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Understanding the Impact of Invalid Traffic: How Online Betting Companies Can Protect Their Ads and Drive ROI
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.
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Firesand, a leader in iGaming security services and software, has developed a cutting-edge Anti-Account Fraud solution to safeguard iGaming operators and platform providers from escalating credential-based cyber threats.
Firesand Shield is a best-in-class product that has been designed to address the growing complexity of account fraud that has impacted the global iGaming industry in recent times, which in some cases has resulted in loss of business, damaged reputation and regulatory fines. Common examples of account fraud include credential stuffing, dictionary attacks, and common password exploitation.
The new solution provides proactive, intelligent detection and prevention against the full spectrum of account compromise techniques, without relying on user-disruptive CAPTCHAs or blunt blocking mechanisms, to ensure the end user experience remains uninterrupted.
Unlike legacy or bot-only detection tools, Firesand Shield leans on the company’s specialism as a penetration testing service provider to focus on attack patterns, regardless of whether the source is human, bot, or hybrid, offering unmatched insight and agility in protecting operator user accounts and platform integrity. It includes in-depth attack analysis and reporting to provide greater transparency and clarity over the source of each security vulnerability.
With a product upgrade roadmap that includes geolocation anomaly detection, VPN usage analysis, and AI-powered behavioural profiling, Firesand Shield is set to offer operators and platforms significant peace of mind to stay ahead of security threats as they evolve.
Chris Blake, Director at Firesand, said: “Account fraud is a growing threat to the global iGaming industry. There have been multiple cases in the previous year alone where user data has been breached, leading to a detrimental impact for businesses targeted.
“Firesand Shield has been designed to support operators and platform providers of all sizes to sharpen their security capabilities as these attacks become more common and sophisticated. Underpinned by our superior iGaming security excellence, we are well positioned to further strengthen online systems on a global scale.”
With a proven track record of developing bespoke security platforms for a range of industries, Firesand brings unmatched credibility and expertise to the iGaming space, combining technical solutions with practical, actionable defence capabilities for high-risk digital environments.
The post Firesand launches Firesand Shield to combat rise in iGaming account fraud attacks appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
Industry Awards
Soft2Bet Named Acquisition & Retention Partner and Industry Innovator of the Year by SBC Europe Awards 2025
Soft2Bet has secured two major wins at the SBC Awards Europe 2025, being recognised by excellence for Acquisition & Retention Partner of the Year and Industry Innovation of the Year. Its flagship brand Betinia also earned a Silver Award in the Casino Operator of the Year category, highlighting a company’s ability to create performing brands in saturated and highly competitive key markets.
The awards recognise the continued success of Soft2Bet’s powerful turnkey solutions and Motivational Engineering Gaming Application (MEGA), which has played a central role in driving player engagement and retention across key markets. During the last 12 months, the impact of Soft2Bet’s cutting-edge gamification solutions for casino and sportsbook has played a major role in enhancing customer experience, loyalty, and engagement, delivering ROI-driven performance that goes beyond retention. MEGA was key in achieving a 128% retention uplift for Campobet in Denmark and 106% for Betinia in Sweden, further proving the solution’s impact.
“SBC Europe Awards recognition is a testament to the vision of our technology and its impact on building strong brands, long-term player relationships, and product excellence that goes beyond retention. MEGA continues to lead the European, Nordic and North America market in creating unique experiences that combine innovation, a strong regulatory framework, high performance results from the start,” – stated Oksana Tsyhankova, CMO at Soft2Bet.
Earlier in 2024, Soft2Bet was also recognised at the SBC Awards, winning in Innovation in Mobile and Innovation in Casino Entertainment categories. Soft2Bet now holds 19 licences across 12 jurisdictions and continues to expand both its B2B and B2C footprint in Europe and beyond. With brands like Betinia, CampoBet, Don.ro, Tooniebet, and Quickcasino, the company remains focused on delivering innovative, localised, high-performance iGaming experiences.
The post Soft2Bet Named Acquisition & Retention Partner and Industry Innovator of the Year by SBC Europe Awards 2025 appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
There are affiliate networks, and then there’s MegaList – a performance-first, hype-last kind of operation built for casino and sportsbook brands that prefer results over buzzwords.
In an industry that sometimes feels like it’s powered by vague metrics and recycled content, MegaList steps in as the “Mega Map” – a practical, data-driven network guiding both players and operators to higher ground. Less “look at our reach,” more “here’s your conversion rate.”
So no, this isn’t just another logo-stamped brand promising traffic and delivering bounce rates. This is a carefully engineered affiliate engine built on smart SEO, qualified leads, and just enough caffeine-fueled obsession with results to make even the most skeptical operators pay attention.
The iGaming Affiliate World: Why It (Still) Matters
Let’s be honest – the affiliate space in iGaming has had its fair share of bad actors and empty promises. But when done right, affiliate marketing is still one of the most effective and efficient ways to connect licensed operators with the right players.
Players want fewer popups, more clarity. Operators want actual ROI, not vague impressions.
Enter: the data-driven affiliate network.
It’s simple:
- Informed players make better choices.
- Strategic affiliates deliver better traffic.
- Everyone wins. Except, of course, the shady operators who preferred it the other way.
Meet the MegaList Brands
These aren’t vanity microsites. Each MegaList brand has a specific mission, actual humans behind the content, and a reputation for, well… telling it like it is.
MegaCasinoList
Let’s face it – players don’t need another affiliate promising “top 10 casinos” based on whatever ad paid the most. They need honest, transparent, expert-backed reviews.
That’s where MegaCasinoList comes in – a platform that filters out the noise and delivers legit info on licensed casinos, security, fairness, and gameplay. Slots? Live dealer games? Payout speed? Yep, it’s all in there, and it’s all vetted.
They work with reliable operators only, because – and here’s a crazy idea – not every shiny site deserves your deposit.
MegaTipsList
If you like sports predictions that read like a 20-page legal document, you’re in the wrong place.
MegaTipsList is built for bettors who want real insights, fast reads, accurate tips, and actual value. It delivers predictions, sports news, and timely promotions – minus the fluff and with none of that “win guaranteed” nonsense.
Designed for bettors who like to stay informed without needing a PhD to understand the odds.
MegaBetList
For the practical bettor who just wants the facts: which sites are legit, which ones pay fast, and what to expect before placing your first wager.
MegaBetList reviews betting platforms with a clear, no-nonsense voice. It’s not trying to dazzle; it’s trying to help people bet smarter – and it’s doing a pretty solid job of it.
From licensing to promotions to usability, everything is covered – and everything is filtered through what actually matters to sports fans.
Why This All Matters (And Why It’s Working)
The iGaming world doesn’t need more noise. It needs better filters, smarter partners, and affiliates that actually care whether the traffic leads somewhere useful.
That’s where MegaList comes in – not to impress with buzzwords, but to perform, to scale, and to make sure both operators and players are on the same page for once.
And if we may drop in a little vision while we’re at it:
“At MegaList, we believe informed players and strategic operators shape a stronger, smarter iGaming industry.”
For once, a statement that isn’t just inspirational filler.
So the next time someone pitches you an affiliate network, ask one thing: “Do they have a plan, or just a landing page?”
MegaList has both, and a track record to prove it.
Explore MegaList’s network:
🔗 MegaAffiliatesList.com
The post Meet MegaList: The Rising Force in iGaming Affiliation appeared first on European Gaming Industry News.
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