Part 3: RAIG and the regulatory push and pull
Ad bans might yet be an opportunity as much as a
threat given the likelihood that, as with Italy, loopholes
around affiliate marketing could leave them as the only
game in town.
said that the final decision has yet to be taken.
With rumblings of discontent over gambling
advertising also being voiced in Sweden and
Italy, loopholes around affiliate marketing could
leave them as the only game in town.
He concludes that the mix of regulation and
Denmark, the direction of travel across regulated technology, as well as the changing nature of
Europe is certainly worrying for operators and the affiliate landscape due to continuing M&A,
their affiliate marketing partners. simply means more affiliates will have to adapt
Yet, as Sims suggests, with the affiliate space
to survive. “The days of opinion-based content
having shown itself to be resourceful throughout writing are probably drawing to a close in many
the years, ad bans might yet be an opportunity as markets but there are many other ways to find
much as a threat given the likelihood that, as with customers with a bit of resourcefulness,” he says.
Grass is greener
One potential solution to the threat of being that any efforts towards either Spanish or
tied down by red tape in regulated markets is particularly Portuguese language versions of
to look at further geographic expansion. successful sites likely is, as suggested above,
While Asia obviously got a mention by a
number of firms – and Raketech subsequently
announced a deal for the Japanese-facing
more about South American opportunities than
about either Spain or Portugal.
In the last case, certainly, the opportunities
Casumba – the possibility of expanding into for affiliates are necessarily limited due to the
Spanish and Portuguese language versions of low number of licensees. With only 11 operators,
various sites was also discussed. the Portuguese online market offers affiliates
Catena Media said it would be launching its
precious few firms to work with.
AskGamblers sites in both languages in the
third quarter, Better Collective said Spain was The problem with Portugal
not core but was “meaningful” and Raketech The issue, of course, is the nature of the
said it was looking at South America as a regulated regime in Portugal and the tax rates
potential region for expansion. applied across both sports betting and online
It is important to understand at this point
casino.
Table 1: Portugal tax rates breakdown
Product
Initial tax rate
(on turnover) (%) Upper rate
threshold Effective upper
tax rate (%)
Sports betting 8 €30m 16
Gaming 15 €5m 30
iGaming Business • Affiliate Monitor • October 2019
14