22
Affiliate Monitor Gambling . com Q3 review
efforts in securing premium gambling-related domain names to add to its Gambling . com and Bookies . com brands . The latest is Casinos . com which Gillespie said was the “ single most desirable and valuable ” domain name in the space .
He didn ’ t reveal how much the company had paid for the domain but he did say it would enable Gambling . com Group to add to its portfolio of premium domains for the North American market .
“ We bought [ the Gambling . com ] domain in 2011 for $ 2.5m , and the business behind that website now is just incredible . We see an opportunity to not only do the same thing with Casinos . com but do it faster with all the lessons we ’ ve learned in the past 11 years and do it , frankly , with more laser focus .”
M & A generally very much remains on the agenda for Gambling . com Group but Gillespie noted that the company was also being “ prudent ”.
“ We ’ re continuing to have lots of conversations , some of which are fairly interesting . But for us to really pull the trigger on something , we ’ re going to need to be extremely comfortable ,” he said . “ And historically , we ’ ve been very picky with our acquisitions , even in a kind of normal market .”
He noted the company still has a preference for North American assets but the management doesn ’ t feel under pressure to do the next deal . “ We ’ re being quite cautious with how we run the business , given some of the larger uncertainties out there ,” he added .
LOVE TO HELP OUT
One of those uncertainties is the issue of sportsbook operators in the US and profitability . Asked how this might impact Gambling . com and the affiliate space generally , Gillespie was very positive .
“ The more focused on ROI they are , the more they will invest into the affiliate channel , the performance marketing channel , because it ’ s just basically guaranteed ROI ,” he said .
“ And to the extent the overall US landscape improves its profitability , then it creates kind of warmer waters for more operators to enter the US .”
He noted that the high-profile exits seen so far in the US were in part due to the “ incredible amount ” of non-performance marketing that operators were doing because “ everyone felt like they had to do that to compete ”.
Instead , he now sees the market in North America moving more towards the European model where the marketing and advertising will be more performance driven .
“ And thus , everybody ’ s bottom line will improve and the entire attractiveness of the endeavour will improve and that would , potentially , see more people entering the space , which is a good thing for us .”
£ 10.1m
Playmaker ’ s annual revenues , double what they were two years ago
iGB Affiliate Monitor