Trafficology May 2024

TRAFFIC REPORT

Trafficology has partnered with data expert Casino City Press, to provide insight into website and traffic trends across affiliate industries – predominantly in gaming but including others. In this edition, we review affiliate programmes per vertical for March 2024 in Africa. The below is a breakdown of the top 20 sites, including both desktop and mobile, sorted by: overall ranking, casino ranking, sports betting ranking, bingo ranking, lottery ranking and poker ranking

TIMELINE: RUSH STREET INTERACTIVE

Following 12 years of development with operations across the globe, Trafficology tracks the history of Rush Street Interactive and how it got to where it is today

RSI launches its first social gaming site, SugarHouse Casino4Fun

The operator partners with sportsbook technology supplier Kambi

A fully integrated online sportsbook is added to the company’s professional portfolio

Rush Street Interactive wins the Operator of the Year Award at the Global Gaming Awards Las Vegas

Through BetRivers, RSI becomes the first company to launch regulated online gaming in Indiana, Colorado and Pennsylvania

The operator opens its first online gaming casino, playSugarHouse.com in New Jersey, accepting its first real-money bets shortly after

RSI becomes the first oeprator to open a regulated online gaming sportsbook in Latin America, with RushBet launching in Colombia

RSI’s new sportsbook product, BetRivers, officially launches as the first online sportsbook in Indiana

The operator announces its merger with dMY Technology Group, renaming to Rush Street Interactive, Inc. The merger was complete in December

FY2020 financial results are released, RSI’s revenue has soared 337% to $278.5m. The company is now operating across nine US states

FY2021 financial results are announced, showing revenue increase of 75% to $488m. The company now operates across North & South America and Europe

Delaware launches online sports betting with BetRivers powering the state’s online casino and sportsbook operations

The operator appoints Brian Sapp as its new Chief Marketing Officer

Rush Street Interactive officially goes public through the completion of its NYSE listing

Rush Street Interactive announces that Co-Founder and former Chief Executive Gregory Carlin has resigned from its board

RSI opens two new offices in Colombia – Bogota & Medellin – as operative headquarters for its RushBet brand in South America

Bloomberg reports that RSI is considering a sale, with DraftKings leading the way as a potential buyer

HOW VALID IS YOUR TRAFFIC?

Trafficology spoke with CEO & Co-Founder of TrafficGuard Mathew Ratty about the importance of mitigating invalid traffic and its impact on the US sportsbook market

WITH LEGISLATION RELAXING IN THE US, WE ARE SEEING NEW SPORTSBOOKS AND MORE OFFSHORE OPERATORS COMING TO THE STATES.

FACING FIERCE COMPETITION, HOW CAN OPERATORS INNOVATE?

The US sports betting market has grown exponentially over the past few years. Online sports betting was almost entirely outlawed in the US as recently as six years ago. The loosening of legislation has led to an influx of new bettors for sportsbooks to engage with and monetise. This has created a number of opportunities for sportsbooks to expand into new states for aggressive expansion. The challenge, however, is to stand out in an increasingly competitive market. To achieve this, sportsbooks need to ensure they maximise their ROI and reach of digital advertising campaigns. The best start to this is to tackle the problem of invalid traffic (IVT).

IVT encompasses any traffic devoid of genuine new user interest, manifesting in the form of bots, low-quality engagement or returning users that fail to contribute to net new incremental growth. Engagement from these sources, lacking in authenticity, artificially inflate campaign metrics, consequently driving up advertisers’ costs. Compounded by its undetectable nature, IVT results in significant losses for sportsbooks.

Addressing IVT presents an opportunity for sportsbooks to gain a competitive advantage, as many remain unaware of its impact. By proactively mitigating IVT and safeguarding advertising budgets, sportsbooks can redirect previously wasted resources towards quality traffic, thereby unlocking greater returns on investment and fostering further incremental growth.

HOW IS SHIFTING LEGISLATION CHANGING APPROACHES TO GENERATING TRAFFIC?

The priority of every business should be compliance with local legislation and data privacy requirements. The recent relaxation of legislation has led to increased overall traffic

activity. While a portion of this traffic is genuine, it is often accompanied by a significant influx of IVT. As paid advertising experiences a notable surge, marketing campaigns are reaching broader audiences. However, the presence of invalid clicks complicates the ability to predict campaign outcomes or gather reliable information.

Without an accurate dataset to inform marketing campaigns, optimising expenditure becomes challenging, hindering efforts to reach new bettors effectively. To attract and retain players in new states, sportsbooks have introduced more promotions and bonuses, such as free bets. This drives new traffic but comes with its own challenges as fraudulent actors use bots to exploit these promotions for their own gain, leading to $0 value for the sportsbook.

ARE THERE ANY STATES YOU FEEL NEW SPORTSBOOKS CAN PARTICULARLY THRIVE IN AND WHY?

What is important is being able to adapt to locations. It isn’t about particular states, it’s about having the tools to be a success no matter where you operate. With more and more states changing their legislation, sportsbooks have increased freedom to expand across the country. The challenge is that invalid and fraudulent traffic (which follows the money) is making it more difficult to thrive in the market. If it continues unchecked, sportsbooks won’t see their investments adequately returned, no matter which state they establish themselves in.

WHAT ARE SOME POINTERS YOU WOULD GIVE TO SPORTSBOOKS LOOKING TO MAXIMISE THEIR ROI IN AMERICA?

To maximise returns, sportsbooks must address the fundamental issues within their marketing campaigns. Often, sportsbooks incur significant losses unknowingly, as fraudulent traffic undermines budgets and distorts campaign data. To outperform competitors in America and achieve desired returns, sportsbooks must prioritise combating invalid

traffic. This necessitates the development of a comprehensive strategy, beginning with gaining visibility into the nature of the traffic they are attracting. By monitoring the traffic coming into your systems, you gain a clearer understanding of where traffic is coming from and can identify any suspicious activity. Sportsbooks can then add a layer of defence to protect their budgets. The data can then be used to inform decision making for future campaigns, giving them a greater chance of success.

CAN YOU TELL ME A BIT MORE ABOUT FRAUDULENT TRAFFIC AND HOW A SPORTSBOOK CAN TELL IF TRAFFIC IS LEGITIMATE OR NOT?

Distinguishing between fraudulent and invalid traffic is crucial. While ad fraud garners significant attention, its less glamorous counterpart, IVT, often flies under the radar. Fraudulent traffic encompasses any traffic originating from non-genuine or non-human sources. Various forms of fraudulent traffic yield different adverse effects; for instance, bots can artificially inflate impressions and exploit promotional offers, while disingenuous engagement (manifested as minimal time spent on the site) drives up costs without yielding returns.

On the other hand, invalid traffic, such as hyperengaged returning users repeatedly clicking on paid ads throughout the week, primarily serves to inflate Customer Acquisition Costs (CACs). This occurs when users access the site through ad links when they would have visited organically anyway. What exacerbates this situation is the lack of conversion despite their heightened engagement. Non-genuine engagement has a substantial impact on budgets, particularly by squandering valuable spend on clicks that fail to result in conversions. TrafficGuard’s clients have reported losing 36.2% of their ad spend on clicks originating from invalid sources before implementing a defensive strategy.

In worst-case scenarios, large volumes of IVT can lead to traffic sources appearing more lucrative than they are, which can then lead to marketers diverting time and spend towards channels that don’t produce valid opportunities. Different types of IVT include accidental clicks, clicks from existing customers, known data centre traffic, ad injection, ad stacking, app install farms, auto-refresh, bots, click injection and much more. In user-agent spoofing, malicious actors alter elements of the user agent string to obscure details of their traffic. This manipulation can involve making high volumes of traffic from a single device appear as numerous individual advertising engagements from multiple devices. An ad verification platform can accurately identify

and mitigate fraudulent activity on behalf of sportsbooks. These platforms verify traffic in real-time, proactively identifying any suspicious activity so that sportsbooks can protect themselves.

HOW CAN SPORTSBOOKS IN THE US MAXIMISE THE EFFICIENCY OF THEIR TRAFFIC?

To optimise campaign effectiveness, sportsbooks must ensure the traffic they receive originates from users genuinely interested in converting. Identifying and mitigating IVT and fraud are critical steps in achieving this goal.

Bots and existing customers present significant challenges for sportsbooks as they can deplete campaign budgets. Returning users, already part of the customer base, often habitually click on paid brand advertisements when accessing the site via search engines. However, these clicks do not necessarily reflect new user behaviour; instead, they act as expensive bookmarks, inflating CACs without generating incremental conversions. Consequently, genuine new users may miss out on engaging with the ad.

To address this issue, sportsbooks can implement custom validation rules to limit the number of times a user can click on an ad within a certain timeframe. This measure prevents users from repeatedly viewing the same ad during a campaign, significantly reducing the cost of acquiring each client.

Furthermore, employing shadow campaigns can enhance these efforts by creating duplicate campaigns with lower cost-per-click (CPC) rates. These shadow campaigns effectively redirect hyper-engaged returning users away from the primary campaign, thus mitigating the risk of increased costs. As a result, sportsbooks can be confident that their primary campaign traffic primarily comprises new leads with a higher likelihood of conversion.

MATHEW RATTY

THE BEST DOTA 2 ESPORTS TEAMS

The 1xBet team gives its view on the top five Dota 2 teams playing today

A few years ago, esports were considered a teenager’s pastime that would never rise to the level of football, tennis, boxing and other ‘real’ sports. However, teenagers grew up and began to earn millions in prize money from esports, and tens of millions of online viewers gathered to watch important tournaments for Dota 2, League of Legends (LoL) and Counter-Strike 2 (CS2). In this article, we will discuss the most successful teams in Dota 2, one of the most popular esports disciplines.

1. OG ESPORTS

The legendary Danish team OG Esports claims to be the best in history in several ways. In less than 10 years, the organisation has earned a record $36.9m in prize money and team founder Johan ‘N0tail’ Sundstein tops the list of richest Dota 2 players, despite not playing for some time.

OG Esports was the first team to win the main tournament of the year, The International, twice in a row in 2018 and 2019, and has a record five-time majors win, including the very first Frankfurt Major 2015. In 2022, OG Esports signed a sponsorship agreement with 1xBet. The team then went on to win the ESL One Stockholm Major 2022.

2. TEAM SPIRIT

Eastern Europe’s Team Spirit became only the second team to win two The International tournaments. After winning in 2021, it repeated its success at The International 2023. The team also

claimed victories at PGL Arlington Major 2022 and other prestigious tournaments, and Team Spirit star Illya ‘Yatoro’ Mulyarchuk holds the record for the most rampage in the final stage of The International tournaments. The success of an esports organisation is usually assessed by prize money and, here, the team has earned $27.2m, ranking third in history by this metric.

3. GAIMIN GLADIATORS

The young European organisation Gaimin Gladiators only assembled its Dota 2 roster in 2022 but has already won almost all the important titles. Last year, the team dominated the professional scene and consecutively won the Lima Major 2023, ESL One Berlin Major 2023 and Bali Major 2023, as well as winning two of the three seasons of the DreamLeague. Only at the end of the year did the team slow down, losing in the finals of The International 2023 and ESL One Kuala Lumpur 2023. Despite this, Gaimin Gladiators deserves to be in our top five thanks to the team’s historical performance last season and high potential.

4. TEAM LIQUID

Team Liquid was founded in 2000 and is one of the oldest organisations in the history of Counter-Strike. The Dota 2 roster appeared much later, but since 2016, Team Liquid has been able to win several important tournaments, including

The Shanghai Major 2016, The Manila Major 2016 and of course, The International 2017. In total, the team has earned $28.3m, the second-highest in history.

5. TEAM SECRET

Team Secret celebrates its 10th anniversary this year and will certainly have something to remember. Among the organisation’s main victories are The Shanghai Major 2016, The Chongqing Major 2019 and the MDL Disneyland Paris Major 2019, as well as several bright victories in the DreamLeague. At the end of 2022, the team unexpectedly reached the finals of The International 2022 and proved that it’s still a formidable force.

1XPARTNERS AFFILIATE PROGRAM

1xBet has been investing in the development of esports for several years, sponsoring major ESL and PGL tournaments as well as several teams, including OG Esports. The reason is simple:

1xBet has seen that esports can generate impressive income not only for esports players but for everyone in the industry.

1xBet affiliate program 1xPartners offers competitive commission rates and 250 withdrawal methods, with more than 100,000 partners.

The smartphone generation has already reached adulthood. In the coming years, we will likely see strong growth in all metrics related to esports, so keep a close eye on this segment!

THE SPORTSBOOK AFFILIATE EPIPHANY

Trafficology speaks with Atlas World Sports Founder and CEO Robert Kraft about his ‘a-ha’ moment after the legalisation of sports betting in the US, emerging technologies and Europe’s impact on the US market

CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR PREVIOUS ROLES AND HOW THEY’VE HELPED YOU IN YOUR CURRENT ROLE AS CEO AND FOUNDER OF ATLAS?

I graduated university in 2000 and shortly thereafter I tried to play American football at a professional level. But I always loved business. I was a business major and at the same time I got licensed in investment advising for stocks and bonds, insurance, et cetera. I’ve always had an affinity for marketing and financial structures. I ended up getting into direct marketing, into a family business, but quickly started my own at 25 and saw the technology coming into the print industry and direct marketing specifically. I was enamoured with cell phones from the start... I saw what was coming. I remember being in a conversation, going back to when we were doing direct marketing for big retailers in the US and saying “you guys should look into allowing your shoppers to come in the store and pay with their phone. That’s gonna happen.” They were like, “what are you talking about?”

Fast forward... the Supreme Court made the ruling they did in the US in May 2018. That was my true epiphany. I’m not a giant sports bettor by any means. I’m an athlete, I’m a huge fan of sports and I have friends that are big sports bettors. But what I really enjoy is the psychology behind all of it, no different than what we used to work with in malls and in retail for stores. Why

does somebody buy a particular product? Why do they keep coming back to that brand?

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE RULING?

From a marketing and industry standpoint for sports betting, we saw so many folks go out and think they’re going to become gold miners. Well, no. Vegas has that figured out, as do the European operators out of London and Dublin. All those folks have this thing pretty well licked. But what they could use is a good partner, like Atlas World Sports... If we can be part of that ecosystem, be a partner to the operators and the users, I think that’s a pretty special formula. We studied the travel industry, hospitality, Expedia, Trivago, Travelocity. Travel apps you hop on when you’re travelling, and looking at deals and options. I think it’s the same with sportsbooks. Who’s giving me the best deal?

ARE THERE ANY OTHER PLATFORMS, AFFILIATE OR OTHERWISE, THAT HAVE INSPIRED YOU IN THE CREATION OF ATLAS?

Going back to May 2018 when the ruling came out, I was honestly flabbergasted... I was watching it in my office live on the news and going, “Did I just hear this right? Did I just hear sports betting is legalised?” I called some senior executives around the country. I said, “Do you know what this

means?” “Yeah, you’re gonna start a sportsbook?” I said no. Everybody’s going to start a sportsbook. We have the opportunity to become a direct marketing provider and partner to all these guys; but more than that, a partner to the users. They’re going, “Yeah, I don’t get it.” Everybody told me that, but I had the vision, the epiphany, that ‘aha!’ moment. I put my head down, got to work and really started to study the European models. You guys have had it the whole time, call it 15 years of track record by the time that ruling was going on in 2018, where you could put a bet through Paddy Power or William Hill, et cetera. I started coming to the conferences, ICE. After going to ICE in 2019 I thought ‘I’ve got it.’ I’m writing the business plan for the affiliate model and that’s really my strength. I’m not marketing healthcare, banking or retail. I’m marketing sports betting. This is fun, but also a word of caution I always tell people wanting to get involved. Don’t do this because you love sports betting. This isn’t like what many people think; do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life. Well, that doesn’t necessarily pay the bills, because if I really did what I loved every day, I’d be on a golf course and I would have zero money!

I always told people I love sports. But it wasn’t because of sports. It was because the monumental Supreme Court ruling was like this chasm opened up because the estimation was $250bn in handle that was illegal or in the black market in the US was now going to be brought above board. I looked at it as a business problem that we can solve. It just happens that it’s cool to be in sports... If it was widgets, if it was this huge opportunity to make the greatest screws ever and nobody else is going to do it, I’m jumping on that 100% because somebody needs to make those screws. It was about going over and studying the European models. I’ve studied them and looked to other things, perhaps that they’re not going to do. We already have a deal in the Metaverse. We think the Metaverse is an amazing opportunity for us from a hyper personalisation standpoint.

“The monumental Supreme Court ruling was like this chasm opened up because the estimation was $250bn in handle that was illegal or in the black market in the United States was now going to be brought above board”

ROBERT KRAFT

HOW IMPORTANT IS PERSONALISATION TO THE SPORTSBOOK EXPERIENCE?

It’s going to become more and more important. The interesting thing is in the US, until that legalisation, there was no mobile sports betting unless you were doing it offshore. From that standpoint, the first step of personalisation was just getting the sportsbooks mobile. What did they do? They all partnered with European software providers... Now where personalisation comes in, that’s going to be the sportsbooks’ challenge because they’re going to invoke their loyalty programmes... But they’re all going do that and then what? What’s the next separating factor?

It’s knowing your likes and preferences. I think they can only go so far on it because eventually it becomes a commodity. The reason you’re with a sportsbook isn’t because of your loyalty points or anything else, it’s because it’s no different than, you know, if I can get a dollar from this broker and pay 90 cents, I’m going to take that versus paying $1.10 for a dollar, right? That’s human nature. We’ll have four or five sportsbooks downloaded and when we want to make a bet on the game, we’re going to find the best deal.

We have the opportunity to make a very personal experience for each user. We certainly have about 24 months of features in our pipeline. We’ve already listed out what we’re working on and it’s going to be release after release after release. They’re going to feel like they’re in complete control and it really gets to know them. That’s our goal with the technology. To set it up so each user truly feels like they’re welcomed anytime they’re on. If we’re helping them along the way, that’s good for the sportsbooks. But it’s also good for the users.

WE WANT TO SWITCH GEARS A LITTLE BIT, AND GET TECHNICAL. WHEN IT COMES TO DATA, HOW DO YOU ENSURE YOURS REMAINS HIGH QUALITY?

I rely on my Co-Founder for that. We come from a military

intelligence background, so cybersecurity is a very high priority for us. I rely on my Co-Founder for his expertise. He’s a coder and a linguist by nature, and was formerly involved in military cyber warfare defense. He’s been in the private sector for quite some time, he’s worked with Samsung. He has a plethora of successes that I am 100% confident in.

We take it from a very strict discipline that way; that’s what we call our infrastructure. We wanted our code to be built so we could take it to other countries. All we need to do is change the language inputs and sport inputs and some of the look and feel, but it can easily be adjusted based on the region of the world we’re in. If we have to use a different name than Atlas World Sports because we’re down in Argentina and the Argentinians wanted to be called Messi Sports, great. We’ll do that. We’ll have to call Messi and make sure he’s cool with that!!

YOU SPOKE EARLIER ABOUT WHEN YOU SAW THE MOBILE PHONE YOU WERE THINKING AHEAD. YOU COULD SEE WHERE IT COULD GO. WE KNOW THAT ATLAS HAS ATLAS AI, SO WE’D LOVE TO KNOW HOW YOU NAVIGATE THOSE TECHNOLOGIES AND WHERE YOU SEE THE TECHNOLOGY GOING. We’re having a lot of fun with AI first of all, as is everybody. But we very much agree with Elon Musk; it has to be used in

“Everybody’s going to start a sportsbook. We have the opportunity to become a direct marketing provider and partner to all these guys, but more than that, a partner to the users”

the right context. Machine learning has to be done the right way, otherwise it can create other issues. If we start putting out improper predictions because the computer is doing something goofy; that’s not good, right?

There’s certainly responsibility there, but overall it’s very exciting because that’s also how we’re going to get deeper personalisation for each user. Not only are we going to help them look into the prediction of winners of games, but also maybe times they should and should not bet. Maybe we’re going to learn that Monday nights are not good for bets.

NO BETS ON PAY DAY?

Exactly. We’re excited about AI because we know we’re only scratching the surface of AI and the data that can be used, and it’s really about how you crunch it and use it. Ultimately, if we’re not using it to better each user’s experience, we’re not doing our job.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE WITH ATLAS BY THE END OF THE YEAR?

We closed our seed round. We’re going into Series A, we have an investment bank, DelMorgan & Co. out of Los Angeles, we have hired. They’ve done over $300bn of transactions and the Founder and Chairman, Rob Delgado, has been extremely impressive. They’re gonna go out with a big raise. They’re going to lead that. They work with institutions throughout the world, they have about 875 institutional partners.

We’re in a really fortuitous spot at Atlas World Sports. We’re going to look at acquisitions. We’re going to look to Central, South America. I’ve already spoken at many conferences and look to spend more time down in South America and Central America. So really, focusing on the NFL for this season, the launch of Series A and continuing to enhance everything in the US for the next 12 months while at the same time starting to look at the bigger picture offshore.

NAVIGATING THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION

We spoke with QiH Group CEO and Co-Founder Jamie Walters about the intricacies of data systems, his time in journalism and how licences affect affiliates in the US

CAN YOU TELL US A BIT ABOUT HOW YOU BECAME CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF QIH GROUP?

I started as a print journalist in the early 2000s at Daily Mail Group. Then I moved to the digital side as an editorial member of staff. I moved to the commercial side a little while after and, within that, we launched white-label casino bingo products with a supplier called St. Minver. One of my tasks in digital and commercial was to find new revenue streams; it was difficult to make money from online advertising revenue. The group was constantly searching for transactional opportunities, so that was a good earner back in the day.

As a result of that success, we launched our own licensed casino business called Metro Play under the Metro banner. It was through that that I met my business partner, X Games’

Head of Acquisition James Newman. He’d set up an agency that we were working with. Eventually, Metro Play was sold. At that point we agreed that we saw the world in a similar way. We could do good work together and set up a business. The rest is history.

I started doing that in 2014 and over the last 10 years we’ve grown it to what it is now.

HOW HAVE YOUR PREVIOUS ROLES HELPED YOU IN YOUR CURRENT ONE?

I was lucky in a lot of ways. Because the digital revolution hit when it did and where I was in traditional media, they weren’t really sure how to handle it. Subsequently, they created loads of opportunities for people like me within the business, because we got the chance to be involved in lots of different projects and see other experiments going on. Many of them didn’t work. But you learn more from things that fail than things that succeed in a lot of ways. I know that seems counterintuitive, but you learn so much from failures.

I also got close access to many different departments when I was there because you’re almost working in internal startups. You’re going across finance, HR, sales, marketing. It gave me a really rounded understanding of the value of each of those areas. I didn’t realise it at the time but it was really valuable.

In terms of direct skills, I’ve needed to get this business to work, you have to learn those on the job. No one trains you to be a CEO and you’re not ready for it when you first do it. You’re not ready to be a business owner either if you’ve never done it before. But my experience in traditional media was a really good foundation.

JAMIE WALTERS

ONE OF YOUR DIVISIONS, WIZARD INTERACTIVE, CURRENTLY OPERATES IN SEVEN US STATES. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE BIGGEST DIFFERENCES YOU’VE NOTICED IN AFFILIATE MARKETING BETWEEN STATES?

The biggest one is that some need a licence and some don’t. I know that sounds like a facetious comment, but it is quite a significant difference, because your barrier to entry for those that don’t is lower. But, in some ways, it’s easier when there is a licence. We don’t struggle to get licences where they’re required. But one of our strengths is in paid media through big, white-listed media owners like Google, Facebook, Snapchat. Getting whitelisted in states that don’t require a licence is more difficult than in those that do. Because you’ve got a piece of paper to say ‘We’re a licenced entity,’ for the likes of Google, that gives them all the comfort they need.

ANOTHER DIVISION, DIGITAL ADVENTURES, USES A DATA-DRIVEN APPROACH FOR PERFORMANCE MARKETING. HOW DO YOU ENSURE THE QUALITY OF THAT DATA?

It’s one of the most difficult problems we’ve had to solve within the business. It’s never fully solved and it’s a constant work in progress. Your data infrastructure requires constant care in the same way your house or garden would. You can’t just leave it and let it run. You have to be constantly tidying it up, making sure the pipes work, checking everything is where it should be. Lots of people talk a good game on data and wax lyrical on a theoretical level about it. But, to get it right, you’ve got to be in the details and understand how to organise data into a warehouse formed of multiple different tables – which enable you to join different data sets together. You’ve got data sources from all over; media data over here, email data over there, operator data over there. This has to get into the warehouse that houses all your data and needs to be organised into tables that you can then join together.

That is hard enough in itself. But when you’ve got all that fixed together, any part of it could break in a moment. If someone puts a comma in the wrong place or there’s a change in a data field, it can collapse the whole table structure. That happens all the time, so you’ve got to have people looking at the data every day. That happens naturally in our business, so that’s not necessarily a problem. But, when things break, you’ve got to be able to fix them quickly because you go blind if you don’t.

All our decisions are based off data. We have, on top of that database, a visualisation layer with reports that are feeding information to analysts and marketers. If you’ve got the whole business looking at that all the time, when something goes wrong, somebody notices. When somebody notices, you’ve got to have the support systems in place to be able to go right into the guts of the system and fix it. Of all the areas of our business; that’s where we’ve invested the most. It’s fiddly. It’s difficult. It’s not always easy to find where the problem is. The volume of data we’ve got going in there is growing all the

“Lots of people talk a good game on data and wax lyrical on a theoretical level about it. But, to get it right, you've got to be in the details”

time, but it’s worth it because it’s the cornerstone of our business. I’m very glad that we put the effort into it, but it is a hell of a lot of effort...

YOU RECENTLY HAD A SHUFFLE IN YOUR EXECUTIVE SUITE. COULD YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT?

We have created a new C-suite layer within the business. We’ve recruited a new CMO from outside; David Murphy, VP of Marketing at Lottoland. He’s got a long history in the industry with a number of pretty big operator businesses from Gamesys to Mansion Group to Lottoland.

Alongside that, internally, we’ve promoted our Operations Director, Andrew Lee, to COO. Andrew’s been with us since we launched the business in 2015 and he’s someone I worked with in one of my previous roles at Metro Play. It’s good that we’ve been able to develop somebody internally from a manager through to someone who’s reached the C-suite.

We have created two new roles, as well. We’ve got a CFO and a Chief Technology Officer that we’re in the process of recruiting. We’re looking to fill those roles as quickly as possible.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACHIEVE BY THE END OF THE YEAR?

We have a goals philosophy in the business. Everybody sets three goals for each half-year period and we’re coming to the end of the first half. My goals actually haven’t changed as we’ve moved through the year. Number one, hit our profit target. We’re well on track to do that. Last year, we had 75% revenue and profit growth and this year we’re on track to repeat that.

Second was recruitment. We’ve currently got 10 open roles plus the two C-suite roles and I’m looking to fill those. Alongside that growth, we need to bring the right talent in to solidify it and kick off from it. We’ve got a big recruitment drive. On top of that, we’ve got a set of channel development pieces that we’re looking to do. The main one within that is launching our own in-house programmatic capability, which is a really exciting project and one that is hopefully going to go live towards the end of Q3.

TO ACQUIRE OR NOT TO ACQUIRE

Trafficology spoke with North Star Network Co-Founder Julien Josset about the company’s latest acquisitions and the thought process behind them

COULD YOU TELL US ABOUT THE FOUNDING OF NORTH STAR NETWORK AND YOUR INITIAL GOALS WITH THE COMPANY?

I was driven by the desire for independence; founding my own company seemed like the best path to achieve this. Having been a director of a gaming affiliate business for several years, this ‘second launch’ was informed by past experiences and mistakes. Yann Decoopman, my partner, and I were able to move much faster this time around. North Star Network focused particularly on two strategies: firstly, to internationalise the company quickly rather than limiting

ourselves to a single-market approach; and secondly, adopting a revenue-share basis from the start was a pivotal decision. Our vision was to establish a sustainable business, operating in regulated markets and becoming known internationally for our content.

BEFORE WE TALK ABOUT THE MRFIXITSTIPS ACQUISITION, CAN YOU TALK ME THROUGH THE THOUGHT PROCESS OF ACQUIRING SPORTSMOLE IN LATE FEBRUARY?

We first approached the founders of SportsMole three years ago. Our goal was to secure a UK flagship, specifically a football-focused asset recognised for its authority and authenticity and boasting high-volume traffic. Despite its technical challenges, such as an outdated, homemade CMS, SportsMole fit this profile perfectly. We were also very impressed by the professionalism displayed by their team of 15 journalists and we plan to address the technical issues over the coming quarters.

WHAT ARE THE MAIN FACTORS YOU HAVE TO CONSIDER BEFORE COMMITTING TO AN ACQUISITION?

Of course, there is the traditional process involving legal, technical, business due diligence as well as valuation. But the process goes beyond that; building a relationship of trust with the sellers and the legacy is paramount. We invest time in understanding the asset’s history and background. Another crucial factor is the integration and onboarding of the legacy team of journalists.

WHAT INITIALLY DREW YOU TO MRFIXITSTIPS AS A POTENTIAL ACQUISITION OPTION?

The UK market continues to be dynamic, particularly for non-football sports. We were in search of an asset with strengths in niche sports like golf and racing. During the due diligence phase, we were impressed by the professionalism of Paul and his team. This element definitely played a role in our final decision. MrFixitsTips was not only a good fit in these regards but also our first experience acquiring an asset with direct affiliate revenues, which provided valuable insights for future acquisitions.

HOW DO YOU EXPECT THE MRFIXITSTIPS ACQUISITION WILL BOLSTER NORTH STAR NETWORK?

MrFixitsTips hosts a team of expert betting advisors and utilises technology we are familiar with (WordPress). Our partners are enthusiastic about introducing their services to the MrFixitsTips community. Historically, we’ve observed that acquisitions begin to impact our business positively within six months of integration.

IN TURN, WHAT DO YOU INTEND TO PROVIDE FOR MRFIXITSTIPS?

MrFixitsTips had a dual strategy of offering both free and paid tips. We plan to make the expert team’s tips available for free to as wide an audience as possible and to diversify the presentation of these tips through new formats such as podcasts and videos.

YOU ALSO ACQUIRED ALAIRELIBRE.CL AND UMDOISESPORTES.COM.BR. HOW IMPORTANT IS DEVELOPING IN THE LATAM MARKET?

The Latin American and US markets have been among the most dynamic over the past five years. Acquiring AlAireLibre.cl is a strategic move in anticipation of new local regulations in Chile, a market where player value is notably higher compared to other regions in Latin America.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE YOUR ACQUISITIONS WILL ACHIEVE FOR NORTH STAR NETWORK BY THE END OF THE YEAR?

As mentioned previously, we typically witness the positive impact of acquisitions within a six-month period. Regarding qualitative aspects, as a young media network transitioning from an iGaming affiliate, integrating seasoned media teams through targeted acquisitions is key in achieving our strategic transition towards becoming a major media group.

“The UK market continues to be dynamic, particularly for non-football sports. We were in search of an asset with strengths in ”

THE PERSONALISATION PROBLEM

Trafficology investigates the need for personalisation in sportsbooks, and Staff Writer Beth Turner provides some ideas for creating unique user experiences

Across interviewees for both Trafficology and Gambling Insider, I noticed one topic appear again and again when the future of the industry and future of products came to light: personalisation. I spoke with Atlas World Sports CEO and Founder Robert Kraft about personalisation earlier in this issue. In his words, personalised user experiences are going “to become more and more important” in the sportsbook market.

THE INTERNET PROVIDER PROBLEM

The issue of under-personalisation in sports betting is one I have compared to the internet provider market. Consider this; you sign a new contract with a broadband provider. The new customer deal they offered was competitively priced and came with just enough perks to put it above other offerings. But what about in a year, two years, when that contract expires? Suddenly, those new customer prices are gone.

Providers come up with solutions to keep customers. But, new deals (that are nowhere near as competitive as the original deal) and drawn-out phone calls with a sales representative trying to change your mind rarely make it worth staying. If a different provider can offer you a new customer deal with better prices and better incentives, why stay?

Mobile sportsbooks, it seems, face a similar issue. As Kraft put it: “The reason you’re with a sportsbook isn’t because of your loyalty points or anything else, it’s because... If I can get a dollar from this broker and pay 90 cents, I’m going to take that versus paying $1.10 for a dollar.”

So, what can the books do to combat this? Trafficology has a few suggestions...

INTEGRATING AI

One suggestion given by Kraft gos us thinking: the potential of AI to optimise personalisation. According to Kraft, AI has the potential to not only help users decide on bets, but also detect when users are most at risk of problem gambling. So if a machine learns that payday often results in a lot of money lost and a negative perception of the sportsbook, AI can create safety tools to mitigate this, benefitting both players and the sportsbooks in the long run.

Social media platforms like TikTok have mastered the art of machine learning to optimise the experiences of their users. Algorithms gather a wide range of data from how users engage with the app, like the sort of videos they watch and how long they watch them for. The more users come back, the more personalised content becomes. It is impressively efficient and has resulted in the app hosting over one billion monthly users, putting in the top five social media platforms despite its relative infancy.

This is the power of personalisation.

MAKE SPORTS SOCIAL AGAIN

Speaking of social media, another leaf that could be taken from it comes in the name – social. Sports have always been a social event. Even I can remember sitting with my family and celebrating when Chelsea won the Premier League in the 2004-05 season, and that was nearly 20 years ago.

Facebook saw success because it connected real-life friends and family in a digital space, regardless of distance. Everyone runs in different social circles and, in that, everyone’s experience on platforms like Facebook are hyper-personalised to their circles.

For a sportsbook, incorporating these elements to create virtual social spaces for sports fans could be beneficial. A user can go onto any sportsbook to place a bet, sure, but they can’t talk to their buddies and strategise a way to maximise their bet on those platforms, can they?

CRACKING THE CODE

Beyond that, though, we are open to the industry putting more ideas out there... In our interview with EveryMatrix CEO Ebbe Groes – which you can read in full in the May/ June issue of Gambling Insider – he confessed that he thought personalisation “would have been there earlier.”

Despite the number of hands working on creating personalised experiences across not only sports betting but the gaming industry as a whole, “nobody has succeeed,” according to Groes. He described cracking personalisation as something akin to the “holy grail,” and in sports betting, this idea also rings true. So, the question becomes, who will be the ones to crack the personalisation problem first?

GAMIFYING GAMBLING RESEARCH

CasinoReviews.net Project

Manager Nikoleta Kuncheva , Ecogra CEO Shaun McCallaghan and Mindway AI CEO Rasmus Kjaergaard talk about their collaborative safer gambling research project, Bet on Awareness

WHAT BROUGHT MINDWAY AI, ECOGRA AND CASINOREVIEWS.NET TOGETHER IN THE FIRST PLACE TO CONDUCT THE BET ON AWARENESS CAMPAIGN?

Nikoleta K: Our journeys with ECogra and Mindway AI started in 2023 when we first collaborated with the brands, although on separate initiatives. A brand’s integrity, vision and values have always been essential to us at CasinoReviews. net, especially when they’re combined with a commitment to community wellbeing. But it’s the authentic, dedicated people behind the brand that we value the most. Our interactions with both Ecogra and Mindway AI assured me that these are the kinds of individuals and companies we’re looking to partner with, share ideas and make plans with. We all believe that gambling should remain a source of entertainment, and that people should be aware and monitor their gaming behaviour. Launching the Bet on Awareness campaign during Problem Gambling Awareness Month (PGAM) was a conscious choice to empower individuals with the necessary tools for self-assessment.

Shaun M: The collaboration between Ecogra, Mindway AI and CasinoReviews.net came about through a shared passion for promoting responsible gambling practices within the industry. Recognising the importance of PGAM, we combined our resources to launch a campaign aimed at educating players on their own gambling habits and risk profiles, to allow them to make more informed decisions in relation to iGaming. Mindway AI’s tool, Gamalyze, offers an opportunity for participants to engage in a gamified selfassessment experience, providing insights into their individual

gambling tendencies. At the end of the campaign, we aim to analyse the data and share findings with the wider industry.

TELL ME ABOUT THE DESIGN PROCESS

BEHIND THE CARD GAME – HOW DO YOU CREATE SOMETHING THAT IS FUN WHILE EFFECTIVE IN COLLECTING USEFUL DATA?

Rasmus K: Gamalyze is designed to encourage players to understand their risk profile and their decision making while they are gambling. Results have proven that having it in a game format is more effective than a questionnaire to engage with players. Essentially it is a gamified reinvention of the self-test, making self-testing more user-friendly, engaging and actionable than typical player questionnaires.

HOW IS THE DATA FROM GAME SESSIONS ANALYSED TO PRODUCE RESULTS?

RK: Gamalyze draws on insights from neuroimaging and analyses each player’s decisions while they play. In the card game, the player is asked to flip 80 cards from four pre-shuffled decks. However, this is far from a randomly designed card deck. Once completed the player is asked to do a self-assessment of his/her gambling risk profile. From this, a report is generated with actionable feedback on the player’s strategy and his/her sensitivity to rewards and losses. It also includes specific advice tailored for the individual player based on the decision-making and risk profile analysed during the game played. The full test takes on average two to three minutes to complete.

HAVE YOU NOTED ANY INTERESTING CORRELATIONS BETWEEN THE RESULTS OF THE GAME AND PLAYERS GAMING HABITS SO FAR

NK: Since the launch of our campaign, we have compiled over 100 detailed reports, leading to some insightful observations. The Gamalyze tool has provided us with a window into the players’ risk profiles — insights they likely wouldn’t have uncovered on their own. We’re able to evaluate their overall risk scores and their reactions to rewards, losses and wins, along with how consistently they engage with the game.

At the game’s conclusion, the tool prompts players to estimate the level of risk they’ve taken and then reveals their actual results. Since we’re preparing to release a comprehensive report post-campaign, I should hold back on sharing specific outcomes for now. However, I can share that we’ve observed a significant gap between players’ self-assessment of their risk-taking and their actual behaviour, as determined by the analysis that integrates neuroscience, AI and expert human review.

HOW DO YOU FEEL THE BET ON AWARENESS CAMPAIGN DIFFERS FROM OTHER RESPONSIBLE GAMING STUDIES?

RK: Aimed at encouraging players to critically evaluate their gambling habits, this partnership leverages the strengths of each of our organisations to foster a culture of self-awareness and responsible gaming. Gamalyze itself offers participants a unique, gamified experience through the immersive card game session. This approach provides insights into gambling tendencies, promoting self-awareness and responsible gaming practices. What is also interesting about this study is that CasinoReviews.net has both B2B and B2C audiences. We look forward to assessing results from both cohorts in our end of campaign case study.

SM: The Bet on Awareness campaign stands out due to its innovative approach and collaborative nature. While many studies rely on self-reflection and answering questions, Mindway AI’s Gamalyze tool is a three-minute immersive card game. The user-friendly tool draws insights from player’s behaviour and generates an instant report with feedback on their sensitivity to rewards and losses.

WHERE DO YOU FEEL OTHER RESPONSIBLE GAMBLING STUDIES COULD IMPROVE?

SM: Responsible gambling studies are one of a number of methods that provide insight into problem gambling behaviour. Like any methodology, it can benefit from improvement and innovation. Some of the latest innovations centre around interactivity, gamification and personalisation. Additionally, fostering greater collaboration and data-sharing among industry stakeholders will hopefully lead to a much wider conversation throughout the global industry on the importance of player protection and responsible gambling initiatives.

“We’ve observed a significant gap between players’ self-assessment of their risk-taking and their actual behaviour”

ARE THERE ANY PREVAILING THEORIES/ BELIEFS AROUND RESPONSIBLE GAMING THAT YOU FEEL YOUR STUDY MAY CHALLENGE?

NK: The Bet on Awareness campaign questions what it means to be self-aware, particularly in the context of responsible gaming. We often assume we have a good handle on our behaviour, but gambling is a sensitive area where this self-perception can lead to significant consequences. Our study is pinpointing the difference between how aware people think they are about their risk behaviours and their actual level of awareness. Our findings are starting to show that there’s often a substantial difference between perception and reality. By shedding light on this, we’re not just challenging a prevailing belief but also setting a new standard for what self-awareness should mean in the world of responsible gaming.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE OTHERS IN THE INDUSTRY WILL TAKE FROM THE RESULTS OF THE CAMPAIGN ONCE THEY ARE PUBLISHED?

RK: We hope to see more RG campaigns in general come to the fore. Responsible gambling and sustainable gambling as a focus are rising in boardroom agendas rapidly across multiple markets, so we hope to foster further conversations around player awareness, effective interventions and more sustainable play.

NK: I hope the outcomes of our campaign will inspire both individuals and the wider industry. If even a small percentage of those who engaged with our campaign begin to apply the same level of introspection to their daily lives, I believe it can lead to significant personal improvement. At the industry level, our work with Mindway AI and Ecogra may be pioneering now, but I believe that such collaborative approaches should become standard practice.

SM: Our hope is that the results of this campaign will encourage more players to be curious about their own gambling habits and tendencies. The iGaming industry provides entertainment to millions of people across the globe and, while an enjoyable pastime, it is important to protect those vulnerable to problem gambling issues. Gamalyze aims to educate players about their own relationship with gambling, while also providing data on trends and statistics to industry stakeholders.

WAGER-SHARE AFFILIATE DEALS: WHAT ARE THEY & ARE THEY WORTH IT?

Gamblineers’ Adam Gros returns to Trafficology to discuss wager-share affiliate deals, their benefits over a typical revenue-share scheme and their crypto casino presence

Getting a good deal with an operator is one of the most important steps an affiliate takes when promoting new brands. After all, a good deal can make a difference between getting paid well for well-referred traffic or hardly getting paid at all.

I’m probably not wrong if I say that affiliates know CPA deals, revenue share, hybrid deals between these two and nothing else. I know that was me for most of my affiliate journey. Then, someday, an affiliate manager said something along the lines of “We can offer you 40% of the house edge.”

A HOUSE-EDGE-BASED DEAL? HOW DOES THAT WORK?

Since this was the only deal the brand had at the time and I wanted to work with it, I needed to know what they were offering. I mean, I understand a 40% revenue share, but I

“A wager-share deal is like a revenue-share deal where your referred players generate commission like they lost each time”

needed to understand how something based on the house edge translates into something more familiar to me.

It turned out the brand was actually offering me a percentage of the theoretical house edge for all bets placed by my referred players. That means both losing and winning bets. It’s hard to understand what that means in terms of earnings, so here’s an example.

Say a player deposits $100 and wagers it all on a slot with a theoretical house edge of 5%. I’m going to simplify things and pretend like the house edge statistic holds true for every single bet. That means that this player lost 5% of their bets, equalling $5.

In a ‘classic’ revenue share scheme, that is the casino’s net gaming revenue (NGR). In a 40% revenue share-deal with 20% admin fees (an average value for game provider and payment providers costs), that means $1.60 commission for the affiliate (40% of 80% of the $5 NGR).

In the case of the house-edge share deal, let’s call it wagershare, the player made $100 bets. The theoretical house edge of 5% makes that again $5. But this time, there are no admin fees, resulting in a $2 commission (40% of the $5 house edge).

Apart from the admin fees, it sounds pretty similar. But the main difference comes into play when a player wins. A winning player generates a negative NGR, resulting in no commission or even a negative commission in case of negative carry-over deals. However, in a wager-share deal, a winning

player that made $100 bets on a slot with a 5% house edge still generates a $2 commission.

A wager-share deal is like a revenue-share deal where your referred players generate commission like they lost each time (long-term, at least, because player losses don’t directly translate into house edge short-term).

WHY WOULD A CASINO OFFER SUCH A DEAL?

Although I’m not an operator and never have been, I can assume this was a lucrative way to attract new players through referrals. The interesting thing is I’ve only ever come across maybe five brands with wager-share deals, with each and every brand having the deal in place for their players to refer their ‘friends’ – not primarily affiliates.

When you take that into consideration, a wager-share deal makes more sense than revenue-share because it’s much less work for a casino to say they will pay a player something for every bet their referrals make and don’t have to deal with providing NGR, explaining where it comes from, are there admin fees, what are admin fees, what happens if a player wins? Etc.

Another interesting fact I noticed was that the casinos offering this type of deal were all crypto casinos.

There are downsides to such a deal, as well, like being stuck with a player’s account for referring traffic. That means little to no admin dashboard and scarce statistics. Also, withdrawals are subject to the same terms as any other casino player’s withdrawals. Some brands with a wager-share deal also created a referral program for actual affiliates later on, but guess what, that time, it was revenueshare and tied to one of the major affiliate software platforms.

In my opinion, if you, as an affiliate, come across a wagershare deal, you should take it because it would bring good revenue. If the offer includes a high enough percentage, of course. Just take into consideration that you might have some more work acquiring referral statistics, making withdrawals and managing your account.

Trafficology is brought to you every month by the Gambling Insider team at Players Publishing.

For all editorial enquiries please contact us at trafficology@gamblinginsider.com For advertising enquiries please contact commercial director Deepak Malkani at sales@gamblinginsider.com

We would like to thank the following contributors to this issue: Casino City Press, 1xBet, Julien Josset, Mathew Ratty, Jamie Walters, Robert Kraft, Nikoleta Kuncheva, Rasmus Kjaergaard, Shaun McCallaghan and Adam Gros

I can be in the NBA. I’m tall; I like to wear shorts. Hook! Hook! Dunk! Dunk! Baby, I’m all about three points – Good Will Hunting, 1997.

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