News

How important are partnerships in iGaming?

Published

4 months ago

May 19, 2022

Many industries have been driven by rivalries as every company is striving for the best – but it’s not always the best long term solution. Partnerships are incredibly important and provide businesses with a way to evolve and expand their customer base.

It’s becoming increasingly common for companies within the iGaming industry to partner up for mutually beneficial agreements. Only recently, Push Gaming and Scientific Games signed a major deal to form a partnership. While on the one hand, these two companies are competitors fighting for the players’ attention but they saw the potential long-term success of the collaboration.

A good partnership can completely elevate a business to the next level which is why it’s so important within the iGaming industry. Despite being an industry that’s fiercely competitive, partnerships can be advantageous for all parties involved – if it’s done well.

Partnerships can improve the player’s experience

Within the past few years, there has been a multitude of partnerships among slot developers. Many independent game studios have gained much-needed exposure from partnerships with big names such as Yggdrasil, Relax Gaming and Microgaming due to their specialist platforms.

On the surface, these platforms seem to mainly boost the smaller studios, when in reality it’s a mutually beneficial relationship. Giving independent developers access to better tools and authoritative expertise improves the reputation of the bigger studio that is providing them with the support.

The established developers host smaller ones on their platforms often under the bigger name. Therefore, casinos that host the larger developers potentially get the smaller studio as well which vastly improves the player’s experience and overall opinion of the developer.

A key example would be Yggdrasil’s YGS Masters programme which is an invite-only platform that features studios such as Peter & Sons, Reflex Gaming and True Lab Games. The casinos that have previously partnered with Yggdrasil have the potential to host the games created through the YGS Masters programme, which improves the selection of games at the player’s disposal.

Ultimately, the most important factor is the player’s experience and enjoyment which is easily improved by partnerships like these.

Affiliates partnering with developers is mutually beneficial

Partnerships come in all shapes and sizes but they can be extremely valuable to all parties involved. It’s not just developers within the iGaming world collaborating together but also affiliates working alongside the developers as well.

One of the leading sources of independent online slot reviews, Slot Gods, have partnered with over ten different developers within the last six months. These partnerships have included the previously mentioned Push Gaming and Scientific Games along with other big names such as Relax Gaming and Playtech.

Fundamentally, partnerships like these allow developers to build excitement for upcoming slot releases or to give an insight into the ethos of their studio through interviews. Affiliate sites like Slot Gods are given exclusives through content, whilst the studios gain exposure for their products. It’s essentially a form of free marketing that is beneficial to everyone involved with no real cost.

Takeovers can be advantageous to the iGaming industry

Whilst good partnerships are useful and instrumental to success, takeovers can also be worthwhile within the iGaming industry. One of the biggest takeovers includes Evolution Gaming’s acquisition of NetEnt for 2 billion dollars in 2020.

This collaboration led to the creation of the popular Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt. Essentially, this combined the fan-favourite Gonzo’s Quest with the popular live casino game format from Evolution to make a product that’s unique and fresh for players.

Acquisitions like this have the potential to improve the general industry with innovations like Gonzo’s Treasure Hunt that combine online slots with the interactive live casino experience. Future innovations like this lead to positive repercussions for the rest of the iGaming industry.

Networking is always key

Both partnerships and takeovers can boost the industry but exchanging information through networking is important as well. At its core, networking is the process of sharing knowledge with people or organisations that are in the same field.

Of course, exclusive secrets or non-disclosure agreements (NDA) should not be shared but insights into important changes (such as laws) or software are worthwhile in improving the general industry. For example, distributing private information under an NDA is disrespectful and potentially damaging to all involved, but enlightening another affiliate with an upcoming law change is helpful for all in the long run.

Networking events like IGB Affiliate can even lead to partnerships or at least guide people within the iGaming industry in the right direction. Naturally, some may want to keep all the information to themselves, but it works out better in the industry long-term if people network to constantly share and improve upon ideas.

Closing thoughts

It’s clear to see that partnerships are a valuable asset in iGaming that should not be taken lightly. They are incredibly important in promoting products, exchanging knowledge and improving the player’s overall experience.

Even traditional media sites such as The Telegraph see the value in partnering within the iGaming world as they gain all their in-depth reviews, guides and tips about iGaming from affiliate BettingExpert.

The biggest question that remains is this: Will affiliates within iGaming ever work together to see the merit in partnerships? Experts within bingo could work with specialists in the live casino game sector to exchange valuable knowledge. No single person can become an expert on everything, so it’s helpful to get an adept person within this field to fill in the gaps.

Whether affiliates will work together in the future remains to be seen, but it could revolutionise the entirety of the iGaming industry.

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Affiliate Program News

AstroPay expands services with the launch of Global Affiliates Programme

Published

2 months ago

August 10, 2022

George Miller

AstroPay expands services with the launch of Global Affiliates Programme

AstroPay, the online payment solution of choice for millions of users worldwide, has launched a flagship global Affiliate Programme to provide revenue generating opportunities to individuals and businesses that want to generate online income and grow their business. The new programme is aimed at increasing AstroPay’s consumer base worldwide, while ensuring that those who are professionally dedicated to affiliate marketing can rely on a solid partner to thrive.

AstroPay launched the programme to enable affiliate partners access to special deals where they can generate income on an ongoing basis for every new user that joins the payment platform. The programme offers up to 20% revenue share commission, as well as dedicated teams and expertise on sales conversion. Affiliate partners will be able to rely on multilingual support and local experts for any of their needs and will also benefit from the AstroPay payment platform/solutions that have been tested and optimised for cross-border payments.

AstroPay will welcome a diverse range of partners including platforms, comparison sites and content creators in the payment industry as well iGaming, forex trading, and many others.

The programme will be available across countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe where AstroPay is available, and through hundreds of merchants that offer AstroPay as a payment option.

Leonardo Alonso, Head of Affiliates at AstroPay, said: “I am excited to see our new programme go live today. The Affiliate Programme is a new way of doing business with AstroPay. All those who are professionally dedicated to affiliate marketing will be very welcome and we look forward to working together and rewarding partners with a robust partnership that provides added value through an alternative way to continue growing their business.”

News

Casino Guru Releases New Tool to Help Players Find Best Casinos

Published

2 months ago

August 9, 2022

George Miller

Casino Guru Releases New Tool to Help Players Find Best Casinos

Casino Guru, a global source of information about online casinos and the biggest database of casino websites, is always looking to bring more value to its visitors. The brand-new Casino Selection Helper is a tool that aims to do just that by bringing a new way for players to pinpoint the best online casino based on their specific preferences.

The new tool works by asking players to answer three simple questions about their preferences related to casino bonuses, casino games, and age of the casino they would like to play at – choosing between new sites with modern features and established brands that have been around for quite some time. After answering these questions, they are presented with the best option for them, as well as two runners-up.

Maros Gasparik, Casino Guru’s Head of Content, commented on the new functionality: “Our database contains pretty much all available online casinos, which is a great feat, but it also presents a potential obstacle for some players because of choice overload. With hundreds or even thousands of casinos available to players from certain countries, it can be a haunting task for players to select the best one for them. We are always looking to make this process easier and guide players to the best option quickly and easily, and the new Casino Selection Helper is one of the things we hope can help them choose well and stay away from unscrupulous sites.”

Gasparik also added about the future of the new tool: “In the first stage of the project, we decided to include only three relatively simple questions based on visitor insights, which should be sufficient for most players. There are plans for further improvements of the selection process and additional questions to help players with more specific preferences; however, first we want to see how our visitors like the initial version.”

Apart from fine-tuning the new tool, Casino Guru plans to continue implementing further improvements aimed at optimizing their website, providing more value to its visitors, and helping create a safer and fairer gambling environment. This includes improving their global database of problem gambling help organizations, pioneering the world of responsible gambling tools via their Global Self-Exclusion Initiative, improving the processes in their Complaint Resolution Center so that they can help more mistreated players, and more.

Affiliate Compliance

SLOTS TEMPLE GETS LICENSED IN UK, FREE SLOTS SITE NOW OFFERING CASH PRIZES

Published

2 months ago

August 3, 2022

George Miller

SLOTS TEMPLE GETS LICENSED IN UK, FREE SLOTS SITE NOW OFFERING CASH PRIZES

Slots Temple is first affiliate to win UKGC licensing, allowing it to offer real-money prizes for slots tournaments

Free online slots platform Slots Temple has become the first affiliate site to be awarded a UK Gambling Commission licence. That’s good news for slots fans. It means the company can now legally give out cash prizes for winners of its free-to-play tournaments.

Slots Temple offers free casino games and tournaments to players over the age of 18, where they can compete against others to get to the top of the leaderboard and win prizes.
The platform hosts more than 10,000 slots from some of the world’s best casino games studios, including Push Gaming, Relax Gaming ReelPlay and 4ThePlayer. The difference is, Slots Temple does not take any stake money. All its slots are completely free to play, no catch.

Instead, the company generates affiliate revenues when players sign up to real-money online casinos by clicking through banner advertising, although there is no obligation to do so.
Until now, Slots Temple has been unable to offer real-money prizes, just merchandise. But now, players can play their favourite slots while competing to win cash prizes of up to £5,000.
As well as cash prizes, Slots Temple will be launching a range of new tournament formats. These include Turbo Tournaments, which run for a short time only, and Risk Tournaments, where players are given a fixed balance and can adjust their bet size on each spin.

Currently, tournaments run daily, as well as weekly and monthly, so there’s plenty of opportunity to win those points and work your way up the leaderboard.

Fraser Linkleter, Director at Slots Temple said: “It’s always great to achieve an industry first, and we’re proud to be the first affiliate site to receive UKGC licensing. Licensees are held to high regulatory standards, and we believe this demonstrates our long-held commitment to social responsibility. But above all, the licence adds excitement and value for our users, who get to compete for cash while paying nothing up front. And what’s not to like about that?”