TRAFFIC & STRATEGY
previously referred on a revenueshare basis ,” said chief executive Charles Gillespie on the analysts call . “ And this is where we have seen actuals exceed our expectations .”
It is perhaps no coincidence that it is the “ familiar territory ” referenced by Søgaard and common to both acquisitions is the UK .
A potted history
The UK online gambling market is one of the stalwarts of the global sector – or at least it was . The well-documented regulatory issues , including the long-running debate and now seemingly final resolution of the soon-to-be-implemented affordability measures along with the chilling backdrop of substantial operator fines and regulatory settlements , have had their effect .
With bright , shiny new markets in the US very much to the fore , it is understandable that the UK has somewhat lost its allure in recent years , as much as a fertile landscape for affiliates as for the gambling operators themselves .
“ There ’ s certainly been a move away from the UK in the focus of some of the larger affiliate companies ,” says Richard Moffat , CEO at OLBG . “ It makes sense that they need to shift budgets towards growing markets and where there are higher margins . To that extent it does seem like investment in UK assets has reduced , with some offloading their assets altogether in order to invest elsewhere .”
But this shifting of assets is about more than just a refocusing of attention elsewhere . It also betrays an underlying and unsettling worry about the nature of the UK gambling market , at least as far as the affiliates are concerned .
The UK affiliate space can still be seen as the Wild West , with operators concerned they are paying the wrong people , especially with regards to regulation
STUART SIMMS , FAIRPLAY SPORTS MEDIA
“ Operators have their concerns about the UK affiliate space ,” says Stuart Simms , CEO at FairPlay Sports Media which owns the
Oddschecker site . “ They can still be seen as the wild west with operators concerned they are paying the wrong people , especially with regards to regulation .”
But Chris Russell , who owns and runs the OneTwenty affiliate group which includes sites such as GG . co . uk , FootballTips and Squawka among its brands , says his company thrived partly from taking a contrarian view of the UK market at a time when the rest of the sector was eyeing up the US . “ People felt regulation was stifling the market ,” he says .
“ But we thought it was profitable and stuffed with operators that were looking to win market share . Look at the names of the companies involved in the UK – Flutter , Entain and Bet365 , for instance . Those are the longterm winners and they were still delivering strong returns from the UK market .
“ The conversations about headwinds weren ’ t impacting the top operators and we wanted to align ourselves with them .”
Walls come tumbling down
Another factor in the UK market as much as elsewhere are the actions taken by Google with
People felt regulation was stifling the market . But we thought it was profitable and stuffed with operators that were looking to win market share
CHRIS RUSSELL , ONETWENTY GROUP
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