News
Betting on New Customers: Are Returning Users Damaging Sportsbooks’ CAC Strategies?

By: Richard Metcalf
In the fast-paced, highly competitive world of sports betting, operators have to ensure they’re maximising Return-On-Investment (ROI) in their digital marketing campaigns. The challenge is to target new customers and not waste budget on returning users that they’ve already engaged.
Campaign spend within sports betting should be laser-focused on driving customer acquisition and making every click count, but with existing users inadvertently driving up Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC), this is becoming a huge challenge. Predictions from Statista suggest that the online gambling market will consist of over 233.7 million users by 2027. This makes it imperative to protect against existing customers from draining budget and free up budget for new customers
If a sportsbook doesn’t have visibility into the traffic it’s generating through its ads, it could be losing millions to users who are already engaged and using its site. Returning users need to be managed to ensure sportsbooks can make the most of their budgets and gain new converting customers.
Returning Users and ROI
What percentage of your digital marketing budget is engaging returning users through your ad as an entry point? The chances are this number is very high. We recently saw a company where 97% of their spending on branded keywords was linked to clicks from existing customers which drained their budget and meant they saw close to no new conversions.
Repeat clickers and returning customers, who navigate to your site using ads, rather than organic search results, are driving up the cost of genuine new clicks from first-time depositors. Although these are enthusiastic and engaged customers, they are clicking on your ads excessively and driving up your CAC and Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). This ultimately dilutes your campaign’s effectiveness and wastes spend on engagement that will never convert.
The Secret to Success with Custom Validation Rules and Shadow Campaigns
To drive the performance of sports betting advertising efforts, companies can set custom validation rules that limit the number of times a user clicks on a paid ads campaign. Once that threshold of clicks is met, the users are stopped from seeing that campaign for a set period of time, helping to eliminate the high CPC rates sportsbooks experience.
This effectively means that once the threshold is reached the user is precluded from seeing ads and will only see the brand’s organic listing on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). Alternatively, by implementing shadow campaigns, an operator can create a duplicate of the existing brand keyword campaign in Google ads just for these returning users who are precluded from the original brand keyword campaign. So, rather than being shown the organic listing these users will see a paid search ad on the SERP but at a lower cost to the advertiser.
Shadow campaigns are a powerful tool that allow advertisers to take appropriate actions to protect their brand, optimise their marketing efforts, and ensure compliance with marketing strategies. By using custom verification rules and shadow campaigns, budgets are saved for genuine users who are more likely to convert resulting in maximised ROI.
Transforming and Optimising Campaigns
No sportsbook wants returning users burning their marketing budgets. In a market that is growing ever more competitive, it is vital that advertising traffic is controlled for businesses to capture more ROI across campaigns. By implementing shadow campaigns, sportsbooks will uncover a new level of visibility to minimise CAC and maximise new customer engagement.
It’s time to unlock unparalleled success, optimise your PPC campaigns to their fullest potential and transform your Google Advertising strategy.
Richard Metcalf is the Global VP, Sports Betting & Online Gaming, at TrafficGuard, an international platform provider for detecting, mitigating and reporting on digital ad fraud. With over twenty years of experience in Sales and Business Development in the digital industry, Richard strives to achieve the highest level of results for the team. He has represented brands as their public face, managed entire sales cycle processes and delivered solutions to stakeholders to ensure business growth and develop the teams around him.
News
Vote now for N1 Partners in two EiGE Awards 2025 nominations!

The N1 Partners affiliate program is making headlines again with new nominations! This time, the team has been shortlisted among the brightest stars of the European iGaming industry for the European iGaming Excellence Awards (EiGE Awards 2025).
The award ceremony will take place on October 30 in the heart of Warsaw, bringing together the most influential players in the iGaming market – operators, affiliate programs, payment providers, and trailblazing tech innovators.
Gambling affiliate program N1 Partners is nominated in two top categories:
- Best iGaming Affiliate Program
- iGaming Leader of the Year (individual)
How to vote for N1 Partners in both categories (it will take no more than a minute):
- Go to: https://hipther.com/events/egc/eige-awards/
- Select the “Best iGaming Affiliate Program category” → click “Continue to vote”.
- Choose N1 Partners from the list → enter your personal details → click “Vote”.
- Return to the awards page → select “iGaming Leader of the Year (individual)” → click “Continue to vote”.
- Select Alexa Bond, Head of Affiliates at N1 Partners from the list → enter your details → click “Vote”.
Online voting is open until August 26.
Why N1 Partners?
- 12+ high-converting brands
- 10+ Tier-1 GEOs
- Flexible payment method CPA | RevShare I Hybrid
- Insights from in-house analysts
- Benefit from top offers
- 24/7 support
Support N1 Partners and Head of Affiliate Alexa Bond with your vote – who knows, your vote might make all the difference!
News
N1 Puzzle Promo: Complete Challenges, Earn Puzzles, and Get a Chance to Win a VR Pilot Course!

The N1 Puzzle Promo from N1 Partners affiliate program is picking up pace — and the competition for the main prize, a real helicopter Robinson R22 Beta II, is getting serious.
One of the best casino affiliate programs N1 has launched a special activity for participants, offering a chance to earn extra puzzle pieces and try their luck in a draw for awesome prizes! Simple as that.
Campaign period: August 15 – November 15, 2025.
All the details are below.
To earn additional puzzle pieces and improve your position on the leaderboard, you need to complete the following challenges:
- Be a registered participant of the N1 Puzzle Promo and have minimum one puzzle piece already earned for traffic
- Post positive reviews about your cooperation with N1 Partners on 4 websites: Business of Apps, Affpaying, CPA.Club, and Trustpilot (direct links to N1 Partners profiles below):
- https://www.businessofapps.com/affiliate/n1-partners/
- https://www.affpaying.com/n1partners
- https://cpa.club/en/companies/n1-partners
- https://www.trustpilot.com/review/n1.partners
- Subscribe to N1 Partners’ social media:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/n1_partners
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/n1partners/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/n1partners
- Take part in the N1 Partners survey
Here come the rewards.
In addition to three extra puzzle pieces for the main leaderboard, all participants will enter a giveaway for a home VR flight training set — the “Pilot Course”.
What’s inside the set?
- Meta Quest 3 (128 GB)
- Licensed VR simulator
- PC-compatible cable
Find more details about the special tasks on our website at the following link: https://n1.partners/news-page/n1-puzzle-promo-challenge
N1 Puzzle Promo: More traffic → More puzzles → Closer to the winning!
Awards
ReferOn Earns Dual Nominations for Innovation and Marketing Excellence at SiGMA Euro-Med Awards 2025

The company continues its growth in 2025 with key industry recognition
ReferOn, a next-gen affiliate management platform has been shortlisted for the “Affiliate Product Innovation” and “Best Marketing Solution Provider” categories at the upcoming SiGMA Euro-Med Awards 2025.
These nominations come after an important year for the company, defined by strong market traction, continuous product development, and an increased demand from operators and affiliate managers looking to transition from outdated legacy platforms to a more agile, transparent, and scalable solution.
Since its launch, the ReferOn team has demonstrated its commitment to solving real problems for affiliate teams. At the core of its value propositions is creating a simple and accessible platform that’s built for modern needs. Core developments like full-cycle automation, customisable dashboards, instant postbacks, and real-time data visibility help to reduce chaos and boost performance. Additionally, tools like the Sub-Affiliate System, No Bundling Model, and dynamic variables assist with increased operational control.
Vlad Bondarenko, ReferOn’s Head of Product, commented on the nominations, “We didn’t build ReferOn to compete with legacy platforms — we built it to replace them. Every development, addition, and decision is guided by the goal of empowering our users to move faster, make more insightful decisions, and scale efficiently. These nominations have shown us that we’re moving in the right direction and that our incredible team is working towards something truly impactful.”
ReferOn’s roadmap remains ambitious and future-focused, with numerous investments in product developments, customer-facing services, and initiatives that help affiliate teams act faster and move smarter.
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