News

Startup Pitch at SiGMA this November

Published

9 years ago

September 25, 2017

This November, SiGMA will have the pleasure of hosting Malta’s largest gaming exhibition and 2017 takes the cake as the biggest one yet. Eleven conferences and a large sold out floor plan are bringing a multitude of people this year so expect a crowd at the Malta Fairs and Conventions Centre from the 22nd-25th of November. Main executives and exhibitors showcasing here will include of Mr. Green, Blexr, Bet365, William Hill, Better Collective, Poker Stars, Catena Media, Malta Gaming Authority, Cherry, Microgaming, XLMedia, Ladbrokes, and many, many more.

Amongst the lavish networking dinners and appealing conferences that will be taking place throughout the week, an exciting startup pitch will be drawing eyes and attention for the second year in a row. After a successful first run in 2016, SiGMA’17 is coming back with sixty startups and several investors all under one roof. All sixty startups will be awarded with a booth at SiGMA, invitations to networking events, SiGMA PR, free office space to use at SiGMA’s Gaming Hub, as well as free consultancy and potential leads from leading industry veterans. However, only ten of these innovative startups will have the chance to present their pitch to a panel of investors. In a Dragon’s Den-like environment, each startup will have three minutes to present their project. Following the pitch, a Q&A session will allow the investors and the audience to get involved.

Of the investors, Morten Klein Founder and Chairman of Klein Group will be sharing his intelligence as “one of the 50 most significant people in the world within the gambling industry.” Klein Group consists of a group of companies with different investments within the iGaming industry, e-commerce, real estate and venture companies.

Another significant mind, present at the Startup Pitch will be Carla Maree Vella, CEO/COO of Optimizer Invest. With ten years of experience in online marketing and five years in iGaming, Vella’s entrepreneurial drive serves her well and her opinion will be strongly valued on the investor panel.

Another businesswoman on the panel of investors will be American entrepreneur, Julie Meyer. Meyer is the Founder and CEO of Ariadne Capital as well as Managing Partner at the Ariadne Capital Entrepreneurs (ACE) Fund, Ariadne Ecosystem Economics™ Fund and the Founder of EntrepreneurCountry.

In addition, we will have the pleasure of seeing innovator, Mark Blandford, considered by many to be one of the founders of the developed online gaming industry. Blandford was the owner of a betting shop chain when the Internet began proving its potential. In 1998, he launched his first interactive betting service from Alderney and was one of the first to see the significance and growth potential in online gaming.

Entrepreneur, Robin Reed, has a real heart for startups and will take a place on the investor panel at SiGMA this year. Together with Frode Fagerli, Reed founded Gaming Innovation Group (GIG) in 2008. As a rapidly growing technology business, the Group offers cutting-edge Cloud based services and Performance Marketing through its three B2B products.

Another investor, Simon Collins, is Founder of both Gaming Realms and Cashcade Ltd. and will be scrutinizing the startups at this year’s lineup. Gaming Realms is a bingo based consumer preposition, which publishes and licenses next-generation mobile gaming content. Similarly, Cashcade Ltd is an online bingo focused gaming business.

Roger Walker, a Partner with Partis Solutions, provides direct support to board execs and corporate development teams from some of the largest gaming industry operators and investors and will be offering his support to the lucky ten startups this year. Walker’s clients range from publically listed £multi-billion operators and B2B suppliers, investment banks, private equity/venture capital houses to smaller private firms and early stage entrepreneurial start-ups.

Industry expert, Ory Weihs will have a seat on the panel as one of the investors analyzing the startups at SiGMA. As one of the Founders and the CEO of XLMedia Group, he is responsible for business development and strategy, focusing on technical abilities and expanding the Group’s reach.

Rickard Vikström, Founder and Chairman of Polarbear Group, works with sales and product development and will also be critiquing in this year’s Startup Pitch. Vikström is no stranger to starting a company as he has founded and sold several in the last decade. He will be a strong force in the panel of investors this year.

There is still time to get your foot in the door if you wish to attend. For more information on the show or to book your tickets, please log in to www.maltaigamingsummit.com or send an email to [email protected].

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The Ethics of Ranking: Can Affiliates Be Both Commercial and Credible?

Published

4 hours ago

April 8, 2026

Master Editor

Ethics is one of the most important issues in the world of online gambling affiliates. Many gamblers wonder if websites can be both credible and commercial. Who better to answer this question than an industry veteran, who has worked with well known operators and affiliate companies? He is also the founder of Mithrillium Media Ltd., which makes him uniquely qualified to answer our questions.

Mister Sebastian Jarosch is a unique voice in the industry. He has worked to push gambling affiliates towards a UX-focused model, steering away from the SEO-oriented approach that seems to have been the standard for years. For his effort, Mr. Jarosch has won several awards, including:

EGR Awards for Best Affiliate Programme 2020
Casinomester 2020 Awards Best Casino Group
Askgamblers Awards Best Partner 2021

Interview Questions:

How do you define ethical ranking in the iGaming affiliate space, and where do most platforms fall short?

Ethical ranking means structuring your rankings based on relevant, objective, and player-focused criteria, such as licensing, payout speed, support quality, and bonus terms, rather than on commercial deals alone. Many platforms fall short by putting profit before player trust, often placing the highest-paying brands at the top regardless of their actual value.

Can affiliate sites truly be both profit-driven and objective in how they present casino rankings?

Building a sustainable business requires a long-term mindset. Profit and objectivity often go hand in hand. Affiliates can build trust and loyalty by focusing on reliable operators that provide real value to players. Credibility leads to returning visitors, which in turn generates sustainable revenue.

What internal processes or principles do you follow to ensure your rankings remain transparent and fair?

We use a scoring system that evaluates factors like licensing, RTP fairness, withdrawal limits, player complaints, localization, and support quality. Every casino goes through a structured review checklist, and we register accounts ourselves to verify the experience. Commercial relationships never override our core review criteria.

How do you handle partnerships with operators that want higher visibility but may not fully meet your review standards?

Visibility is tied to our review scores and player satisfaction. If an operator underperforms or doesn’t meet our standards, they won’t receive top positions, regardless of the deal. We frequently receive requests from operators wanting to purchase top positions with flat fees, but all our commissions are performance-based.

Do you disclose how rankings are determined, and do you think transparency in methodology should be an industry norm?

Yes, we outline our ranking factors and provide explanations for each top listing. We absolutely believe transparency should be standard in this industry, players deserve to know why a brand is recommended and how it compares to other operators.

How do user reviews or feedback factor into your ranking algorithm, if at all?

Player feedback is a core part of our review process. We monitor complaints, payout delays, and general satisfaction. If a brand gets repeated negative feedback, their score is reviewed and the position can be downgraded.

What role do editorial independence and content-firewall structures play in maintaining integrity?

Editorial independence is critical to building credibility. All of our reviews follow the same procedures and are never influenced by commercial agreements. Operators may provide input on factual details like ownership or bonus amounts, but not on our opinions. Protecting the trust our writers build with readers requires a firm boundary between monetization and content.

Are there ethical gray areas that affiliates regularly encounter when balancing commercial pressure and content accuracy?

There’s always pressure to soften criticism or inflate ratings, especially from less reputable brands. It takes strong internal policies to navigate these challenges while staying true to user-first values. Sites like Casino-Groups operate without paid placements and rank casinos solely based on performance and trustworthiness.

Do players care whether rankings are monetized, or is trust more about perceived value and consistency?

Players know that affiliate sites generate income. What matters is consistency and value. If they consistently receive helpful, accurate insights and feel that the platform protects their interests, they’ll return, even if the rankings are monetized.

Looking ahead, what needs to happen for ethical ranking practices to become the baseline standard across the affiliate industry?

More affiliates need to understand that long-term value lies in trust, not manipulation. As players become more informed and regulators more involved, ethical ranking won’t just be a best practice, it will become a necessity. Building a strong reputation in the player community through honest reviews leads to satisfied visitors who keep coming back.

News

Where to Drive Tier-1 Sport Traffic in April Top Events & Promos

Published

23 hours ago

April 7, 2026

Master Editor

April continues the high-intensity sports season, with a dense schedule of matches, tournaments, and decisive stages that consistently drive spikes in player engagement and deposit activity. For affiliates, this creates a strong opportunity window to capture high-intent traffic and scale performance during peak moments.

Affiliates working with N1 Partners can run sports-driven traffic across three products: N1 Bet, RollXO and Lucky Hunter.

This gives you the flexibility to scale on a dedicated sportsbook while also expanding monetization through high-converting casino brands. By covering both betting and casino audiences, you can tap into a wider range of user intent and increase overall revenue potential.

This is especially relevant for partners participating in the N1 SEO Traffic Cup, where timing, traffic allocation, and smart scaling directly impact your final results — and where teams can also drive SEO traffic to sports, expanding their coverage and growth opportunities.

Key Sports Events in April

To help you plan campaigns and scale Tier-1 traffic efficiently, the N1 Partners team has prepared a selection of key sports events worth focusing on this month.

Soccer

April is driven by decisive European competitions and top-league clashes. Quarter-finals and semi-finals in the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and UEFA Conference League, along with key domestic matches, create consistent traffic spikes.

Basketball

The start of the NBA Playoffs marks one of the strongest engagement periods for high-intent traffic and repeat activity

18.04 | NBA | Playoffs

Ice Hockey

April combines regular-season action with the start of NHL Playoffs, where engagement traditionally grows as teams fight for elimination rounds.

10.04 | NHL | Dallas Stars vs Minnesota Wild
18.04–21.06 | NHL | Playoffs

Tennis

21.04 | WTA | Madrid Open
22.04 | ATP Masters | Madrid

MMA & Boxing

Fight cards in April include headline matchups and strong co-main events, which work well for short-term traffic bursts and hype-driven campaigns.

11.04 | Boxing | Tyson Fury vs Makhmudov
12.04 | UFC 327 | Procházka vs Ulberg
12.04 | UFC 327 | Van vs Taira
12.04 | UFC 327 | Blaydes vs Hokit
12.04 | PFL | Pettis vs McKee

Cricket

International series provide steady traffic flow, especially in GEOs where cricket has strong demand.

17.04–23.04 | ODI Series | Bangladesh vs New Zealand
27.04–29.04 | T20 Series | Bangladesh vs New Zealand

Active Promotions Across N1 Partners Brands

To help affiliates maximize conversion and extract more value from traffic, N1 Partners is running a range of seasonal promos across key brands for users. These campaigns give you stronger angles for creatives and help drive higher player engagement.

Fortune’s Gold Lottery (N1 Bet, RollXO)
Period: 09.04–29.04
Prize pool: €85,000 (RollXO) | €100,000 (N1 Bet)

Advent Calendar (N1 Bet, RollXO)
Period: 03.04–12.04
10 daily tasks with rewards for players.

Egg Hunt (RetroBet, Jet4Bet, SlotLounge, Spirit Casino)
Period: 01.04–04.04
Seasonal Easter promo with short-term engagement mechanics.

Race Lottery (RetroBet, Jet4Bet, SlotLounge, Spirit Casino)
Period: 10.04–16.04
Prize pool: €20,000 + 5,000 FS

April Fortune Lottery (SlotLords, SlotsMines)
Period: 10.04–16.04
Prize pool: €10,000 + 5,000 FS (SlotLords) | €7,000 + 3,000 FS (SlotsMines)

Easter Lottery (SlotMafia, SlotHunter, LuckyHunter)
Period: 10.04–17.04
Prize pool: €10,000 (LuckyHunter) | €8,000 (SlotMafia, SlotHunter)

To learn more about the promos, contact your manager.

How to Maximize Results from Event-Driven Traffic

Performance in Tier-1 markets is directly tied to major events. Key matches, playoffs, and finals naturally increase attention and create better conditions for deposits and repeat engagement.

To get the most out of April traffic:

focus on high-impact matches, playoffs, and finals where user intent is strongest
align campaigns with match days and key tournament stages
scale budgets during peak demand windows instead of spreading traffic evenly
combine sportsbook and casino funnels to increase total monetization
react quickly to performance data and scale winning campaigns

How Affiliates Can Scale Traffic Right Now

April offers multiple high-conversion windows driven by major sports events and strong promotional mechanics for players.

Drive traffic to key sports events and active promos across N1 Partners brands: N1 Bet, RollXO and Lucky Hunter.

The N1 Partners team is ready to support you with up-to-date promos, analytics, and hands-on guidance to help you scale efficiently.

Join N1 Partners

N1 Partners is a multi-brand affiliate program and direct advertiser, bringing together 14+ casino and betting brands with strong LTV and Reg2Dep rates of up to 70% across Tier-1 GEOs.

N1 Partners offers competitive terms for top partners, including CPA up to €650-700 and RevShare up to 45%, ensuring stable and scalable performance.

Trusted by 14,000+ partners, N1 Partners stands out for its transparency, flexibility, and focus on long-term partnerships, supported by a strong product portfolio and advanced retention systems.

News

N1 SEO Traffic Cup: One Month to Unlock Rewards

Published

1 day ago

April 7, 2026

Master Editor

N1 SEO Traffic Cup — the first tournament for SEO teams in the global N1 Traffic Cups series by N1 Partners — is entering its final stage. Halfway through the competition, this is now the key period that will ultimately determine which teams secure positions in the prize levels.

At the same time, it’s still not too late to enter the race and compete for rewards. The tournament is not only about FTD volume — the number of active brands also plays a crucial role. Thanks to the built-in multipliers, teams can significantly accelerate their N1 Cup Score and quickly strengthen their position on the leaderboard.

Results depend entirely on each team’s performance: prize levels are not limited by the number of participants, and any team that reaches the required number of points secures its place. This means you’re not competing for fixed spots but focusing on scaling your own result and hitting the next level.

Progress of the race

More than 250 teams continue to actively drive FTDs to N1 Partners brands, striving to earn points and moving up through the levels.

Working across multiple products gives teams a clear scaling advantage, especially in the final stage. At the same time, the level-based structure allows both large and smaller teams to compete and earn rewards based on their performance — with 5 teams already reaching prize tiers and continuing to push for higher levels, where rewards become even more valuable. Current interim results are published weekly in a private channel available exclusively to tournament participants.

As Alexa Bond, Head of Affiliates at N1 Partners, notes:

“We’re seeing strong engagement from partners — more teams are reaching out, exploring new brands from our portfolio, and actively looking for ways to strengthen their results. If you’re working with SEO traffic, now is the right time to connect with your affiliate manager, discuss your strategy, and explore how to scale and get the most out of the tournament.”

Prize tiers and rewards

The prize pool of N1 SEO Traffic Cup is one of the most extensive and flexible on the market. Teams are distributed across tiers based on their score and can choose either a specific reward or its cash equivalent.

Level 1 (7,000+ points) – €25,000 per team

VIP experience at the Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix
Trip to a FIFA World Cup 2026 match in the USA
7 nights in the Maldives with business class flights
Rolex Cosmograph Daytona
BMW S 1000 XR motorbike
Hublot Unico Titanium

Level 2 (3,500–6,999 points) – €15,000 per team

One week of golf at Monte Rei with a private villa stay
Private island getaway in the Seychelles (Four Seasons Desroches Island)
Ducati Monster motorbike
Bottega Veneta travel kit

Level 3 (1,500–3,499 points) – €7,000 per team

Zero-gravity flight (90 minutes)
Custom Luxury ski or snowboard gear set of your choice
Balenciaga Snowboard
Cartier Juste un Clou bracelet
Kronos Massage Chair

Level 4 (500–1,499 points) – €5,000 per team

Apple Vision Pro
MacBook Pro M4
Cartier LOVE ring
Pioneer OPUS-QUAD DJ system
Sonos Arc Ultra home audio system
Dior beauty set

Extra rewards for participants

Even without reaching the prize tiers, teams still have a chance to win. Bringing just 20 FTD per brand is enough to qualify as a participant and enter additional prize draws. These include PlayStation 5 Pro, iPhone 17 Pro Max, and exclusive N1 Partners merch.

Brand Index: a mechanic built for scaling results

One of the key features of N1 SEO Traffic Cup is the “Brand Index” mechanic. It rewards not only FTD volume, but also traffic diversification. The more brands a partner works with, the higher the multiplier applied to their results.

The core metric — N1 Cup Score — is calculated as: FTD × brand multiplier

The multiplier depends on the number of active brands:

1 brand — x1
2–3 brands — x2
4+ brands — x5

Join the N1 SEO Traffic Cup

Period: March 1 – April 30, 2026
Results announcement: by May 10
Entry: from 20 FTD per brand

N1 Partners means:

14+ casino and sportsbook brands with up to 70% Reg2Dep
10+ Tier-1 GEOs
CPA up to €700 and RevShare up to 45% + NNCO for top partners
Be number one with N1.