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Understanding the Impact of Invalid Traffic: How Online Betting Companies Can Protect Their Ads and Drive ROI

Published

3 years ago

August 25, 2022

Reading Time: 3 minutes

We are honored to publish this byline by Richard Metcalf, Director of Business Development EMEA, TrafficGuard. Make sure to let us know your comments below the article.

The global pandemic has undoubtedly caused a massive increase in the number of active users that gamble regularly. A global statistic from Casino.org suggests that almost 26% of the world’s population gamble, and the global gambling market is expected to grow from $76.79 billion to an impressive $127.45 billion by 2025, according to Research and Markets.

Betting companies are having to distinguish themselves in such a highly competitive and evolving market by investing in digital campaigns and using premium ad networks. However, many of these channels may not be properly equipped to deal with invalid traffic and ad fraud, and as a result, could be losing large amounts of money every day to fraudsters.

The level of financial and competitor growth within the industry has created a strong attraction from fraudsters, and gambling companies can fall prey with little to no knowledge this is even occurring. And, with the betting industry only saturating further, companies cannot afford to suffer from low ROI and poor campaign performance.

Understanding the Risk of Ad Fraud

The risks associated with virtual gambling are unfortunately heightened with such lucrative rewards on offer and many betting companies deploy protection to help minimise the risk of fraudulent transactions or unethical behaviour. However, there is a real lack of awareness around ad fraud within gambling, and many companies don’t realise the level of impact it’s having on them.

Ad fraud is any traffic that is maliciously created and used to target companies’ advertising budgets, and is a subset of invalid traffic, meaning any advertising engagement that is outside of the target of an advertising campaign.

Here are just some of the ways ad fraud is threatening your ad campaign:

Bots – Bots are programmed to emulate human behaviour and vary in levels of sophistication and can do anything from clicking and viewing ads to watching videos. Promo abuse bots that click on paid search ads and then run scripts to claim free bets or free spins are highly prevalent in online gaming. As these bots ‘convert’, delivering misleading marketing metrics, it means you are likely optimising campaigns using the wrong data and towards winning more bot traffic.
Browser-Related Fraud – For example, location fraud, which involves manipulating users’ location information to match the advertiser’s targeting criterion, and domain spoofing, when bad actors monetise the traffic from low-quality sites by manipulating the domains and making it appear to come from high-quality sources.
Misattribution Fraud – A large volume of clicks on both affiliate and mobile campaigns are faked from a mobile device, even though the user never clicked the ad. If a user with a similar fingerprint then visits the target website and installs the app, the spammer receives credit for the conversion/install and is paid commission.

In reality, the result of ad fraud is inaccurate advertising results and wasted budget. One globally-renowned online betting company that was running a Google Ads campaign found that 23% of its clicks were invalidated, which equated to 28% of its advertising spend.

Without any prior visibility or protection, 71% of the gambling company’s wasted spend was attributed to just one of its campaigns. If the company had the visibility and awareness it truly needed to be able to address the problem, there was an opportunity to save $115,000, a mixture of media spend and potential losses in bonus deposits.

All gambling companies that run Google Ads campaigns are equally as vulnerable as this online betting company, which makes it crucial for marketers operating within this industry to proactively put themselves ahead of fraudsters with increased visibility, accurate analytics, and real-time protection.

Protecting and Saving Your Budget

With confidence in your data and analytics, the saving potential for gambling companies is around 10%, 7% higher than that of other verticals. The solution to invalid traffic starts with knowing exactly how it is impacting your business, and how you can combat it. With trustworthy data that analyses every bit of traffic quality, you can easily make a business case to combat bots, browser fraud and misattribution.

With visibility into the scale of the problem, betting companies can then properly evaluate the right solutions and the partner needed to help solve it. Once you’ve identified a partner with the right skills, technology and expertise for you, they can make an immediate impact.

Elimination with Prevention

Ad fraud currently dominates many betting companies globally, but a change of hands is within reach. Luckily, stopping invalid traffic doesn’t have to be complex or costly. In fact, the money you save will almost always outweigh your investment into stopping it, ensuring you can focus solely on making new savings.

By combining proactivity with visibility, betting companies can make enormous savings and address invalid traffic with confidence and ease. With many betting companies globally only looking to scale their digital marketing further, now is the time to understand your advertising losses and prevent them to achieve maximum growth and success.

blask

Blask reaches 100 market milestone with new additions

Published

17 minutes ago

November 11, 2025

George Miller

blask-reaches-100-market-milestone-with-new-additions

Reading Time: < 1 minute

Blask, the market intelligence ecosystem for iGaming, has crossed the 100-country threshold with the addition of new Asian, Africa and European markets to its platform.

Blask now provides AI-driven, real-time analytics on more than half of the world’s nations, with an in-depth overview of the operator landscape provided in 107 countries, and game analytics in 17.

The latest markets added include Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, Qatar, Kuwait, Moldova, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Jordan, Madagascar, Chad, Somalia, Niger, South Sudan and Mauritania.

Max Tesla, CEO and co-founder of Blask, said: “When we launched Blask last year, we made a commitment to bring in-depth, real-time iGaming market intelligence to the whole world. We’re now more than half-way towards completing this mission. Every new market we add brings more clarity to an industry that has operated in the dark for far too long.”

Blask shines a light on the performance of brands and entire markets where data-led intelligence has previously been lacking.

This latest update shows that as the United Arab Emirates prepares to roll out a new regulatory framework for online gaming, more than 155 brands are already active in the country. The Blask Index, a measure of engagement and interest across all brands in the UAE, is up 36.14% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the once thriving Ukraine iGaming market has seen a 49.11% YoY decline, with just 86 now active.

The post Blask reaches 100 market milestone with new additions appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

Evoplay

Evoplay dives into the vault in Piggy Bank 3 Pots Bonanza

Published

17 minutes ago

November 11, 2025

George Miller

evoplay-dives-into-the-vault-in-piggy-bank-3-pots-bonanza

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Evoplay the award-winning game development studio, has released Piggy Bank 3 Pots Bonanza, a vibrant and joyful slot where players can crack the safe for generous wins.

With the inclusion of the popular 3 Pots mechanic and several thrilling features, the 5×3, 20-line game offers a colourful world of gold bars, diamonds, and the three titular Piggy Banks for an action-packed adventure.

The game has four types of Bonus symbols – Green, Blue, Red, and Gold – offering different values between 1x to 350x the bet.

The Green Piggy Bank activates the Bonus Game with the xSpins Booster, awarding four starting spins instead of three and resetting the spin counter back to four each time a new Bonus symbol lands.

The Blue Piggy Bank triggers a Bonus Game featuring an xReels Booster, doubling the excitement by playing the round on two reel sets simultaneously. Any starting Bonus symbols are duplicated on the additional reels, increasing the chances of landing high-value Gold Bonus symbols.

Meanwhile, the Red Piggy Bank introduces the xFortune Booster, where Bonus symbols can randomly increase in value, with multipliers ranging from 0.5x to 10x the bet, creating explosive win potential.

The real excitement starts when all three boosters are activated simultaneously, launching a Bonus Game with a Hold and Win mechanic. Filling all 15 cells with Bonus symbols during this mode rewards the GRAND Jackpot or even the chance to double the jackpot if the Extra Reels Booster is active.

For players seeking instant access to the game’s features, the Bonus Buy allows activation of one, two, or all three Boosters, directly unlocking the full Bonus Game experience.

With its vibrant visuals, engaging mechanics, and multiple ways to win, Piggy Bank 3 Pots Bonanza offers players an exciting, dynamic slot experience where every spin could lead to big rewards.

Ivan Kravchuk, CEO at Evoplay, said: “With Piggy Bank 3 Pots Bonanza, we wanted to create a fun and fast-paced slot experience that keeps players on the edge of their seats.

“The combination of the 3 Pots mechanic, Hold and Win and multiple Bonus symbols, provides plenty of excitement and more ways to hit big wins with every spin.”

The post Evoplay dives into the vault in Piggy Bank 3 Pots Bonanza appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.

155 million monthly active users

Flashscore celebrates 155+ million monthly users, 400+ million app downloads

Published

17 minutes ago

November 11, 2025

George Miller

flashscore-celebrates-155+-million-monthly-users,-400+-million-app-downloads

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Record figures reinforce position of fastest-growing sports media platform
User base boosted by acquisition of BeSoccer
El Clásico fuelled record-breaking single-day user demand

Flashscore, the world’s leading platform for live scores and sports content has reached a major milestone, surpassing 155 million monthly active users and exceeding 400 million app downloads, with growth boosted following the acquisition of BeSoccer.

The record figures were reached in October, which also saw Flashscore and BeSoccer set a new single-day traffic high of 48.5 million users. The continued growth underlines Flashscore’s position as the leading sports media platform globally and reflects rising demand for real-time, reliable match data.

Flashscore CEO Pavel Krbec said: “All our investments in modern technology and product portfolio, as well as our daily work, are directed toward a single goal: delivering key sports information to fans around the world at the moment it matters most.

“Surpassing the 155 million monthly user milestone has shown that our vision delivers tangible results and I’m confident that in the year ahead, we will raise the bar even higher.”

Flashscore is the flagship product of Livesport, founded in 2006 by Martin Hájek and Jiří Mareš in Prague. The company that has become the global leader in real-time sports coverage has boosted its user base through new acquisitions in recent years. Notable additions include the Spanish football giant BeSoccer, Soccerway, and Tribal Football. BeSoccer alone contributed over 30 million users and strengthened Flashscore’s presence in key football markets worldwide.

BeSoccer CEO Ana Chapado said: “One year under one umbrella with Flashscore reflects both the strength of our football-focused platform and the power of joining forces with a global leader. Together, we’re building something truly special for football fans around the world.”

Globally, the majority of Flashscore users visit the platform for football results and content (more than 65%), followed by tennis (10%) and basketball (9%). Unsurprisingly, Flashscore’s largest audiences are concentrated in football’s traditional powerhouses. Countries with the highest monthly user counts regularly include Brazil, Italy, France, the UK, Poland and Germany, while Nigeria and the United States are also among regions that see a rapid growth of audience.

Single-day traffic record fuelled by El Clásico

October also saw Flashscore and BeSoccer pass a single-day traffic record, with 48.5 million users and 2.58 billion views combined on October 26, helped by El Clásico as Real Madrid beat Barcelona in La Liga. That match was the second-most popular game in Flashscore history, behind Barcelona’s Champions League semi-final second leg match against Inter in May.

Krbec said: “When the El Clásico was approaching, we saw it as an opportunity for Flashscore to shine. That’s exactly what happened – 14.7 million people followed the match on our platform, making it the second most-watched game in our history.”

The post Flashscore celebrates 155+ million monthly users, 400+ million app downloads appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.