It looks like the population are in favor of prohibiting all ads on gambling. We learn it from two surveys (one ran in Canada and another one in Lithuania but also with the discussions in Spain and Netherland). This is either a risk for the industry, but it could also become an opportunity for affiliates, since affiliation marketing is not always aimed by those bans; and operators would have to find new player acquisition pillars.
TGC Writing Team.
Google’s end on third party cookies : not yet ! Initialy it should end before EoY 2024, but the giant said it’s postponed. Ouf ?
iGaming Operators News
SPORTS BETTING OPERATORS
- Finnish Court temporarily blocks payments to Betsson’s subsidiary, due to illegal operations in Finland. (Finland is a monopoly market, managed by Veikkaus).
- Bet365 sanctionned £582.120 by UK Gambling Commission for failing AML and social responsibility.
- ESPN : the potential to fight against the big two? Probably, 44% of sports fans said they checked scores on ESPN and 64% of those said being interested in betting integration beyond listed lines. More ? 52% said ESPN Bet would become their primary wagering platform…
- Fanatics Sportsbook goes live in Arizona, through a partnership with the Tonto Apache Tribe. Fanatics is now available in 18 states.
- FanDuel officially launched in Washington DC, after GambetDC’s failure to impress local players.
CASINOS OPERATORS
- Soft2Bet obtains its certificate of registration in Ontario. They now aim a license in New Jersey. They recently received licenses in Italy, Greece and Romania in 2023.
- Vibra Gaming (LatAm iGaming Provider) launches “Crash” a new action-packed game. This title allow users to bet “like a multiplayer video game”. Once a player has placed a bet, a star appears and takes flight. This generates a curve alongside an on-screen bet multiplier. The point at which a player decides to ‘cash out’ defines the multiplier he or she will receive from each individual bet.
- Boldplay have been approved to provide its casino games in the UK Market, meaning new games (and new demos!) might get the players interests !
LOTTERY, BINGO & SLOTS
- Lottery legalization in Nevada is supported by both democrats and republicans.
iGaming Affiliates News
General News
- Raketech proposes Jon Moss (former Head of International Development at Bet365) as a new member of the Board of Directors.
- KSA issued a binding order to Digital Ocean, following an investigation where it accuses DigitalOcean to facilitate illegal gambling on 2 of the websites they’re hosting. The host answered it won’t cease the websites operations without a court order.
- 1Win published a press release highlighting the benefits of its affiliate program (and their key geos)! Affiliates can expect up to 50% Revshare and 200 on CPA, depending the geos. They currently focus on: BR, CL, PE, AR, CL, India & Bangladesh, Kenya, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso.
- **Oddsen.nu goes worldwide**. The website have been translated in english and new process’ for additional languages and optimisation
- Skores Media secures private equity backing for LBO, allowing the affiliate to enter a new phase of its development and focusing on becoming a global online sports media. Sounds familiar, isn’t?
- Righlander revealed that the main source of breaking compliance rules in the european affiliate landscape is… the language encouraging risky gambling behaviours.
Interviews
- Martyn Hanna, MD of Comparasino says despite a slowdown in new brands launch in the UK, the demand stays strong. This is following the limitations of every stakes. Anyway, that did not stopped the enthusiasm of players. They main consideration is about payment methods, wallets, and speed of withdrawals. Those are non negotiable and must be part of our contents.
- Dan Kleiner published its part 2 of what it takes for an affiliate to enter India. H2 Gambling Capital estimates that the market is set to grow by 97% over the next 5 years, and to take the most of it affiliates must focus on:
- Mobile accessibility : Indians are more likely to use their smartphones and the internet coverage is growing.
- Cultural shift : iGaming is still a taboo in the country.
- Localisation : the country is too big to think it’s possible to standardize an asset; some regions don’t speak english for instance, but they might also have different interests.
- Alex Windsor, back on the American Dream for affiliates, but it’s more like a warfield, with strong competitions from mainstream medias, affiliates putting all their eggs into the stars *(such as Catena and XLM). *How to explain this struggle ? Mainly due to the market structure itself, the revenues model is also a painful topic (most operators still want CPA)
« Affiliates have always done well in markets where there have been a lot of choices and options available to players. In the US there is a disappointing lack of choice when it comes to operators. There are less than 15 online sportsbooks (and even fewer online casinos) and most are not available in all states. To put that into perspective, there are 175 licensed betting operators available in the UK.«
Market Moves
NEWS FEED
- iGamingExpress released Slovakia’s Gambling Landscape. Gamblers placed bets totaling 21.4bn€ with 20.4M€ returned to player in winnings. Part of digital is up to 90%. This is a strong performance since the country only counts 5.4millions of inhabitants…
- Focus on Slotegregator & Alanbase partnership, initiated in 2022, called Partnergregator. The platform offers a one-stop solution for affiliate management, directly accessible from the platform’s backend. The solution allows affiliate managers to better track trafic and campaign.
- Spelinspketionen has banned 3 operators from Swedish market, as they did not hold the appropriate license. The 3 operators are Newera Frozen PTE, Aprodi Limited and Galaktika NV. The operators had sites allowing swedish people to bet with skins and get lootboxes and it was marketed through Twitch.
- IPSOS released a report concerning iGaming Market in Ontario. On average, 35.2% of Ontario residents have gambled online in the past year !
- iGaming Ontario released a study concerning gamblers behavior in Ontario, teaching us that NBA & Blackjack are the main played games.
- MyAffiliates is officially the most used affiliate marketing software, based on a sample of 1100 affiliate programs, it’s used by 16% of gaming operators, then followed by Affilka, IncomeAccess and Netrefer.
- Introducing Taxus Law & Finance, an iGaming specialised law firm, basing its value proposition on licensing.
- IGB Affiliate released its Affiliate Monitor for April 2024 ! They deep dive XLMedia and Catena situation compared to BC, that litteraly dominates the market. IGB anticipates a market consolidation where BC, GDC and GiG are going to play hard.
- Want to discover more about third party cookies ? I got an explanation, in French, that might got your interests since we need them for Retargeting !
- The Rise of iGaming in Ontario: a Giant has awaken. 46 operators entered the market offering over 70 gaming, reaching more than 1.6 Million active players.
- 66% of Canadians say sports betting commercials should not be allowed during live sports games/events and 68% want athletes and celebrities banned from sports betting ads. And… 59% of canadiens say a nationwide ban on sports betting commercials needs to be implemented. Those numbers come from a new study from Maru in Canada.
- 80% of Lithuanians aged 18 or over are in favor of completely prohibiting gambling ads.
- IGB and SportingTech released a LatAm regulation report for 2024. iGB_LatAm-report_2024.pdf
- The iGaming industry “is in desperate need of a reality check”. Dmitry Belianin tackles the lack of humility within our industry. “We’re slow to innovate, slow to test and reluctant to look beyond our backyard for inspiration”. Nevertheless, the iGaming is facing multiple challenges : changes in SEO, in AI, in Games, on ways to make players loyal. Dmitry also shares 5 steps:
- Borrow ideas from outside iGaming
- Study other industries technologies
- Hire and meet external from the industry
- open-up to your peers and share
- Listen to non-igaming content.
- IGB Hosts a webinar concerning the launch of iGaming in Peru, on may 21st, you can **register for free here** and G&M News published an article of Ricardo Solano Delgado, a lawyer specialized in iGaming in Peru, concerning the regulation of this country..
M&A Moves
- It’s done, GDC acquired European & Canadian assets from XLMedia for 38.9M€, it’s expected to produce 10M$ in revenues and an incremental ebtida of 5M$
- RGAA named Digital Sport by Hot Paper Lantern as their Public Relation agency, supposed to help Responsible Gambling Affiliate Association to amplify its message towards regulators and operators.
- BlueBet and Betr agreed on a deal to merge to create a leading Australian online sports betting company.
- Raketech signs a 3 years media deal with Danske Spil
- Lottomatica completes acquisition of SKS365 Malta, that will strengthen the italian operator online.
- Checkd Dev released it’s Mix’n’Match betting solution, in partnership with Paddy Power. The product uses Opta Data. It allows user to build combinations bets quickly by offering pre-configured betting opportunities.
SEO/SEA/PPC
- Adsterra published a press released, showcasing their value proposition before the Euro 2024 and Olympics. The ad network provides multiples formats (such as banner, native ads, popunders, social bars) on key geos (Kenya, BR, ME, AR, Nigeria). Everything packed with an anti-adblock feature.
- Google postpones the **end of third party cookies,** that should have ended in 2024.
Regulatory Updates
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Canada
British Columbia about to launch mobile sports betting on May 26. Sports Action, will shut down on May 26, ending the use of paper betting slips in the Canadian province as the lottery rolls out a new digital system. The new system will allow players to make bet selections from anywhere using a mobile app.
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Netherlands
Lawmakers in NL voted in favour of a ban of online gambling advertising on the internet and games such as slots. The ban is aiming the full options of online ads, such as targeted ones, for game of chances.y
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Brazil
- Congress may vote next week on Lula’s vetoes, mainly about tax forms for bettors and commercial promotions.
- Secretariat of Awards and Prizes passed a mandate concerning payments and bonuses. Operators must not offer bonuses or free bets to players.
- Rightlander released the advertising regulation :
- Advertising content should be targeted at adults and not children or adolescents.
- Advertisements from influencers, affiliates, ambassadors, and partners must be easily distinguishable from editorial content and clearly indicate their commercial nature.
- Advertisements on social networks should only be posted on pages, blogs, channels, profiles, or with influencers targeting adults.
- Social media profiles and betting advert pages must feature an official verification icon indicating service ownership.
- Advertising must obtain authorisation from the Ministry of Finance before broadcasting on any media platform.
- All forms of advertising must display a warning message such as ‘Gamble responsibly’ or ‘Betting involves financial risks’.
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Ukraine
Zelensky implemented new decrees, specifically targeting military personnel, prohibiting their access to online gambling platforms during the martial law. On top of that, casinos operators must also prevent player from registering multiple accounts.
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Isle of Man
- The Isle of Man Gambling Supervision Commission has suspended the operating licenses of King Gaming Ltd and Dalmine Ltd, pending a regulatory review. Seven employees of King Gaming Ltd have been arrested due to AML fraud.
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Dominican Republic
Dominican Republic has signed a new resolution into law, which will provide a new regime for online gambling. Under the new law, each license will be valid for 5 years and is non-transferable for the first 3 years and will cost 320.600€. A specific license will be introduced for “other applications” such as fantasy sport, poker and bingo (156.000€). Operators would have to register their websites with a .do domain and host their assets in the country…
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Spain
Supreme’s Court overturned certains aspects of the country’s will to ban on gambling advertising. The advertising ban introduced in 2020 to limit broadcasts to the hours of 1am to 5 am and prohibit shirt and event sponsorship, as well as sign-up bonuses and the use of celebrities. https://www.gamingintelligence.com/legal/rulings/191443-spains-supreme-court-loosens-igaming-advertising-restrictions