How will Sweden's New Casino Legislation affect you as an Affiliate?

[Thomas Andreas]

Hi,
as I think many of you are already aware of, the Swedish Casino market is going from Grey to White. Meaning that next year the online casinos that wants to be active in Sweden must obtain a Swedish casino license.
The Swedish Casino will obtain a license. You as an affiliate will not. How have you prepared yourself?
#1 many of current online casinos in Sweden might not be able to afford a new license. Are you working with the right ones?
#2 Previously, Organic was king... What will happen now when your #1 keyword position on google becomes #5. There will be 4 ads above you. are there new niche keyword you can find that the casinos will not bid for
#3 Social. Yepp, they will start doing Social Media - totally legit... you cannot... that is worrisome...

these are just a few things I believe that will make it a lot harder to be a casino affiliate in Sweden. Perhaps I am being overly pessimistic.
I would love to hear about what you think will change and if you agree with any of the things I wrote.
Thanks!

 

[danniee]

Should we maybe talk a bit more about this? Most of you probably deal with mainly UK traffic? Sweden is quite a big market when it comes to gambling generating a lot of revenue for the casinos so what happens here might ultimately affect everyone.

Anyways. I was not too worried about the upcoming regulations at first, althought the removal of bonuses was quite bad imo, both as a player myself and as an affiliate (not sure about the last part yet).

What's MUCH worse, however, is the 3 second spin rule! It feels like playing broken slots on lagging servers. Absolutely horrible. I love playing slots and didnt think anything would stop me from playing but man, these 3 second spins, it made me want to rip my eyeballs out. So bummed out right now. I can't see myself playing slots like this, honestly. I worry that the good days for Swedish casino enthusiasts are over.

I'd be genuinelly surprised if even 10% would be arsed to keep playing under these conditions.

P.s. Apparently the Swedish politicians know f*** all about gambling and just copied the Danish regulations for convenience.

 

[rushit]

hi danniee,

where did you hear / read abiutr the 3 sec rule? havent come across that myself

/tomas

 

[rushit]

I know autospins will be removed but not anything about the 3 sec rule.

 

[danniee]

hi danniee,

where did you hear / read abiutr the 3 sec rule? havent come across that myself

/tomas

It's everywhere, confirmed by reps on Casinomeister plus I already experienced it myself as NetEnt already implemented it. Try Dead or Alive or Jammin Jars on any GiG casino....yawn.

 

[danniee]

Oh well, we can always hope that the next generation of gamblers that don't know better wont mind 3 second spins but by then they'll probably increase it to 5 seconds

 

[rushit]

ok, will check it out, i wonder if all game providers have implemented this or only netent.

thx

 

[danniee]

ok, will check it out, i wonder if all game providers have implemented this or only netent.

thx

Not all yet. BTG, Microgaming and Novomatic played as normal for me.

 

[danniee]

Made a deposit to both Kaboo and Rizk today and the 3 sec rule is now fully integrated across all their games. Unplayable really. When youre used to the freedom it really takes the fun out of it. Cant see myself playing like this and I would be extremely surprised if not a large chunk of gambling activity in Sweden ceased. I do hope the SGA change their minds about this when time comes to evaluate things.

 

[edgarf76]

I have not seen an impact. However, we just started last year going after this market.

 

[danniee]

I have not seen an impact. However, we just started last year going after this market.

It's because it started today.

 

[awesamko]

#2 organic search.

Sure it was the most important but it is hard to get a top position on the name of the casino anyway. When there are adverts in a tv, people are looking for specific brands...

 

[gobo]

Many of the operators and large affiliates welcomes the regulation. I don't at all. As an affiliate it sucks:

1. 18% in gaming tax will for sure be noticable. Of course the operators deduct this from GGR which means that we take the cost. So a drop in 18% in earnings over one night.

2. Ads on Google is gonna turn all the organic traffic upside down. Lots of ads before our previous #1 spot and it basically forces us to join the Adwords-race. And since Google is is relying on their ad revenue it is never gonna get better for us who are into SEO. More ads, less destinction between the ads and the organic result - everything will be paid.

3. More restrictions in terms of promoting the brands. Can not mention all their products anymore. Bonuses seems to be capped.

Can anyone think of any pros except that we will see even more TV ads (it was already waaaay too much but not on the largest channels)?

 

[gobo]

#2 organic search.

Sure it was the most important but it is hard to get a top position on the name of the casino anyway. When there are adverts in a tv, people are looking for specific brands...

But affiliates and casinos will buy broad matching ads like crazy. Each click will be super expensive. It will be harder to work with the long tail.

 

[Thomas Andreas]

Just found out that some Swedish casinos are also trying to unlink your existing players. Saying that they recommend that you register a NEW PLAYER ACCOUNT so you can switch currency from SEK to EURO. Instead of them just allowing the player to switch currency in their already existing account...
Ugly

 

[gobo]

Just found out that some Swedish casinos are also trying to unlink your existing players. Saying that they recommend that you register a NEW PLAYER ACCOUNT so you can switch currency from SEK to EURO. Instead of them just allowing the player to switch currency in their already existing account...
Ugly

Any others than Betsson that you have heard of doing that? That itself should be a one way ticket to the rogue house imo.

 

[Thomas Andreas]

Heard something about Unibet. But dont know if it is true. Might just be noise

 

[BetOnlineUK]

Just found out that some Swedish casinos are also trying to unlink your existing players. Saying that they recommend that you register a NEW PLAYER ACCOUNT so you can switch currency from SEK to EURO. Instead of them just allowing the player to switch currency in their already existing account...
Ugly

The trouble is with this, a lot of Swedish players will take advantage of opening a new account as they may well get another bonus as it is now capped at one bonus per casino. But it does look like it is the perfect excuse to pull one over affiliates.

 

[petjah]

Many of the operators and large affiliates welcomes the regulation. I don't at all. As an affiliate it sucks:

1. 18% in gaming tax will for sure be noticable. Of course the operators deduct this from GGR which means that we take the cost. So a drop in 18% in earnings over one night.

2. Ads on Google is gonna turn all the organic traffic upside down. Lots of ads before our previous #1 spot and it basically forces us to join the Adwords-race. And since Google is is relying on their ad revenue it is never gonna get better for us who are into SEO. More ads, less destinction between the ads and the organic result - everything will be paid.

3. More restrictions in terms of promoting the brands. Can not mention all their products anymore. Bonuses seems to be capped.

Can anyone think of any pros except that we will see even more TV ads (it was already waaaay too much but not on the largest channels)?

The only advantage is that you are now operating 'legal' instead of 'illegal' according to Swedish law. Whatever that's worth to you.. In terms of earning money, regulation is always bad for affiliates: taxes, extra advertising rules (less freedom) and a lot of competition via social media, SEA and SEO. Some people say that the market becomes bigger after regulation. That may be true but at the same time, there are more people/companies who want their piece of the 'cake'.

You would think/hope that as an affiliate you would get more protection against rogue casino's/affiliate programs in a regulated market but i have not seen that yet. It's more the other way around, they don't need affiliates as hard as before the regulation. So they care less if they screw you or not. But who knows, maybe the Gaming Authority in Sweden is different. Only time will tell.

 

[NDG]

Regulation tends to be good for players and bad for affiliates.

The regulatory body sets a lot of rules without consulting affiliates and those rules will
often complicate the affiliate and their web site, while also levying a heavy tax on casinos
that also takes away from our earnings. The regulatory bodies always tout that they are
all about player protection, but they are all about taxation and getting their piece of the pie.