It’s time for affiliates to cross the streams

The egaming industry is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions. “What do you mean, ‘biblical’?” I hear you shout… What I mean is Old Testament, real wrath of God type stuff. Fire and brim-stone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling. Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, vol-canoes. The dead rising from the grave. Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria. (yeah, I did just cite Ghostbusters).

Take your 1984 self off to an alternative dimension where the bodies of Matt Zarb-Cousin and Derek Webb are inhabited by paranormal spirits ghouling around the corridors of The Independent as the Key Master and the Gate Keeper, proclaiming the impending arrival of Gozer the Gozerian.

Well folks, the Traveller has come and we ain’t getting as easy a ride as Spengler, Venkman, Stantz and Zeddemore had with the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Fresh from their victory over FOBTs, the Campaign for Fairer Gambling is beating the war drum as it marches towards an online gambling industry that lies asleep in camps spread thinly and disparately around the world, completely unaware of the impending slaughter that awaits.

Regular fodder for The Independent and The Guardian, the Campaign for Fairer Gambling has now infiltrated the columns of the Financial Times, eyeing up a far from clandestine stabbing of gambling PLC share prices. Tom Watson MP, the deputy leader of the Labour Party, has once again been pushed to the front of Webb’s line and has gained support from former Tory frontbencher, now Lords peer, Lord Chadlington.

Where is the response?

Clive Hawkswood, CEO of the Remote Gambling Association (RGA), and Richard Flint, CEO of Sky Betting & Gaming, sit as the only two regular voices in press coverage. The RGA, for all its merits, is, to my mind, not sufficiently empowered or armed to fend off the attacks and Flint, for all the strong work he is doing to enhance SBG’s social responsibility image, cannot take down the Traveller with a lone proton pack.

We do not have the higher ground, but we are not indefensible. From an affiliate perspective, we must do the same and align ourselves with the angle our operator partners take and go beyond that by setting out our own Code of Practice. We need to deliver upon it and ensure those willing to do the same work with us to collectively raise the standards we operate to, in order to protect and add socially responsible value to the customers we market to.

We must not burden ourselves with the comparatively trivial tête-à-têtes we have with operator partners concerning commission calculations or even the closure of affiliate programmes. That is not to say these should be ignored, but I would far rather have the likes of Richard Flint in my corner than against me.

As the largest front door to customers, affiliates have a significant role in delivering responsible gambling and social responsibility messaging. In what is still a young industry, coming together with a united voice at even an operator level is not easy. To do so on an affiliate level is even harder given the global spread of affiliates participating in the UK market.

Neither are impossible though and both must happen and lead to the ongoing cooperative crossing of streams between the working groups of operator and affiliate bodies, or we are on for the biggest inter-dimensional cross rip since the Tunguska blast of 1909. If we do what is required, in the words of the legendary Dr Egon Spengler, there’s definitely a VERY SLIM chance we’ll survive.

Tom Galanis is director of TAG Media, a consultancy focused on effecting change, delivering results and raising standards in the egaming industry. Since its inception, TAG Media has provided products and services to clients including Rank Group, Ladbrokes Coral, Betsson and Playstudios, optimising the way they do business.