How to Become a Gambling Affiliate in 2019

Posted by Harry Kane on Wednesday, January 16, 2019

The growth of the gambling industry in the UK knows no bounds at present, with the market’s gross gambling yield (GGY) increasing to £14.4 billion in March. The online GGY grew at an even faster rate, rising by 13.7% to a hefty £5.4 billion and highlighting the growing dominance of virtual gambling.

Not only is this good news for operators, but it also creates significant opportunity for small and emerging enterprises that are looking to gain a foothold in this sector through affiliate marketing.

However, the competitive nature of the industry makes it hard to become a successful affiliate, while increasingly stringent regulations and higher rates of taxation are also creating significant challenges for smaller entities hoping to make their mark.

In this post, we’ll explore this market further while asking what’s required to become a prosperous gambling affiliate during the next 12 months.

Now and Then – A Brief History of Gambling Affiliates

Across all sectors, the affiliate marketing channel has enjoyed steady and robust growth over the last few years.

As of 2016, UK affiliates’ performance marketing spend grew to an unprecedented £1.6 billion, for example, while this figure is thought to have increased further over the course of the subsequent 24 months.

The iGaming affiliate sector has certainly grown exponentially since its early days, with the prominent service provider Income Access having recently celebrated its 15th anniversary.

If we go back further, however, the rise of iGaming affiliates began with the launch of Amazon Associates in 1996. At this time, Amazon was little more than an ambitious startup, and one that relied heavily on affiliates to drive its formative growth and lay the foundation for future success.

The popular affiliate site Oddschecker was established soon after in 1999, with the subsequent launches of PokerStars and PartyPoker following in 2001. In fact, the Millennium saw a significant rise in the number of standalone iGaming brands, creating an increasingly competitive affiliate environment that forced participants to constantly review best practice.

Early affiliates placed a strong emphasis on their partners’ sign-up ads and the use of banner ads, for example, while largely eschewing the importance of providing visitors with high quality content. The growing influence of SEO was at the heart of this strategic drive by affiliates, as this initially prioritised the frequency of designated keywords ahead of the context in which they were used.

However, Google began to clampdown on the so-called practice of “keyword stuffing”, with November of 2003 seeing the first of many algorithm updates aimed at forcing affiliates to improve the quality of content that they presented to their users.

These updates have continued throughout the last 15 years, triggering the degradation of link farms and the SEO practices that were based solely on the development of links in high volume.

As a result, affiliates have become increasingly focused on the development of creative and engaging content for users, including long-form pieces such as game reviews, sports betting tips and the very latest industry news.

While this has boosted the user experience and provided an opportunity for some affiliates to differentiate themselves from their rivals, it has also increased costs and made it harder for startups to claim a foothold within the space.

5 Considerations for Aspiring Affiliates in 2019

Not only are iGaming affiliates increasingly focused on the creation of informative and technically proficient content, but they’re operations are also being impacted by rising tax levies and the implementation of stringent regulations.

Make no mistake; the marketplace is likely to become even more unforgiving in the months ahead, particularly with the Remote Gaming Duty (RGD) applied to online brands facing a 6% hike in October 2019.

This, along with the FOBT cap and the growing number of financial sanctions being placed on operators who are failing to protect their customers, will undoubtedly squeeze the profitability of affiliate market in the iGaming sector and create a scenario where only the most proactive operators will thrive.

With this in mind, here are five considerations that will help you to become a successful gambling affiliate during the next year:

1. Find Yourself a Niche

In many ways, the iGaming affiliate landscape reflects the existing structure of the gambling operator marketplace, in that it’s dominated by a handful of large and well-established players.

More specifically, a quick search on any high-volume gambling keyword will frequently return results relating to affiliates such as Ask Gamblers or Gambling.com, who leverage vast marketing budgets to maintain their dominance.

As a startup affiliate, the chances are that you’ll be unable to match these resources, regardless of the level of ambition that underpins your brand. This means that you’ll need to think creatively in order to compete in this space, or at least achieve a viable market share that delivers profitability.

One of the best strategies is to identify a specific niche within the gambling sector, and ideally one that has less coverage than others. This has certainly helped small and medium-sized affiliates to achieve success in recent years, with a number of brands having focused primarily on slot sites and providing detailed content relating to relevant titles.

This not only targeted a gambling niche that has recently grown to account for 69.1% of the online gambling GGY, but it also enabled affiliates to focus in the development of detailed and informative content that adds genuine value to users.

Of course, affiliates entering the current marketplace may need to follow a different path, especially as many of the leading brands have now begun to focus heavily on slot gaming.

Building an affiliate site around Bitcoin casinos may prove to be particularly effective in the months ahead, for example, while those with a sports betting focus may also want to consider creating content relating to eSports wagering.

Regardless of the niche that you select, try to remain focused on the cultivation of relevant and ultimately engaging content, as you look to build your brand’s reputation and develop a foothold in the marketplace.

2. Recognise the Perils of SEO

We spoke previously about SEO, and the role that this marketing technique has played in shaping the iGaming affiliate sector over the course of the last 15 years.

Ultimately, all aspiring affiliates must focus heavily on the deployment of SEO if they’re to make their mark in the current marketplace, as otherwise they’ll find it impossible to achieve rank highly in Google or similar search engines.

Without this, you won’t be able to drive organic traffic to your affiliate site, creating a scenario where you either lose your market share are spend outside of your means on paid advertising techniques.

Despite this, you’ll also need to recognise the perils of SEO, as ranking in relation to designated and industry-relevant keywords requires a significant level of patience and knowledge in the current climate.

Not only this, but your affiliate brand must also factor all Google algorithm updates into its SEO strategy, as prominent examples such as the Panda update in 2011 directly targeted keyword stuffing and saw thousands of websites penalised for using incorrect practices.

As a general rule, Google current rewards the quality and relevance of the content of your sites, along with the integration of supporting backlinks from authoritative sources.

The search engine giant is also increasingly focused on measuring social engagement when ranking pages, so your affiliate brand should strive to build value-adding products and content that benefits users directly.

3. Follow the Latest Regulations and Compliance Laws

Recently, we’ve seen the UKGC continue to deliver its core strategic objectives through 2021, with three online operators hit with a combined £14 million in fines for failing to protect problem gamblers and prevent money laundering practices.

The presence of an increasingly stringent regulatory framework is also problematic for affiliates, however, with the Commission currently in talks with streaming platform Twitch after its users were found promoting unlicensed casino sites.

This highlights the need for affiliates of all description to remain on the right side of the market’s regulations and compliance laws, as otherwise they’ll also run the risk of being hit with a significant financial sanction.

Most importantly, affiliates must follow all rules on transparency relating to promotions and bonus offers, including any associated terms, conditions and wagering requirements.

They must also create a simplified business model that respects the existing laws but is capable of adapting to new regulations, as the legislation surrounding the market continues to evolve at an frenetic pace in line with growth.

Attention to these areas and compliance as a whole is key for any aspiring affiliate, particularly one that hopes to compete aggressively in the iGaming sector and provide an appealing value proposition for potential partners.

4. Pick your Partners Wisely

On the subject of partners, you’ll also need to select your associations wisely if you’re to achieve defined and sustainable success.

This is also one of the first considerations you’ll need to take as an ambitious affiliate, as the choice of who to partner with is central to any strategy surrounding your product and its unique value proposition.

In this respect, the abundance of options in the existing market can be both a help and a hinderance for new affiliates, as while it’s always good to have choice this can be overwhelming for operators that lack experience within the sector.

One of the first ports of call should be to choose between top tier operators or one of the new entrants to the market, as this will impact directly on the value of your chosen partnerships and the terms of the deal that you’re required to sign.

You should ultimately choose brands to suit your current traffic and user base, as this will help you to secure the best possible deal. After all, while many operators advertise a 25% revenue share as a starting point for new referrals and affiliates, smaller and newer casino brands may be willing to go higher than 40% in order to partner with an exciting new outlet.

This type of mutually beneficial agreement will prove to be more sustainable over time, while it also lays a foundation on which your affiliate can build a relationship with its selected operators.

5. Hedge your Bets and Create a Portfolio of Partners

On a final note, it’s important to recognise that a high-growth industry such as online gambling is naturally volatile and difficult for aspiring affiliates to navigate.

This issue is only compounded by the recent regulatory changes and tax increases, while Google’s frequent algorithm changes are also capable of having a detrimental impact on site traffic and profits.

Fortunately, there are ways in which affiliates can hedge their bets and minimise the impact on volatility in the iGaming marketplace. One of the most effective methods is to create a diverse portfolio of partners, rather than focusing your efforts on a single brand or casino operator.

This serves a very simple purpose; as it creates a scenario where affiliates can manage instances in which one of their partners incurs losses by continuing to draw revenue from others.

This is a similar approach to the one taken by investors when they enter the financial market, as they look to spread their capital (and subsequent risk) across several assets in a way that accounts for various fluctuations and price movements in certain niches.

Over time, this type of approach incrementally improves your chances of achieving long-term success as an affiliate, primarily because it minimises interim losses and creates a business model that can cope more robustly with a volatile market climate.

Even when building a range of partners for your affiliate, you’ll need to make informed and strategic selection and one that reflects both your organic traffic levels and desired revenue shares.

The Last Word

As we can see, the online gambling industry in the UK is providing an increasingly challenging market for affiliates, and particularly those who are new to the sector.

However, there’s still ample opportunity for small and medium-sized affiliates to make the mark in the iGaming industry, so long as they’re informed, patient and take the time to develop a viable strategy.