Rightlander Q and A: iGaming compliance and the future of Affiliate marketing

Last week we were joined by David Webb – Compliance Manager at Betconstruct. Betconstruct provides iGaming operators with a range of online betting and gambling software solutions. 

David caught up with Rightlander founder – Ian Sims to discuss the importance of compliance within small organisations and how compliance looks likely to shape the future of affiliate marketing. 

Talking about compliance, David’s view is that it’s not just an activity but rather a culture. One that is adopted within the Betconstruct organisation. With employee training and compliance committee meetings to keep teams informed of new changes and regulations to keep abreast of.

When it comes to white labels, David sees the need for compliance as mandatory. It’s the responsibility of the operator to control and regulate these white labels, which means constant monitoring of their affiliate partners is needed. This is largely done by systems such as Rightlander alongside the affiliate team. Ultimately however, affiliates are expected to adhere to the programme’s terms and conditions and steer clear of non-compliant content. However, affiliate marketing can be very difficult to monitor for small organisations entering large markets such as the UK. Unfortunately start up businesses do not always have the funds or resources to make sure their third-party marketing efforts are monitored. 

Given the current stigma surrounding affiliates it does seem like we will be moving towards a licensed approach where affiliates will need a license to advertise, which means there will be several overheads they will need to incorporate into their business models. This will likely cause few issues for the bigger affiliates, however smaller affiliates will face a similar struggle as operators and may eventually be forced out of markets. 

The next 6 months will be a critical time for the iGaming industry. With operators tightening their belts and regulators continually enforcing stricter rules in multiple markets, we will see a big shift in affiliate marketing.