“Movers and Shakers” is a dynamic monthly column dedicated to exploring the latest trends, developments, and influential voices in the iGaming industry. Powered by GameOn and supported by HIPTHER, this op-ed series delves into the key players, emerging technologies, and regulatory changes shaping the future of online gaming. Each month, industry experts offer their insights and perspectives, providing readers with in-depth analysis and thought-provoking commentary on what’s driving the iGaming world forward. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or new to the scene, “Movers and Shakers” is your go-to source for staying ahead in the rapidly evolving iGaming landscape. 

Allan Stone, CEO at Intelitics, looks at recent changes to paid search ads and how a bigger budget is not the magic bullet for successful affiliate programs

Just as online sportsbook and casino operators embraced paid media and paid search as powerful and effective customer acquisition channels, the game has changed again, with new challenges to overcome.

What’s happened? At Google Marketing Live 2025, the search giant announced it will be rolling out ads inside AI-generated answers. This is going to have a seismic impact on paid search, but get it right and marketers can gain a significant advantage over their rivals.

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Here’s what the change means for real money gambling brands.

1 – Placement isn’t placement anymore

Your ads won’t show up in traditional search blocks and instead will be embedded inside the AI answer itself. This changes how you write copy for sports-betting-related queries. For example, “Best odds” messaging hits differently when it’s inside an AI response.

2 – Fewer clicks but better players

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AI answers will reduce total clicks, but the users who click through will be high-intent bettors. Expect click-through rates to drop, but player conversion rates to rise. In short, it will be a shift from quantity to quality.

3 – Context beats keywords

Forget exact-match keyword strategies, as now, you need to match the intent behind what the user is asking AI across a wide range of sport betting-related queries, from betting lines to game props and even deposit methods.

4 – SEO traffic is about to crater

The AI block dominates the entire screen, especially on mobile, and is likely to be the player’s first port of call. If you’ve been relying on organic search alone for player acquisition, expect fast traffic drops.

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5 – Optimise for AI, not just search behaviour

Operators and their marketers will need to rethink how their sportsbook features, player reviews and betting content show up when AI crawls and indexes it. Getting into the AI result is now just as important as ranking in the top positions for competitive keywords.

For me, this is the biggest shift in paid acquisition since the iOS privacy changes hit Meta, and operators and their marketers need to respond immediately.

Those using Performance Max and Google’s AI Max program can get ads in AI Mode, and so long as they adapt their messaging and targeting to this new reality, they will capture higher intent players while their competitors scramble.

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Another area where some sportsbooks continue to scramble is performance marketing, where underperforming partner programs are costing operators millions. But not for the reason they think…

It’s not about having partners; it’s about how you manage them. In our experience, the gap between top-performing programs and the rest isn’t budget, it’s the freedom given to affiliate partners.

We’ve evolved from the days when operators controlled every pixel of partner content, and this is welcome progress. But there’s still a disconnect between what we say and what we do – allow me to elaborate.

Operators talk about empowering partners but then micromanage their messaging. They say they want authentic voices but reject content that doesn’t match their corporate tone. They seek performance but restrict the very tactics that drive it.

The reality is that the best partners already understand their audience much better than the operator ever will. They’ve built trust and they know what resonates, but they need to be able to speak authentically.

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This is why smart operators focus on frameworks rather than restrictions. And this should include clear brand guidelines that protect compliance, as well as consistent values that maintain brand integrity. It’s also important to provide flexible creative assets that partners can adapt.

But creative freedom is only half the equation.

Without proper measurement, the partnership program is flying blind, and, in most cases, operators can’t answer even the most basic questions like “Which partners drive actual player value beyond initial sign up?” and “What’s the true LTV of players from different channels?”.

When budgets get tight, the first things to be cut are partnerships that the operator can’t prove are working. The market leaders have figured this out and have built both flexibility and accountability into their programs.

And at Intelitics, we are proud to be working with a growing number of operators who are using our marketing-tech suite and services to streamline tracking, automate reporting and push into new customer acquisition channels, including paid media and paid search.

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In short, we help them bring flexibility and accountability to their acquisition efforts.

Having provided the perfect case study for the benefits of legalised online gambling in Canada, we caught up with Bede’s Chief Executive Officer, Colin Cole-Johnson, to discuss why other provinces may look to follow Ontario’s example in the future and what challenges operators will need to be ready for when they do.

With the regulated online gambling market in Ontario recently being recognised as one of the largest in the world, operators will feel there’s plenty of untapped potential to be realised not just in the province itself, but in Canada as a whole, over the coming months. And for good reason too.

Since legalising online gambling in 2022, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has established a go-to framework for how regulators introduce rules and standards that protect players and enable operators to flourish – and no better is this illustrated than in the performance of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG), which has continued to make a hugely positive contribution in the province over the past few years.

Having already paved the way for successful open market regulation through a number of progressive initiatives, with even more yet to come – such as the proposed centralised self-exclusion model –  it certainly wouldn’t be a surprise to see other organisations turn to AGCO as an example of how regulations can be introduced both sustainably and profitably; and this will likely present several opportunities for operators as well.

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From Bede’s experience in the country, Canadian regulators are thorough and well organised. Any province looking to follow the success of Ontario will no doubt look to AGCO for inspiration, and this may lead to similar regulatory frameworks in other new territory launches. As the gaming community in Canada is so connected, we’ve already seen cross-operator interest in sharing regulatory knowledge, meaning there’s a wealth of information waiting to be leveraged.

As the most likely province to regulate next, Alberta has already shown a preference for following an open-market model similar to Ontario’s, with the input of various industry stakeholders set to guide the way. The onboarding process for operators seeking to enter this potentially vibrant new market is likely to follow promptly after the new framework is enacted, so existing experience and relationships within the Ontario market should prove advantageous for those looking to hit the ground running.

For Bede, our years working closely with AGCO leave us well positioned to enter additional provinces in the future, and we greatly value the guidance and support we gain from having a direct relationship with the regulator. We aspire to grow even further in Canada by forming more provincial partnerships, and our learnings from Ontario will undoubtedly form a key part of this.

Internally, we have a strong framework for new market entry and regulatory compliance that includes cross-functional representation across the business. We understand the heavy lifting that goes into a launch and the complexity of licensing and delivering a new technical solution. Our approach always involves an analysis of the requirements from a compliance, risk, audit and financial perspective, as well as identifying any gaps where our products can make an impact with the right strategic solutions.

Taking the Ontario market as an example, we’ve seen some noticeable changes in player behaviour in recent years, meaning operators must be prepared to adapt in order to keep up with emerging trends. Although we’ve seen growth for our partners in the digital space, retail remains a predominant revenue stream for Canadian operators. As digital continues to grow, it’s important to provide a seamless end-to-end experience for players across channels, to be effective omni-channel solutions.

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As more choice becomes available in the market, offering competitive payment and withdrawal options will be important. A critical part of the player journey that is often overlooked is the preference among players for easy access to preferred payment methods. A great example of innovation in this area is our Lottery Direct Pay method, where players can purchase tickets directly from their card without first having to load their wallet – creating a faster user journey that appeals to a wider audience.

Aside from these payment considerations, it’s worth noting that community engagement features and personalisation are both playing a more prominent role in the Canadian gaming landscape. Particularly among younger audiences, having the ability to offer a shared experience is becoming increasingly important to generating sustained engagement. For example, we’ve already seen OLG enjoy a significant uplift in overall ticket sales since launching the innovative Lottery Group Play tool.

Similarly, the power of personalisation cannot be understated when it comes to building player activity and retention. Through partnerships with companies such as XtremePush and Future Anthem, Bede has endeavoured to utilise more machine learning and AI systems that can broaden the customisation options available for customers, while our dynamic segmentation tool enables them to target user groups more effectively and automate the player journey in real time.

Of course, from the moment Ontario launched a legalised online gambling framework, regulators were required to focus their efforts on keeping up with increased accessibility and, therefore, increased risk of harm to the public. Should another province like Alberta also legalise online gambling in future, the same challenges will exist – and this presents an important opportunity for operators to both educate players on responsible gaming protocol and enforce it.

Given Bede has been operating in highly regulated markets for over 13 years, we have both an established suite of RG tools and in-depth knowledge of how to use them effectively. Evidenced in the UK market and beyond – Bede has developed its platform to meet the tightening controls that have been issued over every aspect of online gambling – enabling operators to create their own tailored mix of tools that best support their players.

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Notably, the upper limit functionality in our RG toolset gives our customers the option to monitor and respond to potential problem behaviour by setting maximum limits for specific players. The players may opt to further decrease their own limits, but they’ll be unable to exceed the maximum setting until/unless the operator removes them, reducing the harm they could potentially experience. As well as outright prevention, being able to educate a player in such a moment is equally important – and using our platform, operators can send appropriate, personalised messages to users that encourage them to alter their play and even think about setting time out periods where necessary. For example, our partners can use our Player Interaction feature to set alerts from the front end based on pre-defined player behaviours, and then use that information for RG activities; if a player returns to a page a certain number of times, it can automatically trigger personalised messages to encourage the player to set a limit.

As responsible gaming is a constantly evolving topic in Ontario and other new markets in Canada are likely to experience similar growing pains, supporting regulatory efforts through the smart adoption of harm prevention tools will be a key part of gaining a foothold. This, coupled with the other regional considerations we’ve outlined in this article will be crucial to any operator’s future success in the country; and there are definitely big opportunities on offer for those who get it right.