INSIGHT
STEERING CLEAR OF
SELF-EXCLUDED PLAYERS
Michael Golembo says operators must help affiliates avoid marketing to those who’ve opted
for self-exclusion, so that a mutually beneficial relationship can thrive in the face of increasing
regulatory scrutiny
FOR YEARS, OPERATORS haven’t
monitored and controlled the content that
affiliates publish on their behalf as well as
they might have. Now the UK’s Gambling
Commission has made it clear that it holds
operators ultimately responsible for any
compliance-violation issues that stem from
third-party marketing activity.
In response, some of the largest online
casino brands have closed down their
affiliate programmes, including the likes
of Sky Betting & Gaming. But this is the
nuclear option and, in reality, an overly
drastic measure. Sure, the relationship
between operator and affiliate needs to
change but some simply haven’t allowed
that process to take place. Operators and
affiliates must understand that they are
equally responsible and so work hand in
hand to reach a solution.
A good place to start is in a critical
area that operators and affiliates need to
address: that players who have taken a
‘time out’ or have self-excluded entirely are
not marketed to in any way. This is where
I believe the Commission is keen to see
instant and drastic change.
It has been almost impossible for
affiliates to know whether a player has
self-excluded or not. In sharing their player
databases with affiliates, operators would
breach a whole host of privacy and data-
protection laws (and that was even before
GDPR got thrown into the mix).
For example, SkillOnNet powers one of
the most successful online-casino brands in
the UK, PlayOJO. Prior to the regulatory
clampdown and introduction of GDPR,
we used affiliates with email and SMS
traffic to drive large volumes of new players
“To be 100% UK compliant we effectively banned the use
of direct mail and SMS across our network of brands”
to the site. But then we saw the trouble
other operators and platform providers
were encountering, so to be 100% UK
compliant we effectively banned the
use of direct mail and SMS across
our network of brands. This had
a negative (albeit expected)
impact, with new-player traffic
to PlayOJO dropping between
10% and 15%.
We realised we had to
develop a tool that would allow
affiliates to remove self-excluded
players from their direct-mail
distribution lists.
The result is our recently
launched Self-Excluder Identifier
API, a simple solution to a
complex problem. Affiliates upload
their lists of email addresses or
phone numbers to the Self-Excluder
Identifier, which is fully encrypted
to overcome issues around
data privacy and GDPR. The tool then
compares that list with the database of
self-excluded players held by SkillOnNet
across all of the brands that run on our
technology and highlights those that have
self-excluded.
We realised that players self-exclude
and reverse the process on a regular basis
so our database updates automatically
each time.
We require all of the affiliates that work
with our brands to be UK and GDPR
compliant. They must also submit their
creatives to us for approval and, of course,
run the Self-Excluder Identifier before
each send-out. Because affiliates can also
encrypt the data they run in the tool, it’s
secure and compliant under current UK
privacy laws.
This isn’t an advert for SkillOnNet
and our casino brands, but rather a
blueprint for other operators and platform
providers to follow. Affiliates are a huge
source of traffic for operators and the
ability to market to players directly
via email, SMS and snail mail is a
powerful tool for performance marketers
to drive engagement.
Operators and platform providers
must help affiliates overcome the challenges
they face. By doing this, the relationship
between the two will continue to be
mutually beneficial despite the tremendous
pressure being placed on the industry
by regulators and watchdogs in the UK
and beyond.
MICHAEL GOLEMBO is sales and
marketing director for the entire
SkillOnNet network. His knowledge and
expertise has also helped brands such
as PlayOJO and DrückGlück become
some of the hottest and most popular
online casino sites in Europe. Golembo
also founded and continues to manage
the EGO affiliate platform, taking it from
inception to the powerhouse sales
operation it is today.
iGB Affiliate Issue 70 AUG/SEP 2018
51