GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 38 - July 2017

CasinoNewsDaily is available in En- glish, Spanish, Swedish and Italian; CasinoGamesPro is available in En- glish, French and Italian. Are you con- sidering adding any other languages? Do you speak any of these languages, or do you use translators? If trans- lators, do you keep full-time trans- lators on staff or hire freelancers? Yes, we are considering adding German and Norwegian soon. I do speak Italian, but we use translators, both full-time and freelancers. What makes your sites unique? How do you help them stand out from the competition? We are a Google News partner, and our main focus is to keep our customers informed about the latest news and topics from the iGaming in- dustry. We try to advertise brands with great reputations among both players and affiliates. However, the industry changes quickly, and some of the brands make wrong decisions in regard to the way they treat their players and affiliates. Do you gamble online? What about in brick-and-mortar casinos? I only play poker tournaments online, but I do not consider this a gambling activity. I have never played in a land-based casino. How often do you get to see and inter- act with other people in the industry? Have you attended any conferences? I do interact with people in the industry regularly via e-mail, chat or phone. As for the conferences, I have attended the London Affiliate Conference in the past, and in the last couple of years we’ve tried to send at least a couple of people from our team to one or two conferences a year. We intend to increase that number this year and onward. What traits do you look for in an affili- ate program? When it comes to affiliate programs, the first and most important thing is reputation. What is the history of the company? Were they involved in any wrongdoing with players or affil- iates? Then we look at the marketing metrics – how it converts from click to registration, the ratio from registration to depositor and, finally, the lifetime value of a player. This is the time to advise all affiliate programs to invest more in the educa- tion of their affiliate teams. We see so many affiliate managers that have no idea about the ecosystem of the iGaming business. They think that sending spam e-mails and making cold calls on a daily basis is enough to get their job done. Actually, this is the wrong approach, and it negatively affects the entire business of the iGaming operator. What’s your preferred method of com- munication with affiliate managers? We prefer communication via e-mail and Skype. What prompted you to join the GPWA? How has it helped you? It was back in 2009. I was a newbie searching for advice and communication with experienced people from the affiliate business. It still helps, especially when we face a prob- lem with some of the programs we work with. (GPWA ProgramDirector) Anthony (Telesca), for example, helped us resolve a payment issue with one of the operators. What do you like about the industry? If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be and why? It is a very dynamic industry, and you always need to monitor the market in order to make the best decisions. It also allows a company to grow pretty quickly if they do the right things at the right time. We need to work on the transparency between iGaming operators and their media and affiliate partners. Many of the affiliate programs try to hide crucial in- formation about the players referred by their partners, including total deposits, total wagering, withdrawals, “admin fees” and so on. Some of the operators cannot understand that their reputation should be the first priority. It takes years to build and just a few wrong management decisions to break. It’s happened so many times throughout the years. What do you think the industry will look like in five years? It will get more competitive for sure. There are many new operators and software providers entering the market and trying to po- sition themselves. Player acquisition costs will get higher on all channels, including PPC, media buying, CPA and revenue share. The cost of operation for iGaming operators will go higher due to licensing costs, government fees, marketing and retention. For affiliates, I think we will see a few big companies dominating the market and acquiring some of their competitors, but there will always be a market for small affiliates because they do not need a huge AGE fact sheet Hometown Living in Favorite Food sites 32 Varna, Bulgaria Varna, Bulgaria Mediterranean casinonewsdaily.com casinoguardian.co.uk casinogamespro.com binarytribune.com Must-Read Book East of Eden , by John Steinbeck w w w . g p w a t i m e s . o r g 47