Affiliate Industry

An insight to the Italian betting market with Eskil Kvarnström, CEO of Leadstar Media

Published

5 years ago

April 17, 2020

Reading Time: 2 minutes

The Italian betting market has a long and established tradition dating back to the post-war years of the 1940s. A familiar feature to many generations of Italians, it continues to register growth on an annual basis. 2019 in particular was a positive year for the betting market, registering a total spend of €1.6 billion. It builds on the €1.46 billion spent in the previous year, marking a considerable increase of 7.4% in total.

A key player driving the expansion of the market as a whole is the online betting community in itself. Recent figures presented by Agimeg, show an exponential increase for the Italian online betting market with a growth of 59.8% in January 2020 compared to January 2019. Data that confirms the ongoing trend of the increasing popularity in betting online as opposed to visiting the conventional brick and mortar shops across the whole country.

To discuss this further, we have invited CEO & Founder of Leadstar Media Eskil Kvarnström, who hosts the affiliate page in Italy.

European Gaming Congress 2024 (Warsaw, Poland)

For those that don’t know Leadstar Media, please tell us a bit more about your company?
Leadstar Media was founded 12 years ago with the aim to conquer the iGaming affiliate market and deliver high quality leads to our partners. To achieve this, we focus on creating high quality content that is combined with a strong SEO-strategy. Currently, we are active across 16 different geographical markets including the Italian market.

What lays behind the decision to create a product geared towards the Italian market?
We always knew that the italian betting market was one of the largest in Europe, and with the belief that we deliver the best product for our customers in other countries, we were certain that we would also find success in Italy. Today, BookmakerBonus.it has established itself as one of the leading sportsbook comparison sites in Italy.

Do you have any insights into the current trends of the Italian online betting market?
The shift of many italian players deciding to undertake a part or in fact all of their betting online rather than visiting brick and mortar shops is clearly visible in the increase of the traffic to our site. BookmakerBonus.it provides these players with guides and help on how to get going with their online betting. Additionally, we also discovered that most of the users visiting BookmakerBonus.it (around 80%), do so by using their mobile phones. Therefore it is crucial to have a website which is optimized for this section of the market.

What are your future plans for the italian market?
The current strategy is to continue to improve the site and achieve a 10/10 product with it. We want to provide our customers with whatever information they might need in regards to the online betting market and offer guides to help them in their shift from doing their betting offline to an online platform. For the future we are considering an expansion of our product portfolio in Italy with a completely new website that could be targeting the online casino market.

Affiliate Industry

Gentoo Media reports Q3 2024

Published

1 week ago

November 13, 2024

George Miller

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Gentoo Media Inc., now solely an affiliate-focused business, reports record high revenues for the 15th consecutive quarter

Gentoo Media Inc. presents its Q3 2024 financial report, with record-high revenue of EUR 30.4 million, up 35% year-over-year, marking the 15th consecutive quarter of growth. During the quarter, the company completed the spin-off of its Platform & Sportsbook division and formally rebranded from Gaming Innovation Group Inc. to Gentoo Media.

Q3 highlights

Gentoo Media reported all-time high revenues of € 30.4m, up 35% YoY, of which 12% organic growth.
EBITDA before special items reached €14.6m, with an EBITDA margin of 48%.
EBITDA after special items increased by 36% to €14.0m, with an EBITDA margin of 46% (46%).
EBIT reached €10.0m, with a margin of 33% (32%).
Focus on higher-value markets continued in Q3. Value of deposits increased 36% for the player base, while player intake reached 112,000, down 2% YoY.
Gentoo Media is now purely an affiliate-focused business after distribution of the Platform & Sportsbook division to shareholders on 30 September 2024.
Cash flow from operations will improve post-split, expanding capital allocation options moving forward
Gentoo Media is now better positioned to deliver meaningful returns and create substantial value for our investors.

Investor presentation and webcast

CEO of Gentoo Media, Jonas Warrer, will host a presentation of the Q3 2024 results via livestream at 09:00 CET today.

The presentation will be followed by a Q&A-session, and investors, analysts and journalists are welcome to participate. The presentation will be given in English.

The post Gentoo Media reports Q3 2024 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Affiliate Industry

Increase Redirect Speed by 5 Times with Affilka New Feature

Published

3 weeks ago

October 31, 2024

George Miller

increase-redirect-speed-by-5-times-with-affilka-new-feature

Reading Time: 2 minutes

SOFTSWISS, a global tech company with over 15 years of experience in iGaming, introduces a new Geo-Distributed Redirect feature of Affilka by SOFTSWISS that helps operators improve engagement and conversion rates by reducing user redirect times.

The Geo-Distributed Redirect feature intelligently routes users to destination landing pages via regional clusters closest to their location. This geo-optimised infrastructure minimises redirect times, increasing successful website visits from referral links. The feature is designed for seamless scalability across multiple regions and enhances performance globally, wherever needed.

With the new feature, Affilka by SOFTSWISS reduced redirect duration by 2.5 to 5 times. At one of the regions, for example, extensive simulated tests showed a decrease in redirect times for users from 1.5 seconds to 300-500 milliseconds – this is one of the fastest responses available in the market. As a result, the feature implementation leads to a 3.5% to 7% growth in users successfully reaching casino sites. This increase in site traffic, in turn, directly contributes to more registrations and deposits.

The Geo-Distributed Redirect feature boosts conversions, accelerates redirects, enhances fault tolerance and high availability, and improves service reliability for users globally. Even during unexpected challenges, the system dynamically reroutes traffic to alternative resources, ensuring a seamless experience.

Gleb Bichan, Product Lead at Affilka by SOFTSWISS, shares his excitement: “With the launch of our Geo-Distributed Redirect feature, we are addressing the needs of clients targeting users worldwide. By reducing redirection times and increasing reliability, we enable our partners to deliver a superior user experience that drives traffic delivery and conversions. This feature is a significant improvement for customers looking to expand their global reach.”

Along with affiliate marketing, SEO website advancement helps operators promote their projects. Considering this, SOFTSWISS issued a comprehensive Casino SEO Audit: The Ultimate Guide, providing tips for increasing any iGaming project’s visibility.

The SOFTSWISS team looks forward to sharing the details of the Geo-Distributed Redirect feature and other product updates at the upcoming SiGMA Europe Expo. Current and potential partners can book a meeting with company representatives at stand 2145 through the contact form.

About SOFTSWISS

SOFTSWISS is an international technology company with over 15 years of experience in developing innovative solutions for the iGaming industry. SOFTSWISS holds a number of gaming licences and provides comprehensive software for managing iGaming projects. The company’s product portfolio includes the Online Casino Platform, the Game Aggregator with over 23,500 casino games, the Affilka Affiliate platform, the Sportsbook Software and the Jackpot Aggregator. In 2013, SOFTSWISS revolutionised the industry by introducing the world’s first Bitcoin-optimised online casino solution. The expert team, based in Malta, Poland, and Georgia, counts over 2,000 employees.

The post Increase Redirect Speed by 5 Times with Affilka New Feature appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.