With emerging and innovative tech trends on the rise, cutting-edge online casinos are essential for affiliates to effectively promote desired brands. House Tech Ads Ltd, an affiliate marketing company specializing in the online gaming sector, offers the necessary tools to drive high-quality traffic and raises the bar for marketing, operations and relationship management in their affiliate network.
At the 13th edition of the London Affiliate Conference (LAC) last week, we spoke to Oren Arzony, Co-Founder and Director of House Tech Ads Ltd, about conducting affiliate business in the casino vertical, recent developments of his flagship properties, as well as industry predictions heading into the year.Income Access (IA): Oren, tell us about your experience at LAC 2019 so far? How does it compare with previous editions?
Oren Arzony (OA): LAC is always a great opportunity for me to meet many of our partners to catch up or discuss aspects of our ongoing partnership. Personally, I think that amongst all events, LAC is the most important. The fact that it also coincides with ICE London presents the ideal opportunity for us to get updates on latest industry trends.So far, LAC is going great, as I’m meeting old and new partners alike. The atmosphere is lively and it seems like a bigger turnout than last year’s event – which was already huge in itself.
IA: Looking back even further, can you tell us a bit about yourself, and the career path that led to your development of an affiliate business serving the online casino vertical?
OA: I got into the affiliate business world because of a friend who worked for Club Dice Casino, a long-standing brand in the iGaming industry. At the time, launching an affiliate programme was an innovative idea. It’s when we also decided to start an independent business and become affiliates.When we first started out, the internet was only beginning to reach people. At the same time, we began introducing affiliate sites in the late 90s, including Online Casino Reports, which is still running today and remains one of our main assets. Online casinos were in their infancy, so we had to learn about the internet and the online gaming industry as we moved forward.
IA: Tell us about the development of your affiliate business, House Tech Ads, and the USPs or market niches of its three flagship properties.
OA: Our bread and butter has always been, and remains, the online casino vertical. However, in recent years, we’ve expanded our side activities to sports-betting, eSports, poker and lottery verticals.Additionally, we specialize in managing SEO strategies for web and both Android and iOS apps in multiple languages and markets. In the last three to four years, we’ve also extended our expertise into the mobile app sector, launching a few native apps including Jackpots Finder, one of our more unique products.
Following the latest European regulatory trends, we’ve secured a presence in key markets such as the UK, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Romania, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and Belgium. This year, we’re beginning to collaborate with licensed brands from emerging and regulated markets like Colombia, Serbia, the Czech Republic and more.
IA: What are the main challenges of being a casino affiliate in 2019?
OA: In three words: regulation, compliance and competition. In terms of regulation, the trend is growing every year with more countries regulating their markets. In the grand scheme of things, it’s a positive trend, but it also poses a challenge for affiliates who must implement multiple changes in order to stay in line with new norms. In some cases, they must apply for licenses themselves, such as in Romania. This translates into costly fees, but is the only option for affiliates to remain in the market.Compliance goes hand in hand with regulation, as it means that affiliates must fulfill the requirements of every separate market. Sometimes these requirements are very strict, forcing affiliates to always be aware of any changes occurring on a day-to-day basis.
Finally, competition in this industry has grown massively, as there are many talented affiliates with quality sites. It’s important to always be innovative and attentive to survive in the field. Competition is positive because it makes us work on improving and making processes more efficient.
IA: How do you see the online casino and broader iGaming affiliate industries evolving this year and into 2020?
OA: I believe that the online casino and iGaming affiliate industry will continue to evolve towards personalization in all traffic channels. For example, if we continue to see the trend of localization in all aspects of web, then this will become a larger focus in the upcoming years on the user’s end. We’ve been focusing on this with GamblersPick, a community-driven online casino portal offering personalized user experiences by providing essential tools and a superb platform equipped with various parameters, since 2018.IA: Thanks for chatting with us, Oren. We wish both you and House Tech Ads Ltd much success in 2019!
For more info on the brands, please reach out to Oren.