What are a few things you know now that you wish you knew when you started in the industry back in 2008? Honestly, I’m proud of how me and my partners grew over the last 13 years as people and professionals. If we knew SEO would become so difficult and so unpredictable, we would have left our business. So I’m really happy we didn’t know many things about the future. On the other hand, I’d like to know how SEO will be in 2025. That would save me from losing more hair. If a 25-year-old friend of yours told you he or she was going to try and become a full-time iGaming affiliate, what would your reaction and advice be? I would ask him: Would you put all your money in a single bet at roulette? Right now affiliate marketing in Italy is earning easy money from their losses. After a few months, my current partners, Salvatore and Stefano, joined me and Casino2K has been our full-time job since 2011. After 10 years, we still manage most of the work ourselves with some freelancers, but a couple of years ago we decided to hire three employees for most critical tasks: web design, development and content writing. It’s weird and somehow funny comparing our company with others having dozens (or hundreds) of employees and being able to compete with them. The industry has changed so much over the last 10 years. How have you managed to survive and prosper? The iGaming industry has changed a lot, but the biggest challenge has been surviving gambling regulation, advertising bans and Google algorithm updates. Regulation introduced in July 2011 in the Italian market has been the key for our success, even if we had to clean up our websites from offshore casinos and wait almost one year before promoting regulated brands. At the beginning, we had very few competitors, making new players every day was an easy task. We were able to build a consistent database of active players. Then we had to face big competitors entering the Italian market with new technologies and a large amount of very good websites. In 2018, the Italian government introduced the so called “Decreto dignità,” an advertising ban that was partially lifted after some months, allowing affiliates comparing casino operators in a responsible manner. Casino2K was the first website that was 100% compliant with government guidelines for safe advertising. What do your family and friends think about your career as an iGaming affiliate? I don’t talk with family or friends about my career because gambling is still a taboo in Italy, even if it’s one of the countries with the highest percentage of gamblers. I talk about my company and my business only with close friends and family members able to understand I do my job in an ethical way. I don’t think you can understand player needs if you don’t know what they are talking about. Being a gambler makes a big difference between a web affiliate and a casino affiliate. 53 G P W A t i m e s . o r g
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDIzMTA=