iGB Affiliate 69 June/July | Page 7

GET TING
THE HOUSE
IN ORDER
Genting being the latest. What do you attribute the rush to?
IS: We got LeoVegas on board very quickly. That kind of gave us a
bit of impetus, so we went to London Affiliate Conference and got
the name out there and since then it’s just been a constant stream
of people wanting to have a look at the product.
We’re fortunate in that we’re probably the only tool that does
what it does. There are other tools, which are for marketing from
what I understand and kind of skirt round the compliance issues
when it comes to creative. I don’t think anyone was really doing this
‘search a website, find something specific and report back’ thing.
straightforward. We sign them up to a fairly basic package and
then work with them on standard reports and try to work out
what they make of it. From there, we can reduce it, increase it or
change the amount of information they get. A lot of companies
are getting wind of the fact that they do need someone specific.
IG B A FF I LI AT E 6 9
“The good affiliates need to call out
the guys that are shouting about the
injustices of it all; empathising and
giving these guys sympathy is the last
thing they should be doing”
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iGBA: What are operators’ needs when it comes to tracking and
monitoring affiliate sites?
IS: There are still quite a few different interpretations of what’s
required, but over the next three to six months we’ll be in a position
where most people know what they’re doing and know what
they’re looking for. At the moment the ideas vary but there are
things that are obvious, for example old marketing material. As we
talk, Genting is launching a new bonus and they want to capture
all the sites that are still representing their old one.
Non-compliant anchor text is another. That’s become quite a
crucial part of compliance issues because it directly links that link
to the operator. We look for anything claiming to be ‘risk free’, ‘low
risk’, that sort of thing, and anything that purports to be something
that it isn’t. The Gambling Commission’s also very hot on anything
that induces the player with time-sensitive calls to action, so ‘play
now’ for example.
When we’re dealing with larger companies we tend to get
compliance officers. That’s a different kettle of fish as they already
understand what they need to do, but we still work with them
to tailor it.
It’s peaks and troughs. Right now it’s heading up a mountain
because everyone’s learning and there are lots of non-compliant
affiliates out there. But at some point it’s going to reach a peak
and start to come down the other side because there will be fewer
affiliates to work with.
lendar 06
Events ca
to
With operators unable
News 08
hammer their old email
PR
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uld
databases, co
12
Risk and reward
iGBA: Do you see a role for Rightlander beyond the igaming space?
present SEO-savvy
to
IS: We have had some discussions with investors who could
affiliates with a chance
ts 15 be interested in investing in taking it to another vertical,
ted environmen potentially
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en
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g
but whether that would be us that did it, I’m not sure. D P R :
Gettin
bounce
G
At the moment within igaming it’s driving itself, largely because
iGBA: Do you have to work quite closely with the operators on
rner
ACHE A
tough times? Nick Ga
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E
Winning formu the la GC 18
has said that gambling companies
need
to
identifying their needs?
H
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es
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s
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that
they
are
actively
involved
in
affiliate
compliance,
IS:
The
biggest
issue
for
us
at
the
moment
is
that
the
issue
of
rs
P O is R one T
ide
ns
co
U G E O P which
said for a compliance platform
compliance is landing on the laps of affiliate managers, and
22 anyone could have H
apsh the ot best things
sn
t
rke
ma
g
ttin
as gaming industry
be
like ours. To be honest, we’ve probably got a few clients paying us
they’ve got two problems.
First, they have to get to grips with
LatAm
w
money every month just so they can be seen to be paying money
what compliance is, and second they have to try and fit it into their
d adapt to the brave ne
an
t
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ad
rs
28 I’m not going to complain about that!
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sta
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and interpret
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There are some people who come along and have a look
data
and
what
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do
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world of data protec
and decide not to take us on. There was a big one the other day;
There can be an element of hand-holding, and when that
er 32
us be e in ord
ho can
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we did a trial for them but they decided not to sign up because
happens it’s a slower process Ge
and the
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said there was too much data.
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How busines
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iGB Affiliate Issue 69 JUN/JUL 2018
Operators vs fraudste
sports betting busines
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says Nick Garner
on email databa
28
iGB
Affili
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69
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18
FEATURE
iGBA: Some of those areas you just
mentioned, such as Asia and Germany,
are not fully regulated. Are you happy to
target the unregulated markets as well as
the regulated ones?
iGBA: Do you have plans to grow via acquisition
in the future?
PS: We haven’t really found anything that would
suit our budget and our vision and mainly we are
looking to build our own projects.
PS: Yes, there are benefits to doing that. There
are drawbacks, obviously, as you can’t advertise
much with paid advertising, but for us it is not a
problem because we target our visitors with SEO.
As long as the brands we promote are fair to the
players, because this is the most important factor.
You want them to have a fair game and be sure that
you send someone to a place where they will enjoy
themselves and not be scammed. So as long as there
are such places, we think it is OK to operate in that
market, assuming it is not illegal. Also in Germany
there are licences in one state [Schleswig-Holstein]
and if you have a gambling licence from there you
are able to run TV ads. The brands we promote
from Germany are mostly licensed in that state.
“We have been thinking about
targeting Germany and Austria more
and are now also thinking about Asia
as this is quite an interesting market”
look forward to meeting
Enjoy the issue and we
possible in Amsterdam
with as many of you as
from 17-20 July.
Stephen Carter,
Editorial director
http://on.fb.me/1CGEIgk
@igbaffiliate
www.igbaffiliate.com
including EU round-up
usiness.com
email: info@igamingb
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PS: We have 30 people. We have a lot of content
writers, mostly journalists who cover the news
and we have writers of guides for casino. This is
the biggest part of the team. We also have some
tech guys and a small team that takes care of the
marketing compliance in the UK where there have
been some changes.
iGBA: You seem to invest heavily in editorial
compared to many of your competitors of a
similar size. Why do you think this is important?
PS: We believe that a portal should provide value
to the visitors and visitors should come because
they find something for them. It is not only
about promoting brands and making money.
We think sites should be providing people with
the information that they are looking for.
iGBA: How do you make sure that they are
not scam sites, particularly in Asia? iGBA: Your sites focus mostly on B2B news
as opposed to many other affiliate sites,
which seem aimed more at consumers.
What is the reason behind this?
PS: We go for brands we have been working with
for quite a long time and usually with affiliate
mangers who we have been working with for a
long time. It is quite hard right now to be sure
about a new brand, one which is just three or six
months old, so we don’t work with such brands. PS: We are primarily a media company and then
we are an affiliate, and for us this type of news –
things that happen in the industry – is the news
that people are interested in and the news they are
looking for. News about the types of new bonuses
and content like that is more promotional. We do
Marketplace 80
38
iGBA: How many employees do you have and
what are their specialisms?
iGB Affiliate Issue 69 JUN/JUL 2018
Advertiser index 82
phen Carter
Editorial director: Ste
gaming.com
ion
clar
ter@
.car
hen
step
é-Stewart
nag
Gan
nah
Han
Deputy editor:
ing.com
gam
ion
clar
art@
hannah.gannage-stew
s
Sub editor: Guy Parson
Richard Linn
r:
cto
dire
ing
lish
Pub
ming.com
richard.linn@clarionga
x Pratt
Ale
r:
cto
dire
Managing
ing.com
alex.pratt@clariongam
ke
Designer: Simon Bra
ig Young
Cra
er:
nag
ma
tion
Produc
ing.com
craig.young@clariongam
James King
Group sales director:
ming.com
james.king@clarionga
Harrison
es
Jam
er:
nag
ma
Sales
g.com
min
nga
lario
@c
james.harrison
er: Luke Webb
Senior account manag
ing.com
luke.webb@clariongam
k Hill
Jac
er:
nag
ma
t
Accoun
g.com
jack.hill@clariongamin
INSIG
So what exactly is preventing e-wallets from trying to stop
this behaviour? The problem is that, other than avoiding relatively
small fines, there really is no motivation for wallets to properly
clamp down on activity like bonus abuse.
“Bonus abuse is further exacerbated by
fraudsters who scale up their activity
by creating dozens of fake accounts”
Something needs to change, though, because some affiliate
sites currently function as a notice board for fraudsters
to browse the latest bonus deals and pick those they like
the look of.
By the time an operator realises that the money they
spent on their latest bonus campaign has resulted in zero
new players, it is too late for them to do anything about it.
Clearly this is not OK and affiliates need to recognise their role
in enabling such behaviour and take serious steps to prevent it.
HOW DO WE SOLVE THIS?
In fact, e-wallets often stand to benefit through the massive
transaction fees generated by this behaviour. Worse still, some
wallets actively encourage their users to make payments/
transfers as often as possible, usually via cashback incentives.
While this is not illegal by any means, some would call it
‘wallet operator fraud’, since they are gaming the system
and encouraging users to make transactions for the sake
of transactions.
DO AFFILIATES ENABLE BONUS ABUSE?
Given their role connecting players and operators, affiliates
play an important part in this ecosystem too.
A typical scenario would be an affiliate promising an
operator that they can identify a certain number of new
prospective players for their promotional campaigns. This may
sound like a win-win situation (the affiliate gets paid and the
operator gets new players), but all is not as it seems. The problem
is that affiliates don’t care who signs up to these bonus campaigns,
only that they are signed up. In many cases, there is no due
diligence from affiliates to ensure that bonus promotions are
used by legitimate players.
The jury is still out on the role of affiliates in today’s igaming
industry, since they can and do serve a valuable purpose.
iGB Affiliate Issue 69 JUN/JUL 2018
These are serious problems, but there are ways that the industry
can go about achieving change. For instance, were e-wallets
linked to a single app or device, the cost of scaling scams such
as bonus abuse would become prohibitive and far less popular.
Likewise, if e-wallet providers were more transparent with
operators and shared better/more data, which is still possible
under GDPR, it would be much easier for operators and regulators
to shine a light on fraudsters. The arrival of open banking and
open APIs could also be a chance for the industry to change the
status quo.
“Some affiliate sites currently function
as a notice board for fraudsters to
browse the latest bonus deals and
pick those they like the look of”
It’s clear that the operator/affiliate/e-wallet relationship cannot
continue in its current form, and something has got to give. I
believe that 2018 is the year that the industry decides enough is
enough, and it will be fascinating to observe how things change
over the next 12 months. Watch this space.
iGB Affiliate Issue 69 JUN/JUL 2018
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