EGR Power Affiliates 2018

Welcome to the 2018 edition of EGR Global’s annual Power Affiliates issue.

The egaming affiliate space has arguably transformed this year more than ever. Regulatory headwinds have made it more difficult for budding start-ups to carve out relationships with compliance-mindful operators, while the super affiliates keep on growing with their reputations intact and portfolios bulging.

As a result, the Power Affiliates list this year has been narrowed down to 25 of the most successful affiliate businesses in the gambling industry, as we felt comparing Better Collective or Catena Media with much smaller affiliates was no longer viable. There are no more verticals, so affiliates will no longer be separated by sports, casino, poker and bingo. They either make the list or don’t.

EGR has also revamped how the list is compiled to ensure the process was far more objective. Each judge was asked to pick their top 10 affiliate companies, marking every company out of five in five specific criteria, including business/commercial success, appetite for M&A and regulatory/compliance procedures. To be considered, each company had to receive at least two nominations and their total score from all judges were then added up.

Our nine judges, which include affiliate managers, consultants and digital marketing experts, were all handpicked to ensure we had a panel with an unparalleled level of insight into the egaming affiliate market. What we are left with is what we believe is a comprehensive rundown of the biggest online gambling affiliates operating in the sector today.

1. Better Collective
HQ: Copenhagen
CEO: Jesper Søgaard
Main brand: Bettingexpert
Better Collective was founded in 2004 and currently employs more than 190 people in four offices, including its headquarters in Copenhagen. Better Collective boasts around seven million monthly users, three million of which are active across the firm’s strongest brand, bettingexpert. The tipster site content went live on Matchbook’s exchange platform in February via the newly-launched Matchbook Tips website. Over the last 12 months, Better Collective has made acquisitions in the UK, Germany, France, Romania, Poland, Finland and Denmark under CEO Jesper Søgaard, all of which have significantly contributed to a full-year revenue rise of 51% to €26.3m.

2.Catena Media
HQ: Malta
CEO: Henrik Persson Ekdahl
Main brand: AskGamblers
Catena Media is one of just two publicly-listed gambling affiliates on this list. The Nasdaq Stockholm-registered lead gen business, which has offices in Serbia, London, Australia, Sweden, Japan and the USA, employs approximately 300 workers. Catena has grown rapidly since 2012 as a result of an extremely aggressive M&A strategy, which helped generate full-year revenues of €67.6m. Catena Media will be on its third CEO in less than a year when former Nordic Gaming chief Per Hellberg takes control this summer. The firm is well positioned in America after acquiring PokerScout in Pennsylvania and Bonus Seeker in New Jersey.

3.XLMedia
HQ: Jersey
CEO: Ory Weihs
Main brand: N/A
Arguably the original acquisition-hungry affiliate, XLMedia’s M&A strategy has continued to gather pace over the last few months in both the online gambling and financial services sectors. Most recently, the AIM-listed company landed a surprise deal to acquire award-winning online bingo affiliate WhichBingo, founded in 2000 by owner Phil Fraser, for an undisclosed figure. M&A is just one part of XLMedia’s success story with the firm having invested significantly in its in-house technology capabilities in recent years, in addition to diversifying the business. The strategy continues to pay off with revenues growing 33% year-on-year in 2017 to $137.6m.

4.Raketech
HQ: Malta
CEO: Michael Holmberg
Main brand: tvsportguide.com
Raketech started out in 2010 as an online poker affiliate focused on lead generation for the Scandinavian market. The firm was founded by Gameday Group, the investment company behind Raketech, Bethard Group and Together Gaming, in which current CEO Michael Holmberg is a partner. After winning the EGR Casino Affiliate of the Year award in both 2015 and 2016, Raketech underwent a corporate rebranding in 2017 where the firm unveiled its new ‘Guider’ logo to “reflect the brand’s image as a responsible supplier of high-quality content”. Raketech revenues rose 60% in 2017 due to an increased strategic focus on acquisitions.

5.Oddschecker
HQ: London
MD: Toby Bentall
Main brand: Oddschecker
Oddschecker wants to reposition itself as the “punter’s champion” in the UK after 2017 threw up some regulatory uncertainty in the affiliate industry. The Sky Betting & Gaming-owned price comparison site sits right in the middle of the sector, having forged commercial relationships with the 27 operators featured on the Oddschecker grid. Originally used by more price-savvy punters, Oddschecker has become a content powerhouse by providing betting commentary in the mainstream media and releasing podcasts to its 145k-strong Twitter following. Oddschecker is fully operational in Australia, with four full-time employees based in Sydney, while websites are also up and running in Germany, Italy and Spain.

6.Gambling.com Group
HQ: Malta
CEO: Charles Gillespie
Main brand: Gambling.com
Formerly KAX Media, the digital marketing firm rebranded to Gambling.com Group in June 2017 to maximise one of the industry’s hottest domain names and align with its best-performing brand. Some senior management staff at the Malta-headquartered firm reside in Dublin while CEO Charles Gillespie works from Monaco. He was excited by the group’s US homecoming after entering the American market in January 2018. Gillespie hinted the firm was gearing up to list publicly in Sweden after substantial growth was achieved organically through SlotSource and the acquisition of Bookies.com. This year also saw Gambling.com Group launch its third television advert.

7.Natural Intelligence
HQ: Tel Aviv
CEO: Nir Greenberg
Main brand: Top10SportsBettingSites
A quick look at Natural Intelligence’s homepage explains all you need to know about the size and scope of the Tel Aviv-based company. According to its own figures, Natural Intelligence, which turns 10 years old next year, has nine million monthly unique visitors, 430 brands it promotes and more than 200 employees. However, the online gaming side of the business, led by former 888 marketer Jonathan Edelshaim (pictured), is just one part of a company that operates in more than 40 verticals and is best known for building comparison sites in the top 10 best format. In this sector, that includes Top 10 Sports Betting Sites and Top 10 Best Online Casinos.

8.Clever Advertising
HQ: Porto
CEO: Luis Rodrigues
Main brand: N/A
Founded in 2007, sports betting-focused digital marketing agency Clever Advertising was a new entry to the Power Affiliates list last year. The firm uses media buying, publishing and social media to generate valuable online traffic for its operator partners. These include bet365, Eurobet, PokerStars, Sky Bet and Tipico, which testament to its traffic-generating ability. Clever Advertising’s portfolio of 3,000 websites reportedly attracts 500 million unique visitors monthly, finding an audience of more than 10 million across its social media channels. Also key to the firm’s growth strategy is investing in start-up businesses and advertising to more than 200 social communities.

9.Blexr
HQ: Malta
Co-founders: Ian McDonnell and Paudie O’Reilly
Main brand: N/A
Blexr was founded in 2015 by former professional poker players Ian McDonnell and Paudie O’Reilly and has more than 50 employees working out of its Maltese headquarters. It only made its debut in the EGR Power Affiliates last year but it has already rocketed into the top 10 as the company continues to hone its SEO expertise in the casino and sports betting verticals. Blexr may not be as acquisitive as some of its fellow top-10 competitors, but the Power Affiliates judging panel scored the firm highly in the commercial/business and operational success criteria.

10.Livesport
HQ: Prague
CEO: Mr Hajek
Main brand: FlashScore.com
Founded in 2011, Livesport is one of the biggest sports betting affiliates around, with a portfolio of well-known brands including FlashScore.com, and OddsPortal.com. According to figures on the privately-owned firm’s website, Livesport’s brands, which offer live score services and news content, boast more than 75 million unique visitors per month, two billion impressions and 40 million app downloads. And like Blexr, Prague-headquartered Livesport appears to be less concerned about adding scale via M&A and more focused on organic growth, with a focus on its in-house technology capabilities and real-time data gathering.

11.OLBG
HQ: Bristol
CEO: Richard Moffat
Main brand: OLBG
Online Betting Guide (OLBG) was launched in 2002 to do exactly what the name suggests – offer help for betting online in the UK. The site helps users pick sports betting selections across 18 sports and thousands of markets, while the mobile app released last year has gained more than 750,000 installs.

12.Innovation Labs/GIG
HQ: Malta
Business lead: Richard Brown
Main brand: N/A
Game Innovation Group’s (GIG) Innovation Labs generates leads through web development, SEO, media buying and email marketing. Founded as a poker affiliate in the mid 2000s, the firm has gone on to partner with Nordic giants such as Betsafe, Unibet, Mr Green and LeoVegas. The Lab moved to GIG’s new Malta headquarters in January.

13.Racing Post
HQ: London
Founder: Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Main brand: Racing Post
Launched in April 1986, the Racing Post is 32-years-old, which probably makes it the oldest affiliate business on this list. The site isn’t lagging behind the times though, having amassed more than 240k followers on twitter after unveiling a full digital offering of the newspaper across mobile and tablet devices.

14. Game Lounge/Cherry
HQ: Malta
CEO: Jonas Cederholm
Main brand: SveaCasino.se
Game Lounge was founded in 2011 and took the Nordic egaming affiliate landscape by storm before being acquired by Cherry Group in 2015. Cherry upped its stake in the digital marketing company to 95% in 2017, allowing Game Lounge to branch out into casino marketing, video production and loan marketing.

15.At The Races
HQ: London
CEO: Matthew Imi
Main brand: At The Races
At The Races remains one of the most prominent horseracing affiliates in the UK.  ATR revenues were bolstered in 2017 when the firm signed a deal to let betting brands advertise on its TV channel. Sky has recently launched Sky Sports Racing which will replace ATR going forwards.

16.PokerListings
HQ: Malta
CEO: N/A
Main brand: PokerListings.com
PokerListings has been involved in the online poker space since 2003 and has carved out a reputation as a reliable poker guide for players and revenue stream for operators, including 888 and PokerStars. The site hosts news, blogs, reviews and bonuses, and SEO is the key to its lead generation process.

17.Rise Project
HQ: London
Founder: Richard Skelhorn
Main brand: N/A
Rise Project identifies, develops and markets online customer acquisition portals which generate traffic for gambling industry behemoths like GVC, Paddy Power Betfair and Sky Bet. Founded in 2014 by bgo co-founder Richard Skelhorn, Rise started in online gaming before branching out into financial markets and digital services.

18.Traffic Lab
HQ: Copenhagen
Founder: Sebastian Agerskov
Main brand: N/A
Traffic Lab acquires online casino players in the Nordic markets for the likes of Betsson, LeoVegas and Casumo through sophisticated email marketing, social media and SEO techniques. The Lab reportedly doubled its headcount in 2017 and moved to new offices in the heart of Copenhagen. It was founded in 2013 by CEO Sebastian Agerskov.

19.Latest Casino Bonuses
HQ: Belgrade/Sydney
Founder: Joshua Chan
Main brand: Latest Casino Bonuses
LCB is an independent directory and reviewer of online casinos, a casino forum, and guide to casino bonuses that has been up and running since 2006. The forum recently surpassed 100k members and has been busy in the M&A space after purchasing Affiliate Guard Dog and Two Little Fleas.

20.Moneta Communications
HQ: Manchester
Director: Danny Campbell
Main brand: Betting Directory
Moneta Communications was founded in 2004 by Betfred’s former SEO manager Danny Campbell. The sports betting affiliate operates a network of websites spanning football, horseracing, golf, tennis, cricket and rugby. They attract approximately 1.5 million visitors each month and the headcount has grown from three to 16 in recent years.

21.TradeSurge
HQ: London
Director: N/A
Main brand: bestnewcasinosites.com
TradeSurge is a division of Ubud, a company which has been generating traffic for the gambling industry through SEO and PPC since 2012. The firm has developed positive relationships with many UK-facing gambling operators, including Video Slots, Casumo and Spinland.

22.Little Star Media
HQ: Milton Keynes
Director: Kylie Morgan
Main brand: Super Free Bingo
Little Star Media was founded in 2005 as an online marketing agency focused on the UK gambling industry. It generates players through online portals Super Free Bingo and Super Free Slot Games. The firm was nominated as Affiliate of the Year in a tough category at the 2017 EGR Operator Awards.

23.Livescore.com
HQ: Malta
Director: N/A
Main brand: Livescore.com
Founded way back in 1998, Livescore is a website that provides the most up-to-date scores in football matches going on around the world. The speed at which it updates has earned it a cult following to which the site cross-sells operator offers from bet365, BetStars and 188Bet.

24.CheckdMedia
HQ: Manchester
CEO: Jamie Knowlson
Main brand: Footy Accumulators
CheckdMedia has worked hard on its image this year, looking to separate itself from B2C brands Footy Accumulators and Team FA to operate as a B2B digital marketing entity. The firm completed its first acquisition last August after buying Oddschanger as Checkd continues to diversify its strategy away from social media.

25.iBus Media
HQ: Isle of Man
CEO: Jonathan Squires
Main brand: PokerNews
iBus Media is one of the biggest players in the poker affiliate space, with its flagship PokerNews brand establishing itself as one of the premier poker media websites during its 15-year lifetime. Isle of Man-based iBus Media has five offices and has also branched out into casino and sports betting in recent years.