SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
The future of affiliates has drawn a great deal of attention from the gambling industry in recent weeks, it’s something that caused Sky Bet CEO Richard Flint to question ‘how the system could carry on?’
With a whole host of industry experts discussing what the future holds for affiliates at the Betting on Sports 2017 conference, an idea that was consistently banded around was the potential for affiliate licensing in the UK market.
Matthew Glazier, managing director of Bookies.com pointed towards the possibility of the UK replicating the Romanian licensing system, describing it as something that could be ‘very workable in the UK.’
Chief affiliate officer at Clever Advertising Group, Marcos Oliveira also spoke positively about the Romanian system, adding that: “They just want to know that affiliates are a proper business, they don’t want affiliates to divulge their details, this is something the UK can do.”
Speaking on a panel discussing implications for the whole betting chain in what regulators expect from all aspects of the industry, Jeremy Kleiman, gaming attorney, Saiber LLC recalled: “When New Jersey authorised online casinos, four years ago now their regime required that affiliates depending on how their competition was structured, required a license.
“There was a very low threshold of regulation, if there was any revenue shared, either a percentage of the amount deposited or the amount wagered, affiliates required a license.
“That not only solved the problem, but also created another one, the problem it solved is it kept out of the market affiliates who were not able to get a licence, so in theory it cleaned up the pool of affiliates.
“At the same time, affiliate licensing created a problem because it really drove all affiliates, out off the market just because of the regulatory burden it created.”
