Within the UK iGaming market, regulation is becoming more and more of a concern. Affiliates are working within a saturated market with further regulation and fines to be aware of. For these reasons, going global and seeking out new markets can offer a much better chance of success.
Reaching Untapped Markets
European markets are providing fantastic areas of growth within iGaming. The Scandinavian market in particular is becoming more aware and more interested in iGaming products than ever before. They are governed by different bodies that police the betting market, however these can be less strict than the ones in the UK.
It’s up to affiliates to create or realign portals to this market. Bear in mind that this could potentially incur more costs associated with translation, but this can deliver an enhanced ROI when compared to using English content and design. Remember that UX is important, so anything you can do to make these sites better for users – including putting it in their native language – is a positive point.
Regulation in Foreign Markets
Whether you believe foreign markets have looser or tighter restrictions, take the time to fully understand them. This will prevent you from making costly mistakes further down the line, as these regulatory bodies can be fierce when it comes to fining those that step out of line.
Many of the rules and regulations are similar across the EU, operators can also provide games across this territory with just one gambling licence so you may already have contacts to use. Open up channels of communication and these operators could even guide you with the regulation that you need to be aware of.
Research Payments
Payment methods tend to vary in popularity in different territories. There are so many of these out there and new ones like Zimpler emerge in foreign markets before they come to the UK. For this reason, it’s important to be aware of which payment methods are popular in other territories before moving into them.
For example payments processing company Pay360 has partnered with companies like ACI Worldwide and PPRO to offer a global range of hundreds of acquiring and payment solutions to ensure maximum player acceptance and conversion. This is together with a bespoke rules engine Optimise360 designed for the gaming sector to help affiliates and operators to easily manage territorial payments changes and challenges.
Understand the Opportunities
When you first broke into the affiliate business, you may have wanted to go for a niche or theme that wasn’t available or was too highly competitive. When you move into a new market, that theme might be available for you to use to your advantage.
When you research the market, you may start to see natural trends occurring that could be used. These may be ones specific to that market, or even a play on words in another language! This gives you a niche that you didn’t have previously, which can be used to overtake the competition.
Malta, for example, are investing more time and money into cryptocurrencies as an experiment into how this would affect their overall economy. This would present the perfect market for those running a bitcoin casino affiliate, as these residents would potentially be much more comfortable with the process of using these.
Diversifying the Risks
When you access different markets, you also diversify your risks. If you only operate within the UK market, your eggs are essentially all in the one basket.
If the regulation becomes tighter within the UK, you might find yourself spending more time and money on staying compliant. Operators are also being taxed more than ever in the UK, so working with their brand in another territory might allow you to offer better deals.
Market Growth
Gambling growth in the UK is pretty stagnant, especially when compared to emerging markets. In Q2 and Q3 of 2017, we saw a 1.8% increase in the turnover of the UK gambling industry when compared to the same period in 2016. When we compare year on year growth in Denmark, that figure is a much increased 9.8% growth instead.
These are nascent industries to get involved in, which are growing fast. This can be a far more lucrative venture for affiliates, as more money spent means more potential revenue.
If you’re not branching out and going global, then you might just be missing out. Doing your research can show you a new opportunity that you can exploit for improved returns. You will need to invest your time initially, but you might just be the next big thing in a new market.
