Ace Alliance insights with StatsDrone

In this exclusive LinkedIn live session, John Wright, the Co-Founder of StatsDrone, and Magda Klimko-Aydin, Chief Marketing Officer at Ace Alliance, talk about affiliate marketing in the iGaming industry in 2024 and trends in 2025.

John’s Journey in the iGaming and Affiliate Marketing Industries

John Wright brings over 20 years of experience in the gaming sector. He worked as an affiliate marketer and manager before starting StatsDrone, a B2B data analytics company that provides affiliate marketing software. He has witnessed the evolution of marketing from the early 2000s.

A Year in Review: iGaming Affiliate Marketing in 2024

Major Challenges for Affiliate Marketers and Highlights for 2024

Magda and John agree that regulation is not always an easy topic to discuss. John asserts that “the biggest problem is there is less discussion,” and the grey market continues to grow. Moreover, affiliates risk having their accounts closed and losing revenue due to regulations. They eventually cross over to non-regulated markets.

Licensing and fees are another major problem because affiliates can spend thousands of dollars without guarantees to recover their money. The solution? John recommends joining affiliate networks where affiliates can work in regulated markets under sublicences.

Problems iGaming Brands Face When Scaling Affiliate Programs

Acknowledging the need for iGaming brands to scale affiliate programs, Magda is eager to know the significant challenges operators might face. John cites the following obstacles as a major concern for gambling operators:

  1. An increasing number of brands, new affiliate programs, and managers who do not focus on building meaningful relationships.
  2. Failure to analyse data, create better landing pages, or identify missed opportunities.
  3. Ignoring important conversations about ROI and casinos not doing their best to attract and make players feel special.

According to John, it is important to “use data and analytics to understand what’s going on” and optimise VIP programs. Supporting this claim, Magda emphasises the importance of getting feedback from other people.

Choosing The Right Affiliates and Leveraging Data from Affiliates to Create More Effective Campaigns

John estimates that only 2% of operators know their actual conversion rates. Many of them lose money for using the wrong links or landing pages. He recommends utilising analytics and conversion rate optimisation tools to solve this problem.

Stressing the need to select the right affiliates, Magda recognises the role affiliate traffic plays in iGaming. For John, choosing the middle affiliate who does not require a huge upfront fee is the best strategy. Moreover, affiliate managers can find the right marketers by signing up for newsletters on affiliate sites and analysing data to assess an affiliate’s performance.

Another important consideration according to Magda is to avoid affiliates with low-quality traffic. John recommends scrutinising player deposits, chargebacks, suspicious data, and referrals from newly created affiliate websites.

Power of iGaming Events and Strategies for Managers to Build and Maintain Strong Relationships with Affiliates

Based on his experience, John says “it is very valuable for affiliate managers to go to conferences” as one of the best ways to build meaningful relationships. He is confident that meeting an affiliate can change the game. Unfortunately, many affiliate managers are sale-focused. According to Magda, affiliate managers should not always “look through sales sunglasses.” They should focus on fostering meaningful conversations.

John and Magda also agree that attending smaller intimate events is an effective way to find new affiliates and build robust relationships. Unlike the biggest conferences, small events allow people to talk to almost everyone and get immediate feedback.

iGaming operators can also maintain good relationships with affiliates by addressing transparency issues. In John’s honest opinion, brands can promote transparency by using tracking tools, sharing player engagement data, monitoring ROI, and giving valuable data to the affiliate by the hour.

Leveraging SEO and Creating Effective Marketing Channels and Campaigns

Magda advises iGaming brands to diversify their marketing channels and consider SEO as a long-term strategy. “The earlier you start, the better for you,” she says. On the other hand, John urges affiliates to be careful if a brand is extremely dependent on its affiliate program. His recommendation is to use multiple channels such as SEO and paid media.

Citing the latest Google updates, John mentions that the technology giant seems to be taking away traffic from affiliates and giving it to e-commerce. For him, the best solution for affiliates and operators is to create their own channels and forums. He also recommends Revpanda as one of the best providers of high-quality SEO content.

In a mobile-first world where multichannel tracking is sophisticated, John believes that campaign segmentation is a great strategy for effective marketing. It is an intricate process that entails using GEO-tracking plugins and newsletters to reorganise campaigns. Segmentation helps to know how many FTDs came from a particular channel or GEO. This is not easy for some affiliates, which is one of the reasons why John founded StatsDrone.

Looking Ahead: iGaming Trends in 2025 and Beyond

John is convinced that affiliates and operators will see more innovation in 2025, including the use of AI. After noticing how Google seems to reward more products, he emphasises the need to develop new, powerful, and unique products. “We need to get out of this sameness mentality,” he asserts. It is time to venture into new spaces and do something that no one has done before.

According to John, AI-powered search recommendation engines will also continue to gain popularity. The two also agree that it is vital to invest in different channels, such as podcasts and YouTube, find out what is happening in the industry, and follow more people, including the top leaders. However, they recommend choosing fewer channels with more potential.