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Affiliate Interviews: Toni Halonen, Co-founder & CEO of Good Game

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Affiliate Interviews: Toni Halonen, Co-founder & CEO of Good Game

Good Game is an iGaming lead generation company based in Malta. Good Game differentiates itself from its competitors by concentrating only on a handful of sites, focusing on user intent and creating recognisable brands from these few sites. Long-term value for the user and partners has been the key to their success in the Finnish casino affiliate market.

Name: Toni Halonen

Age: 34

Hometown: Ilomantsi, Finland

Living in: Malta

Favourite Food: Traditional Finnish home cooking, Japanese, Indian, Thai

Must-Read Book: The Lord of The Rings, The War of Art

Job Title: Co-founder & CEO

Hi Toni, tell us and our readers a little bit about Good Game. How did your career start in the industry?

I’ve always been fascinated by all sorts of games, be it sports, computer games, board games or gambling. I opened my first online casino account when I turned 18 and started dabbling with online poker around 2004.

After finishing my studies in 2008, I started thinking what I should do for a living and it was then that I came across poker affiliation. The idea of having my own site came to me in 2008, but it took one year of the “real working life” before I jumped into playing poker professionally and chasing my affiliate dream. 🙂

Luckily I wasn’t alone in this, because my childhood friend, Ville Sissonen, also played online poker and showed an interest in affiliation. Our half-serious, half-joke motto in the beginning was: “maximising the passive income”. 🙂 Passwords to our affiliate accounts were always something like “BuyM3rc3d3s2010” back in the day, haha. I still don’t have a Mercedes, but Ville bought his first this year. (The passwords have since been changed, so no point trying to log in. 😉 )

Good Game was established in Malta in 2011 by me and Ville. We came to Malta to play online poker professionally and build affiliate sites on the side. The affiliate business only really started to pay off after our Head of SEO, Jussi Kauppinen, joined the company in 2013. During that time, we also began concentrating only on casino affiliation.

We sold our then main domain in 2015 and went all-in with the money from the first sale straight into building our next project – this time in an actual office 🙂 and with a team of ten people. That project came to an end at the beginning of this year when our main casino site was bought. Now we’re concentrating solely on our UK project.

Explain your current UK project, Bojoko.com, in one sentence.

Airbnb for online casinos.

What makes it different from other casino affiliate sites based on player communities, casino reviews and social proof?

The biggest difference from our competitors is that Bojoko allows casinos and game suppliers to create their own reviews, and publish their own offers and game reviews. This way they can control their brand (tone of voice, design etc.) beyond their own website and ensure that affiliate marketing for their brand is done according to the UK Gambling Commission’s standards.

Casinos and game suppliers have understood this concept well. New casinos have been especially keen on listing themselves on Bojoko.

What’s the reason behind launching Bojoko? In other words, why does Bojoko exist?

There are a couple of reasons why we’ve built Bojoko. First of all, we wanted to minimise the role of an affiliate in everything the user sees and interacts with on the site. Secondly, we see a big gap in how iGaming is consumed compared to other industries operating online. Selecting, playing and transfering money to casinos could be a lot more fluid and safer than it is now.

Our purpose is to build tools for Bojoko users, which they can then use to create this more fluid, safer vision of iGaming. We want to positively transform the iGaming user experience. This way we can establish casino games as an acceptable mainstream pastime too.

How do you see the UK market?

It’s certainly more competitive than the Finnish casino affiliation market and there are many more established brands which are almost non-existent in Finland. It’s a good challenge to build a site for a large market.

Tell us one change that you want to see in the online gambling industry?

I’d like to see all forms of online gambling becoming as accepted in the mainstream as lotteries are. Offering more user-centric products and safer gambling will move the needle to the right direction. There are good initiatives underway in the UK in these two areas, although I’d like to see us, the gambling companies, driving this change and not relying or waiting for regulators to do it. There’s a much bigger pie waiting to be shared in the long run if iGaming becomes a widely accepted and respected industry.

Do you have any advice for newbies who are looking to venture into casino affiliation?

You should constantly ask yourself questions which reveal what kind of person you are. This helps you find the values and ideals you want to push forward in the industry you’re working in. It will also boost your motivation immensely and endow you with a more holistic approach to building your business.

What do you think will be the biggest trends in iGaming in 2018?

Regulation is one, for sure. It will bring new rules to online gambling once again, but it also brings predictability (such as in Sweden) and new markets (US sports betting) to the table. Predictability and new markets are great things for the entire online gambling industry.

What other new things can we expect from Good Game and Bojoko in the second half of 2018?

Bojoko has just rolled out a new tool which helps users tremendously in their casino selection. The tool is attached to our casino lists and lets users filter and sort online casinos easily with over 30 different data points so you can really get to the one casino that satisfies all your requirements. Just like hunting for the perfect vacation home on Airbnb.

In the coming months, we’ll be focusing on bringing more user features like this to Bojoko. They will help users mainly in two ways:

  • Selecting online casinos more quickly and easily
  • Interacting with other Bojoko users in our community

If you find this interesting, the best way to stay tuned to Bojoko and join in the fun is to sign up on the site.

Affiliate Success

EEGS Webinar: Affiliates Face New Demands in Balancing Compliance and Conversion

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Eastern European Gaming Summit

 

On May 13th, the Eastern European Gaming Summit (EEGS) hosted a dedicated affiliate webinar exploring one of the most pressing challenges in iGaming today: how affiliates can stay commercially effective while adopting an increasingly responsible role in player protection. The session, titled “Balancing Compliance and Conversion: The Affiliate’s Role in Responsible Gaming” featured Gjorgje Ristikj, Founder of Gamblers Connect and Co-Founder & CEO of RankRadar, as keynote speaker.

The conversation unfolded against a backdrop of intensifying regulatory oversight and market saturation, highlighting the transformation of the affiliate segment into an essential part of the iGaming ecosystem. As emphasized during the discussion, affiliates are no longer peripheral actors but full-fledged digital media businesses, operating with considerable investment in content, compliance, analytics, and brand credibility.

Ristikj pointed out that modern affiliates are increasingly absorbing roles traditionally associated with internal marketing teams, from advanced SEO operations and audience segmentation to responsible gaming communications and transparency standards. These shifts are not merely cosmetic. As the speaker noted, operators now rely on affiliates not only to acquire traffic but to reinforce brand integrity, especially in competitive or newly regulated markets.

One of the core themes discussed was the growing expectation for affiliates to support safe gaming environments, both through the content they produce and the brands they choose to promote. In a concrete example, Ristikj introduced a Responsible Gambling Scoring Index, developed by Gamblers Connect. The tool evaluates operators on the presence of key responsible gaming features and publicly displays a score to inform and empower players. This kind of initiative reflects a broader industry movement to embed responsible gaming principles at every stage of the user journey.

Another major focus was the mounting operational pressure faced by affiliates. While operators remain accustomed to revenue-share partnerships, Ristikj argued that fixed listing fees are becoming necessary to sustain professional affiliate operations. Investment in content, platform development, video production, and tracking infrastructure has significantly raised the cost of doing business, especially as privacy regulations and attribution challenges reduce the reliability of traditional performance models.

The webinar also touched on the emergence of video-driven affiliate strategies and personal branding as a differentiator in a crowded landscape. As new players, many backed by agencies or former operator teams, enter the market with aggressive strategies, trust and transparency are becoming the critical assets for sustainable success.

The session concluded with a clear message: affiliates who want to remain relevant must adapt to a new standard of accountability. That means embedding responsible gaming principles not only as a compliance checkbox but as a core part of the brand experience, something players, regulators, and operators will increasingly expect.

The EEGS Affiliate Webinar is part of a broader initiative by EEGS to provide actionable insights and elevate the strategic role of affiliates in the global iGaming industry.

For those who missed the live session, the on-demand video is now available. You can watch the full session here: https://youtu.be/MJeYZfPI6Rs?si=BVp0yA0Vcpu9FDJx

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Affiliate Success

First iGB Affiliate Manager Academy to shine a light on effective AI-Driven affiliate recruitment strategies

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First iGB Affiliate Manager Academy to shine a light on effective AI-Driven affiliate recruitment strategies

 

Organisers of July’s edition of iGB L!VE – the first to be held in London – have announced the launch of the AI focussed iGB Affiliate Manager Academy which will be held July 1 as part of London iGaming Week.

The training and mentorship program which is being curated in partnership with Affiverse, founded by veteran affiliate marketer Lee-Ann Johnstone –  and which guides businesses on how to launch, scale and grow successful affiliate programs, has been designed to help organisations of all sizes understand how to leverage new tactics and simple AI tools to recruit, retain and activate affiliates more effectively.

The Academy will offer a mix of practical learning, tactical assessments and personalised coaching providing affiliate managers with an invaluable opportunity to learn from industry leaders. Each unique session will include topical insights drawing on the dominant trends in the market.

Looking ahead to the Academy Lee-Ann Johnstone said: “I’m delighted that Clarion has invited Affiverse to develop a bespoke training academy specifically for iGaming Affiliate Managers.

“In an industry that’s constantly evolving, and which is powered by the early adoption of new technologies, businesses and  affiliate managers  have to keep learning in order to remain competitive. The only way we get to understand the affiliate space and all the complexities it entails is on the job – from others!

“It has always been important to me that those who have knowledge pay it forward and I’m really excited to be given the task of leading the curation of this unique event bringing the best of the best together in order to teach, train and coach affiliate managers as we move forward.

“The gap between AI-empowered affiliate managers and those relying solely on traditional methods is widening every month. The iGB Affiliate Manager Academy will provide the bridge to ensure businesses are on the right side of that divide.”

Reflecting on the importance and objectives of the iGB Affiliate Manager Academy, Global Portfolio Director Naomi Barton said: “Our live events are all about delivering real value to our international community of stakeholders. Lee-Ann and her team at Affiverse are spearheading the academy syllabus and content stream alongside IGB’s events production team to provide tailor made training and mentoring for new and existing affiliate managers as well as those who want to learn and scale their affiliate programs faster.

“The workshop will provide insider access to the exact AI-driven techniques that are assisting brands to deliver real results. Most significantly this isn’t just theory — instead it’s a hands-on expert-led roadmap focussing on immediately implementable tactics that will transform your program performance.”

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Affiliate Success

SOFTSWISS Affiliate Software Platform Wins at IGA 2025

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SOFTSWISS Affiliate Software Platform Wins at IGA 2025

 

SOFTSWISS, an international tech company with over 15 years of experience in iGaming, announces that Affilka by SOFTSWISS wins Affiliate Company of the Year at the International Gaming Awards 2025. The comprehensive software platform helps manage, track, and analyse affiliate performance in the most convenient way.

The event recognises leading industry experts, both online and land-based. This achievement came as a well-deserved gift for the platform’s 7th anniversary. The award reflects the platform’s dedication to optimising affiliate program management and elevating the operational efficiency of its clients. By helping operators optimise affiliate partnerships, Affilka by SOFTSWISS has established itself as a technology-driven leader in the iGaming realm.

Powering over 440 iGaming brands, the platform currently has more than 360,000 affiliate accounts and 85 million registered players. One of its most impactful updates is the Geo-Distributed Redirect feature. This innovation accelerates redirects up to five times, reduces bounce rates and increases conversions by up to 7%. By enabling players to access casino sites faster, the feature drives higher registrations and deposits.

Other notable platform functionalities include built-in payment processing, which helps streamline financial operations with trusted payment systems and bank transfers. The flexible commission constructor and near real-time reporting features enable operators to tailor their strategies according to constantly evolving business needs.

“We are honoured to receive recognition at such a prestigious level,” said Anastasia Borovaya, Head of Affilka by SOFTSWISS. “This award reflects our unwavering dedication to delivering the best affiliate management solutions in the industry. With over seven years of expertise, a highly professional team, and a passion for innovation, we’ve built a platform that ensures exceptional service and continuous product enhancements for our clients. We’re committed to maintaining this momentum and supporting the growth of our partners worldwide.”

Now, Affilka by SOFTSWISS is showcasing its latest features and achievements at iGB Affiliate in Barcelona. On 21–22 January, the team welcomes partners and clients at stand C10.

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