FEATURE
GENERAL DATA PROTECTION REGULATION has affected most of us in the industry. I have a Bitcoin casino, Oshi. io, and at least once a week somebody pitches me about renting an email list. So the recent implementation of GDPR got me thinking about email broadcasting with third-party lists, and the effect GDPR will have on this marketing channel. I’ ve also been pondering the knock-on effects of GDPR and how it’ s going to affect marketing across the board for years to come.
As a Curaçao-licensed white label I don’ t have the constraints of the UK-licensed operators, but GDPR creeps me out. That’ s because the chance of contravening this legislation is so high and the penalties for doing so are potentially huge. The regulation is very open-ended, which is a killer for broadcast emails within igaming; it’ s also going to wipe out huge chunks of European operator email databases. Its consequences are going to be far-reaching, to say the least. GDPR will affect the whole marketing ecosystem, and as a result you’ ll see SEO become even more important.
When I was given the opportunity to write this article, I thought I’ d dig into three things: firstly, aspects of GDPR which I think operators are very nervous about. Secondly, what you as an affiliate can do to avoid trouble, and lastly, why ultimately GDPR could be a huge opportunity for you, if you’ re shrewd with your SEO. At this point, I should make clear that these are just my opinions. I’ m no lawyer, just somebody who has to deal with GDPR.
DATA CONTROLLERS If you are an affiliate with a mailing list, from a GDPR point of view you’ re in the same position as me. We are both classified as being“ controllers” of data; people who, according to the ICO,“ determine the purposes and means of processing personal data.” And what does that mean? Well, you’ re the controller if your company directly uses the data for its benefit, or if you’ re providing the tools that are required to collect that data. So if you‘ own’ the list, you are responsible for GDPR compliance with that list.
So, how do affiliates get the email lists? Having talked to a number of affiliates over the years, it seems they either come by these lists from third-party sources or they build up their own. They do this by running things like competitions where entrants are asked for an email address as a condition of entry. Once you’ ve given your email address, expect a flow of marketing communications!
In any case, these email list holders are controllers of data and the odds of users being genuinely opted-in for igaming marketing messages is very low.
But back to email lists. Once the email has been sent, it’ s out there forever. People save their emails and if you get some activist GDPR group that wants to target a sector, all they have to do is ask for those archive emails. With a bit of detective work, it’ ll be quite easy to see who the originator is and who delivered the email. If a relevant igaming licensing authority gets interested in GDPR contraventions, they’ re going to pressurise the operator to identify the list seller and on it goes.
PROVING GENUINE OPT-IN I’ ve asked a number of sellers if their email lists are genuine opt-in and of course they always are! But where’ s the proof? Any authentic opt-in list is going to be valuable, but as consumers get more aggressive with their‘ unsubscribes’ those lists are going to dwindle.
If this all sounds rather dismal that’ s because it is. You have open-ended risk, an easy way of identifying the operators and relatively little return, all things considered. In my opinion GDPR could spell the end of renting third-party bulk email lists within the igaming industry. That said, there is one possible get-out clause. If an operator has users outside of the European Union, then from what I understand as long as the operator is confident about the geolocation of these users, GDPR doesn’ t apply.
For example, Facebook moved legal responsibility for its 1.5 million users from Ireland to the United States in order to avoid GDPR legislation. The same principle would apply to renting mail lists. If you can confirm the emails are for individuals outside of the EU, then you’ re working outside the scope of GDPR. The catch is that you have to be sure that the person you’ re emailing is outside the European Union. With a rented email list, how would you get real geolocation confirmation?
WHAT’ S THE MEGATREND WITH GDPR? So much for the negative stuff, now let’ s change gear and look at the upside of GDPR for you as an affiliate. I think GDPR is only a part of a huge decade-long trend away from‘ blanket broadcasting’ to brand awareness, targeted communications and‘ opt-in’ interaction.
This idea of opt-in interaction is embodied in disciplines like content marketing, where valuable content that users want is created and distributed. In return for this content, users give you their email address because they want more of the same. Most content marketing doesn’ t work in igaming because users don’ t want a relationship with you as an affiliate. And if they
“ In my opinion GDPR could spell the end of renting third-party bulk email lists within the igaming industry”
As for the risks, you could argue that the EU probably doesn’ t have that much resource for policing this legislation. Europe has hundreds of thousands of businesses that are controllers of data, so as some random affiliate with a few email lists why would they bother targeting you?
On the other side of the fence, for operators the risks are greater because their businesses are more identifiable. If you have a UK gambling licence then your overall conduct as an operator is accounted for when licences are renewed or when fines are issued. This kind of ambient threat about good conduct is very scary for operators. If you’ re not a UK or European licensed operator and you’ re working with a Curaçao for Costa Rica licence, for example, then the risks are definitely lower. don’ t want a meaningful relationship with you, how are you going to get their email and carry on a conversation?
There is one form of opt-in marketing which is extremely successful within the igaming world, though. It’ s called organic search. Many users seeing a TV advert or some other marketing message don’ t act on it there and then. At some point there is a trigger event where that user thinks‘ I want to gamble with somebody else’ and they voluntarily go to a search engine and start doing their research.
However, since most casinos and sports books are more or less the same, there’ s little brand loyalty. As a result there are some very attractive new customer offers out there, and consumers know that affiliate websites are generally a good place to start looking.
iGB Affiliate Issue 69 JUN / JUL 2018
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