iGB Affiliate 28 Aug/Sept 2011 by iGaming Business

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011

PLUS: GOOGLE+ AFFILIATE WEBSITE CRITIQUE ZERO MOMENT OF TRUTH CITATION SINGULARITY

EUROPE BY NUMBERS United Kingdom Spain Germany Greece

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011

AFFILIATES ON FULL-TILT

SPECIAL REPORT: SPAIN

INFORMATION, INSIGHT AND ANALYSIS FOR THE BUSINESS OF INTERACTIVE GAMING

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For more information visit www.spinpalace.com www.microgaming.com/GSSII

CONTENTS 04 Affiliate Events Calendar 06 Webmaster News 10 Europe by Numbers: iGaming Data Analysis 16 The Citation Singularity 19 The Zero Moment of Truth 22 Affiliate Website Critique 26 Understanding Russia: the Social and Technical Components 28 Live Casino Focus As I write this editor’s letter I am between hearing sessions at the Victoria Park Plaza Hotel, where the Alderney Gambling Control Commission is hosting the Full Tilt Poker public regulatory hearing. While I held this editor’s letter back as long as possible to update you on the hearing’s results, I am afraid you’ll have to get the full story next issue. What I can report is that the hearing began at 10:25am in front of a capacity audience, only to be terminated twenty minutes later so Full Tilt’s pre-hearing adjournment plea could be made in recorded, rather than in public form. Full Tilt’s legal team argued that their application for adjournment contained sensitive material that if made public, would be detrimental to the company’s customers and would deprive the defendants of a future fair trial.

34 Affiliates on ‘Full Tilt’ 36 Affiliates and the Challenge Ahead 39 The Rise and Fall of the Full Tilt Poker Affiliate Program 42 Special Report: Spain (Regulation, Market Overview and Marketing) 48 The Online Land Grab 51 Understanding your Place in the Social Environment 52 Converting Players in Problematic Markets 55 Website Visitor Loyalty 57 Affiliate Networks for Start-ups 58 Binary Options Insight 60 Ranking Higher Through your SEO Strategy 62 Raising your Revenue 65 Google+ and the Future of Social Ranking Signals 66 New Horizons on the Emerald Sea 68 International Market Snapshot: US and UK Demographics 70 Data Feed: UK Search Traffic Report 72 Market Place 74 Interview: Jason Rosenberg, Founder of Global Gaming Events

After deliberation, the decision was made to record the pre-trial adjournment argument, enraging one audience member who stormed out in disgust that Full Tilt’s customers would be left without answers. It’s now 14:30pm and it’s time to go to press. More details will surely follow in our next issue... Michael Caselli, Editor in Chief

Editor in Chief: Michael Caselli

FREE SUBSCRIPTION email: alex.pratt@igamingbusiness.com Printed in the UK by: Pensord Press, www.pensord.co.uk

michaelc@igamingbusiness.com

Published by: iGaming Business,

Editor: James McKeown

33-41 Dallington Street, London EC1V 0BB

james@igamingbusiness.com

www.igamingbusiness.com

T: +44 (0)20 7954 3515 F: +44 (0)20 7954 3511

Publisher: Alex Pratt

alex.pratt@igamingbusiness.com

by any means, or stored in any retrieval system of any nature

publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or without prior written permission, except for permitted fair dealing

Designer: Stewart Henson Production Manager: Craig Young Production Assistant: Laura Head

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Sales Manager: Richard Wanigasekera richard@igamingbusiness.com

for permission for use of copyright material including permission to reproduce extracts in other published works shall be made to

craig@igamingbusiness.com laura@igamingbusiness.com

under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. Application

the publishers. Full acknowledgement of author, publisher and source must be given. iGaming Business Affiliate Magazine is published by iGaming Business Limited of 33-41Dallington Street, London EC1V 0BB, UK. The views expressed by contributors and correspondents are their own. Editorial opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Publisher. The Publisher does not accept responsibility for advertising content. Cover image: istockphoto.com ISSN: 2041-6954

iGB Affiliate AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011

affiliate events calendar Due to their popularity and wealth of information, analysis and discussion, conferences have become an integral part of the affiliate industry and a key communications bridge between affiliates and affiliate managers. Whether used for networking, education or just an excuse to meet up with friends, the affiliate conferences listed below provide all the tools you need to improve your business.

poker in the park 2011 london, england SeptemBer 2 – 3 2011

a4uexpo london 2011 london, england octoBer 18 – 19, 2011

Poker in the Park is the world’s largest poker festival. With 20,000 eager visitors last year, Poker in the Park is now a permanent fixture on the poker calendar. Now entering its fifth year, Poker in the Park 2011 promises to be bigger and better than ever, with more marquees, more lectures and activities and, most important of all, more live poker. Poker in the Park V in Hanover Square, a stone’s throw from Oxford Circus is completely free to attend.

a4uexpo London brings together the key performers and affiliate marketing specialists from across the continent, the USA and around the world, offering a unique opportunity to profile your company to a niche and pre-qualified audience. http://www.a4uexpo.com/

www.pokerinthepark.com

Barcelona affiliate conference Barcelona, Spain SeptemBer 8 – 11, 2011

igB eSpana madrid, Spain novemBer 18 – 19, 2011

After two years in Budapest, we are moving our autumn conference back to Barcelona, the original home for this leading European affiliate event for the online gambling industry. In addition to the location move, we have also rolled the dates back to September 8 – 11 which means perfect weather for outdoor networking, plus with a huge majority of our database voting for Barcelona, expect this event to be our biggest and best event to date with over 1,600 delegates in attendance.

iGB Espana is a niche event dedicated to one of the most lucrative markets in the online gambling industry; the Spanish speaking sector. Organised by one of the most reputable brands in the gaming market, iGB Affiliate and iGaming Business, the conference will offer an international event with a local focus. All sessions will be in Spanish with a live English translation available, ensuring all delegates can take advantage of the Hispanic marketplace and leave with practical relevant strategies.

www.igbaffiliate.com

iGB Affiliate august/september 2011

http://www.igbaffiliate.com/events/igbespana/

webmaster news

Uk annoUnces changes to licensing system JUly saw the UK minister responsible for gambling, John Penrose, announce sweeping changes to Britain’s remote gambling laws that will force companies accessing the UK iGaming market to apply for a UK licence. In announcing the reforms, Mr Penrose stated, “All overseas operators will be subject to the same standards and requirements as those based in Britain, as well as being required to inform the Gambling Commission about suspicious betting patterns to help fight illegal activity and corruption in betting.” The DCMS has endorsed the changes by encouraging that they will bring about “Better protection for British consumers using overseas operators” by manoeuvring the regulation to the point of sale instead of the point of supply. The reforms will do away with the current system which allows operators licensed in the European Economic Area (EEA) and jurisdictions whose systems

are recognised (white listed) by the DCMS to access the UK market, and reﬂects the routes trodden by recently opened remote gaming regimes in France and Italy where operators must apply for a domestic license regardless of any other license they may hold with ‘offshore’ jurisdictions. Reaction to the news was swift, with both Alderney and the Isle of Man releasing statements with relation to the potential impact on their licensees. Andre Wilsenach, Executive Director of the Alderney Gambling Control Commission was first to respond, saying that developments in the UK spelled “good news for Alderney as we are committed to the highest standards of regulation and enforcement, and to the greatest level of cooperation with other regulators.” Alan Bell, Minister for the Department of Economic Development on the Isle of Man, added, “In my recent conversation with Minister Penrose, I received assurances that the UK Gambling Commission has

no wish to duplicate the work that our Gambling Commission does in regulating our operators. It has been clear from my representations on behalf of Isle of Man operators to Minister Penrose that these provisions are a direct recognition of the confidence the UK has in our high standards of regulation and consumer protection.” Clive Hawkswood, CEO of the Remote Gambling Association (RGA) also added to the swell of reaction post-announcement. “The main players in the UK online gambling market are predominantly based offshore, but they already adhere to high regulatory standards which are comparable to those in Britain. Regulation by the Gambling Commission therefore holds no fears for our members, but a significantly higher tax burden that could lead to a reduction in value and choice for consumers certainly does. It is therefore clearly crucial that any new regulatory regime is complemented by a fair and sustainable fiscal regime.”

fUll tilt poker crisis Deepens the saga that has engulfed one of the world’s largest and best known poker sites descended to new depths at the end of June as the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) suspended Full Tilt Poker’s gambling license, forcing the company to cease accepting deposits from new and existing players. By the time you read this, the AGCC will have hosted a hearing into the suspension of Full Tilt Poker’s licence at London’s Park Plaza Victoria Hotel. Executive Director of AGCC, André

Wilsenach, said: “AGCC’s choice to hold a public hearing into the future of Full Tilt Poker demonstrates our willingness to act transparently and we will welcome members of the public and the media. As ever at all times, our primary concern is the protection of the player.” The AGCC suspended Full Tilt’s licence in late June following indictments from the US Department of Justice and the site’s “subsequent failure to satisfy AGCC that its activities inside and outside the US were in order.”

Similar procedures were enforced in France as the regulatory body, ARJEL, imposed a ‘precautionary’ suspension on Full Tilt’s license after the latter’s French license holder, Rekop Ltd, was unable to produce the required bank certificates to ensure that sufficient funds were available to pay players and continue operating. Full Tilt had been in discussions with potential suitors to invest a reported $150 million into the company but as of yet, no more news on this investment has materialised.

boDog signs Deal with west bromwich albion boDog has signeD a two-year shirt sponsorship deal with English Premier League football side West Bromwich Albion. The rumoured seven-figure deal is being described as the largest in the club’s 132year history and will see the logo for Bodog replace that of emergency domestic repair service HomeServe on the team’s home and away shirts. “In choosing a sponsorship partner, we were looking for a club with a genuine team spirit and we are delighted to have found that in West Bromwich Albion,” said Patrik Selin, Chief Executive Officer for Bodog Europe.

iGB Affiliate august/september 2011

“In the social media era, a sponsorship should be about backing the investment with a return commitment to the club and the fans and we are looking forward to working closely with all parties. Equally, the English Premier League is so much more than just a passion in the UK but (is) massive around the world too, which can only benefit other regional Bodog licensees.” Mark Jenkins, Chief Executive Officer for West Bromwich Albion added, “We are delighted to have Bodog on board. Following our most successful Barclays

Premier League campaign, there was a great deal of interest in becoming our club sponsor. We had a number of options and in the end Bodog presented an all-round partnership that best suits both parties. We look forward to helping it promote its brand in the English Premier League.” Bodog has joined the likes of 32Red at Swansea City, Sportingbet with Wolverhampton Wanderers, 188BET at Bolton Wanderers and Tombola for Sunderland in serving as an official shirt sponsor of an English Premier League team next season.

Zynga agrees Deal with at&t social meDia anD gaming firm Zynga Incorporated has signed a deal with American telecommunications firm AT&T Incorporated that will see titles from the San Francisco-based developer offered to millions of mobile customers throughout the United States. Zynga revealed that games such as Words With Friends and Zynga Poker alongside customised content will be offered for download via AT&T’s ‘shelf’ for Android-powered devices beginning later in the year. The agreement is the first of its kind between Zynga and a US wireless carrier and will see AT&T customers able to access customised content within online and mobile social games while benefitting from free credits featured in select titles and giveaways at events sponsored by the telecommunications giant. “We’re excited to be the first wireless carrier to collaborate with Zynga,” said Ted Woodbery, Wireless Data, Voice and Ancillary Services Vice-President for AT&T Mobility and Consumer Markets.

“Speed enhances playing experiences on mobile. This agreement combines the nation’s fastest mobile broadband network with a clear leader in mobile social games ultimately bringing more value to our wireless customers’ playing experience.” The terms of the deal were not disclosed but the relationship will see AT&T work with Zynga to optimise customers’ mobile gaming experiences. The pair have already tested several games across a range of AT&T Android devices and stated that they will “continue to explore ways to extend device battery life during game play as well as improve network efficiency for playing”. David Ko, Mobile Senior Vice-President for Zynga, stated, “Zynga strives to provide the best mobile social game experience for our players wherever and whenever they want so our partnership with AT&T will offer an exciting and easy way to access our popular mobile games.” Zynga is also hoping to raise $1 billion from its prospective Initial Public Offering (IPO) after it filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on July 1.

alDerney signs bilateral agreement with Denmark the alDerney gambling Control Commission (AGCC) has been busy making announcements in recent weeks, one of which confirming that it has entered into a bilateral cooperation agreement with the Danish Gambling Authority that will establish a “formal basis for cooperation and information sharing between these authorities”, according to an AGCC statement. The agreement will come into effect upon the formal implementation of the Danish Gaming Act after the two parties agreed terms on the proposal. The news follows

Alderney’s announcement in January that it had entered into a similar agreement with the Nevada Gaming Board, which primarily focused on areas of investigations, compliance and the development of technical standards. The cooperation agreement is the latest in a growing trend of information sharing concords between European Member States (France’s ARJEL and Italy’s AAMS) and also further afield, as demonstrated by the AGCC’s agreement with the Nevada Gaming Board.

bwin.party to offloaD ongame the worlD’s largest listed online gambling operator, bwin.party Digital Entertainment, has begun the formal process of selling its Ongame Network Limited business-to-business subsidiary with completion expected before the end of the year. An official statement read, “One area of our stated strategy was to recycle surplus assets. As part of this process, and having taken some initial soundings from interested parties, we have commenced a formal process to sell Ongame’s business-to-

business operation that is one of the world's leading online poker networks with a stateof-the-art technology platform. “Since the completion of the merger that took place on March 31, we continue to make progress on implementing the plans that we had prepared prior to completion. As a result, we remain on-track to deliver the full €55 million of annualised synergies by 2013 as previously announced.” The company also revealed in a pre-close trading update that its business was trading in-line with management expectations.

feDeral DiviDe over Us regUlation

As many of us will have assumed from his keynote address at the iGaming Super Show in Dublin in May, American Gaming Association (AGA) President and CEO, Frank Fahrenkopf, has confirmed that the AGA will not be supporting Representative John Barton’s elaborately titled Internet Gambling Prohibition, Poker Consumer Protection and Strengthening UIGEA Act of 2011. Fahrenkopf, who was delivering his keynote address at the Gaming Executive Summary in Madrid in July, said, “Ten days ago Joe Barton of Texas introduced a bill that was modelled on the draft that was worked on by Senator Reid and Senator Kyl in the lame duck session. We are not supporting it. We are not opposing it, but we are not supporting it.” The AGA is expected to unveil its own ‘poker-only’ bill after the summer break. Barton’s bill, Introduced to the Energy and Commerce Committee of the House of Representatives, would see online operators required to apply to a newly created office in the Commerce Department for a licence to offer online poker to USbased players. In addition, the Texas Representative’s proposal would require these approved operators to hold a licence from at least one state or tribe while another provision would restrict who could apply for the first three years to gambling operators that have significant assets with major vendors set to be scrutinised accordingly. “Poker is an all-American game and it’s a game that requires strategy and skill,” said Barton, the 14-term Representative for Texas’ Sixth Congressional District. “Millions of Americans play poker online. Although it’s legal to play for money, it’s illegal to process the transactions that allow players to collect their earnings. We want to have an iron-clad system to make sure that those who play for money are playing in an honest and fair system where they can reap the benefits of their winnings. To put it simply, this bill is about having the personal freedom to play a skill-based game you enjoy

without fear of breaking the law.”

iGB Affiliate august/september 2011

webmaster news

betfair reports recorD revenUes

Betfair has released a trading update for the twelve months to the end of April showing an eight percent year-on-year increase in total revenues to £368.6 million. The company revealed that its adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation rose 36.9 percent when compared with the previous twelve-month reporting period to reach £73.2 million while its profits increased 54.4 percent year-on-year to hit £35.1 million. “The past twelve months have seen significant changes at Betfair as the business continued to grow and made the transition to being a public company,” said David Yu, Betfair’s Chief Executive Officer. Betfair announced that its 2011 fiscal year had seen the number of bets matched increase by 20 percent year-on-year to 916 million while sportsbetting revenues from football swelled 24 percent when compared with the previous twelve-month period. It declared that all of this sees it standing debt-free with £155 million in the bank while it held £305.6 million in customer funds as of April 30, which was up from £284 million for the 2010 fiscal year. “We are pleased with trading for the first eight weeks of the 2012 fiscal year for non-risk sports, games and poker, which is in-line with our expectations,” continued Yu. “Revenues in the more volatile area of risk sports, however, are currently below expectations due to an adverse margin performance during May. As anticipated, core Betfair revenues in this period are lower than the prior year comparative period, which was significantly inflated by the World Cup and was the last quarter prior to the migration of our Poker product.” The New iGB Affiliate website is now online, visit www.iGBAffiliate.com

iGB Affiliate august/september 2011

merge gaming network granteD malta licence merge gaming Limited has announced that it has been granted a licence by Malta's lotteries and Gaming Authority. The Merge Gaming Network is already certified by Canada’s Kahnawake Gaming Commission but recently received a letter of intent from the Lotteries and Gaming Authority in Malta regarding its application for Class Three and Class Four Remote Gaming Licences.

“After much research and analysis, I am completely confident that the Malta Lotteries and Gaming Authority is the right licensing partner for us in the European region,” said Anthony Taylor, Chief Executive Officer for Merge Gaming Network. “With more sites on the Merge Gaming Network making Europe their primary focus, we believe the Malta licence will help drive growth for the Merge Gaming Network.”

sciplay wins california intrastate online poker Deal the california online Poker Association (COPA) has announced that it has selected SciPlay to serve as the provider for its planned intrastate Internet poker service. SciPlay is a joint venture from software developer Playtech Limited and American lottery firm Scientific Games Corporation while COPA consists of 29 tribal governments and 31 card clubs accounting for around 60 percent of the revenues from poker in the western state. California is currently considering legislation in Senate Bill 40, which was introduced by State Senator Lou Correa in December and would, if passed, authorise and license intrastate online poker. In advance of such legislation being ratified, COPA stated that it will offer play-for-fun online poker from later this year in order to provide players with ‘the opportunity to improve their strategies and hone their skills for free’ while SciPlay is set to establish and operate the platform. A recent study from Tim Gage,

California’s former Finance Director, found that authorising online poker would see the state generate more than $1.4 billion in new revenues over the next decade. This figure is 47 percent higher than previously estimated due to three of the largest operators in California, PokerStars.com, AbsolutePoker.com and FullTiltPoker.com, being barred. “We are proud to be part of COPA’s progressive efforts in California to serve the needs of poker players throughout the state,” said Rick Weil, Chief Executive Officer for SciPlay. “COPA is supremely well positioned to become a licensed operator should Internet poker become legal in the state of California and SciPlay is delighted to have the opportunity to work with COPA. This contract demonstrates the value of the Scientific Games and Playtech joint venture and we see this as the first of a number of opportunities where our combined capabilities can deliver a comprehensive solution.”

laDbrokes makes sportingbet approach laDbrokes has confirmeD that it is back on the acquisition trail by making a ‘highly preliminary’ approach to purchase rival sportsbook and gaming operator Sportingbet. Rumour had it that Ladbrokes was interested in purchasing its rival for up to £460 million while its official announcement sent shares in Sportingbet soaring by 19 percent. “The board has previously set out a clear organic strategy for Ladbrokes,” said Richard Glynn, Chief Executive Officer for Ladbrokes. “We also stated that we would explore appropriate opportunities that may help us

accelerate that process and bring benefits to our shareholders. These talks should be seen in that context.” Ladbrokes had previously been interested in buying fellow online operator 888 Holdings but terminated talks in April despite months of negotiations after failing to agree a price. It has also held exploratory talks with software developer Playtech regarding unification while Sportingbet is itself in the process of acquiring Australian online gaming and wagering provider Centrebet International Limited in a deal said to be worth up to $190 million.

traffic

EuropE by NumbErs The following article is the first in a new series of commentaries for iGB Affiliate that will detail and analyse top-level data for the international iGaming market. This data is publicly available from Google Insights, Google AdWords and also takes into account information that I come across in my daily activity as an iGaming SEO working across international markets. This issue, we’ll look at a selection of Central and Western European countries and highlight some obvious and not so obvious opportunities. The TeRRIToRIes we’ll focus on in this first instalment will be the UK, Germany, Spain and Greece. Anecdotally, the one thing I can tell you, without even looking at any data, is that there’s a lot of money to be made in these territories. How do I know without looking at any data? I’ve had three different conversations with major operators

within the last 48 hours and between them, they were interested in all these markets. So let’s analyse the data in these regions and which products you might want to consider promoting in order to succeed; whether you’re an established affiliate or a brand new affiliate thinking about dipping a toe in the water.

United Kingdom Let’s start with the territory I know best and love the most: the United Kingdom. OK, so what do we know about the UK? Before I refer to a single chart, graph or even a statistic, I can tell you that there’s an immense amount of money to be made in the UK, should you be skilled enough to

UK Interest over time Betting Poker Bingo Casino

Regional interest

Archives

contact

Contact

We had a few more new pages created and also more reviews of sportsbooks. Now that the blog posts have more diversity, this affiliate has a better chance of pulling in more traffic that can convert better.

On site SEO The site initially had a good structure for SEO plus good SEO habits like appropriate page titles and descriptions; however, we still produced a list of items that should be fixed. In general, some of these fixes can be very hard to measure whether it is short-term or long-term but, either way, the long-term results will be there.

Duplicate content The website had a small amount of duplicate content. The homepage listed blog posts that had very long excerpts which were auto-generated with the Wordpress theme. About 100 to 200 words would appear on the homepage and the same content would also appear on the individual blog post. The basic idea is to make sure excerpts are custom written and not reused. It is recommended to keep them to about two sentences but if you start reusing your own content, it is like watering down your website in terms of quality. Although this takes more work in the fine details, it is an easy way to stand out from the competition who don’t take the time to prune their website.

H1, H2, H3 Header tags Most Wordpress themes and also the majority of website coders and designers don’t know much about SEO. One common issue with any Wordpress theme is the misuse of H1, H2 and H3 header tags. The problem on e-sportbets.org is that any widget and sidebar that used the title of that widget would be used with an H2 title like <h2>Football Categories</h2>. Google likes to use these titles as a means to describe the content of your website. If every page uses the same titles then it (Google) is going to have a harder time

identifying the content of your page and will award higher rankings to websites that do make proper use of them. Mitko has some programming skills and easily hacked the theme to make the title look the same but without using the H2 tags. You can read more about this from Google’s SEO guidelines.

Interlinking Specifically in relation to the blog posts, almost none of them linked to another part of the website; this is one thing most affiliates don’t make the best use of. You want to give your users a chance to see something else on the website they might be interested in. So instead of just having a banner to Bet365, you can also have a link to the Bet365 review where the user might want to read upon the site first before clicking on it. Things like this can be good for the user and can also help your rankings on more pages by giving them a link. Link building doesn’t necessarily have to start with other websites and your own site could be your best means.

Link building We checked the link portfolio at Yahoo! Site Explorer and found the site had a decent number of links to begin with, but we wanted to help diversify the link portfolio and build some stronger ones

website traffic

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as well. This can be a long process and without overwhelming the affiliate, we kept everything very simple to start.

participate in affiliate industry forums A note about participating in forums: you can add your signature to posts but not all affiliates choose to do this for many reasons. If you are going to post in forums with a signature do NOT post just for the sake of link building as it is the fastest way towards getting banned. Read the forums, learn more about the industry and participate when you can. gpwa.org casinoaffiliateprograms.com pokeraffiliatelistings.com affiliateguarddog.com gamblingindustryassociation.com gamblingaffiliateplace.com

affiliate directories gpwa.org casinoaffiliateprograms.com gaffg.com

Social media The website did make use of Twitter in the past but it was later stopped. We resurrected this along with Facebook since search engines recognise this traffic. These features are easy to automate and can bring in extra traffic. The Google +1 feature has also been added.

Conversion Low conversion on the site can hurt on multiple levels, from lower profits to lower rankings. If your users are leaving quickly, Google might decide not to send further traffic to that page for that keyword. Perhaps the content isn’t optimised such that the user can properly scan and read what they really want to see.

links to help the user with their next decision.

getting subscribers, you connect more with your interested users.

New sidebar

Design

The old sidebar either contained no sportsbook information or just a basic banner. Since this is a widget and appears on every page, the information that goes here is fairly important. We took down the old banner and replaced it with a section called ‘Top 10 Sportsbooks’. In a situation like this, there can be many benefits. Sometimes, too many banners get ignored so having them everywhere doesn’t always help. The new section has small icons with the sportsbook link and a bonus. It is easier on the eye and only time will tell if the click through rates and conversion rates will improve. Assuming there is no improvement on this front, we have now helped to list an assortment of sportsbooks that they like and recommend for their users. Since the traffic is worldwide, this gives the players a chance to pick a sportsbook they might recognise in their region, such as Bet365 in the UK, Unibet in Europe, Intertops in America or Ladbrokes in Asia. But the best part of all: more affiliate managers can now offer more to this affiliate to be listed.

In the future, we will tackle the redesign of the website for the logo, the template and how every page is presented: blog posts, home page, review pages, etc. Starting a project like this requires some reinvestment and we don’t want to do this without seeing a bit more revenue come in first.

Geo targeting Geo targeting is a future feature we will help to implement on the site. We noticed from the analytics data that the traffic was truly spread over the world despite the site being in English. Here is a breakdown of the countries: 1: UK (30%) 2: USA (10%) 3: Singapore 4: Australia 5: Canada 6: Indonesia 7: Romania 8: Ireland 9: Malaysia

Calls-to-action Most of the blog posts themselves had less calls-to-action and that doesn’t mean simply placing a banner on the page as a means to solve the problem. On the blog posts specifically, there were less images, icons and banners but also the location of these items matter greatly. If the user sees too much text and has a hard time scanning, then they might leave the site quickly, which increases your bounce rate. You want to make sure the user is captivated and that they can find everything they need on that page. Also, at the end of articles, we suggested ways of keeping that user on the site or in some cases, adding some banners and

Just as expected, football is a worldwide sport garnering many searches globally, but every sportsbook has their strong markets and markets where they do not accept players. Later on, the ads can be catered to these markets as well as adjusting the list of sportsbooks presented to those users.

Newsletters This is more Dealer Dan’s area of expertise but most affiliates don’t do enough to capture more of their traffic. We helped to add a quick subscribe field which is already collecting emails. Not all users will come back to your site in the same way and by

Conclusion Overall, we appear to be seeing results very quickly, but this is mainly attributed to the change in content strategy plus the fact that the website has been established for over two years. Over the course of the next three months to a year, we expect this site to challenge for more competitive keywords while increasing traffic and improving the conversion process along the way. In this time, more work will be put into the website as well. There are also many other improvements not discussed here plus many conversations that have taken place to explain the reasoning behind these changes. We believe this affiliate will become successful with a bit of guidance, but the rest comes down to hard work (which this affiliate does). If you want your site reviewed or have a question about any of these topics just contact me john@gaffg.com

JOHN WRIGHT is an affiliate coach and the main editor at Gaffg.com; a site that promotes affiliate programs and offers webmaster tips and articles to help them accelerate their business. John graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. After graduating he pursued a career in professional gambling in 2002 and also playing online casinos and poker. He also has experience with affiliate sites and affiliate management. With nearly ten years of experience in the online gambling industry, he is now focusing his time and energy into affiliate websites and consulting services. He is now volunteering some of his time towards a charity project alamelu.org which helps abandoned infants and neglected children in India to provide them with food, shelter, education and a better chance at life. In his spare time he enjoys travelling, reading, photography and a new hobby of wine tasting.

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INSIGHT

For gaming operators and affiliates looking to target complex markets such as Russia, it is important to understand the technical landscape into which you will be marketing. Here, affiliate marketing consultant, Karolina Filip, explores the key trends and data concerning Internet and social media consumption in the Russian market.

WHILST MAJOR iGaming brands and their associated partners (affiliates) have already exploited and saturated many of today’s international markets, there has been a long-standing acknowledgement about the future potential of Eastern Europe as an emerging iGaming marketplace. That future is now. Most operators have grown accustomed to using traditional social media channels that work effectively for the majority of countries in Western Europe, as well as the USA and Canada. However, due to cultural, linguistic differences, amongst others, these traditional social media strategies will not successfully transfer to Eastern Europe. To examine and understand the reasons why, let’s take the biggest Eastern European market as an example – Russia.

Figure 1 Distribution of new internet users by Russian localities 5% Moscow

Saint Petersburg 5%

27% Villages

Towns with population from 100,000 inhabitants 33%

Towns with population less than 100,000 inhabitants 30% Based on data of Fund “Social opinion”, November 2010

Internet penetration in Russia excluding capital and Moscow, %

Internet penetration and trends

Before entering a new developing market, it’s important to understand the technical maturity of the landscape; technology development, Internet penetration rates, broadband adoption, etc. According to the Global Web Index international research group, there was a 14 percent increase in the number of Internet users in Russia in 2010. This growth was mainly attributable to an increased number of users in Russian regions outside of the main (and largely technically mature) cities such as Moscow and St Petersburg. Currently, 59 percent of Russians above the age of 12 use the Internet at least once a month. In Moscow, this figure is slightly higher (67 percent), however, it isn’t reflective of the significant change enjoyed in the outer-lying regions and villages. During the last 12 months, the number of Internet users in the Russian capital

iGB Affiliate AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011

Figure 2

PROGNOSIS

60 50 40 30 20 10 0 2007 2008 2008 2009 2009 2010 2010 2011 2011 2012 2012 2013 2013 2014 2014 Russia excluding capital Moscow

grew by four percent against the national increase of 14 percent. Based on the data in Figure 1, we can conclude that 90 percent of the growth of Russian Internet users is accounted for by regions outside of the major cities of Moscow and St Petersburg (who share

Based on Yandex. RU data, March 2011

the remaining ten percent). The implication here is that rural Russia is undergoing the sort of technical (Internet-based at least) adolescence that will act as a driving force for a nationwide maturity of Internet prevalence and accessibility.

Targeting Russian regions, however, can be a challenging venture since Internet density is not equal, with significant deviation from one region to another. As such, Internet penetration in Moscow and St Petersburg is 1.5 times higher than in other cities and is three times higher than in small towns and villages. However, according to the ‘Social opinion’ fund prognosis, the gap between the Internet penetration rates enjoyed in Moscow and that of the rest of Russia (excluding Moscow) will reduce from an estimated 31 percent differential in 2007, to a mere eight percent by autumn 2014, provided Internet access conditions remain unchanged.

Social networks and their specifics With the saturation of traditional marketing channels such as email marketing, the majority of iGaming operators have started to explore the social media route. However, only brands with a creative and knowledgeable approach to their geographically diverse target audiences will benefit from social media, provided that the right channels are used to access the consumer. According to research, more than 27 million Russians use social networking sites at least once a year, which indicates a 22 percent increase comparable to 2010 figures. It’s also no secret that English isn’t widely spoken in Russia, and social media is no exception.

portion of Twitter’s 75 million registered users amounts to just one percent. However, statistics indicate that, generally, Russian micro-bloggers are much more active with 55 percent tweeting at least once a month compared to 17 percent in the rest of the world. Russian users produce around 150,000 daily tweets, a figure which has grown by up to 26 times since March 2009. The total number of Russian tweeters is now approximately 750,000 as of March 2011.

Another highly popular social networking portal accounting for 17.2 million Russian users is Odnoklassniki.ru (which translates as ‘schoolmates’). As its name suggests, the network was created for finding school mates (alumni) as well as long lost friends. This channel could have been much better utilised for advanced social networking if it had developed more features and functionality. Nevertheless, it remains one of the most visited social networking sites in the country with 7.2 million daily users. It’s important to point out that Odnoklassniki.ru and Vkontakte.ru do not allow their internal pages to be indexed. Consequently, search engines are unable to crawl through their content to report in the search results, unlike with Twitter and Facebook. In addition, users are limited in their ability to link from outside resources to their profiles or groups in odnoklassniki or vkontakte.

In Russia, there are various domestic counterparts for the more ‘world renowned’ social networks. One example is the Russian replica of Facebook – Vkontakte. ru – which is visited by more than 12 million users daily. Most of the features, functionality, and even the design of the site are almost identical to Facebook. Even though there has been a significant increase, Facebook currently attracts only 1.2 million daily users in Russia. However, according to a yandex.ru ‘blog search’ project, Facebook’s popularity is growing rapidly and it is forecasted to become the country’s second most popular social networking site in the near future.

Relative

to Facebook, Twitter’s popularity in Russia is considerably less. The Russian

million Russian bloggers. This platform is popular with webmasters who have social community forums and publish regular blog posts. According to statistics recorded in March 2011, LJ was the seventh most visited website in Russia.

Last, but not least, RuTube is the Russian prototype of YouTube which has functionality for uploading, editing and sharing videos. As you can imagine, it is highly popular due to its Russian interface and user-friendly features. At the end of 2010, the channel saw its figures hit one million daily users. This figure nearly doubled when, in April 2011, RuTube partnered with odnoklassniki.ru to power its video project allowing user content and technical support for Odnoklassniki.Video. In exploring the Russian market, it’s very important to consider the specifics of Russian social media. Based on the information in Figure 3, it becomes apparent that going down the traditional ‘Western Europe and USA Facebook/ Twitter route’ might not be the best choice. It is also very important to note that in order to unlock the true value while interacting with your target customer, one has to fully consider the regional culture. Consistent, interesting, and professionally written Russian content will appeal to your target audience and result in a higher proportion of returning users.

Figure 3

The third most popular social networking tool in Russia is ‘moi mir’ (which translates as ‘my world’). This social tool is integrated into one of the biggest free email services, ‘mail.ru’. Its concept highly resembles MySpace on MSN, where users can share personal details, pictures, and have a live chat service. Moi mir is visited by 5.3 million users daily.

LiVEJOURNAL (LJ) is a popular ‘community publishing’ platform for blogging, community interaction and personal expression which is used by five

SOCIAL NETWORK

TOTAL NUMBER DAILY NUMBER OF USERS OF USERS

Vkontakte.ru

23.1 million

12 million

odnoklassniki.ru

17.2 million

7.2 million

Moi mir

17.5 million

5.3 million

Live Journal

5 million

2.1 million

Facebook

3.5 million

1.2 million

RuTube

17,000

1 million

Twitter

750,000

250,000

KAROLINA FILIP is a professional in the affiliate marketing field and has over five years experience in the sector and a proven knowledge of the iGaming industry. For more information feel free to contact me on k.filip22@yahoo.com.

iGB Affiliate AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011

LIVE CASINO FOCUS

traffic Optimising yOur traffic Optimising yOur prOducts fOr casinO prOducts Live casinO fOr Live Since its inception, the live casino industry has provided numerous advantages to players that weren’t previously available with standard RNG Flash casino offerings. WITH LIVE casino games, not only does the element of ‘live’ add an extra buzz to the gameplay, but the player can also build a bond with a particular dealer, and see with their own eyes that the results appear to be fair, rather than relying on statistics provided by the actual casino. This results in increased brand loyalty meaning that players have a higher average value than they do at a Flash-only casino. It is not surprising, therefore, that this has captured the attention of some of the industry’s top affiliates. In a classic case of ‘adapt or potentially be left behind’, affiliates have had to decide the most effective way to optimise general and targeted traffic to convert for these brands. Some have just thrown a live casino in their homepage bonus table, while others have added a hastily assembled live casino page. The question to be posed is whether this approach is costing potential conversions; i.e. does this growing industry sector need a little more thought put into how it is advertised by affiliates?

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Optimising generic casino traffic Although the popularity of live casino games has risen dramatically over recent years, there are still vast numbers of gamblers who perhaps haven’t even heard of the term ‘live casino’. Perhaps this is because they have been loyal to an RNG offering in previous years, or possibly even because they are a completely new online casino player. Therefore, before looking into gaining more focused live casino traffic, you should look to optimise converting the general traffic already coming to your site – they are all online casino seekers after all. Before this can be done, we need to look into what makes the average casino player decide to choose one casino over another. Although not the only issue of importance, it is hard to disagree that one of the biggest deciding factors is trust. Over the years, gamblers have become accustomed to seeing Flash games, download links and a certain type of casino interface. How do they react if, without warning, they are taken out of this environment? Some

players may embrace it, however, some may not trust this unfamiliar sight and decide not to play. This does not just lose you a click, but also loses you a potential player at any one of your other listed brands. The key to avoiding this lies with taking the precaution of preparing the user for the offering they are about to view; put simply, by making sure the user knows what to expect before they actually click through your affiliate link. On the affiliate side of the industry, we are all very aware of the benefits of playing live rather than Flash, but will casino players instantly see that, or will they not like the unexpected casino format they have been thrust into? This now begs the question as to how you make the user aware of where they are going to end up. You can do many things, the most obvious being to choose a casino to promote not only based on their game offering, but one which has great affiliate creatives available at your disposal. Remember, one of the primary user benefits sought in a live casino is the visual interaction available. Therefore, banners

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and even Flash videos which contain images of the dealers and descriptive live casino text is a must, yet a number of large affiliates still promote live casinos that don’t even mention the main message effectively enough in their own banners. It is best to list the known benefits of joining a live casino in your actual page content; positive terms such as real dealers, visibly fair results, more exciting gameplay and social interaction can’t be argued, and these are all features that casino players will seek. If the user knows of this before he or she has even clicked through, they understand the concept of live casino from the beginning, and can make an informed choice of what they want – most likely resulting in a better CTR and higher conversions. Remember, this won’t only aid conversion for the live casino, it will also make sure people who don’t want to play there don’t select the wrong option, which is effectively throwing away potential players and, in turn, money.

Generating new targeted traffic The most obvious, and arguably most effective way for an affiliate to optimise their traffic conversion, is to look at the

player journey before they arrive at your site. The live casino industry has created a buzz; players aren’t just looking for standard casinos and hoping they have a live dealer offering anymore, they are looking for live casinos with a Flash offering on the side. The figures speak for themselves. According to the Google Keyword Tool, 9,900 people per month are searching specifically for ‘live casino’, as well as 5,400 per month looking for ‘live roulette’, the most popular live game. You don’t need to be an expert to know that these volumes are not too far off some of the major casino keywords. Not only do exact keywords like these have great volume, but there are 1,000 searches for broader keywords like ‘live roulette online’, almost a mini industry within the casino sector itself. Such keywords are often a lot easier to rank for than some of the major keywords due to the lack of competition. This is surprising considering the average player value of a live casino player is higher than that of a standard Flash casino. Not only that, but the commercial visitor intent can’t be argued; someone searching for ‘live casino’ is looking specifically for a live casino – the conversion rate for these keywords will, therefore, be unquestionably high.

Summary To summarise, not only should affiliates be looking at adding a selection of live casinos to their offering, they need to do so under the pretence that their visitors have never seen one before, otherwise they run the risk of losing traffic and consequent revenue. Affiliates should also never underestimate the level of demand for specific live casino products through key marketing channels such as search engines, and they should adjust their strategies as such. DAVID MERRY began his time in the live casino industry as an affiliate and is a director at Right Casino Media Ltd, which operates leading portals such as LiveCasino. co.uk and LiveRoulette.co.uk. David now operates CastleCasino.com live casino and focuses on the affiliate program marketing aspect of the business. The CastleCasino.com affiliate program offers affiliates excellent converting creatives as well as 35% commission as standard. For all comments on this article and for further information on the affiliate program at CastleCasino.com you can contact David directly at david@ castlecasino.com.

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LIVE CASINO FOCUS

Live Casino – engaging PLayers in the Live environment With the rise of technology and the Internet, a user’s attention span has significantly decreased over the past decade. ThroughouT The pasT decade, a plethora of online casino games have flooded the market. With this seemingly endless supply of games, it takes a special kind of product to capture that much vaunted player attention. Live dealer solutions seek to capture and captivate players, providing them with a unique entertainment experience that sets the game apart from the standard RNG versions. The advantages of a live dealer solution for the player, operator and affiliate are enormous. From a player’s perspective, it provides them with an experience that is both engaging and fair. The ability to interact with a real person in a real casino environment empowers the player’s trust in the transparency of the gaming experience he/she is being offered. It also adds to the authenticity of ‘live’ casino gaming, where the studio or real life casino backdrop satisfies the needs of players looking for a more genuine ‘casino from home’ experience that they can’t get from RNG platforms.

From the operator’s perspective, they have a product with limitless branding opportunities; for instance, the ability to broadcast to their user base to cross market their range of products. In addition, due to the speed of technology, the games can be uniquely branded and stylised through blue screen technology.

“The ability to interact with a real person in a real casino environment empowers the player’s trust in the transparency of the gaming experience he/she is being offered.” Affiliates can create custom banners with either pre-recorded video clips or an actual live stream of the games. The streams can be customised for multiple languages, thus allowing the affiliate to target specific countries and even demographics within

those regions. These unique and customised promotional campaigns can be created to entice players and provide a much more entertaining means of promoting one’s site. It is very much an innovative acquisition tool, but it is also an excellent media for player retention and recapturing lapsed customers. The social aspect of gaming must also be considered. Blurring the lines of a private, yet social experience, the player seemingly has an intimate game with the dealer, but with the participation of players from all over the globe; all in the comfort of their own home. As far as the entertainment factor goes, players can follow their favourite dealer through their dealer schedules to ensure that they are optimising their experience much as they would do in a physical casino. This way, there will be more interaction between the player and the dealer. The reality of live gaming is now here. For operators, affiliates and players alike, it’s the ‘smart’ choice for playing online.

generating return traffiC What are the key components in driving the traffic that comes to your live gaming website back for repeat visits? Daniel Hurley, Marketing Manager at GuruPlay, offers his insight into the secrets of the trade. regular visiTors To a live gaming casino often get to know the brand just as well as its webmaster. Once a visitor has fully explored a website, the challenge is to satisfy their inquisitive minds and entice them to revisit. If a website fails to remain up-to-date by offering new content that is specialised, focused and relevant to its readership, then it will fail to attract return visitors. Regular communication and interaction will give readers the perception that it is a dynamic website and a mine of useful and up-to-date information. The secret is to bring a website alive – view your website as a living organism that grows organically. Here are ten ideas to generate return traffic to your live gaming website.

1. have a plan for developing content over the coming twelve months If you have a large amount of content at the creation stage of the website, I would advise as much as possible to schedule to publish the material gradually over time rather than publishing everything all at once. This is coherent with the idea of an organic website that develops and grows. I also recommend planning the creation of a new section every few months to maintain the readers’ interest.

2. publish at least one new page every week (or as often as you can) If the website is rarely or sporadically updated, readers will have little incentive to return. If, on the other hand, the user

remarks that the website offers new relevant content on a regular basis, then they will bookmark the page and return regularly in search of new content. The webmaster must ensure that they indicate new and updated content on the homepage for quick reference.

3. Create a news page A news page is a simple way for a website to offer updated content on a regular basis. It is important to select online information sources in-line with the subject matter, be it live gaming or another subject. Create a news page on the site. Pick hot topics and include a title and the name of the source and possibly the date with a few words of introduction. New material can be sourced from these links and kept up-to-date.

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LIVE CASINO FOCUS

4. Offer an RSS feed and send a message whenever a new page is online Inform the public that the site offers new content. Do not expect them to return of their own accord but, rather, give them a reason to come back. Using a simple CGI script, users can leave their email address in a form. As soon as a new page is online, send an email to the distribution list with the title of the new page and a link. You can even take this opportunity to offer promotions or introduce new products.

5. Publish a periodic newsletter with imbedded links to the website With the same CGI script used for the RSS feeds, gather the email addresses of users wishing to subscribe to your newsletter. Prior to registration, it is recommended to highlight topics covered in the newsletter and its frequency. The newsletter should present nuggets of information about the content in a way that the subscriber clicks on the link to read the full content on the website.

6. Hold a competition Competitions are very popular across the web. They are free and attract interest. A monthly or quarterly competition is a cost effective way of attracting new users and provides an incentive for regular users to return to the website. Competitions do not cost much money. You can offer personalised promotions and prizes that can be used on the website, such as bonuses for playing live casino games on your website. Visitors who wish to participate in the competition enter their email address in a form. This can be a further opportunity for you to suggest subscribing to the newsletter. When the competition deadline arrives, you can ask the winner’s permission to publish their name or initials on your website. This will reinforce the validity of the competition and, therefore, of your online casino or website.

7. Administer a forum This is probably one of the most effective ways of building up a loyal readership. But for it to work, it is important that participants feel involved and are motivated to post and respond. It is important to start new topics, ask questions and congratulate members to encourage users to participate. This can be used to demonstrate that your online casino, or that which you promote, cares for its visitors and customers.

8. Highlight new content on the homepage The aim here is to inform all visitors that the site is active. I usually recommend using the first half of the homepage to list the most recent pages and updates, with a date and short description of the content with an invitation to read the full article.

9. Categorise the most popular products or pages Using the website statistics, get a list of the most visited pages, link to these pages either from the homepage or from a dedicated page. Be sure, however, to update the list regularly indicating the date of the last update.

10. Include an up-to-date events page Focusing on the target audience interests, you can offer them an up-to-date list of poker competitions being held around the world or in their geographical area. List some of the major live gaming events you may be organising on your website. Be sure to keep such a list up-to-date, however, as few things look worse than an events list that is badly out-of-date. If the page is regularly updated, visitors will return frequently and bookmark the page for quick reference. You can also regularly inform the public about what is happening in the company or on the website through social media channels that offer another effective way to interact with customers and users.

Driving traffic through content Everybody knows that ‘content is king’ when we’re talking about website traffic. There is nothing that can spur someone to leave a website quicker than poor content. We also know that the average website visitor spends just a few short seconds deciding whether or not he/she wishes to stay on a website once landing on a page. If you have great content then your visitors are likely to stick around to see what it is you have to say and offer. As a live casino operator, you need to become aware of what type of content you should have on your site. Affiliates also should have a good idea as to what type of content works well on their sites and what doesn’t. When it concerns building an online casino website and marketing it in Google, Yahoo! and Bing, quality content is vitally important. Google tells us again and again that it favours original content over spun, turned around and sloppy

content. Google will quickly de-value your site if you fill it with unoriginal content or if it deems that the content you provide is simply not useful. The type of content that you need to provide should be written on topics and themes that web surfers are likely to search for. This will obviously direct them to your site and it also can get people to click through the links on your site and sign up at the casino you are promoting if you’re an affiliate. There are many types of good content to consider. A safe bet is to offer reviews of live casino sites, information about live gaming bonuses and rules and strategies of various live casino games. Sharing stories on your site about big jackpot winners is also an example of good content. Remember that you want the idea of playing live casino games on the Internet to be an attractive one so your content should be up-beat, positive and inspirational. You must highlight the positive aspects of live gaming on the web. Think ‘outside the box’ and keep your content useful and interesting. A good way to obtain content for free is to provide a forum or ‘chat app’ for your site users. If you attract enough people to your forum and/or chat application, they will provide you with free content. Blogging is another way to add fresh content because you can host various blogs on your website and dedicate one to each aspect of live casino gaming you wish to write about. For instance, one blog can be about live roulette, another about live blackjack and a third can be about live baccarat. When writing content for your website, use your own voice and write like you are holding a conversation with someone. Even if you wish to include statistics in your content, present it in a voice readers will enjoy reading and access easily. If you need ideas for topics do the smart thing and see what your competitors are doing. However, never steal their content or simply change a few words around what they have written; take a new angle on the topic so that your readers get a new perspective. It’s always a good idea to encourage comments from your readers, especially when you are first starting to write your own content. This way, you can find out which of your articles people like and which they don’t care for. Your readers can steer you in the right direction if you allow them to communicate with you so by all means turn the comments on and respond to them regularly.

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feature

The latest twist in the saga emanating from the US has seen the Alderney Gambling Control Commission and French regulatory body ARJEL, suspend the licences they had individually granted to Full Tilt Poker, effectively forcing one of the world’s best known poker brands into stasis. Online pOker may never be the same again. The events that have taken place since April 15, 2011, will surely see to that. The conversation has turned from a debate about the ‘blackness’ of ‘Black Friday’ for those operators and affiliates safely sheltered from US exposure and for the industry at large, to speculation about the potential closure of one of the sector’s biggest names. For affiliates, the gravest concern is the failure or, rather, inability of Full Tilt Poker to be accountable for the commissions it owes its army of affiliate partners. The French online gaming regulatory body, ARJEL, acted on similar concerns when Rekop Limited, Full Tilt’s French license holder, was unable to produce the requested bank certificates to provide assurances that it had sufficient funds to pay its players. If the company hasn’t accounted for players wanting to withdraw their account balances, affiliates may doubt it would have accounted for the commissions for the partners that brought them there. And this is where the story changes in tone. As Jeremy Enke touches on in his article on page 39, liability for recreational winnings is one thing; liability for someone’s livelihood is quite another. That is not to suggest that Full Tilt is dismissive of its contracted responsibility to pay its business partners; it has been in discussions with groups of investors to help finance the clearance of its debt to its players. However, there has been no mention of its debt to its affiliates and how or even if this will be financed. There may be some apprehension as to whether Full Tilt may withhold unpaid affiliate commissions as they are potentially accountable to the facilitation of ‘illegal’ gambling as stipulated under the Unlawful Internet Gambling and Enforcement Act, under which all of those indicted by the Southern District of New York on April 15 are charged. And it is because of these charges, and because Full Tilt must employ major damage limitation if it wants to trade again in the future, that it has made the payment of its players a priority. Unless it feels confident its brand can withstand this crisis with enough intact to operate without

affiliate help in the future, then it should also prioritise its debts to its partners. A statement acknowledging the matter would go some way to appease the situation.

of a level playing field than we’ve been used to, even taking into account those who have multiple accounts. The ramifications of this for an ailing Full Tilt brand is that if players have already moved on to new sites, then the affiliates that cater to them are going to follow (or lead, as the case may be). A player’s loyalty is easier to win back than an affiliate’s trust; business being what it is. However, that statement is only accurate by fractions, and Full Tilt will have a task of seismic proportions, one feels, to win back the support of either party.

Full stop? Even if Full Tilt manages to secure investment to finance a full scale pay off to its players, affiliate partners and any number of other creditors it may be liable to, the question remains as to whether the brand can survive such a fall from grace. Figure 1, which has been kindly provided to iGB Affiliate by PokerScout owner, Dan Stewart, shows us how players have responded in the wake of Full Tilt’s licence suspension. A key figure in that data is the 9,300 players that Full Tilt has lost in just a matter of weeks, with the other sites sharing 5,500 new players among them. Everest Poker and PartyPoker have seen the biggest increase in player volumes, with the Cake Poker Network, PKR and 888 also seeing significant increases. (None have as blunt about Full Tilt’s fall from grace than 888 – the company’s new marketing campaign reading “Can’t Play at Full Tilt? Start Playing with 888”.) The fact that PokerStars hasn’t ‘hoovered up’ the fleeing player base would suggest that the future poker market will be more FiGUre 1

What now? By the time you read this, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) will have held its public hearing into the suspension of Full Tilt Poker’s gaming licence. Whatever the outcome and regardless of whether the company achieves the investment it desires to continue trading, it will be questionable as to how warmly the company would be welcomed back into the fold by players, affiliates, even operators, for that matter. Yet, before we consider the future, the affiliate community will want their pressing financial matters clarified before any type of ‘closure’ can take place. ChanGe SinCe FUll TilT ShUTdOWn*

SiTe/neTWOrk

(playerS)

(%)

PokerStars PartyPoker iPoker Network Ongame Network

2915 1633 789 156

15% 46% 23% 8%

888Poker Microgaming Network Merge Gaming Network Entraction Network International Poker Network (IPN) Everest Poker Cake Poker Network PKR

336 120 -76 -44 35 427 195 123

21% 9% -6% -4% 3% 62% 30% 21%

players lost by Full Tilt

9300

net players gained by other sites Recovery %

5500 59%

*Compares average cash game traffic for week of July 10-16 vs. June 19-25 Source: PokerScout.com

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FEATURE

The King is Dead, Long Live the... wait a minute, new developments. The upcoming challenge to affiliates has little or nothing to do with ‘Black Friday’. “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans” John Lennon OFFSHORE INTERNET poker sites seem to be taking a beating lately. I mean, deeper than usual. Everybody knows about ‘Black Friday’ (April 15 2011) when Full Tilt Poker, PokerStars and Absolute Poker were indicted by the prosecutors of the Southern (Federal) District of New York. But even then, there was a central, keelplate assumption: however angry American authorities might be at the operator, his compliance with local laws would yield a certain degree of immunity. The host jurisdiction, after all, was not about to punish one of the home teams.

The whole system of ‘offshore’ Internet gaming is based on that. ‘Offshore’, after all, doesn’t merely mean outside the USA; a given iGaming site can be effectively ‘offshore’ from Europe (e.g. Malta, Cyprus) or Asia (e.g. the Philippines). In return for the employment and infrastructure the site offers to the locals, the host country presumably provides a reasonable legal protection from prosecutors in the target markets. But now, Full Tilt Poker is under full and formal interdict at its home base in Alderney as well as in the States. The Alderney government is investigating and, in the meantime, has suspended the FTP licence. Oops. I believe the Russian phrase for this is ‘govno serioznii’. The whole idea

of locating Internet gambling sites offshore was centred on the notion that the operator could play one jurisdiction off against the other, both ends against the middle. When that stops, he, the operator, IS the middle. With all that implies. But for the affiliates who carry the gambling and links to online sites, this is not a major worry. If not Full Tilt, there’ll be somebody else, and the game will go on… right? Well, to give a lawyer’s favourite answer: ‘yes and no’. Yes, in the immediate sense. Online poker is an industry worth over $12 billion by itself, the US is the largest single market segment, so if one operator or set of operators is knocked out, nothing could be more certain than somebody else stepping up to take their

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place. And the need for affiliates to bring in the customers will remain. No, in the sense that Internet gambling never stays the same, and this is no exception; as the online gambling industry mutates and thrives, the concerns of FTP, as it now exists, may become obsolescent. New concepts and new formats are making their way onto centre stage. In fact, a new business model for online and interactive gaming may be making its appearance. And the emergence of that new model means new opportunities – and new challenges – for online gaming affiliates.

New players, new attitudes It is a given that new technologies are changing the rules for Internet gaming. What is not so immediately obvious is that the new players have different rules too. Their fundamental assumptions, their background music, if you will, are nothing like the stuff that the older folks use for underpinning.

“Predictions of the newest technology as the apocalypse are always wrong. The emergence of radio didn’t destroy newspapers, radio was not destroyed by television, and TV was not destroyed by the Internet. But they all changed.” The generations that went through the Depression, the Second World War and the Cold War came from a background of payas-you-go, no-free-lunch. Everything had to be paid for, to justify its costs. And rewards – gambling winnings for instance – had to be hard cash and tangible prizes; only things that made it worthwhile. On the business side, expenses must be justified. How much revenue do we get per advertising dollar? (Even the coffee shops in the Vegas resorts have to show a profit now.) Generations X and Y and onward have always had computing power, storage capacity, and fast broadband so accessible and provided so cheaply that they might as well be free. That means that marketing and distribution are cheaper too and no longer under pressure to immediately justify the outlay. Entrepreneurs and even giants like Google are at liberty to offer free services to customers, to keep them coming

back to the core business. On the consumer side, too, things are different. Money is no longer the only yardstick of reward. The Internet did not begin as a commercial enterprise, after all. Social interaction and a sense of community are primary rewards in and of themselves, rated right alongside advertising and sales, particularly with new social media such as Facebook. The premier example is the enterprise known as Zynga. Its social networking games include simplified SimCity-style offerings such as Farmville, competition games such as Mafia Wars and Texas Hold‘em poker. One can play these games for free (thus eliminating the ‘consideration’ leg of the legal definition of gambling) but also to improve your performance with little boosters, available for straight purchase, for visiting a Zynga/ Facebook advertiser, or won in competition. The prizes are equally touchy-feely: one wins points that can be used to purchase icons. These are representations of bouquets of flowers, ice cream sodas, and so forth, which players can send to other players or acquaintances as tokens of esteem – digital greetings cards, in effect. The customers are paying genuine hard cash for, essentially, bragging rights. To an old school gambling pro, this sounds profoundly silly, until we realise that Zynga has 320 million registered users, is worth about $20 billion dollars today, and just registered a seven figure IPO for release. Old school or new, money talks. Other companies using this model are sure to follow.

The shape of things to come? Will social media-based games replace online gambling as we know it today? Of course not – predictions of the newest technology as the apocalypse are always wrong. The emergence of radio didn’t destroy newspapers, radio was not destroyed by television, and TV was not destroyed by the Internet. But they all changed. The social media format brings two big changes to the online and interactive gaming model. First, because it is legally classed as a non-gambling activity, it removes the threat of prosecution for violating gambling laws, and the attendant money transfer laws, from over the heads of the operators and their service providers, especially advertisers. But second, it offers operators steady direct access to the players, which means that middlemen such as affiliates and

advertisers will have to redefine their role in order to compete in this new format. In addition, they will need to re-examine their existing advertising model. For one thing, there will be more to advertise as various Internet gaming sites add or link to social media games and applications. For another, it might open a window to the licensing of Internet gambling activities by US state authorities. Washington DC is the first US jurisdiction to pass and then act on enabling legislation to permit licensed Internet gambling under the UIGEA. But in a very significant move, the DC authorities are seriously examining skill-type games as well as Internet poker. Particularly in the advertising world, skill games can go where gambling games fear to tread – across state lines. And this may be the newest niche for the affiliates, who have nationwide contacts. The more far-seeing state authorities already look forward to the day when states will pool their poker and other gambling customers, the same way they do lottery and horse betting customers now.

“Skill games can go where gambling games fear to tread – across state lines. And this may be the newest niche for the affiliates, who have nationwide contacts.” Completely unexpected? In large part, yes. But the unexpected is part and parcel of Internet gambling, which can be relied on to re-invent itself about every two years or so (once upon a time there was no Zynga, before that no online poker, before that...). It is very interesting to participate in the changes. And it can be very profitable to help make them happen.

MARTIN OWENS is a California attorney specializing in the law of Internet and interactive gaming since 1998. Co-author of INTERNET GAMING LAW with Professor Nelson Rose,( Mary Ann Liebert Publishers 2005); Editorial board , Gaming Law Review. Comments/ inquiries: mowens@trade-attorney. com.

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FEATURE: OPINION

The Rise and Fall of the FullTiltPoker.com Afﬁliate Program For several years, the affiliate program at FullTiltPoker.com has been one of the top performing programs in the poker industry. Recently, however, it has become one of the most despised amongst poker affiliates. By Jeremy Enke, Founder of Poker Affiliate Listings ON FRIDAY April 15, 2011, the online

Early days

poker industry was forever changed when the United States Department of Justice seized the FullTiltPoker.com domain along with those of other top online poker sites. To the defence of these rooms, they were allegedly caught just as ‘off guard’ as both the players and affiliates when their domains were seized. Immediately following ‘Black Friday’, thousands of US-based poker players and affiliates were left with millions of dollars in funds frozen in their FullTiltPoker.com accounts. While it has been a devastating blow for many poker players to have their ‘bankrolls’ frozen, several affiliates have literally had their livelihoods put in jeopardy. Unlike the casual poker player who enjoys gambling with their disposable income, affiliates often rely on these payments from operators to run their businesses. Many poker affiliates have offices, employees, payroll, and other operating expenses to meet each month. Losing the affiliate revenue of the second largest poker site in the world is, without question, going to have a considerable effect. But before we get into the recent events at Full Tilt, allow me to take you for a walk down memory lane.

In the spring of 2005, FullTiltPoker.com was growing quickly and gaining notoriety inside the online poker market and it was at this time that the company launched its affiliate program. While the reporting and support was not the greatest in the world, affiliates in their droves began promoting the company in top spots on their sites. As the poker room grew, so did the staff in the affiliate department. Likewise, the affiliate reporting and back-end began to see great improvements as well. After the 2005 WSOP and a huge media push with its sponsored pros, it became quite obvious that FullTiltPoker.com was not only here to stay, but that it was about to become one of the largest online poker sites in the world. However, the one complaint shared by many affiliates was that the various transaction fees, bonus fees, and chargeback costs were much higher than other operators only offering a starting MGR (monthly gross revenue) of 20 percent. Despite this, most affiliates stayed on board simply because Full Tilt always paid on time and the conversions continued to be amongst the best in the industry. Moving into 2006 and 2007, you would have a hard time finding any US poker

affiliate who was not at least moderately promoting Full Tilt. And while its starting revenue share and CPAs were not the greatest in the industry, the poker room converted incredibly well. It was at this time that the publicly traded European rooms pulled out of the US market. Likewise, rakeback was starting to become a major factor for affiliates. Since PokerStars did not allow affiliates to offer rakeback, FullTiltPoker.com became the leading poker site for almost all rakeback affiliates promoting to US traffic, or even globally, for that matter. This is when FullTiltPoker.com went from being a multi-million dollar operation to a multi-billion dollar operation. It was also at this point when affiliates began to feel a level of disdain for the Full Tilt affiliate program. Poker affiliates felt as if they had worked with and helped build Full Tilt into the Goliath it had become over the previous three years, and yet the company itself didn’t seem to recognise affiliates as being an overly important part of its marketing efforts. Even more troubling was that it appeared as if Full Tilt was looking for ways to decrease affiliate commissions and keep more of the revenue for itself. In February 2008, the Full Tilt Poker

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FEATURE: OPINION

affiliate department announced the infamous ‘60 day rule’. This essentially stated that any players an affiliate refers who do not deposit inside of 60 days would be eliminated from the affiliate’s account. Poker affiliates were furious. Shortly after the 60 day rule was announced, there were rumours that Full Tilt had set up its own rakeback affiliate site and was targeting players tagged to nonrakeback affiliates. Once again, affiliates were not pleased and confused as to why Full Tilt would not be transparent with them and simply answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ if it had an interest in the named site.

“A business that cannot communicate with individuals it owes millions of dollars to, is gong to be fighting an uphill battle should it try to salvage any good standing or reputation it once had with players and partners.” In 2009, the frustrations continued as Full Tilt changed its terms and conditions to include some rather predatory clauses such as its right to close an affiliate account if an affiliate has not sent a new player in a certain number of days. Things calmed down for a while and some affiliates stopped promoting Full Tilt. Then, in February 2010, Full Tilt dropped the hammer once again stating that rakeback affiliates could not earn more than three percent on any new sign-ups.

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Fast forward Now fast forward to today. Throughout the first 90 days post-Black Friday, the Full Tilt affiliate department has had zero communication with its business partners (aka affiliates) about the status of their commissions or even the program. Upon sending emails to Full Tilt Poker to inquire about bounced cheques or any updates, affiliates simply received canned responses. The argument can be made that much of what has transpired in the period since Black Friday is out of Full Tilt’s control, and I agree with some of this. However, there is one significant mistake that Full Tilt has made that may well prove to be the final nail in the coffin where many poker affiliates are concerned. Even if Full Tilt was to regain its gaming licence, come back to the US market and begin making affiliate payments, the company’s lack of transparency to this point has been appalling to say the least. Although as of mid-July, Full Tilt Poker has completely shut down due to the suspension of its gaming license by the Alderney Gambling Control Commission, most agree that the company will regain a license in another jurisdiction and be back in operation soon. There is still speculation on exactly why FullTiltPoker. com lost its license, but it is likely that it had quite a bit to do with not being able to pay its players. While PokerStars.com paid out its US-based players and affiliates as soon as the US Department of Justice permitted, FullTiltPoker.com remained silent and never once made a statement. For a company that, before Black Friday, had a

market value between $1 billion and $2 billion, Full Tilt has literally shocked many in the industry that its liquidity could have been this unstable. Although I digress, if everything works out in Full Tilt’s favour and it does indeed re-enter the online poker market, will affiliates still want to promote the brand? Will players be willing to risk playing on the site again? After all, most players and affiliates have already chosen new rooms to play at or promote. Throughout these turbulent times that FullTiltPoker.com has experienced, it could have greatly increased its odds of maintaining some level of credibility in the industry by simply communicating. A business that cannot communicate with individuals it owes millions of dollars to for over 90 days, is gong to be fighting a long uphill battle should it try to salvage any good standing or reputation it once had with players and partners.

“If everything works out in Full Tilt’s favour and it does indeed re-enter the online poker market, will affiliates still want to promote the brand? Will players be willing to risk playing on the site again?” Valuable lesson In closing, I think a valuable lesson can be taken away from the current Full Tilt situation. Operators should realise that poker affiliates are willing to invest time and money into partnering with the company on a long-term basis. However, the same respect has to be given back to the affiliates. Just like operators are in business to increase their revenues and build a long-term venture, so are affiliates. The predatory changing of terms and conditions throughout the history of an affiliate program is a recipe for disaster. For the sake of the industry, I truly hope that Full Tilt gets its situation worked out and that all players and affiliates get paid the balances and commissions they are rightfully owed. Nonetheless, I think I speak for many poker affiliates when I say that given the awful transparency and lack of communication throughout this mess, not many will be rushing to add Full Tilt back on their sites should it actually become operational again.

26/07/2011 12:41

Special RepoRt: Spain

Advertising Under the New Spanish Gambling Law To tie in with the Barcelona Affiliate Conference and iGB Espana event in Madrid, we take a look at the modifying iGaming landscape in Europe’s next major market, Spain. Firstly, we delve into the regulatory position following the implementation of the Spanish Gaming Law. On May 29, 2011, the Spanish Gaming Law came into force. This law regulates the activities of lotteries, sportsbetting (and other types of bets), roulette, poker, blackjack, bingo, raffles, contests and other games, provided by domestic Spanish operators or international operators holding a Spanish gaming licence. The law establishes that these activities can be performed via physical presence or electronic means such as the Internet, television, radio and via mobile. With the liberalisation process up and running and developing at a rapid pace, any operator willing to obtain a gaming licence in Spain should, ideally, already be working on it. Since the publishing of the Law in the Spanish Official Gazette, many other draft statutory regulations have also been passed and are currently under discussion. The main rules currently being discussed are via two draft Royal Decrees; one which sets out the requirements and conditions to obtain/receive authorisation for a gaming licence, and the other which sets out the technical requirements that the gaming platform and all the appliances for the various types of games will need to comply with. Both aspects are crucial for national and international gaming operators and these Royal Decrees will begin to shape the Spanish gaming market. In this article, we will focus on the aspects of the new regime that affect the advertising, promotion and sponsorship of gambling activities in Spain.

The new advertising regime Under the new Law, the advertising, promotion and sponsorship of gambling activities will be permitted, but only those duly licensed in Spain. Also, such publicity will have to be in-line with the particular allowance for advertising contained in each gaming operator’s licence. Gambling licences granted in other countries are not

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valid to offer, advertise or promote games in Spain. Indeed, operators advertising gambling or betting activities without the corresponding licence are doing so illegally, and are subject to heavy fines imposed by the Spanish National Gambling Commission (CNJ). Advertising agencies, media channels, or Internet website editors are responsible for ensuring and checking, before publishing any advertisement or promotion, that the operator/advertiser is duly licensed and that such particular advertising is allowed under the terms of the operator’s licence. In any case, should these media entities take publicity from non-licensed operators they would also be responsible. Additionally, these media entities may be formally requested by the CNJ to stop any illegal ad campaign, effective within a two day notice period. If the deadline is not complied with, again, the media entity could be fined.

Fines and liabilities The new Law offers a wide definition of the persons or entities that could be liable, which consists of “any person or entity that performs any of the breaches provided by the law, as well as any other that gives them support, advertise or promote them, or in any way obtain profit from them”. The following are examples of gross breaches of the Law, punishable by fines ranging from €100,000 to €1 million and suspension of the activity for up to two years: ●●To promote, sponsor or advertise games, or provide any intermediation service, when those offering the games lack the corresponding licence, or when the games are advertised breaching the conditions and restrictions set out in the licence or in the regulations, whatever media or channel is used for the advertising. ●●Failure to comply with information or

termination requirements issued by the CNJ. A media owner and/or the advertising agency could be liable for these types of infringements, jointly with the gambling operator. The Law also states that any person or entity obtaining relevant profits directly linked with the development of gambling activities may also be classified as the gambling operator, and subject to the same liabilities and fines foreseen for gambling operators. In this case, for example, the Law states that it is a ‘gross breach’, punishable by fines ranging between €1 million and €50 million and closure of business, “organizing, celebrating, commercializing or exploiting the gambling activities subject to the Law when they lack of the corresponding license or authorization”.

“With the liberalisation process up and running and developing at a rapid pace, any operator willing to obtain a gaming licence in Spain should, ideally, already be working on it.” We understand that a provision defining such a wide scope of liability is particularly relevant with regards to ‘revenue share’ agreements that media entities (affiliates) could enter into with gambling operators. In such agreements, it could be considered that the media entity is directly participating in the revenues and profits obtained from the gambling activity and, therefore, could be found jointly liable with the gambling operator, not only as an advertiser, but also as an operator itself. It is also important to take into account the joint liability with regards to the payment of gambling taxes and duties established by the Law, which not only

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affects the gambling operator but also “any person or entity who obtains profits from the gambling activities” (please note the Law refers to “any type of profit” and not necessarily “direct” or “relevant” profits), provided that such person or entity had not properly checked that the gambling operator had its licence duly in place. This liability also comprises those online service providers who should have known that their infrastructures or their services were being used for the provision of gambling activities.

Transition period The Law sets out a transition period which applies to sports sponsorship and advertising or promotion deals signed before January 1, 2011. The advertising activities under those agreements will not be subject to fines until the conclusion of the first licensing procedure or until January 1, 2012 at the latest. In any case, please take into account that this transition period does not affect other obligations of the Law. This means that since the Law came into force, operators are now tasked with complying with the obligations set forth therein (including the declaration and payment of taxes) and, in respect to those entities advertising gambling activities, they should ensure that the operators hold the necessary licences granted by a Spanish competent body. Additionally, the transition period doesn’t apply to the joint and several liabilities for the payment of gambling taxes mentioned above. It could also be understood that, during this transition period in which the new fining regime is suspended, the previous fining regime provided by the Anti-Smuggling regulations should still be in force. In this scenario, advertising agreements that media companies signed before January 1, 2011, will remain valid until the conclusion of the first licensing procedure or until January 1, 2012 at the latest. However, this does not apply for any new advertising agreement or campaign undertaken during the current transition period. In those cases, the media company would assume certain risks under the former fining regime, which is still applicable while the new one is ‘on hold’. On the other hand, taking into consideration how online gaming and betting has been provided in Spain in recent years, we consider it improbable that the CNJ or the Spanish Authorities would enforce the regulations or apply the former fining regime.

Once the new gaming licences are in place, we believe that the CNJ and other Spanish authorities will be very strict in clamping down on any illegal gaming activity and any illegal advertising. We consider that the Spanish government can not afford the gaming and betting industry to continue as it has in the past few years with foreign operators offering their games to Spanish residents without holding any licence in Spain and without paying any taxes in the country. The granting of licences is expected to take place before the end of this year. However, it is not clear if this will be achievable. One thing that could impact on the schedule would be if the country’s general elections are advanced to take place before the end of the year. In that case, we believe the whole liberalisation process of the gaming market will be put on hold for at least six months.

XAVIER MUÑOZ BELLVEHÍ is Partner and Head of Gaming and Betting at ECIJA Law Firm. Xavier is a corporate/ commercial lawyer and advises in many areas covered by the firm. He has extensive experience on matters relating to telecommunications, technology, Internet, media, entertainment, gambling and betting and intellectual property. After studying in Spain and the USA (junior year), he worked at leading law firms in Spain (Garrigues), Paris (DSParis) and London (Steptoe & Johnson). He is a lecturer at the LLM of ISDE Institute, speaks regularly at international technology conferences, and has published the book “Manual de Derecho de las Telecomunicaciones” and many press articles. He is also Patron and Secretary of the CTecno Foundation. Xavier speaks Spanish, Catalan, English and French. xmunoz@ ecijalegal.com.

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SPECIAL REPORT: SPAIN

SPANISH MARKET OVERVIEW What can we expect from Europe’s next biggest iGaming market? Spanish and Latin American Gambling Consultant, Jaki Becker, assesses the impact of the regulation of the Spanish market for operators and affiliates. Regulation in a nutshell? As most people know, Spain is Europe’s most recent territory to go through the regulation process. So far, fixed odds sportsbetting, poker, roulette, blackjack and bingo have been included, however, slots, the industry’s biggest revenue driver, and betting exchange products have yet to be included. The exclusion of slots is a major problem as they generate approximately 60 percent of all operator revenues in Spain. Therefore, to justify paying 20-25 percent tax on the net revenue without slots and side games could put the small to medium operators out of business. This would leave more market share for blue chip operators who have deep pockets and a long-term strategy for the Spanish market. The speculation is that slots will be included in the next wave of regulation and the initial delay is designed to give the government monopoly, LAE (Loterías y Apuestas Del Estado), a head start in the regulated market. It is also a question of timing. The Spanish government has bitten off more than it can chew by setting itself an unrealistic goal to have regulation decided and operational before December 31, 2011. It simply didn’t realise the complexity of the challenge. The current government’s objective is to have the regulation completed before the May 2012 elections. If the elections are brought forward which, considering the state of the current Spanish economy is perfectly viable, this could mean the inclusion of slots and betting exchange products are delayed even further, if included at all.

What does regulation mean for operators? A regulated Spanish market is only for operators who are looking to attack the Spanish market aggressively. For them, regulation is a positive step, as the acceptance of TV advertising will make products such as bingo mainstream and create national awareness for online gambling. The number of operators who are prepared to make the investment for a license (€1.2 – €1.5 million with €2 – €2.5 million in escrow) and go through

iGB Affiliate AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011

the short-term pains will be rewarded with a bigger slice of the pie. The Spanish regulators have also decided that all rooms must have Spanish IP liquidity only. This is especially problematic for poker and bingo operators who depend on networked prizes and international liquidity. This simply means operators will have to commit to bigger marketing budgets. For medium to small operators, Spanish regulation will be a determining factor for their European strategy. Changing strategy to concentrate on unregulated Spanish speaking territories like Latin America is one option and with companies such as LatamBilling, which offers chargeback-free solutions for Mexico, Argentina, Chile as well as Portugal and Brazil, it makes a quick strategy change feasible.

What will happen to the affiliate market? The affiliate panorama, in my opinion, is not looking favourable. Currently, affiliates are not promoting new brands that are not likely to buy licenses. As soon as the regulation is in place, there will be less competition to choose from. At the moment, quality Spanish traffic is highly sought after, however, if only 15 operators obtain licenses, which is looking likely, then affiliates will be dictated to and have to take what they are given. The licensees will also be spending bigger budgets in more channels which will increase volumes for affiliates pushing down revenue shares, CPAs and fixed fees. Google PPC, which to date has been officially illegal, will be allowed and natural search will favour operators over affiliates. The obvious step for affiliates would be to secure an exclusive partnership with one operator.

How will regulation affect the media owners? Regarding promotions and advertising in the general media, there will be limitations on promotional messages and product positioning as in any regulated market; however, there will be many more channels open to promoting gambling. Although gambling has previously been accepted by

most media channels, some have not allowed gambling advertising. Post-regulation, TV will now allow bingo and casino and the poker rooms and sportsbooks that have been able to advertise with restrictions can be much more creative. Regulation will also allow more freedom for gaming companies to do tri-party deals with national brands who have previously been too nervous to promote gambling companies.

Current situation By November, the public tender for license applications will take place, with licenses awarded by December 31. This will be a defining moment for gambling in Spain. Current operators can only use ‘.com’ domains and not ‘.es’ and must be working towards a licence application. Advertising can continue if it was a contract signed before January 2011 and taxes for May 29 to June 30 are due to be paid by July 31. If you haven’t paid by then, you will be charged interest and receive a fine for late payment. If this payment has not been made by the time the licence tender takes place, you won’t qualify for one. The word I would use to sum up the current mood in Spain is ‘uncertainty’. The regulation timeframe is unclear, finite details are still not fully defined with the government releasing details as and when they are decided. The Ministerio de Economía y Hacienda (Home Office) is carefully monitoring all online gambling sites and released technical and integration information on July 6, 2011, however, it’s so general that it’s not really much use at the moment. Precise clarification will take time.

JAKI BECKER is a Gambling Consultant specialising in acquisition, billing and conversion in Spain and Latin America. A professional member of the online gaming industry since 2007, Jaki has a passion for business development and strong on and offline media relationships in the Hispanic speaking markets. Starting up www.winzingo.com from scratch has given Jaki full handson operational and online marketing experience. info@jakibecker.com +34 662 373 667.

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Special RepoRt: Spain

Olé!

¡Olé! GrabbinG the ‘Online GamblinG bull’ by the hOrns An online marketer’s guide to understanding the Spanish gaming market. Spain haS become the latest major European market to open its doors to online gaming, following in the footsteps of the UK, France and Italy. The regulatory and market details have been covered in detail in the preceding pages of this special report, and here, we will attempt to decipher some of the more pressing demographic trends and data sets that will affect those businesses looking to successfully market into this rich consumer landscape.

First, a bit of background… The first casino to be awarded an online licence was the Casino Gran Madrid on May 17, 2011. In 2006 and 2007, Madrid had already granted land-based casinos the right to offer online bingo and allowed gamblers to submit bets online; however, Casino Gran Madrid is the first casino which has been allowed to offer an actual online casino. Nevertheless, it seems that the legalisation of online gambling in Spain will develop in stages, and we can expect the first significant demonstration of what we forecast to be ‘massive’ growth, as early December of this year. In terms of the demographic, 38 percent of Spain’s 44 million citizens have access to the Internet via a fixed line connection, but they also have one of the largest mobile communication markets in Europe. It is estimated that 64 percent of mobile customers play games, versus 50 percent of Spain’s citizens with a home connection.

Localisation If you have read previous OBAN Multilingual articles you may have noticed that localisation is our credo. It is crucial that you know the local search behaviour. Although the Spanish prefer to gamble online in their mother tongue, they tend to

create their own hybrids when it comes to search terms. We have put together the following example of common local search terms and their search volumes: KeywordS

MonthLy LocaL Search VoLuMeS

los juegos online

1,500,000

on line juegos

1,220,000

juegos de internet

201,000

todos los juegos de internet

201,000

juegos de internet online

90,500

juegos en linea de internet

60,500

juegos de internet en linea

60,500

It isn’t only the gamblers themselves that appreciate localisation; the Spanish government has put the following restrictions into place for non-Spanish online gambling operators: “All online gambling operators will have to operate through a ‘.es’ domain. If an online user tries to connect from locations in Spain to externally hosted websites they will automatically be redirected to the government homepage. Furthermore, the government instructs that non-Spanish operators must have at least one permanent representative/agent in Spain.”

Search engine market share Looking at the search engine market share in Spain you will find that unlike in neighbouring major European countries such as Italy, Germany and France, where Google enjoys an average market share of 95 percent, its share in Spain is a slightly below that average at 91 percent, meaning that it’s worth considering some strategies for the other nine percent that make up the market, particularly if you’re doing very well. Currently, it’s evenly split between Yahoo! and Bing at around 4.5 percent each but, encouragingly, both of these engines have similar algorithms to Google

so optimisation techniques don’t have to be as diversified as they would if you were working with a Yandex or Seznam.

Market share? Now that you have a website in Spanish, you may think that your SEO efforts in Spain should ultimately improve your rankings in Hispanic markets such as Colombia and Mexico. Your assumptions would be wrong. You will receive some benefit from having Spanish content and maybe some anchor text links for identical terms used in other Spanish speaking markets, however, not at any significant level. Just like any SEO campaign, everything you are doing should be ‘by country’ and not ‘by language’ or ‘region’. Also, don’t forget that South America holds some of the world’s largest gaming companies and operators, and its markets are competitive. You will not get far unless you build unique links in those countries and get unique content targeted to the unique market. Also, don’t forget to set your geo targeting correctly in Webmaster Tools if you’ve pages/sites for those markets because thankfully for SEO, Google is also pretty dominant in South America. So, with the above information in-hand, any online gambling provider or affiliate planning on entering the Spanish market should be able to grab the ‘online gambling bull’ right by the horns.

Greig Holbrook is Director of Oban Multilingual, the International SEO Specialist. If you are interested in more information about effective International SEO for your business, please feel free to contact us anytime or visit our website on www.obanmultilingual.com.

iGB Affiliate august/september 2011

INSIGHT

The Online Land Grab The European marketplace may hold some key insights for the US gaming brands that are looking to migrate their land-based operations to the iGaming sphere. Tom Galanis, Affiliate Marketing Consultant, investigates. WHILST THE FUTURE of online gambling in the United States continues to remain in limbo, speculation continues to mount regarding the potential role affiliates will play post-regulation. What is an everevolving probability is that the choice of operator partners affiliates will have to choose from will change dramatically from this point onwards. It is likely that this new look will involve some of the land-based giants who have dominated Nevada and Atlantic City for many a year, whether it be hardware giants such as IGT or WMS, their B2C web properties or casino groups such as Caesars Entertainment. I do not wish to lend what would only be educated guesswork as to the importance affiliates will play in a regulated US market at this stage, or indeed fathom potential commission structures and alternative revenue streams that existing affiliates might be able to look forward to. Instead, I would like to analyse the practicalities for online affiliates to understand when working with land-based brands converging with the online environment by looking at what has happened across the Atlantic.

The high street The European marketplace has witnessed mixed results for land-based operations turning their attention to the online space. In the late 1990s British and Irish sportsbetting superpowers led the way in establishing successful models that now contribute significant portions of their overall revenue streams. The likes of Ladbrokes, William Hill, Victor Chandler and Paddy Power have taken offline sportsbetting operations online with huge success, and have successfully diverged to other product lines, such as casino, poker and bingo. However, you would be hard-pushed to think of a land-based casino group that has enjoyed similar success. UK casino operators such as Genting UK and Gala, who together make up a significant portion of land-based casinos in the country, have struggled to establish their brands online. One obvious explanation for this is that the online part of their business is very much a secondary concern and in such a congested, competitive market, this is a strategy doomed to failure. Sportsbook

giants did not suffer from this issue; there were very few online sportsbooks before the big boys entered the fray and, undeniably, the continued advancement of largely proprietary-built online and mobile betting technologies has hugely complimented the activities of the high street bookmakers and has lead international market development in the industry. One might argue that the high street branding of betting shops is far superior to those of casinos, which tend to be further removed from sight and still garner a ‘last resort on a night out’ mindset amongst would-be gamblers in the UK. Somewhere in-between the two is the bingo hall. Gala Bingo halls enjoy a similarly low-key brand existence to the group’s casinos. However, bingo play is considered far less socially toxic than casino play and, consequently, has been classified as a pastime. Assisted by the smoking ban, Gala Bingo has managed to make plenty of hay in the online space as, to a degree, has the group’s UK-facing sportsbook, Coral. Yet, to date, Gala Casino has never really taken off online. As such, taking the Gala Coral Group as a prime example, we can classify brand strength and public perception of casino activity as significant barriers to making the step online a successful one.

Legislation There are plenty of other hurdles affiliates and US casinos need to evaluate – the next being interpretation of legislation. The failure to-date of Casinos Austria International’s (CAI) online venture, CAIGAMES, to establish any presence stems from its blunt appraisal following the award of a ‘UK white list approved’ license from Malta: it was only to take UK players from inception. From an affiliate’s perspective – even one holding a high ranking .co.uk domain – promoting such an outfit was simply unfeasible. CAI, with a brand presence in Austria, was never going to crack the UK market with this approach. CAIGAMES also suffers from its choice of software, or rather, the restrictions that any mainstream casino software provider places on licensees. CAI operates some of the finest gaming venues on the continent, but the company simply cannot

replicate this class online through an ‘undifferentiable’ platform. It is impossible for CAI, to convey their established brands through online casinos as they currently exist and, consequently, they fall neatly into the shambolic melting pot of gaming destinations all doing pretty much the same thing and their affiliate managers wind up bringing precisely the same selling points and deal metrics to the table when talking to affiliates. This limitation is compounded by the inevitable difficulty that the likes of Genting and Gala have in rewarding affiliates – and, indeed, online players to a greater extent – for transitional game play in their landbased casinos. We are currently assisting the soon-to-open Hippodrome Casino in establishing a framework to overcome this problem. In my opinion, it is incredibly tough to accurately record revenue sharing commissions, even when players use loyalty cards in slot machines or at the cage to deposit and withdraw. It is tougher still to calculate how commission structures should cross over between the two, based on game margins and other factors determining player value. Then, there are issues of age restriction at land-based casinos compared with online casinos and the fact that many casinos do not require registration these days. There will be inevitable failings in any system and perhaps the wisest move is to reward online affiliates with a fixed CPA for any recruited player identified as making the step inside a land-based property.

Conclusion Plenty then for any US casino groups looking to successfully converge online to ponder. Actually how strong are their brands in the face of mass public perception of casino and poker? How closely will they read the small print in any state or federal legislation that enters law? What existing competition will they face, and how can they create genuine selling points aside from their brands through product development? How will they successfully merge land-based and online databases and reward their affiliates? Affiliates need to be certain that the partners they eventually choose in the US have answers to these questions.

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INSIGHT

THE RULES OF

THE GAME Understanding your place in the social environment as an affiliate. THERE WILL ALWAYS be opinions about the scrupulous extra-marital affair that affiliate marketing has with social media. You might want to debate over the ethic or value-orientation behind this relationship. As it has always been, the legitimacy of marketing tactics has invited a great deal of concern. It increases further for affiliate marketing because it thrives on tracking people to your platform by guiding their browsing behaviour. However, the fact is that affiliate marketing and social media are bound to co-exist. The non-commercial expansion of social media and its vast scope makes it irresistible to affiliate marketing. A few years back, some Twitter users were found participating in a certain ad network, paying for posting affiliate codes. There was quite a backlash, fuelling worries that social media would eventually become plagued in the hands of marketers. What followed were recommendations for the obvious and exclusive affiliate practices for marketing via this media. The vast platform of social networking was too lucrative to be ignored by any marketing individual. At the same time, many were opposed to affiliate marketers using social media at all, concerned by their ‘faceless’ image. The discussions then were aporetic, but a lot of water has since passed under the bridge and social media has grown to Goliath proportions. Affiliate marketing has mixed with social platforms, swimmingly.

Basic principles Although the association of these two mediums has been conveniently placed into the bracket of the ‘inevitable’, it doesn’t mean that the responsibility of an affiliate marketer towards his target crowd has lessened. The basic principles have not changed; you have to be honest. If you are promoting something that could eventually earn you revenue, the people who are receiving these promotions must be made

aware. The movement of many people on these platforms is intended for general communication, which is totally noncommercial in nature, and this ‘naïveté’, as such, provides a test of integrity for affiliate marketers. Let’s assume you have a blog containing original information. People reference this information for their decision-making in a particular domain. Now, you might want to post affiliate links on that blog with disclosures. If your reader is using information provided by you on your blog and in return obliges your affiliate link, you might consider it as compensation for your hard work. However, posting any link just to milk your readers’ base would only dilute your viewer’s loyalty and your own credibility as an author. While marketing a product, your own reputation must not become tasteless.

“In order to create longevity in the social space, you must comply with the rules of the game.” Discretion The whole purpose of marketing revolves around profit, and social media has lots of opportunity for that. Besides, affiliate marketing is one of the most economic ways to reach to an unimaginable volume of mass. Tracking what we do is difficult with such a plethora of platforms lying before us, but that does not soften the need to be prudent. There is a difference between building a content site to promote affiliate programs and inserting affiliate links into social communications. Discretion is the key. Every affiliate marketer has to guide his own ethical conduct. In this case, a personal checklist should act as a mantra for any affiliate marketer to recite before every campaign. To help, we can start with a few basics:

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● ●

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use simple and comprehensive disclosures post relevant links your purpose must not contradict your professional responsibility or your own personal reputation post something that will be of value to the end user last but not least, propagate clean and transparent content and do not create social spam

Disclosures are a powerful tool for any marketer, which could stand them apart from their competition and earn them much coveted trust. Disclosures are not just about being transparent in telling people that you are an affiliate for a company that sells something; it is making sure that your audience is under no illusions as to who you are. Social media is a platform built on trust and acquaintanceship and is thriving on human nature to build, value and maintain relationships. If you want to be successful and, more importantly, create longevity in this arena, you must comply with the rules of the game. Present the product that earns you credible word-of-mouth, trustworthy recommendations, and establishes a selfsustaining system of promotion for itself, where the product quality brings its user back, again and again.

JAYDEEP CHAKRAVARTTY is Business Development Manager at Cozy Games. Jaydeep is responsible for undertaking new business initiatives, and maintaining and developing relationships with Cozy Games’ existing partners. Jaydeep brings nine years of product and marketing experience and has a proven track record of identifying new revenue streams and launching Cozy Games products into both the Mobile and Social Gaming sectors.

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INSIGHT

PREPAID PAYMENT METHODS Converting players in problematic markets – an insight for affiliates and operators. WHEN IT COMES to converting players in problematic markets such as Argentina and Russia, choosing the right payment method is crucial and a one-size-fits-all solution is not the answer to a successful online business. In the payments world, we see the gaming sector as one of the most proactive industries to embrace alternative and local payment methods, whilst continuously striving to enhance the player experience. It is also an industry that recognises that MasterCard and Visa are not the only payment solutions available to its players and that trialling and implementing alternative payment methods is a fundamental part of any company’s success, and any partner’s ability to effectively market them. The success of prepaid products both locally and on a global scale should become a standard part of the payments mix for any operator. In problematic markets in particular, the use of products that are offered by payment providers greatly reduce the market entry risk for operators by executing payments from day one. Operators also tell us that our expansion into some of these markets has been one of the most important factors in their ability to grow. The popularity and growth of prepaid methods has been driven by a number of factors but remains, in most cases, complimentary to other forms of payment. In France, instance, most ecommerce sites would accept Carte Bleu, in Brazil it is Boleto Bancario and in Germany they offer direct bank deposit methods such as Giropay. This is in addition to globally recognised payment methods such as MasterCard, Visa and, of course, Ukash.

The benefits of prepaid methods Prepaid payment methods provide a number of key benefits for our affiliate partners, the operator and of course the player. Prepaid solutions have the potential to dramatically open up the affiliate market on a global scale. Affiliates can confidently market to geographies where an operator may not have otherwise considered, and this, in turn, provides enormous potential for both the affiliate and the operator. For example, we partner with an Eastern European affiliate that uses the Ukash voucher product as part of an incentive programme to encourage sign-ups within a country which has underdeveloped online payment options. For the operator, prepaid methods provide access to new segments of players, particularly within emerging markets such as Latin America and Russia, where cash is prevalent. The use of vouchers mitigates the risk of chargebacks, providing the operator with additional value when accessing new markets, in a more stable and financially secure manner. This has lead to a rapid growth in prepaid products in a variety of countries from Scandinavia and Latin America to Canada. As an affiliate, it is important to remember, however, that prepaid methods only form one area of the operator’s payments mix. For the operator, it is also critical that prepaid methods are clearly communicated throughout the player experience in order to reduce drop out. This means that the operator needs to do more than just feature the deposit methods on the cashier page, particularly for a new site launch or the introduction of a new payment method. And finally, this flexible payment option is also attractive to players who would like

to play at an online gaming site, but do not wish to include any of their personal banking details when registering online, or perhaps, prefers to manage their online spend within a set budget and without the risk of using a credit facility. With Ukash, for example, the player is given the choice of depositing directly into a player account, to reload e-wallets such as Neteller or topping up prepaid cards like the Kalixa Card or our own UkashOut and Ukash NEO cards.

Chances of success So, to conclude, we believe that by accepting both international and local payment methods, and by closing the payment loop through offering a flexible prepaid solution to players, an operator stands a much greater chance of success and offers its affiliates greater ammunition with which to appropriately market them. Simply putting a Western Europe model into the market will greatly limit chances of growth and has the potential to show cultural sensitivities in underdeveloped markets such as Latin America, Russia and Eastern Europe. At Ukash, we have long since recognised that a successful business model is built on a range of payment methods rather than the assumption that all markets present the same environments.

As Chief Executive of Ukash, DAVID HUNTER has considerable experience within the Prepaid and Electronic Money industries. Hunter founded and managed three eMoney businesses in the past five years – BT Accurate, ClickandBuy (Europe) and PaySafeCard UK.

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INSIGHT

Y: WEBSITE VISITOR LOYALT c with How can an affiliate drive loyal traffi Affiliate DOES IT PAY? the tools at hand? By iGaming and Castillo. Marketing consultant, Matthew

THE INTERNET is a free market and, as such, users have the choice to visit any website they deem relevant to their needs. They are free to switch from one website to the next and, with the information overload that users are facing today, they will automatically switch to other websites if they cannot find the information/services they’re looking for easily. Thus, it has become harder than ever before to attract the right users to a website, convert them and keep them loyal. This applies to any website, including large established ones; a case in point is Facebook which has started to suffer from ‘user fatigue’ and could be facing tough competition from new services such as Google+. It goes to prove that loyalty cannot be assumed but must be earned and nurtured. Customer loyalty is a crucial element of the success of any company – for gaming operators and affiliates alike. Keeping customers satisfied and up-selling to the same is much easier and less expensive than going after new players especially in increasingly saturated markets. In the past, both operators and affiliates have, to an extent, adopted a ‘leaky bucket’ approach where new player acquisition was given a higher priority than retention. Given the increased competition, companies have to be more aggressive in their approach to new customers which is both increasing the cost of acquisition as well as potentially decreasing the lifetime value of the same customers. The offers that are presented to customers to switch from one brand to the next might be damaging the whole industry as more players become bonus hunters. This leads companies to offer increasingly better deals, pushing up the operating costs and diminishing the overall value of players. Therefore, it is important to change focus and start looking within the business. Look at the pool of customers you already have, devise ways to keep good players happy and reactivate dormant or inactive accounts. This could easily sound like the job of an operator but an affiliate has to do the same thing to keep players active and keep earning commissions.

What can an affiliate do in order to gain more loyalty from players? Many affiliates use metrics such ‘Number of Visits’ or ‘Page Views’ or ‘Followers’ to determine the success of their website and applaud themselves when they see these figures increasing, but such figures only treat your players as simple traffic – there’s no implied relationship that could lead to increased profitability… so what can an affiliate do in order to gain more loyalty from players?

Give visitors what they want Potential players surfing the net have a wide array of websites they might choose to land on and use. However, what does your website stand for? What do your best players look for in your website? Is it the deals that you give, the content that you provide or the community that you have built around the product? There are various ways to learn what visitors look for in your website, including using cookies that track the path visitors take and where they spend most of the time when on your website, and distributing an online survey amongst users. Any way you do it, it is essential to determine what it is that keeps potential players coming. By knowing your most valuable players and what keeps them coming to your website (Unique Selling Proposition) you will be able to attract other players of the same profile as the ones you already have, thus, increasing your potential player base. At the same time, do not stop there; make sure that you are on top of your players’ changing needs and that you adapt your offer accordingly, as your competitors are always looking at ways to attract your best customers.

Make sure to capture visitors’ contact details Today’s Internet is all about connecting and building relationships with your customers. However, to build a relationship with one’s own customers, one must ensure they have captured the contact details of the customer base. By asking for basic details such as username and email address, an affiliate will not only

be able to personalise the communication with his/her customer but also be in a position to track the player activity with the operator and work on different strategies based on the data. It is important to note that few people will actually be willing to give you their contact details without knowing that they’ll get something of value in return. There are various strategies you might adopt in attaining such contact details, including offering snippets (teasers) of premium content, trial services and also allowing users to sign-in to a Facebook app that requires them to share some basic details.

Do not pester your customers! Everyone hates receiving spam or junk mail so make sure to use your contact database as carefully as possible. If you don’t, players will soon block your email address and delete every email you send. Only send out communications to players when there’s something of value to them that is in-line with what you offer on your website. This will increase the chances of the email being read and that it converts in up-selling. People naturally feel more confident dealing with something they’re familiar with, so relating the content of a newsletter or offer to the content of your website will increase your success rate. Another important thing to keep in mind when setting up a newsletter is to segment your customer base. People are not identical; they have different habits and characteristics and/or are interested in different things. Use this segmenting information to create a more personal relationship with your players. The above is not an exhaustive list of what you can do to generate loyalty, but it’s a good starting point. Be innovative in what you do and always keep an eye on what your customers want. Finally, treat visitors as your customers, not merely traffic, if you’re looking for a long-term relationship rather than just dating. Matthew can be reached at matthew@ actifusion.com

iGB Affiliate AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011

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INSIGHT

Affiliate Networks Affiliate start-ups: why networks offer you an effective platform to build your business.

Affiliate marketing newbie? Where to start? Affiliate marketing can be a daunting industry to get into; it can seem quite cliquey and unfriendly at first. So where is the best place to begin? When you first start out as an affiliate or an affiliate company, there are lots of things to consider; industry, niche, best campaigns to promote, campaign descriptions, whether you’re getting the best rate of commission in addition to all of your dayto-day concerns. Signing up with every single affiliate program out there takes a long time and wastes all those important ‘man hours’ that could be spent earning money and promoting campaigns. This is where affiliate networks really come into their own.

What is an affiliate network? Affiliate networks act as a trusted thirdparty who will track and report all sales and traffic from ads and links. They send monthly payments, and often provide online tools to help affiliates optimise their performance. Most importantly, networks also provide webmasters and email marketers access to hundreds of affiliate programs in one convenient location. When you sign up to an affiliate network you are assigned your own affiliate manager who will usually work with you on your overall plan. They will discuss what types of campaigns work best for your business model and some will ‘hand-hold’ most of the way. At a network, you can easily pick up multiple campaigns from lots of brands,

and trial different types of offers such as CPA, RevShare and CPL (cost per lead) to see which work best with your type of traffic. Networks are also very good at encouraging your activities and, on some campaigns, can offer tiered payment structures to boost your sales as well as other incentives such as prizes. Another benefit of a network when starting out is that you quickly become a member of a group of other like-minded individuals. Many of the larger networks hold events where affiliates can get together. This can really help in making you feel a part of an industry. Invariably in this industry, there will be tracking and payment disputes from time to time. If you are, however, dealing through a network you have someone who is highly experienced to fight your corner and to investigate on your behalf. Affiliate managers do this day in, day out. an affiliate manager talking to another affiliate manager can usually resolve much more than one affiliate directly. Networks have very strong bargaining power as they are representing numerous affiliates, not just one. If an affiliate is not accustomed to the industry, signing up to a network can be the most straightforward and quickest way to get started.

Benefits include: ●

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You will only deal with one affiliate manager not one per brand. You can pick up numerous campaigns from one or two networks. You will receive one-to-one advice and encouragement. You can win incentives and increased

● ●

commissions. You can be assured of accurate tracking. An affiliate network will fight your corner with tracking or payment disputes.

Drawbacks: ●

You do not build a direct relationship with the end client.

So if you are a newbie to affiliate marketing in the gaming industry, why not source the best affiliate network to help you get started quickly. There are several affiliate networks out there from very large international ones to the smaller, niche networks. Some will also specialise in your area of promotion, so make sure you do your research to guarantee that you pick the best to get you off the ground and earning money.

SARAH HUNTER is Director of Affilisearch Ltd. Sarah has over six years experience in affiliate marketing and a total of 12 years in sales and marketing in general. She started out as an affiliate manager in the gambling sector for PartyGaming in 2005 and has remained in the affiliate sector ever since. Sarah has worked both client and network side so have seen the industry from all angles. Her area of expertise within affiliate marketing is gambling and finance and now owns and runs Affilisearch Ltd, which focuses on campaigns within these sectors. Sarah can offer expertise and advice on affiliate marketing campaigns and is happy to discuss any new opportunities to promote new offers.

iGB Affiliate AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011

INSIGHT

Binary Options: the Future of the Gaming Industry This issue, we explore the world of binary options and how affiliates can harness its potential in driving and retaining new business.

BINARY OPTIONS has been offered to investors by banks and financial investing firms since the early 20th Century. Since then, binary options as a concept has increased in popularity, as more and more people become aware of the industry. Also known as digital options, all-or-nothing options, or fixed return options (FROs), binary options is quite simply a prediction on the direction of a stock, commodity, index or currency by a designated expiry time. The trader never purchases the asset; he only predicts the market direction. As there are only two possible outcomes and that the price of the asset does not matter, the trader only needs to have a correct prediction in order to succeed.

The go-to market The current binary options market came into play as a result of the Option Clearing Corporation proposing a rule change to allow binary options in 2007, and the Securities and Exchange Commission approving the listing of cash-or-nothing binary options in 2008. In May 2008, the American Stock Exchange (Amex) launched exchange-traded European cash-or-nothing binary options, and the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) followed in June of the same year. Binary options has become the go-to market for people in many industries, but particularly in gaming and Forex, with everyone from existing operators to payment processors and end users becoming involved with this exciting product. That being said, the people who can use this new industry to their advantage the most are affiliates. There is a great opportunity for affiliates to integrate binary

options into their existing products, cross selling to their entire database. Indeed, binary options is the grey area between gaming and Forex and, therefore, combines the two industries, creating a space for affiliates to profit twice as much with one database.

Similarities The demographics of binary options traders are very similar to those of gaming: ● Mostly males, aged between 25 and 65 years old. ● They are located all over the world, and are available in any country that has international payment methods. ● Two particular areas that are proving to be extremely popular are countries in the Middle East and Asia. ● The traders can be anyone from bingo or poker players to sports bettors or Forex traders so the acquisition possibilities are numerous. As the target audience is very similar to iGaming and Forex, affiliates can use this to their advantage, cross selling the product using the same email marketing campaigns, banners, SEO and link buying as they would for gaming but bringing two to three times as much traffic. Binary options sales departments specialise in converting gamers and sports bettors, as well as guiding and training traders so affiliates don’t need to worry themselves with the support of the client. They, in essence, only need to worry about bringing traffic to the site. In addition, affiliates that hold webinars or other training sessions to instruct gamers and sports bettors on how to trade

binary options have the ability to cross sell further, as they will be able to ensure that their traders understand why binary options is relevant for them.

Legally sound One challenge that affiliates face in the gaming industry is increasing regulation in the international market. More and more countries are clamping down on laws surrounding online gaming and as a result, operators and affiliates are finding it difficult to build consistent volumes of traffic. This is an area where binary options provides an opportunity to keep databases active and at the same time give end users a new and exciting product. Binary options, at this time, is not restricted by any country, as it is classified as ‘financial services’. Because of the similarity between iGaming and binary options (and Forex), the industries have a lot in common, most of all their target audiences. It cannot be stressed enough how simple it is for affiliates to use all of their existing resources to cross sell the product, opening up new possibilities as well as new ways to be profitable.

Kimberly Richardson is the Director of Marketing for SpotOption, the leading Binary Options Platform Provider. SpotOption’s White Labels are run by some of the top iGaming and Forex operators and are the most profitable in the industry. Kimberly has previously worked for a payment processing company that caters to the iGaming and Forex industries.

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Binary OptiOns: Under the hOOd There are 10 types of affiliate in this world; those who promote binary options and those who don’t. You have probably heard about this relatively new trend in iGaming, so the following article is here to fully explain the hype surrounding this entire thing, focusing on the internal Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are commonly used by these companies. The goal here, of course, is to assist you with delivering higher ROI for your traffic. How does it work? First, let’s unfold the simplicity of making money from gameplay. In fact, there is no ‘gameplay’ here but ‘stake’, and there are also no players, but customers. Yes, I know… these guys are crazy. The gaming activity is in fact a ‘limited term wager’, placed over a trend of any financial product trading, ranging from stock indices, currency exchange ratios or commodities prices. An example: the time now is 10:20 and you place a bet on whether, by 11:00, the NASDAQ index would go up (CALL) or down (PUT), in comparison to its current trading levels. If your prediction was proven to be correct, you will win back the amount you have invested (stake), plus a certain portion of it on top, as your winnings (usually, up to 70 to 90 percent). Otherwise, you lose 90 percent of your invested funds. This is the main idea and, of course, there many variations over this concept, including adding spreads, and buy-back amongst others.

2.73 percent; online slots of anything from four to eight percent and blackjack with only 0.5 percent. In this case, as with Calvin Ayre’s parties, bigger is indeed better, allowing operators to make more money out of every circulated dollar.

Acquisition Oasis. At the moment, due to the scarce (if any) regulation, PPC campaigns are still mostly allowed and there aren’t many restrictions worth mentioning. This means that markets like the US and other commonly tabooed countries maintain a far more flexible approach towards this vertical. Even better, the ‘image’ is closer to ‘Wall Street’, opposed to the chewed up ‘Las Vegas’, enabling you access to a wide, untapped selection of potential non-gaming customers.

Conversion

“The (binary options) ‘image’ is closer to ‘Wall Street’, opposed to the chewed up ‘Las Vegas’, enabling you access to a wide, untapped selection of potential nongaming customers.”

Weak point of the industry, at large, and this vertical doesn’t buck that trend. In fact, considering that advertising faces fewer hurdles and, as such, the message can reach a wider audience, it is somewhat surprising that the average ratios are only in the neighbourhood of 15 to 20 percent. How can you as an affiliate improve it? Quality traffic, of course, which may target a narrower segment of the population, but one that has a special interest in the activity.

House advantage

Retention

So, what does it all equate to? To begin with, it’s important to understand that a binary options company is using the same method as casinos, so the operation always calculates a certain edge to maintain, which is the calculated margin between the CALL and PUT payouts. In most cases, this can range from seven to 20 percent, with ratios mostly above the ten percent mark. For a reference, European roulette has an edge of

The lifespan of a binary customer is significantly shorter than that within conventional verticals such as casino or poker, and are similar to Forex in that a few months is often the best case scenario. That said, due to the increased edge, the generated volume of net revenue is quite significant, resulting with an average lifetime value (LTV) of circa $800 to $1,200.

Conclusion How does it all affect your business? Semilegal keywords targeting, along with an exceptional high customer LTV means that you can: ●●Cautiously rely on Rev Share deals, knowing that are less risks, in terms of how much money your cut of the deal would be worth, yet that in all likelihood, converted hits will not provide steady income for the long-term. ●●Aim for casino-like CPAs, as the expected income is usually in the upper end of the chart, allowing enough room for your account manager to wiggle around. Note: be careful before picking the right operators to work with, since with customer facing indictors within the boundaries of the abovementioned parameters, you should only send your traffic to companies with the tools and understanding to please your customers. It really is a 1/0 game.

SHAHAR ATTIAS, the Founder and CEO of Hybrid Interaction Ltd, is a globally recognised retention and loyalty expert, and a frequent speaker at iGaming Conferences (iCE, iGamingAsia, iGaming Super Show, etc). Since 2007, Hybrid Interaction has grown into the industry’s leading iGaming CRM Consultancy, with a portfolio including: bwin.party, Playtech, Win2Day, Casino Club, EZtrader/Global Option, Play65, Grand Duke, eToro, Gioco Digitale, Viaden and more. Come meet us during the Barcelona Affiliate Conference for a FREE 30 minute “Operational Benchmarking Analysis”. You’ll be glad you did. shahar@hybridinteraction.com | +97252-8577539

iGB Affiliate AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011

INSIGHT

RANK HIGHER How iGaming affiliates can get the most out of their SEO strategy.

AS GOOGLE continues to roll out changes to its algorithms, how do you really achieve those elusive first page rankings? It may seem difficult, but by following some basic guidelines, any affiliate site can keep pace in search engines within the iGaming industry. By applying these white hat SEO techniques for optimising websites on and off-page, affiliates can present their sites in optimal positions.

On-page Clear navigation and interlinking In order to rank high in search engine listings, it is important to have a site that

is easy to navigate. You especially want to have search engine-friendly navigation for your website – otherwise, you’re not likely to see any benefits from SEO. To get your site navigation search engine-friendly, place your most important content at the beginning of your navigation and only one click away from the homepage. Link less important content from your footer and a dynamic side bar that changes depending on the page you are on. Also, have every page on your site accessible, whether through the navigation bar or linking from an inner page. If users cannot find the content they are looking for, then

neither can crawlers! Recently, there has been a lot of talk on the benefits of placing rel=”nofollow” to preserve and sculpt page rank. In reality, this only reduces the effective page rank of the linking page. Instead, consolidate your links. One way to do this is combining your privacy policy, terms and conditions, and other less content-rich links on one page.

URL structure The URL structure of your site and the way each page is connected are vital practices in SEO to help your site rank. Follow these easy strategies to keep your URLs search engine-friendly: ●●Keep your URL case sensitive. Given that URLs can accept both upper and lowercase characters, refrain from having uppercase characters in your URL structure since people are most likely to link to URLs with lowercase. To avoid duplicate content issues and to preserve link juice, place a 301 redirect to all URLs in uppercase which go to lowercase characters. ●●Use dashes before underscores. When creating URLs that contain multiple words, it is recommended to use hyphens to separate. Although Google accepts both hyphens and underscores, Google sees a hyphenated word as an individual one. ●●Keep URLs short. Shortening URLs is user friendly as they are easier for people to remember, copy and paste, or write down. Keep your URLs shorter than five words; anything beyond five words gives less weight to those keywords. ●●Use targeted keywords. Help search engines determine the content or theme of your site by including keywords in the file and folder names. Your URL should reflect the content of that page. By keeping your URLs consistent and clean, search engines will have an easier time crawling your site and understanding the theme of your content, thus giving your site more visibility in search engines.

Site speed Page speed is an important factor in increasing site visibility in search engines,

as well as enhancing user experience. Furthermore, the load time of a site is a ranking factor in Google’s algorithms. Make sure to follow these tips to speed up the load time of your site: ●●Keep HTTP requests to a minimum. Reduce the number of images and scripts that your page has to load. This also includes minimising 301 redirects. ●●Reduce the amount of Flash. Search engines cannot crawl Flash… period. Don’t even bother with Flash developers who claim that Google is indexing and reading Flash without difficulties. The fundamentals of optimising text are lost when using Flash and diminish the ability to optimise ‘.img’ alt tags and other text that is possible with HTML.

“By keeping your URLs consistent and clean, search engines will have an easier time crawling your site and understanding the theme of your content.” Don’t forget sitemaps! Creating a sitemap for your website is essential when making your site search engine-friendly. Create both a sitemap.xml and an HTML sitemap. By having all your links on one page, search engines will have an easier time knowing what your site is, and subsequently finding and indexing every page.

Quality content If your site has high-quality content, you will see an increase in your rankings in the SERPs. With Google’s new Panda algorithm, quality content is one of the most essential factors in achieving prime positions. The Panda algorithm is focused on assessing website quality by crawling and identifying pages that use ‘spammy’ techniques and duplicated and poor-quality content. Google has begun penalising many websites (most notably JC Penny and eHow) and will continue to do so as Panda 2.2 comes into force. To keep your content eminent, focus on strong keyword research and optimising your alt and meta tags. Follow these points to help avoid penalty: ●●Watch for bounce rate. Is your content what users are looking for and want to read? If not, they will leave your page immediately, thereby increasing your bounce rate. Pages with a high bounce rate will be perceived by Google as

spammy or containing poor content. your content fresh. ●●Remove all duplicate content. ●●Fix broken pages. Having broken pages in Google’s index will undoubtedly hurt your site. Place 301 redirects to the most accommodating pages (but do not redirect all pages to your homepage unless necessary) or have content put on the broken pages. ●●Keep

Even if your site has been recently penalised by the Panda algorithm, you can often have this penalty lifted by following the above tips. Another important SEO tactic is utilising keyword research in content production. Keep your keywords relevant and targeted towards the theme of your content. Refrain from trying to trick Google by ranking for casino rooms when your content is about lottery. Use webmaster tools to find what your keyword density is and platforms like Wordtracker and SEOmoz’s Keyword Difficulty Tool to find keywords that generate traffic. Lastly, optimise your alt and meta tags to allow crawlers to fully understand the theme of your site. Meta titles, descriptions, keyword tags and title tags should be optimised uniquely for each page with a focus on one to three keywords. You should also attempt to increase your keyword density to about three to five percent while taking caution not to keyword-stuff.

Off-page Link popularity Link building is one of the oldest practices in SEO and, if done properly, offers positive results. The simplest way of understanding link building for SEO is to think that every web page online has votes; PageRank tracks these votes via tracking links. Every inbound link towards your site is one vote. Of course, only relevant inbound links will benefit your site, so acquiring a link from a clothing company to your iGaming website will have very little value. Here are a few tips to strengthen your link building strategy: ●●Research partners that rank for terms you’re targeting. Inbound links from sites that rank for similar terms will give your site more leverage. Focus on quality, not PageRank (PR). Although PR is a strong factor for acquiring links, relevancy has more pull when it comes to ranking on Google. An inbound link from a site with a high PR but irrelevant and poor content will give you less leverage than one from a quality website

with low PR but good search engine rankings. ●●Obtain links to your inner pages. Deep linking will allow the link juice to flow naturally within your site. ●●Obtain links on top placements. Having a link in the footer of a website is less effective than links on the top left side of the page or surrounded by text. ●●Don’t saturate your anchor text. Avoid link building for only one anchor text. Focus on three to four strong anchor texts to increase the natural feel of link acquisition.

“Search engines cannot crawl Flash… period. The fundamentals of optimising text are lost when using Flash and diminish the ability to optimise ‘.img’ alt tags and other text that is possible with HTML.” Obtaining inbound links can be a difficult process. Time and effort are the main resources needed for link building. So keep it as personal as possible when exchanging with webmasters. It will be worth it in the end. Outbound linking is another ranking factor associated with link popularity. Manage the external links on your site and refrain from linking out to websites that are link farms or hold links from spammy websites. In the competitive iGaming industry, achieving the first page rankings can be tedious and time consuming work. Give your website a break, and avoid spammy techniques that will boost you to the first page temporarily and artificially. Follow the trends of Google’s algorithms so competitors cannot sneak past you. By following these on and off-page SEO tips, your site should generate more traffic and build long-term value.

AMANDA MILEK is the SEM and SEO specialist at Income Access. Passionate about the Internet sphere, Amanda provides strategies to iGaming affiliates and operators to help them achieve increased visibility on search engines, and online strategies to assist partners in reaching their marketing goals.

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tips

£$ 62

INSIGHT

RAISING YOUR REVENUE Top tips for earning more from your affiliate programs. YOU READ IT all the time: anyone can succeed in earning easy money online. While it is true that any affiliate can succeed, it certainly isn’t easy and having a concrete strategy for earning more money from the affiliate programs you promote is far more likely to get you on the road to riches than any get-rich-quick scheme. With mergers, acquisitions and operators squeezing margins in the iGaming industry, it can be more challenging for affiliates to make a strong case for increasing their commissions. Consider these four tips for earning more from your affiliate programs.

Market across the board If your business strategy includes creating value by inserting your affiliate links within relative content, then sharing your message across the board becomes almost mandatory for increasing your reach and, ultimately, your return on investment (ROI). (I say if because if your strategy leans more toward posting banners and less toward creating value, then marketing across the board may not have the same positive effect.) This comes down to a strategy that we often talk about, which is essentially ‘not putting all your affiliate eggs in one basket’. This may mean that you have a blog and then share your content via social media outlets, videos, forums, newsletters and other strategic channels that allow you to spread your message to the masses and increase your opportunity. Keep in mind here that depending on what you promote, your message may do better in one specific venue over another. Therefore, tracking your campaigns becomes an important part of your marketing tactics. Knowing what methods work best for you is not only important to your long-term success but acts as part of your business intelligence, which you will then be able to share with key affiliate programs in your quest to earn more money. It’s one thing to say that you actively market across the board to consistently attract quality players. It’s quite another to have the metrics that demonstrate how you market across the board and a breakdown of the ROI as well as the acquisition cost per player. Ask most affiliate managers which of the two scenarios would most pique their interest and I would wager the latter kind of affiliate gets more attention.

Remain targeted In affiliate marketing, the more targeted your campaign is, the higher your chances for success. As detailed earlier, this may mean that you target specific online or offline media where you know you have the greatest chance of getting a return. Remaining targeted also implies that you are using language, tone, vocabulary and images that will have the greatest impact on your target audience. For instance, a poker affiliate and bingo affiliate will communicate with their players very differently. Using language as part of your strategy comes down to really knowing your players, their needs and especially their behaviour. A great way to see how language can affect your marketing strategy is to play with pay per click (PPC) ads. With PPC, you can rotate a couple of ads with two very distinct calls-to-action, and see which one garners the greatest response. You can then use the intelligence that you gather across all your other campaigns. Another way of remaining targeted is displaying banners on the right day, month, time, or around specific events and, of course, testing. As an iGaming affiliate, you may be promoting a variety of verticals, so part of your success will revolve around knowing, for instance, when it is most effective to target your casino players versus

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your poker players. Assuming that your landing page is conducive to both markets, you can rotate your banners so that your top slots are displaying your best banner at the best time. This may mean that you promote your casino games during the day and switch over to your poker banners at night or during the weekend. If you are dedicated to one vertical, then you can still use this strategy to promote specific games during optimal periods when you know your traffic will convert better. Again, the goal here is to demonstrate your knowledge and expertise as an affiliate. When you can demonstrate to an affiliate manager that you have done your research, are applying it and benefiting from the results, it helps to illustrate your professionalism. You are not marketing in the dark. Rather, you are consistently tracking and measuring to ensure a more savvy marketing strategy.

Know what makes your traffic tick At the root of most successful affiliates is a concise knowledge of what makes their traffic tick. In essence, this implies that you know the behaviour of your players and based on this knowledge, you are able to market better. If you are planning on asking for tenancy deals or an increase in your commission structure, start by preparing some answers to some key questions that are sure to come up: ● Where does your traffic come from? ● What converts your traffic – and why? ● How many new depositing players are you generating per month? ● What is the revenue generated by your players? ● What type of traffic is your site currently generating? ● How many unique clicks/impressions are you generating per month? ● What is your acquisition cost per player?

Asking yourself these questions will get you in the habit of analysing your affiliate business and then based on this information, tweaking your strategy so that your results become consistently stronger.

Make a case for yourself Once you are confident that you are marketing effectively, successfully reaching and converting your target audience and seeing your efforts yield results, you are ready to make a case for yourself. Whether you put together a PDF, a PowerPoint, or simply gather your points in a great email, it is important to demonstrate what kind of return the affiliate program can earn on their investment in you. To support your presentation, you can also provide affiliate managers with key metrics available through your software reports. A quick screenshot of your stats and performance over a six-month period speaks volumes in terms of the quality of your players, your consistency as an affiliate and the overall value that you bring to a program. As a last note here, while stats, results and consistency are paramount to making a case for yourself and earning more money, they are further strengthened with strong relationships. Get to know your affiliate manager by keeping in regular contact, providing feedback and creating a rapport with them so that you always remain ‘top of mind’. Just as in a job application process, your stats and reports act as your resume, while your relationship skills are like the in-person interview – so let your personal skills shine, and then seal the deal with your stellar stats.

NICKY SENYARD is CEO of Income Access, overseeing their independent iGaming affiliate network, market-leading affiliate software and expert affiliate management services.

iGB Affiliate Directory 2012 Be seen by over 12,000 affiliates The iGB Affiliate Directory is the most comprehensive suppliers directory for affiliates in iGaming and with over 100 programs and suppliers listed it is an essential place to be seen. Prices start at just £395 including an online listing. For more information contact: Richard Wanigasekera on Richard@igamingbusiness.com or +44 (0) 207 9543437

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INSIGHT

AFFILIATE MARKETING BY NUMBERS The growing opportunity for affiliates in the European online lotteries sector, by affiliate marketing professional, Marius Filip. The affiliate marketing opportunity In the largely cluttered and competitive nature of today’s iGaming affiliate space, the promotion of online lotteries via affiliate marketing is quickly becoming a niche with real earning potential. Although ‘lottery’ doesn’t quite have the SEO power of poker, bingo or sportsbetting, it is a growing market with a bright future. Indeed, for those affiliates already promoting online lotteries, a key strategy in enhancing your offering would be to adopt lottery-based games as side products in your promotional campaigns for bingo and casino, where there is significant potential for cross selling between the demographics. A similar approach can be adopted by casino and bingo affiliates, who can develop their portfolios by adding lottery products as side games (side/mini games represent a high portion of revenue for bingo operators across the industry). For those affiliates who have yet to venture into the lotteries market, it’s important (and good) to know that the major lottery brands have a strict policy of transparency in their program administration, so affiliates are provided with daily updated reporting functionality in their accounts. The majority of these brands also strive to provide their affiliates with stimulating commission packages and attractive promotions so as to build a successful partnership with longevity as its bedrock. The commission plan will usually be very similar in its structure to other iGaming products: a) revenue share deals, whereby affiliates can generally earn up to 40 percent on the total value of sales from their referred players; b) CPA deals, which is very attractive for those affiliates who require constant cash flow to reinvest the money to maintain their websites, run contests and new promotions; or c) Hybrid deals, which are a combination of CPA + rev share (this is an unrivalled commission structure in the lottery affiliate industry at present). In addition, affiliates will continue to earn revenue from their referred players

iGB Affiliate AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011

for as long as they continue to advertise the lottery brands. Figure 1 illustrates a common example of the progressive revenue share commission model that the majority of lottery brands currently offer to affiliates. The most popular methods used by lottery affiliates to build traffic and increase conversions are as follows: ● Applying a good SEO strategy to increase organic results with the most popular keywords for online lottery. According to Google’s keywords tool, there isn’t much SEO competition for the term ‘lottery games’ in Europe. ● Using all social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter and especially YouTube, helps to grow a community for your players as they spread the word with their friends and contacts. ● Writing unique, fresh and interesting content together with organising attractive weekly contests stimulates users to return and keeps them happy. ● Regular posts in related forums and chat rooms encourage new players to buy lottery tickets. ● Email marketing with attractive bonuses and tailored marketing messages can be beneficial for those with their own database. Combining all of these methods can have a huge impact on an affiliate’s chances of conversion and lead to increased profitability and gradual, steady growth.

Optimum gains Increasingly, lottery games and products are becoming one of the most popular forms of interactive gaming on the market, due in no small part to the fact that online lottery interfaces offer players an easier, diverse and more exciting way to enjoy lotto games. That ease of use, combined with the game’s existing popularity, spells big marketing potential for iGaming affiliates in the European market, where there is (at the moment at least) a low competitive threshold for this product. Although it’s a smaller niche, the opportunity for lottery affiliation covers almost as much ground as any other segment of online gaming. There are a great number of online lottery sites that offer games in a dozen or more languages, helping to increase this product’s popularity, particularly across Europe. All of this suggests that the optimum time to promote online lotteries is while the competitive affiliate market is still small and far from the convoluted, saturated environments currently blighting some of the more traditional verticals. That optimum time would be now. The strength and market share that lotteries command are well-known within the industry and this will gradually attract more and more affiliates to enter the lottery landscape. For affiliates, first mover advantage will be key.

Figure 1 Level

Number of Tickets Sold

Ticket Value

Affiliate Commission

Minimum Commission

Maximum Commission

1-5

ˆ 50

25%

ˆ 12.5

ˆ 62.5

6-25

ˆ 50

30%

ˆ 15

ˆ 375

26-75

ˆ 50

35%

ˆ 17.5

ˆ 1,312.5

76+

ˆ 50

40%

ˆ 20

ˆ 1,520 +

TOTAL

ˆ 3,270

webmaster world

GooGle+ and the Future oF Social rankinG SiGnalS Addressing the changes brought by the Google +1 button and the new Google+ Social Network. GooGle+ marks the beginning of a new era in the world of search, which is likely to be based on hard sales (towards the website owners) and social ranking signals. As a newcomer, Google+ offers more or less the same goodies as its competition, wrapped in different packaging. However, unlike other products previously rolled up by Google such as Google Wave or Google Buzz, the Google+ project is likely to be successful mainly because it combines simplicity and innovation with an incentivebased business model. Launched as a Facebook competitor, Google+ is aimed at becoming a global social network, which can provide standardised and structured data to be factored in the universal search algorithm. Google already controls search. Controlling social media would mean that Google is able to spot trends, enhance quality scores, and detect interactions and social maps within hubs and specialised groups and much more, all on the fly. For the first time ever, in an aggressive marketing stunt, Google warned that the Google +1 button is a ranking factor, therefore affecting the SERPs. In my opinion, this approach was meant to address two major issues. Firstly, Google had to brand the service. What could be better than ‘forcefully’ buying-in the webmaster community? Tempted by getting better rankings, webmasters are likely to want to place the +1 button on their site, raising awareness among their user base. This would also ensure that the program will not fail in the same way as its predecessors. Those failing to comply would lose, since their competitors might get an organic boost due to the new ranking factor. Secondly, by taking a similar approach as to Facebook ‘Like’ button, Google indirectly ensured that webmasters (due to design concerns and lack of incentives) might ditch the Facebook Like for the new Google +1. The critical question here is: how can a website owner anticipate Google’s next move and ensure that it benefits from doing so? We can highlight the strategic and operational advantages.

strategic From a strategic point of view, it will be interesting to see how Google+ will focus not on attracting new users, but rather on keeping them ‘in’ and interested. After the initial wave of registrations, Google might have a hard time in engaging its user base, and this is why the search giant has been talking to gaming firms about integrating their games as one part of the new social networking service, as the Wall Street Journal reported. This means that soon, a new market will open for gaming operators. Unlike the Facebook market, which is already mature, here, the new entry advantage might lead to important profits. Of course, the risk associated is also greater, since the network might not gain the expected traction.

operational From an operational point of view, a typical website owner should raise the following question: how can Google+ help my business? Besides the direct ‘ranking factor’ discussion, we truly expect a ‘+1 rush’ to start in the next period, especially if the +1 button is going to be a heavy ranking signal. +1 might lead to a faster discovery and indexing of a new page in SERPs, and combined with the Panda Update, it might also provide a better assessment of how relevant and popular a page is, separating low quality content from engaging content. The particularity about the gaming niche is that +1 is far more lucrative here than in most industries. For example, users are definitely more liable to like a free demo of a game than an article, so in the early stage, this might even prompt a freebie frenzy (from gaming operators). Another way of gaining +1s might be PPC, where budgets could be driven up by the increase in competition. Last but not least, +1 might be seen as a trustworthy signal since it factors in the vote of trust submitted by users engaged in a monitored community. Therefore, a +1 coming from a well connected individual might outweigh in importance a +1 coming from a more

‘socially isolated’ individual. If links map the relations between pages, then +1 maps the relations between people, pages and products. If a wide user base liked and ‘1d’ a product, then the probability of others (from similar social circles) doing so, is heightened. This means that Google can serve results which are more targeted and better focused on the needs of the community. And since Google’s profit is derived from its advertisers’ budgets (and AdWords), it also means that the new +1 project will open a new channel for improving the targeting of users according to preferences and behaviour.

takeaways ●● Google revealed that Google+ is a

ranking factor, in order to perform a hard sale on webmasters, get more exposure and ensure the program will not fail. ●● The weight of the +1 might increase in time. ●● +1 factor is not so easy to manipulate (unlike links) since it can be based on assessing the relationships in the actual social graph. ●● AdWords, Chrome, Google+, +1 button, YouTube and Google Search form an incredibly powerful network. ●● Google is likely to use the social graph for much more than just counting +1s.

Petra Novakova is SEO Consultant at Evosoft Media, an online marketing agency based in Brussels, Belgium. Born in the Czech Republic, Petra obtained her degree in digital media and has more than five years of experience in search engine marketing and optimisation. At Evosoft, she coordinates a team of consultants focusing on social search and is also a Project Manager for cv.ro, a leading recruitment portal in Eastern Europe. For any specific questions, please don’t hesitate and send an email to petra.novakova@evosoftmedia.com.

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NEW HORIZONS ON THE EMERALD SEA I ain’t gonna lie; I am no social media creature… not that it matters much. Despite recent reports about Facebook losing momentum in Europe and North America, its staggering worldwide user count still indicates I’m part of a rare and possibly dying breed. AS ONLINE marketers, however, we have a duty to keep abreast of new developments in the social media and search arenas, simply because that’s where online traffic flows best these days. And boy is there daily news on these fronts: Specific Media buying a discounted MySpace from News Corp, a LinkedIn IPO valuating the company at more than $9 billion. On Google’s doorstep, the forthcoming Yahoo!/Bing alliance, combined with the growing promiscuity between Microsoft and Facebook (Bing, Skype) sees the ‘Big G’s’ algorithm-based business haemorrhage traffic to more people centric destinations. Then there’s Google launching Google+. Now that’s right up our street: the boundaries between search and social blurring even further. Let’s take a closer look.

Google and social It would be short-sighted to reduce Google’s latest effort to crack the social nut as a belated reaction to social media’s success in recent years. Google’s interest in the field extends as far back as January 2004 with the launch of Orkut, one of the world’s first social platforms, released one month ahead of Facebook hitting Harvard. Named after its creator, Google employee Orkut Büyükökte (good thing they used his first name), the venture starts well, but gradually loses ground to MySpace and the emerging Facebook. It’s now operated from Brazil, its most successful market, which represents almost 50 percent of its users (followed closely by India at 40 percent). Skip forward five years. It’s now May 2009 and, in a renewed foray into the social media space, Google Wave is launched.

Spun as a real-time communication platform – part email, part Twitter, part instant messaging – it never really takes off, because, as per Google’s own account, it “has not seen the user adoption we would have liked”. Try again. Less than a year later, in February 2010, Google Buzz is unveiled as a range of social features stapled to Google’s web-based email system, Gmail. Buzz quickly attracts the wrong kind of attention – including a class action lawsuit – thanks to the inadequate thinking behind its initial privacy framework. A default setting of sharing email contacts and the inability for users without a Google profile to make their information private prompts press outfits such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to describe Buzz’s arrival as having “ignited a hailstorm of criticism”. CBC indicates, “One user blogged about how Buzz automatically added her abusive ex-boyfriend as a follower and exposed her communications with a current partner to him. Other bloggers commented that repressive governments in countries such as China or Iran could use Buzz to expose dissidents”. Not good. Next.

Emerald sea If you’re reading this, there’s no doubt you‘ve heard about Google +1. Hailed as Google’s answer to Facebook’s ‘Like’ button, it enables logged-in Google users to recommend a search result or webpage. On a website, a total count of all ‘+1s’ is displayed next to the +1 button, giving you an idea on how successful a webpage is. Nothing special there; ‘Like’ stuff. More interestingly, when one of your friends +

1s a webpage, a personal recommendation (John Smith +1d this) shows on that page, but also in algorithmically altered Google search results. Now that’s new: social recommendations directly and unashamedly plugged into Google’s core activity. We all know this is only going to work socially if it achieves critical mass. But can Google pull it off? Google +1 is just one component of Google’s largest social project to date. Codenamed Emerald Sea in its development phase, it is now officially known as Google+. After initial testing using its own employees as guinea pigs, Google decided to phase out the release, unmoored some features into separate products and launched separately. The +1 button is one of these features. At the time of writing, Google+ is being rolled out on a limited field trial, meaning if you don’t have close friends at Google you won’t get up close and personal with this bad boy. Luckily, it recently released more details on its functionalities. Google+ works within the Google Profiles environment, but not as we know it. The company is in the process of phasing out the old style ‘private’ profiles, as they arguably defeat social purposes: help people find friends and connect with them. All private profiles will be deleted and only public ones will remain. Wise move, as it will prevent further privacy outcry from people claiming they were not aware of the change. Core Google+ functionalities include Sparks, a media newsfeed you can customise and share with friends. The Circles function allows users to create groups, assign people to groups, and decide who sees what. One can create a ‘Family’

circle where you select with whom to share personal information, a ‘TT’ circle to share your passion for Take That (if you so happen to like the band), or a ‘Work’ circle where selected users only gets access to work or innocuous stuff – not that picture of you hanging naked from a chandelier. That, you can assign to another group called ‘Chandelier’, and share only with likeminded naked chandelier swingers – if you know any (I don’t). Hangouts is a multi-user video conferencing system, while Huddle creates on-the-fly groups for web and mobile conversations. Instant Upload allows for instant uploading of photos and videos (web or mobile) straight to your profile.

Why should you care? Google processes about two-thirds of online searches worldwide and 89.8 percent in the UK. At this point in time, as affiliate marketers, our income depends on Google more than anyone else. Not Facebook, not Twitter. Just as for ‘Like’, a count of +1s will be displayed on every page the +1 functionality/ button has been embedded on. This count will display whether your visitors are loggedin to Google or not. As a website owner, a large number of +1s on your website pages will confer another sense of popularity to your online property. Moreover, +1 is already

factored in the Google search algorithm. If friends in your + network have +1d a site that is somehow linked to your search terms, the algorithm will bump this result up the rankings as it will see it as more relevant to the social ‘you’. Also worth noting is that +1 metrics are already available in Google Webmaster Tools. There’s no hurt in trying and monitoring it closely. If Google Profiles fails to reach critical mass – by far its biggest challenge – you can bet it will recycle data accumulated in the exercise, because it has value, so not everything will be lost. Finally, the +1 button you can add to your site is even more recessive than the Facebook ‘Like’ button. If you allowed space for this, why not allow space for +1s too if that can help lift your perceived popularity and potentially boost your Google rankings for + networked users?

An enlightening allegory A giant hand-painted mural welcomes visitors to the Google campus building where the Emerald Sea project started. It represents a stormy coastline, where a giant wave is about to swallow a modest sailing ship. The image was found by Google VP of product management, Bradley Horowitz, when he searched for ‘Emerald Sea’ in Google images. The 1878 painting, from

German artist Albert Bierstadt, captured Horowitz’s imagination so much that he commissioned a pair of art students to copy it on the office wall. When asked about the meaning behind the codename and the painting, Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice President of social for Google, explained: “We needed a codename that captured the fact that either there was a great opportunity to sail to new horizons and new things, or that we were going to drown by this wave.” “Drown”. You heard it. From Google. Now if that’s not a clear indication about how serious it is about Google+, I don’t know what is.

PIERRICK LEVEQUE is Head of Acquisition at Virgin Games, managing the homegrown affiliate program as part of the overall customer acquisition strategy. “Affiliate Program of the Year” EGR Awards 2010 and 2009 “Best Casino/Gaming Affiliate Program” A4U Awards 2008 “Best Bingo Affiliate Manager” CAP/IGB Awards 2009 W: www.virgingames.com/affiliates | E: affiliates@virgingames.com B: www.pierrickprk.wordpress.com | T: (+44) 208 237 1563

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webmaster world

InternatIonal Market SnapShot The latest market data from Experian Hitwise gives us a structured breakdown of the target audiences within some of the major international markets. Here, we assess the demographic data sets that can better inform us about the gaming consumers affiliates regularly market to. THE WEBSITE AND industry demographic reports from Experian Hitwise provide iGaming companies with an analysis of the consumption of industry products by country, sub-regions (counties/states/provinces/cities) within those countries and a

profile of the consumers visiting their sites. The latest report is cast over a four week period ending on July 2, 2011, and details activity for the gaming markets in the US, UK, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore. Here, we access the landscapes in the US and the UK.

USA Age of visitors to gambling sites

Gender of visitors to gambling sites

40%

Male, 49.85%

34.71

32% 23.87%

24% 16%

13.87%

11.03%

16.52%

8% 0% Female, 50.15%

18-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

Household income of visitors to gambling sites 40%

State visitors to gambling sites

32%

32.62% 26.27%

24.94%

24% 16%

11.57%

8% 0%

4.61% <30k

30-60k

60-100k

100-150k

VantageScore速 of visitors to gambling sites 30% 24% <1%

1-5%

5-10%

55+

10-20%

20-50%

>50%

18.77%

18% 12%

DMA (Designated Market Area) of visitors to gambling sites.

>150k 28.98%

23%

20.18%

9.07%

6% 0% A B C (901-990) (801-900) (701-800)

<1%

1-3%

3-6%

6-9%

iGB Affiliate AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011

9-12%

>12%

D F (601-700) (501-600)

WEBSITES

DoMAIN

VISITS SHARE

Lottery Post

www.lotterypost.com

4.22%

Florida Lottery

www.flalottery.com

4.13%

FreeSlots

www.freeslots.com

4.09%

Pennsylvania Lottery

www.palottery.state.pa.us

3.60%

NY Lottery

www.nylottery.org

3.48%

King.com

www.king.com

3.36%

WorldWinner

www.worldwinner.com

3.32%

California Lottery

www.calottery.com

2.65%

Texas Lottery Commission

www.txlottery.org

2.32%

Georgia Lottery

www.galottery.com

2.28%

US Although currently off-limits, it is always of interest to explore the American market. What this report tells us is that the US online gambler is more likely to be female, over the age of 55, earning $30,000 to $60,000 per year and, interestingly, will not live in any of Iowa (the first state to pass state-level iGaming regulation), Kansas or Nebraska. Many of the states accounting for the majority of gaming consumers are those you’d expect to find on this report, with the highest concentrations in California (10-20%), Texas, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania (all 5-10%). However, the most intriguing information on this page, and possibly the most pertinent for gaming companies, is captured in the VantageScore® graph. VantageScore® is a system created by the collaboration of the UK’s three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, which provides a scale by which consumer demographics can be measured for credit risk assessment. This system helps companies predict the likelihood of delinquencies (late/non-payments) for potential customers and for gaming companies, this information is vital in understanding the nature and/or personality of the customer you are targeting. In an age where ‘problem gambling’ is becoming an increasingly reported concern, particularly in the US where opponents of gambling regulation constantly point to the surge in addiction and the ‘social damage’ that legalisation will bring, having the information at hand to avoid ‘high risk’ demographics has never been so vital. The system calculates risk on a scale between 901 to 600 – the lower the number, the higher the risk category. As we can see, almost 30% of people who gamble online in the US are in the

high risk category with 23% being in the ‘next-worst’ band which means that over half (51.98%) of all online players in the US can be considered higher risk customers. Naturally, this doesn’t directly affect gaming companies because there are no credit agreements between operator/affiliate and the player, but for player information and market assessment, this is the type of market research that should be considered even for the markets you already operate in and/or market into. Affiliates may wonder if such a system can be applied to the affiliate programs they promote, particularly in light of the recent indictments and licence suspensions.

UK One of the first things you notice about the data in both countries is the relative parity in relation to gender. Gambling has long been branded as a male dominated pastime, but the Internet would appear to have levelled the playing field somewhat and although the UK still reports a higher proportion of males gambling online, it does so by the minutest of margins. The age demographic is also slightly younger than in the US; despite the highest proportion still being above 55 years old, there is a more even distribution of ages which means that there is plenty of potential for your marketing message to reach a wide range of generationally-led cultures and demands. All in all, the information provided in this report offers a snapshot of the world the industry markets to in a given month, and provides valuable statistics and data to consider when preparing products and campaigns for both new and existing iGaming markets.

UK Age of visitors to gambling sites

Gender of visitors to gambling sites

30%

Male, 51.46%

27.7%

24% 18%

15.51%

17.61%

20.54%

18.64%

12% 6% 0%

18-24

25-34

35-44

45-54

55+

Female, 48.54% Postal areas of visitors to gambling sites Region of visitors to gambling sites

Postal Areas (5 of 121)

<1% 1-5% 5-10% 10-20% 20-50% >50%

Visits Share

AB - Aberdeen

0.73%

AL - St Albans

0.35%

B - Birmingham

2.71%

BA - Bath

0.36%

BB - Blackburn

0.92%

WEBSITES

DoMAIN

VST SHA

The National Lottery

www.national-lottery.co.uk

29.50%

William Hill

www.williamhill.com

5.23%

Betfair

www.betfair.com

3.89%

Racingpost.com

www.racingpost.com

3.72%

Ladbrokes Sportsbook

sports.ladbrokes.com

3.70%

bet365

www.bet365.com

3.45%

William Hill Sports Betting

sports.williamhill.com

3.31%

Jackpotjoy

www.jackpotjoy.com

2.69%

At The Races

www.attheraces.com

2.10%

Paddy Power

www.paddypower.com

2.09%

iGB Affiliate AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011

WEBMASTER WORLD

DATA FEED Search marketing agency, Greenlight, has released its quarterly report into search traffic trends within the gaming sector. Here, we can see the latest from the UK market in relation to search queries for the traditional iGaming verticals: casino, poker, bingo and sportsbetting. THE MOST RECENT quarterly report from search marketing agency, Greenlight, details a continuation of the plateau in search activity in the UK market relative to the volumes being enjoyed up until August 2010. June 2011 reported just 863,000 searches related to gaming products/keywords, which although represents a 12 percent increase from the previous month, is still the second lowest volume of searches this year to date. It is also a far cry from the heights of August 2010 where search volumes peaked at over 2.5 million.

Another trend continuing from August 2010 is that ‘bingo’ remains the top searched keyword within the accumulated data set with a reported 74,000 searches in June 2011 comparable to 49,500 for poker. June’s total (for bingo) is a notable 127,000 reduction from that charted in July and August 2010 – this decrease almost entirely uniform across all monitored data. As we have discussed in the past, we can attribute the decrease in search volumes to any number of factors one of the

Monthly search volumes Gaming sector - Total search volumes in the past 12 months 3,000,000 3,000,000

2,500,000 2,500,000 2,000,000 2,000,000 1,500,000 1,500,000

1,000,000 1,000,000

500,000 500,000 0 0 Jul-‐10 Jul-10

Aug-‐10 Aug-10

Sep-‐10 Sep-10

Oct-‐10 Oct-10

Nov-‐10 Nov-10

Dec-‐10 Dec-10

Jan-‐11 Jan-11

Feb-‐11 Feb-11

Mar-‐11 Mar-11

Apr-‐11 Apr-11

May-‐11 May-11

Jun-‐11 Jun-11

Source: Greenlight/Google Adwords In September 2010, there was a significant development regarding Google AdWords. In that month, Google rolled out its new AdWords keyword tool, which calculates searches purely on Google.co.uk searches alone. Previously, Google released UK search volumes accounted for searches on its .co.uk search engine and its search partner engines. As Google presented data across a number of search engines, search volumes for many keywords were greater than they appeared in September and thereafter.

Top 10 keywords

Bingo Poker Free bingo Bet Bingo sites Casino Free poker Online Bingo Online casino Betting

300,000 3,000,000

250,000 2,500,000

200,000 2,000,000

150,000 1,500,000

Bingo Poker Free bingo Bet Bingo sites Casino Free poker

100,000 1,000,000

Online Bingo Online casino BeEng

50,000 500,000

00 Jul-‐10 Jul-10

Aug-‐10 Aug-10

Sep-‐10 Sep-10

Source: Greenlight/Google Adwords

iGB Affiliate AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011

Oct-‐10 Oct-10

Nov-‐10 Nov-10

Dec-‐10 Dec-10

Jan-‐11 Jan-11

Feb-‐11 Feb-11

Mar-‐11 Mar-11

Apr-‐11 Apr-11

May-‐11 May-11

Jun-‐11 Jun-11

likeliest being the changing search patterns of the UK betting demographic. As consumers become more aware of how they navigate between the sites they use to bet or play at, their reliance on search engines decreases for short-tail terms such as those detailed here, but may increase for more specific, longer-tail keywords for which is it almost impossible to monitor and chart successfully. Many of the searches recorded for these core keywords such as ‘bingo’, ‘casino’ and ‘poker’ are more likely to be the reserve of those new to betting online, or those seeking information rather than ‘action’, hence the constant presence of Wikipedia in the Greenlight results.

Summary of data

accounted for 34 percent of the 2.5 million searches made. ● In June, there were more than 863,000 searches for gaming-

●

● ● ●

● Searches for gaming-related keywords in April, May and June

cumulatively totalled 2.5 million searches.

●

● In April, May and June, queries for bingo-related terms

related terms (an increase of 12 percent) compared with the number of searches made in May 2011 (771,000). Overall, in June, Ladbrokes was the most visible website in natural search achieving a 28 percent share of voice. Wikipedia followed with 26 percent, followed by 888.com which acquired 22 percent visibility. In June, CheekyBingo was the most visible website for bingorelated search terms, achieving a 53 percent share of voice. 888.com was the most visible website for all casino-related keywords, achieving a 49 percent share of voice. For poker-related queries, Wikipedia was the most visible website, attaining a 52 percent share of voice. Betfair was the most visible website for sportsbetting-related terms, achieving a 56 percent share of voice.

Visibility by subsector

Total searches by subsector

The top 10 most visibile websites for casino-related keywords (June 2011) Casino 302,788 Bingo 847,694 Sports betting 648,666

Poker 714,507

Source: Greenlight

DOMAIN

MONTHLY REACHED VOLUME

MONTHLY MISSED VOLUME

PERCENTAGE REACHED

888.com

58,806

60,789

49%

ladbrokes.com

55,030

64,565

46%

intercasino.co.uk

49,169

70,426

41%

wikipedia.org

36,781

82,814

31%

32red.com

36,218

83,377

30%

spinpalace.co.uk

31,965

87,630

27%

imdb.com

27,380

92,215

23%

onlinecasinoking.com

26,311

93,284

22%

paddypowercasino.com 21,121

98,474

18%

getminted.com

99,520

17%

20,075

Source: Greenlight

Most visible websites NO.

MONTHLY REACHED VOLUME

MONTHLY MISSED VOLUME

PERCENTAGE REACHED

The top 10 most visibile websites for poker-related keywords (June 2011) NO

DOMAIN

MONTHLY REACHED VOLUME

MONTHLY MISSED VOLUME

PERCENTAGE REACHED

ladbrokes.com

259,023

666,044

28%

wikipedia.org

237,511

687,556

26%

wikipedia.org

139,311

126,084

52%

888.com

200,033

725,034

22%

pokerlistings.com

97,432

167,963

37%

cheekybingo.com

176,453

748,614

19%

skypoker.com

94,551

170,844

36%

foxybingo.com

148,807

776,260

16%

fulltiltpoker.com

83,540

181,855

31%

galabingo.co.uk

129,215

795,852

14%

888.com

82,279

183,116

31%

betfair.com

116,260

808,807

13%

pkr.com

77,238

188,156

29%

costabingo.com

112,496

812,571

12%

freepoker.org

76,187

189,208

29%

jackpotjoy.com

102,625

822,442

11%

pokerstars.com

71,940

193,455

27%

sunlight-bingo.co.uk

101,645

823,422

11%

partypoker.com

49,893

215,502

19%

games.com

44,878

220,517

17%

Source: Greenlight

Visibility by subsector The top 10 most visibile websites for bingo-related keywords (June 2011) NO

DOMAIN

MONTHLY REACHED VOLUME

MONTHLY MISSED VOLUME

PERCENTAGE REACHED

cheekybingo.com

176,453

157,605

53%

foxybingo.com

148,807

185,251

45%

galabingo.co.uk

129,215

204,843

39%

costabingo.com

112,496

221,562

34%

jackpotjoy.com

102,118

231,940

31%

sunlight-bingo.co.uk

101,645

232,413

30%

winkbingo.com

98,051

236,007

29%

888ladies.com

97,075

236,983

29%

ladbrokes.com

79,103

254,955

24%

bestoffersbingo.co.uk

72,400

261,658

22%

Source: Greenlight

The top 10 most visibile websites for sports betting-related keywords (June 2011) NO

DOMAIN

MONTHLY REACHED VOLUME

MONTHLY MISSED VOLUME

PERCENTAGE REACHED

betfair.com

115,756

90,263

56%

ladbrokes.com

90,239

115,780

44%

bet365.com

84,324

121,695

41%

paddypower.com

82,356

123,663

40%

oddschecker.com

70,192

135,827

34%

betfred.com

67,261

138,758

33%

skybet.com

64,708

141,311

31%

coral.co.uk

57,840

148,179

28%

wikipedia.org

54,175

151,844

26%

olbg.com

50,651

155,368

25%

Source: Greenlight

iGB Affiliate AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011

marketplace

Welcome to the MarketPlace listings section in iGB Affiliate Magazine. All Listings below are from our iGB Affiliate Directory 2011 which is a 150 page directory of affiliate programs and services companies specifically for affiliates from translation to SEO services. To request a free copy of this publication or to have your company listed please contact Richard W on E: Richard@iGamingBusiness.com or T: +44 (0) 207 954 3437

advertising & Pr

BetOnline

PartnerLogic

Frontroom

www.affiliates.betonline.com

www.partnerlogic.com

www.frontroom.com

Betfair

Rich Club Affiliates

GameOn Marketing

www.betfair.com

www.richclubaffiliates.com

www.gameon-marketing.com

bwin

Slotland

Lyceum PR

www.bwin.org

www.slotlandaffiliates.com

www.lyceummedia.com

centrebet.com

StanJames

Market Handle

www.centrebetaffiliates.com

www.stanjamesaffiliates.com

www.markethandle.com

Chilli Casino

Star Games

McBoom

www.chilicasino.com

www.stargames.com

www.mcboom.com

ComeOn!

Star Partner

Bingo affiliate Programs

www.comeon.com

www.starpartner.com

Affiliates United

Dragonfish

Wingate Affiliates

www.affutd.com

www.dragonfishaffiliates.com

www.wingateaffiliates.com

bet 365

EuroPartners

youwin.com

www.bet365.com

www.EuroPartmers.com

www.youwin.com

Dragonfish

Fortune Affiliates

Content & translation

www.dragonfishaffiliates.com

www.fortuneaffiliates.eu

serviCes

Gala Coral

www.affiliates.galabingo.com

StarGames

Genesys Affiliates

www.stargames.com

www.genesysaffiliates.com

Casino affiliate Programs

Grande Vegas Affiliates

AffiliateClub

www.grandvegasaffiliates.com

www.AffiliateClub.com

Guru gaming

Affiliates United

www.gururevenue.com

www.affutd.com

Intertops Casino

Bet365

www.intertops.com

www.bet365.com

Jackpot Capital www.jackpotcapital.com/affiliates

iGB Affiliate august/september 2011

Market Handle

youwin.com

EuroPartners

www.markethandle.com

www.youwin.com

www.EuroPartmers.com

Moniker & SnapNames

searCH marketing (organiC)

ExtraBet

www.moniker.com

Market Handle

www.extrabet.com

email marketing

www.markethandle.com

Gala Coral

Market Handle

McBoom

www.affiliates.galabingo.com

www.markethandle.com

www.mcboom.com

Hollywood Sportsbook

Hosting & managed serviCes

Moniker & SnapNames

www.hollywoodpowerplayer.com

Moniker & SnapNames

www.moniker.com

Intertops

www.moniker.com

searCH marketing (Paid)

www.intertops.com

Poker affiliate Programs

Market Handle

ValueChecker Affiliates

AffiliateClub

www.markethandle.com

http://affiliates.valuechecker.co.uk

www.AffiliateClub.com

McBoom

Sportingbet

Affiliates United

www.mcboom.com

www.sportingbet.com

www.affutd.com

Moniker & SnapNames

StanJames

Bet365

www.moniker.com

www.stanjamesaffiliates.com

www.bet365.com

skill gaming affiliate

TOTE Sport

Betfair

Programs

www.totesportaffiliates.com

www.betfair.com

Affiliates United

Victor Chandler

bwin

www.affutd.com

www.victorchandler.com

www.bwin.org

bet 365

youwin.com

centrebet.com

www.bet365.com

www.youwin.com

www.centrebetaffiliates.com

bwin

weBdesign

Chilli Poker

www.bwin.org

Market Handle

www.chilipoker.com

Gala Coral

www.markethandle.com

ComeOn!

www.affiliates.galabingo.com

Moniker & SnapNames

www.comeon.com

Rummy Royal

www.moniker.com

Dragonfish

www.rummyroyal.com

www.dragonfishaffiliates.com

StanJames

EuroPartners

www.stanjamesaffiliates.com

www.EuroPartmers.com

StarGames

Gala Coral

www.stargames.com

www.affiliates.galabingo.com

sPorts Betting

Intertops Casino

Affiliates United

www.intertops.com

www.affutd.com

PartnerLogic

Bet365

www.partnerlogic.com

www.bet365.com

PKR

BetOnline

www.pkr.com

www.affiliates.betonline.com

Poker Pod

Betfair

www.pokerpodonline.com

www.betfair.com

StanJames

bwin

www.stanjamesaffiliates.com

www.bwin.org

Star Games

centrebet.com

www.stargames.com

www.centrebetaffiliates.com

iGB Affiliate august/september 2011

WEBMASTER WORLD

INTERVIEW

iGB Affiliate sat down with Jason “Wolf” Rosenberg, Founder and President of Global Gaming Events (GGE), to discuss the ‘global’ business appeal of affiiate event promotion. Explain the concept behind your business. The concept behind Global Gaming Events is really very simple: affiliates promote our events with their own operator affiliate links and, therefore, they make 100 percent of the affiliate revenue. Our events have thousands of dollars added to them, which gives the players a great reason to click on an affiliate’s links, set up accounts, and then make a deposit. The operator gets an amazing amount of affiliate and player traffic, and GGE gets paid as a marketing company to make it all come together. We facilitate a lot of poker events, and we are now branching out to run casino and affiliate-only tournaments as well. The key to the success of our company is that everybody wins; player, affiliate, and operator alike.

What were you doing prior to starting GGE? I started playing poker for a living online and lived in Las Vegas in early 2002. During the next three years, I worked as a consultant for several online poker rooms, and also ran a couple of poker forum communities. It was during this time that I married my sales and marketing background with my passion for poker.

Where did the idea originate from (what was the catalyst behind its implementation)? My working day would require me to wear several different hats. As a consultant, I would be thinking of marketing ideas and promotions for an operator, while studying analytics of how we had performed previously. As an affiliate, I would spend hours looking to see what affiliate program was converting the best and why. As a player, I would spend the first hour everyday looking at what site had the best promotions, overlays and overall value for my money. I started to think, “How do I get all of these people in the same place at the same time?” I literally woke up one morning

iGB Affiliate AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2011

in mid-2005 and the idea was there. I immediately wrote down the initial plan in 30 minutes and our first brand, Online Forum Challenge, was born. I then ran a very successful market test, stopped providing consulting services and sold my interests in my gaming forums to focus solely on putting together value-added events that affiliates could promote with their own links. Our first set of events was hosted at PokerStars in June, 2006.

time. We incentivise the players to play a certain number of tournaments or earn a certain number of frequent player points in order to qualify for additional money, or additional bonus tournaments. We should also point out that all our events are open to new and existing players at each of the operators, so if the affiliates have sent players in the past which have since lapsed, this is a great way to get them back playing.

Do you have a selection policy as to the types of businesses you partner with?

What other benefits does this offer the affiliate?

Our US-facing events feature hundreds of affiliates competing against each other with thousands of players. Our non-US events are, of course, a little smaller but we are growing that traffic with every event we facilitate. We are currently running poker events with Carbon Poker, EuroPoker, and Cool Hand Poker. I am really excited about our next big casino event which will be held at Jackpot City.

You mention that you see this as a great conversion tool for affiliates – would you say this concept is more an acquisition tool or does it work with retention and even the reactivation of lapsed players? Overall, our events are a great tool for affiliates to acquire, convert, retain, and reactivate players. Look at it from the player’s perspective; most affiliate sites can only offer a $50 freeroll or a buy-in with $100 added to the prize pool. With GGE Tournaments, any affiliate can offer their players the opportunity to play in a $1,000 freeroll, or a small buy-in tournament with $3,000 cash added to the prize pool. Which scenario is going to make you click on an affiliate link? Which scenario will encourage you to deposit or reload? With regards to retention, our campaigns are specifically designed to keep players interested and playing with real money over an extended period of

GGE has no player affiliate links; we want the affiliate to make as much money as possible. It is our hope that once an affiliate sees how much more money they can make by promoting our events, they will continue to promote GGE. We make it very easy to do with banners, content, and even a special iFrame code on our affiliate partner site, www.GGEpartners.com. We also offer an excellent league tracking software that is free to all affiliates. As a former affiliate, I am very interested in helping affiliates make more money and expand their databases.

What feedback have you had from operators and affiliates as to the effectiveness of using GGE tournaments? The best feedback we get is in the form of repeat clients. Full Tilt Poker has run more than 40 events with us and UB ran at least 20. We have had repeat business from Betfair, Carbon Poker, PokerStars, Cake Poker and Intertops to name just a few.

Can you tell us a little bit about your upcoming role with iGaming Business’ IGSOP tournament? I can’t really say too much right now, but GGE will be managing the online qualification portion of the IGSOP as well as helping out onsite at the LAC. We are really excited to partner with iGB on this, as it has been a long time coming.