa has held the title of the continent’s most developed gaming landscape and that has only elevated since the pandemic.
Nonetheless, the thriving market is at something of a crossroads as it sits on the precipice of becoming a global iGaming player.
Recently, the SBC Digital Africa event placed a specific magnifying glass over the state of play for South Africa, as Robin Bennet, Head of Department and Regulator Compliance at the Western Cape and Racing Board, revealed that, just prior to COVID, there was an influx of requests for different contingencies seeking approval from operators.
Bennet detailed that the retail void during the pandemic enabled them to grant a number of those requests; it provided a springboard for growth for the online gaming sector in South Africa.
The momentum for growth within iGaming has only continued since COVID, according to Bennet.
Sean Coleman, Chief Executive Officer of the South African Bookmaker Association, emphasised that the expansion of products to promote and the dynamism of the industry evolving has elevated the ability to engage players in South Africa.
This is exemplified by the rise of crash games, which have become the order
of the day amongst players not just in South Africa, but across the continent.
Nonetheless, like Kenya, the expansion of opportunities in the market has been mirrored by a tightening of regulations around marketing.
Parks Tau, Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition, took the step to commission the department to begin the process of appointment of a National Gambling Policy Council.
Tau’s concerns were intensified after a study by South Africa’s National Gambling Board (NGB) revealed that gambling companies have used online advertising strategies not compliant with local legislation.
The Minister also accuses companies of pushing promotions out on platforms like YouTube without any safer gambling messaging, in addition to inadvertently reaching children. A major focus of the efforts will be to tackle and strangle promotions around the unlicensed sector.
Questioned on the matter by MPs in Parliament, Tau explained: “The National Gambling Act prohibits the placing of advertisements in media primarily directed at persons under the age of 18.
“There is an issue of sponsorship of family-friendly programmes, where major bookkeepers sponsor them. This results in the increase of visibility and frequency of gambling content during shows mostly viewed by minors.”
Tau added: “There is an intention to ensure that we can regulate online gambling. It is an environment where different provinces have different approaches, with some being more relaxed. We also want to ensure that there is rehabilitation of addicts.”
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Globally, black markets are thriving and affiliates have had a part to play. What can the sector do to combat this? Does this rise mean that licensing and stringent regulation awaits?
Words by - CHARLIE HORNER -
The unregulated and illegal iGaming markets are becoming an ever bigger threat to regulatory frameworks and the operators within those regimes. It’s difficult to truly rely on regulated industry reports into the so-called black market, because how can you quantify something that by nature is not recorded, but they all tell a similarly daunting story.
In the UK, up to £4.3 billion was spent with unregulated operators in 2024 and in Germany around 80% of the market is believed to be the black market. In Sweden, channelisation could be as low as 69% and in Norway, it has previously been estimated around 66% of all money staked was with black market operators.
More often than not, the middle man between these operators and players? Affiliates.
A conversation is needed about the business being done between affiliates and the unregulated sector.
“There are good actors and bad actors and those in between who do bad unintentionally, or maybe even good unintentionally. But it’s very simple. As long as there is a demand, there will be supply,” says Floris Assies, founder of Better World Casinos.
Assies notes that there are indeed good actors who out of principle do not work with unlicensed actors, but it takes no more than a cursory glance on Google to know that plenty are.
The SERP for “no Gamstop casino UK” is littered with results from sites promoting bad actors. One result even includes thebrexitparty.org, the former website of the political party that is now Reform UK, an insurgent party led by Nigel Farage.
Assies says that these affiliates are preying on those who suffer from gambling harm. He adds that affiliates should have a major responsibility to look out for player health.
“In the perfect world, the Utopia that doesn’t exist, all stakeholders take responsibility. Affiliates should have a responsibility to educate players about the risks and promote licensed operators. But it’s supply and demand. If you just leave the unlicensed market because you find it unethical, then somebody else will take it.”
Do all roads lead to licensing?
This raises the question of whether affiliates should be licensed so they can be held to account for working with illegal operators. A controversial idea, perhaps, but Assies is firmly behind the notion, though he adds that in a perfect world it would not be necessary.
“We have seen plenty of examples where self-regulation doesn’t work. The incentive is profit maximisation, particularly where shareholders are involved.
“So if self regulation doesn’t work, the next step is licensing. It’s about demanding that people show that they apply with certain standards.”
There are, of course, differing views on this. The Responsible Affiliates in Gambling group, writing to the UK Parliament, noted that a licensing system would push out smaller affiliates. Regardless, the group said, affiliates are already regulated via advertising standards.
The group wrote: “RAiG believes that these actions have already had a
If self regulation doesn’t work, the next step is licensing. It’s about demanding that people apply with standards
major impact and it again begs the question of how much additional impact licensing would have when taken together with the existing regulations.”
Without licensing, though, it comes down to morals, ethics and cold hard commercial decisions. More often than not, the unregulated market pays more than the regulated operators; affiliates have to deliver a return to shareholders and as Affiliate Leaders has documented extensively, times are tough.
Assies asserts that he has a very strong moral compass, so would only work with operators who can prove they are not targeting at-risk players and abide by the law.
He outlines one example of his work with an affiliate client in the Netherlands. In the nation, operators must show that less than 5% of traffic comes from those aged under 23. So Assies notes that in this example, his clients’ website only accepts traffic from those aged 24 and over.
“Is that wise? Yes because it’s compliance and if we don’t do it then people may not want to work with us. But the risk is that those aged 18-24 still want to look for bonuses and they go to offshore operators.”
Assies stresses that the industry needs to place more emphasis on focus on education to make all stakeholders aware of the threats of the black market, as well as the dangers of problem gambling.
This includes players, regulators and staff. He says that junior members of
staff at affiliates may not even know they are promoting illegal operators.
“Education of problem gambling behaviour starts way before they actually start gambling. Start growing up in a safe environment.”
Assies cites the Rat Park experiment as a means of explaining problem gambling, outlining that the environmental factors and psychological safety are overlooked as a cause for addiction.
Advertising and affiliation helps create that environment.
“That’s where education should start, and that’s where Responsible Gambling starts with all stakeholders, not only the operators and the affiliates and the players and the regulators, but journalists, educators, family and friends,” argues Assies.
Aside from education, is there anything that those ‘good samaritans’ that the Better World Casinos founder references can do to directly stop affiliates promoting the black market?
Assies says that he would not have a direct message for those affiliates, because it would fall on deaf ears, but he does offer suggestions on how to tackle the problem.
“Directly, we can do nothing except not promoting them. Indirectly it all comes down to lobbying for effective regulations, science based regulations that we measure, not politics based regulations, where we have politicians doing whatever they think that would get them more votes.”
Sweepstake casinos have seen an extraordinary rise in North America over the last couple of years, opening up an opportunity for affiliates to find new revenue streams. Blazesoft, an operator of sweeps, outlines the pros and cons of marketing sweeps for affiliates.
The rise of sweepstakes casinos in the US has created a fresh landscape for affiliate marketers. Unlike traditional online casinos that operate in heavily regulated markets, sweepstakes casinos leverage a unique legal model to offer casino-style games across most US states without requiring gambling licenses. This creates opportunity for affiliates looking to enter the social
gaming space; but like any opportunity, there are both benefits and potential pitfalls.
Designed to be legally accessible across most states, sweepstakes casinos allow players to enjoy casino-style games without making real-money wagers, making them a perfect gateway for affiliate marketers who want to reach broad US audiences.
But while the opportunity is significant, there comes challenges. From compliance concerns to creative restrictions, affiliates need to weigh the pros and cons. Whether you’re an SEO specialist, media buyer, streamer, influencer, or blogger, affiliate programs like PriorityPlay.com are making it easier than ever to monetise traffic with topperforming sweepstakes brands.
One of the biggest draws of sweepstakes casinos is their wide availability. Unlike traditional online gambling, which is limited to a few US states, sweepstakes casinos operate under a legal model that enables participation in over 40 states. This means you can promote to almost any American user, giving you more potential impressions, clicks and conversions.
The freemium model, offering players virtual coins and the chance to win real prizes without deposits, makes sweepstakes casinos incredibly appealing. Players can try games without financial commitment, resulting in high conversion rates and increased affiliate earnings.
Sweepstakes casino programs often offer a variety of commission models, including CPA, revenue share, or hybrid structures. Depending on your traffic type and strategy, you can choose the one that aligns best with your goals.
Whether you’re building long-form SEO content, running high-intent paid ads, live-streaming gameplay, or creating social content, sweepstakes casino promotions can fit your strategy. Affiliate programs like PriorityPlay.com welcome SEO affiliates, media buyers, influencers, streamers and bloggers, offering custom creatives and support to suit different channels.
Affiliates get fast onboarding, pre-vetted offers, flexible commission models and dedicated account
support, allowing for quick scaling without the hassle of dealing with multiple operators.
While the potential is promising, affiliates should be aware of several challenges unique to the sweepstakes vertical:
One of the unique aspects of sweepstakes casinos is the freemium model, where users can play with free virtual currency. While this encourages high signup rates, it often takes time for players to convert into paying users. On average, it may take up to 30 days or more for a social player to make their first purchase. Affiliates should be prepared for a delayed revenue cycle and structure their campaigns with longer-term engagement in mind.
Sweepstakes casinos often have stricter creative requirements to ensure compliance with US laws. Affiliates must avoid misleading language, including references to “real money gambling” or “betting,” which are commonly used in iGaming. Misuse of such language can not only hurt conversions but also put your affiliate account at risk.
Not all sweepstakes operators uphold the same standards. Affiliates should be careful when choosing which brands to promote. Poor player experience, such as payout issues or lack of support, can damage your reputation with your audience. PriorityPlay helps reduce this risk by only working with established, reliable operators.
Some smaller or less sophisticated operators may use outdated tracking platforms, leading to discrepancies in reporting, missed conversions, or disputes about traffic quality. When working with PriorityPlay, you will get a trusted tracking system and clear, transparent reporting.
As the popularity of sweepstakes casinos grows, so does the number of affiliates entering the space. Standing out requires effort, whether through better SEO, smarter ad strategies, or more authentic influencer engagement.
With all these pros and cons in mind, choosing the right affiliate program becomes essential. PriorityPlay.com simplifies the process of working with sweepstakes casinos by offering a selection of top-tier brands, transparent commission structures and reliable tracking. Whether you’re an influencer building a loyal community or a blogger publishing game reviews and promos, PriorityPlay gives you the tools and partnerships you need to succeed.
You also benefit from the support of Twelvio. com, the performance marketing agency behind
PriorityPlay. Twelvio specialises in marketing for social gaming and iGaming brands, offering expertise in player acquisition, SEO, social media and influencer strategy. While the focus is on letting affiliates shine, the backing of a seasoned agency ensures ongoing campaign optimisation and industry insight.
The US sweepstakes casino market offers fertile ground for affiliates ready to adapt and grow. With nationwide accessibility, high conversion potential and flexible promotion models, the rewards can be significant.
By aligning with affiliate programs like PriorityPlay.com, affiliates can sidestep many of the pitfalls and focus on what they do best: driving traffic, engaging audiences and earning commissions. For anyone looking to expand their affiliate portfolio into a fast-growing and relatively untapped market, sweepstakes casinos amass great opportunity with the right partners in your corner.
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HAPPILY EVER AFTER?
SBC News Editor Ted Orme-Claye examines whether an ever changing world with AI, crypto and regulation is impacting the trust between operators and affiliates. Can these relationships weather the coming storms?
Technology and regulation are redefining how operators and affiliates work with each other, and both respective parties need to work around this - but is the operator-affiliate relationship also facing strain from within?
Richard Dennys, CEO of Game Lounge and Matti Pekkanen, founder and Director of Winlandia, provide two perspectives on this relationship from the affiliate and operator side, respectively.
What is universally acknowledged, and undeniable, is the impact of regulation on this relationship. Both operators and affiliates have been feeling the sting across various markets as governments put pressure on the industry to up its player protection game.
“As they say, the only constant is change,” says Pekkanen.“Gambling has existed since ancient times, even the Romans had their own versions of it. What’s really driving changes in operator-affiliate relationships today isn’t so much player consumption habits, but the growing weight of regulation.
“At Winlandia, we operate only in regulated markets. Regulators set betting limits, bonus restrictions, and rules around gamification. These requirements affect how operators and affiliates work together. The positive side is that we all play by the same rules, which levels the field.”
Using the UK as a case study, operators and affiliates alike have had to adjust to new rules around bonusing and cross-promotions of products, for example. For the experienced, level headed and responsible, this was a necessary task and one which many have taken to with a limited impact on their business.
In other cases, strict advertising regulations are putting a lot more pressure on the operator-affiliate relationship, and particularly how the latter services the former, and perhaps most importantly services the former’s customers.
“Regulation is forcing players to the black market,” says Dennys.
“It’s all very well saying an operator has to behave in a certain way, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to tell adults what to do with their own money when there is an alternative to do something else.”
What affiliates provide is an ‘advice service’, Dennys adds, offering advice on where people should and shouldn’t bet, pointing people to the most reliable and safest brands and away from the illegal or underhand.
“You’re leaving people open to abuse” he summarised his view on the weight of over-regulation on the operatoraffiliate relationship and on the affiliateoperator-customer relationship.
Against a changing regulatory backdrop, trust between operators and affiliates is of paramount importance - but is it always there?
From the operator’s perspective, Pekkanen believes that there is ‘generally a good level of trust regarding data and revenue sharing’, especially in today’s landscape of licensing, AML policies, and general close regulatory oversight - though he does share that ‘in my early affiliate days, I was very sceptical like many’.
“Of course, it’s always a healthy sign when an operator maintains consistent key staff. At Winlandia, we’ve had the same Head of Affiliates since day one, and our platform provider, SkillOnNet, is known for low employee turnover too. That stability builds confidence in any partnership.”
In contrast, Dennys believes that trust is ‘the biggest missing link’ in the operatoraffiliate relationship in iGaming, certainly in comparison to other industries like e-commerce.
This industry is a tough comparison, given that it is widely regarded as having some of the best company-affiliate relationship models and practices generally, but this also leaves us with some key cross-sector lessons that can be picked up.
“The biggest difference between us and that industry (e-commerce) is that there is much less trust here, and it’s a legacy thing,” Dennys adds. “I don’t think that gambling companies like using affiliates because they give away part of their search sales. And on the other hand, we know we’re getting shaved and so therefore we demand fixed fees.”
E-commerce is leading other industries in affiliation in a number of ways. In Dennys’ view, the sector has achieved a kind of ‘vibrant marketplace community’ that really stands out against the ‘kind of very old school display advertising model’ found in iGaming and other industries.
Perhaps the gap is not as wide as some may think, however. “Honestly, I see a lot of similarities”, Pekkanen remarks, noting that both sectors have account managers, conferences, and the same communication channels.
“The big difference is that gaming deals are generally more lucrative, which naturally shapes how partnerships are approached. The fundamentals of building partnerships are almost the same.
“However, in mainstream business like e-commerce, it’s much less common for companies to run their own affiliate programmes. Some do, but more often
Gaming deals are generally more lucrative, which naturally shapes how partnerships are approached
you see affiliate networks handling relationships, rather than businesses investing in direct, long-term partnership models like we aim for in iGaming.”
So, how can the operator affiliate relationship be taken forward? Navigating the weight bearing down on the sector from what Dennys calls the ‘holy trinity’ of AI, cryptocurrency and regulation is one priority.
The issues AI is creating for affiliates and operators alike have been widely documented, impacting Google search results and the like. Crypto is another issue - it is a ‘money mountain’, Dennys notes, but presents operators the problems of developing relationships with potentially unregulated offshore firms.
Rediscovering the element of trust amidst all these regulatory and technological changes is the second big requirement. Summarising his viewpoint on the operatoraffiliate relationship, Pekkanen says: “I’d love to see a return to true partnerships.”
“Today, it often feels like everything revolves around complex hybrid deals or high CPAs. As someone who understands both sides, I see why that’s happened. It’s hard to build long-term revenue share relationships when staff turnover is so high that you’re constantly dealing with new faces.”
StatsDrone CEO John Wright explains how his personal branding and thought leadership content creation has advanced his career, and shares his top tips for you to do so as well.
Words by - CHARLIE HORNER -
In this modern social media age, having the ability to grow a personal brand has never been easier. It’s also perhaps never been more important.
For employees, having a personal brand can be the pathway to landing a new job higher up the career ladder, and for entrepreneurs, it can be a cost-effective way of marketing the business.
John Wright runs the LinkedIn Pulse newsletter and the Affiliate BI podcast, which he says has been instrumental in the growth of his company.
“When people can hear or see you, you’re essentially building your own audience and creating a sense of trust with minimal effort,” he tells Affiliate Leaders. “My main goal is to be genuine, educational and relatable.”
He explains that those who are most successful are happy becoming uncomfortable, putting their
thoughts into the ether until they are considered thought leaders.
He adds: “When I look at the people who’ve really succeeded in business over the last five years, they all have something in common: they got uncomfortable. They put themselves out there as thought leaders, but they didn’t just declare it; they actively worked to earn that title.”
As any entrepreneur would likely say, working hours are long and arduous. Running and scaling a business takes a long time and hard work, so adding LinkedIn newsletters and podcasts seems like an extra job that doesn’t necessarily yield results.
But Wright couldn’t agree less, remarking that investment in his personal brand has been a worthwhile endeavour because of the network he has grown and the increased visibility that StatsDrone gets.
“I actually don’t think personal branding takes as much time as people imagine. I’ve had people question if I should even be doing a podcast, suggesting I focus on other things. For me, that’s non-negotiable. Now, if the podcast was taking me five to ten hours a week, I’d agree that we’d have a problem. But it doesn’t.”
He even says that it would be worth spending money on podcasts guests for the additional insights.
“I learn so much from my podcast guests. If I had to pay each of them $500 for their time, and at the end of a year, I had 50 invoices for $500 each, that’s $25,000. And you know what? That would be $25,000 well spent. I get to pick the brains of people I respect and ask all the “dumb” questions. That’s a massive win for me.”
It isn’t just entrepreneurs who benefit from content creation and thought leadership. Wright says employees should consider it too.
“Here’s what I tell everyone, whether they’re reading or listening: don’t wait. No one can stop you from working outside of your regular hours to write a blog post once a week. The key thing is to do it consistently.
“I tell people all the time that no matter where you are in your career, there’s no wrong time to start building your personal brand. When you do these things, you open doors. You’ll likely open doors to bring more business to your current company. if you want to advance your career, become more valuable and more interesting.”
He says that money should not be the primary motivator, but instead it should be about career advancement.
“Get uncomfortable and just start writing things, trying things, doing a podcast,” he notes. “I was talking to a friend who said, ‘I’d love to do a
podcast, but my boss wouldn’t pay me for it.’ My advice was, don’t even do it for the money. Do it for personal branding.”
One of Wright’s top tips is to identify a specific niche and become an expert in it. The more niche the topic, he says, the much greater the chance that you will grow a strong personal brand and be regarded as a thought leader.
“Find your lane and don’t be generic,” he says. “I could just be the “affiliate marketing” guy, but that’s not truly me. I made a conscious decision to lean into my background in engineering and my passion for data. I decided to go down the data rabbit hole. I want to be known as the “data affiliate guy,” rather than just ‘the affiliate guy.’ If I were just ‘the affiliate guy,’ I probably wouldn’t be number one.”
But perhaps most importantly, consistency in content creation is paramount. As chronicled extensively in this issue, the industry is at the behest of algorithms, and those algorithms reward consistency.
Wright notes that if you’re not consistent, you might as well give up.
“If you’re not consistent, it’s game over,” he notes. “The same goes for affiliate marketing. If you’re not consistent, if you’re not producing content at a steady pace, you might as well throw in the towel. At some point, Google will just decide you’re not relevant anymore.”
Once you found your niche, have started producing content consistently,
you can begin reaping the benefits of your status as a thought leader.
StatesDrone’s CEO has over 50,000 followers on LinkedIn, with over 100,000 downloads on his podcast. The audience supports the niche and, within those readers and listeners, there may be buyers.
Perhaps your future readers and listeners could buy products and services from your unlaunched business, or perhaps your future boss could be tuning in.
Asked about the wider impact of his content creation, Wright explains:
“It’s absolutely massive and powerful. People tell me all the time that this is a huge asset. It’s like having an asset that allows you to launch products in a way that would take other companies a
If you’re not consistent, it’s game over “
really long time to build up.
“What I’ve done is taken three and a half years of consistent LinkedIn activity, and I’m now approaching two and a half years of podcasting. When you compound that effort over time, you build something significant.”
And his final parting tip for anyone wanting to follow in his footsteps?
“Pick a lane and double down on it. Over time, you’ll eventually find benefits. You’ll never truly know what caused them. It’s like the butterfly effect. In the same way, you start a newsletter, people eventually learn about you and that leads to a recommendation to someone else. You won’t be able to trace that back directly to the newsletter, but perhaps it never would have happened without it.”
Duncan Garvie, Head of ADR at CasinoReviews, is a staunch believer in ADR systems. But he concedes that there are major flaws in the processes, and asserts regulators must do better.
Words by - DUNCAN GARVIE -
Professionally, I’ve been present for every step of the evolution of Alternative Dispute Resolution in the remote gambling industry. Before ADR was an accepted approach by any regulatory system, I was leading an informal complaint management service.
When the UK’s Gambling Commission was first considering ADR as a mechanism for managing consumer disputes, over a decade ago, I was speaking
to the regulator about it and our service was subsequently approved as an ADR.
Later, when the MGA looked to devolve responsibility for the management of player complaints, I provided feedback to the stakeholders developing the Directives that would come to scaffold the system that is in place today. We were then approved as an ADR for the Maltese license.
And today, I lead a team managing complaints for
both regulatory authorities and have given detailed feedback to other authorities considering an ADR model.
I have witnessed, and sometimes had small influence over, the evolution of ADR in the gambling sector, and have consistently been one of the strongest advocates of this system to deliver a fair and sustainable sector.
But here is the brutal truth: ADR as a system has been broken since the UKGC first introduced it.
“
A mechanism was created to allow licensees to veto any ADR that is not sympathetic to their interests
“
ADR was intended to provide a more easily accessed complaint management mechanism than the courts, encouraging transparency and building consumer confidence. But weaknesses in the system have undermined its ability to achieve these objectives.
The most fundamental issue that prevents ADR from delivering the balanced oversight of the industry has been giving licensees the right to choose the ADR that will oversee their disputes.
Whilst I realise that many of my friends and colleagues working in compliance and legal roles in the sector won’t like hearing this, the truth is that a gambling operator is not meant to like their ADR. An ADR is meant to occupy the role of a judge, whilst the Compliance Officer is akin to a lawyer representing the business. A lawyer may have judges they prefer, but no lawyer expects to go in front of any judge and win every case.
The same is true of ADR. I’ve no doubt that no compliance or legal officer enjoys being told that an ADR is upholding the player’s claim. I’m sure that they come under pressure from their leadership teams’ to minimise the frequency of that outcome. But if the ADR system is healthy, these situations should arise.
By giving licensees the right to choose their ADR, a mechanism was created to allow licensees to veto any ADR that they don’t feel is sufficiently sympathetic to their interests. Of course operators are going to changeup which ADR they use if they’re unhappy with the outcome of the cases against them.
Moreover, operators pay the ADR. In isolation that’s not the negative that it sounds. It doesn’t automatically warp or bias the system. But when combined with the operator having the right to choose the ADR, we have a problem. ADRs want more clients. More clients = more complaints = more fees received. As the licensees are the ones picking the ADRs and ADRs want more clients, there’s now a baked-in incentive for the ADRs to give the business more of what it wants: favourable rulings.
The system then depends on the integrity of the people running the ADR services to self-police and prioritise integrity ahead of lobbying for clients. Those ADRs do exist. And there are operators who have prioritised working with quality ADRs. But that only lasts as long as the decision maker position within the operator is held by someone who can resist the internal commercial pressures to ‘win more claims’.
The consequence of this has been certain ADRs bowing to the commercial incentive to attract more clients and taking a light touch approach. Interpreting claims in ways that favour the industry. And this has resulted in a race to the bottom as licensees determine which ADRs are most likely to favour them. A slow but steady creep of the industry towards those ADRs, with the consequence that the entire system is skewed against consumers.
Continuing the courtroom analogy, the ADR systems that are currently widely used have allowed the industry to select the judges, then financially incentivise the judges to keep
the industry happy. No part of this system is structured to encourage impartiality.
This core mechanic of the ADR systems that the regulators put in place has created an evolutionary selection process that fundamentally ensures that the system will become more biased against consumers the longer it persists as the ADRs that do hold the ethical line and maintain high standards are rejected by more and more licensees.
The truth is that the industry can’t be blamed for this. They were given a set of rules and their function as businesses is to work out how to conduct themselves within those rules to the greatest benefit of their shareholders. The failure has been on the regulatory end. This started with the UKGC, persisted through the MGA and has now started to slip into incoming systems like Curacao.
All of this could easily be avoided with some very basic regulatory changes. Start by allowing the player to choose the ADR provider. With the operator paying the ADR, and the player choosing the ADR, the system is corrected.
I will always be a strong supporter of ADR as a system in principle. It is capable of delivering transparency and fairness within the gambling sector. Of facilitating large volumes of complaints to be addressed quickly, at low cost, and without unnecessarily burdening the court systems.
But it is under assault. And if it’s to retain any sort of credibility or consumer confidence, regulators must step up to the plate and ensure that the structures around it protect its independence.
Words byELLIS DAVIS -
Jack Kelliher, Commercial Director UK and Europe, at Racing and Sports, talks about how the company is evolving horse racing’s digital engagement through localised content and data-driven technology.
How would you describe the current popularity of horse racing globally? Do you see the popularity of racing increasing with new formats or digital content experiences?
Jack Kelliher: Horse racing remains a top-tier sport in markets like the UK, Australia, Japan and Hong Kong — but the way in which fans and punters engage with the sport is evolving fast. Traditional formats have held strong, but the real growth potential lies in how racing adapts to new betting formats and digital experiences.
We’re seeing a growing appetite for in-play fixed odds betting, interactive race predictors, dynamic and easy-toconsume form filters, and personalised racecards available in multiple languages.
There’s also increasing demand for same-race multis and bet builders — formats that have already transformed fan engagement in football and basketball. Racing and Sports have a proven product in the Australian marketplace and are excited to bring this to a global audience. We also look forward to seeing how we can collaborate with affiliate partners to drive engagement and deliver strong ROI for all parties involved.
Racing and Sports operates at the intersection of data, technology, and wagering — how would you summarise the core pillars of your business model?
JK: Our business is built on three interconnected pillars that work together to simplify racing and empower operators to maximise both turnover and margin.
First, we offer Global Racing Data & Content, utilising the most comprehensive racing database in the world. Covering more than 30 countries and available in over seven languages, our content spans everything from silks to sectional times — all accessible through a single integration.
Second, our Trading Solutions — including both SaaS and Managed Trading Services (MTS) — provide sportsbooks flexibility, control, and high-performance risk management. No matter the needs of a sportsbook, our tools enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and deliver rich, data-driven feedback. This, in turn, allows operators to create more personalised and responsive betting experiences, which leads to our third pillar.
This approach fosters real engagement and drives strong conversions for our partners, and we’re now expanding this affiliate model into new markets
the few affiliates to stream live racing directly on-site from jurisdictions such as Hong Kong and the USA, combining that with best-in-class racecards, sharp insights, expert tipping, and live odds.
We’re proud to work with leading partners like bet365, as well as emerging brands such as the newly launched Star Sports — a UK entity now making strides in the southern hemisphere.
It’s not just about traffic; it’s about trusted engagement. This approach fosters real engagement and drives strong conversions for our partners, and we’re now expanding this affiliate model into new markets.
With your recent expansion into Hong Kong through the acquisition of six publications and a data service, how do you see this enhancing your global affiliate strategy?
JK: Hong Kong is one of the most passionate racing markets in the world, and we’re incredibly excited by this move. It gives us a strong content foothold in a region where racing is front and centre culturally.
you see the strongest engagement with racing content?
JK: We take a market-by-market approach to content, UX and product strategy, and the differences are big.
In Australia, where racing dominates the betting landscape, audiences expect deep, rich content: speed maps, sectional ratings, historical trends, and betting tools. That’s why our Racing and Sports site has built such a strong following — it serves the detail-oriented punter with everything they need, all in one place.
In newer or more casual racing markets, such as LatAm or some parts of Asia, we’re leading with icon-led form, simplified predictors, and visually digestible content that’s easier to consume on mobile. This approach is what the market is demanding, and we are listening to the feedback to develop a tailored approach in these marketplaces.
By being able to dial up or simplify our offering depending on the audience, we ensure relevance across every region
The final piece is Customer Intelligence, powered by our Customer Connect Engine. By helping operators understand bettor behaviour, we enable smarter engagement, targeted promotions, and better retention — all grounded in actionable insights..
How does the affiliate side of the business integrate with your broader offerings? Do you view your data capabilities as a competitive edge in the affiliate space?
JK: Absolutely. Our affiliate presence is built directly on top of the same world-class database that powers our B2B solutions — and that’s a huge advantage.
A great example is our flagship site racingandsports.com.au, which stands as one of the leading racing news and affiliate destinations in Australia, where horse racing remains the dominant betting sport. We’re one of
What gives Racing and Sports a real edge here is our unmatched global racing database. With the deepest racing history and form data across all jurisdictions, we’re uniquely positioned to collaborate with local partners in Hong Kong to drive innovation and new fan experiences — whether that’s smart tipping tools, enhanced racecards or new interactive formats.
On top of that, the teams that came with the acquisition bring decades of local knowledge and editorial expertise. We’re actively looking to leverage their insight to create racing content and experiences that truly resonate with Hong Kong audiences. It’s a brilliant blend of global capability and local credibility.
You operate in several very different regions. How are you tailoring your affiliate strategy to suit audiences in Australia, the UK, and other markets you operate in? Which markets do
How do you assess Latin America’s appetite for racing compared to more traditional strongholds?
JK: LatAm has all the ingredients for racing to grow — heritage, passion and a strong base of casual and serious bettors. But the betting experience around racing hasn’t always kept up with what’s expected in 2025.
That’s where we see opportunity. We’re already working with partners in LatAm and building out Spanish and Portuguese editorial racecards, alongside localised previews and more dynamic content. Additionally, we are embedding racing products straight into sportsbooks without needing an in-house racing team, improving the speed to market and integration timelines, which is critical.
As fixed-odds racing gains traction and the market opens further, we believe LatAm and Asia will become a growth driver for the sport and for Racing and Sports.
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