AI, Earnings Per Click and shaving in iGaming affiliation: Q&A with John Wright

Hello, and welcome back to another Q&A with me, Gali, as we dive into a bit of a controversial topic that tends to see either side of the fence butting heads. AI, Earnings Per Click and Shaving in the iGaming Affiliate Space.

Leading us in today's Q&A session is none other than John Wright , a seasoned professional whose journey into iGaming was anything but conventional, with a track record in the iGaming and affiliate marketing field spanning over 20 years.

John is the Co-Founder of StatsDrone , a software and marketing company that helps webmasters track their sales, commissions and statistics in a single app. They also make tools for affiliate publishers and affiliate programs.

Following John's journey that stems from card-counting camaraderie to the intricacies of affiliate marketing, he shares his insights that peel back the layers of the industry.

Buckle up as we learn more about his accidental foray, the convergence of engineering, Data Science and iGaming, and the future trends that could redefine the online casino experience.

Gali: How did you get started in iGaming?

John: My journey into iGaming was almost accidental. I got started in a bit of card counting after one of my friends tried to get me to join his team. I learned some basics, but I had doubts that any of this would really work. After a few years of my friend telling me about how much money he was making and now doing the same thing, but with online casinos, I thought that he took "crazy" to a whole new level.

I eventually went to see him to learn more, and sure enough, he was making the money that he said he was. To make a long story short, I learned various aspects of bonus hunting, sports betting and online poker over the next 7 to 8 years. I did all of this after graduating from university with a degree in engineering, specialising in robotics and AI. What attracted me to the business side of the industry was that I could see the marketing evolve in front of my face, almost in real-time. I figured that if these companies were only growing, clearly, there was more money on the other side of the fence.?

That led to some consulting work for operations and eventually taking a role as an Affiliate Manager. This is where I learned how affiliate marketing worked, and I also realised that affiliates were earning a generous share of the business.

I learned the fundamentals of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), website design and a few other tricks of the trade and have been building affiliate sites since 2010. In the past few years, I’ve taken on all the experience to work on building tools for affiliate marketers.?

I think that I can now finally say that I’m putting my engineering degree to good use.?

Gali: Can you tell us more about how your engineering degree is helping you today?

John: I think that my engineering degree has always helped me, even if I wasn’t working on engineering projects. I’ve sharpened my skills outside of engineering, where they go hand-in-hand.?

Simply put, I’m working on a big project where the tech stacks seemingly change often. While I’ve worn all the hats I've needed to over the past 15+ years, now I’m more focused on delegation, and I’m going more into Data Science.?

Gali: Do you still gamble today?

John: I have a very hard time gambling. Gambling, to me, was grunt work. You put your time in and make money, and when you’re not working, you’re not making money. On big wins or losses, I learned over time to be less emotional about it. If you ask me to play at a casino today, I’d rather do something else. Betting on sports? I’ve got a better use of time and money.

I’d only have an interest if I believed I had an advantage, and today, I’d rather invest this time into learning another skill that can make money in a way that I enjoy more.

That said, I do think affiliates should know their products, and there are successful ones that do this well.?

Gali: How do you think casinos can increase their player value?

John: There are so many factors that affect player value, and these are beyond just having an optimised VIP program. This is where I think companies like Golden Whale and Greco are going to shine.?

Putting these software tools aside, most Affiliate Managers and owners are not fully looking at and understanding their data. The industry is geared towards making money, and it is possible to make money without trying as hard as you need to. I mean, you can open up a white label casino on a budget and have the affiliate program live in a month, and you’ll be making money.?

We are at a crossroads where data is finally going to catch up to the industry. Affiliates and operators that have been coasting won’t have this luxury anymore. Affiliates will have the tools to know if the traffic they are sending is giving a good Return on Investment (ROI), and this comes down to the casino's ability to maintain and increase player value.

When casinos don’t understand the ways in which bonus abuse and fraud can pull money out of their business, this is just one element that reduces player value. All casinos would see an increase in profits if they knew bonus abuse and fraud could be eliminated. It is just that most operators don’t understand what this looks like and believe that having high wagering requirements on bonuses will protect them when it doesn’t.

Two questions I like to ask Affiliate Managers are the following:

1. Do you know the conversion rate of all your landing pages at your casino?
2. Would you be interested in a conversion rate audit?

Quite often, people will reply ‘yes’ to both questions, but this doesn’t make sense. If you knew the conversion rate of your affiliate program, you likely wouldn’t want an audit because you've just told me that you have this under control.?

For the 1000s of online casinos that exist, there might be at most 50 of them that take Business Intelligence (BI) and Data Science seriously. They use the right tools to monitor and optimise their business.?

Gali: What do you see as the future of online casinos?

John: The market has too many casinos, which is both a good and bad thing. In online poker, the dominant player holds a monopoly on that iGaming segment. It isn’t healthy for everybody, but poker has to be this way. Players want to play against the largest pool of players.?

This means that casinos and various B2B providers need to find ways of delivering entertainment and/or value to players. While this can be in the form of unique games, players want a unique experience. If you give players the same casino experience as they’ve always had, they’ll leave for something better when it eventually comes along. We are already seeing a shift in this new wave of companies. These companies are either data companies optimising value, like Golden Whale and Greco, or are providing unique game experiences, like Sci-ent and BeyondPlay.

If there is no exchange of value or something that gets players excited when they talk about it on social media, this will be the difference between companies that struggle to exist versus the new wave of business that will change the industry.

Gali: How do you see AI helping the iGaming industry, especially the affiliate marketing side?

John: I think AI will be more useful on the operational side first, which then benefits affiliate marketers down the pipeline. Affiliates themselves will need to focus on how AI can positively impact their own business. I’m already seeing a lot of new data tools that incorporate AI, and these can be done using various new SaaS companies like rows.com or enterprise ChatGPT. I believe that although the insights into data will get better, it is still up to us as people to become better analysts. The idea is that AI will just speed up this time, so instead of doing 6 hours of data analytical work, we can have completed reports in front of us and ready to action in a greatly accelerated timeframe.

Gali: Many affiliates complain that shaving is still a problem in the industry. Do you see AI or any solutions that would help solve this?

John: The answer I have is likely one that affiliates simply don’t want to hear. Perhaps the only solution to solving this problem, although unlikely, is by having advanced tools that make it difficult or impossible to manipulate data and for the operators to be publicly traded companies that have to live up to a gold standard.?

Affiliates, first and foremost, should focus on which operator delivers the highest revenue per click or Earnings Per Click (EPC). The ironic truth is that it is quite possible that the program that is shaving affiliates also happens to deliver the highest EPC, while the program that delivers a low EPC is often accused of stealing but is actually the ethical option.

I don’t know if AI will help solve these problems other than to speed up the auditing work. I believe blockchain tech has a means of solving data authenticity and helping to alleviate fraud. With that said, databases will likely and unfortunately continue to be sold and passed around, and so blockchain in and of itself won't be able to stop a player going from Casino A to Casino B, where Casino B is not paying affiliate commissions.

One thing that will get us closer to reducing shaving is tracking tools that have real-time elements. This is why some affiliates want to use postbacks and dynamic variable tracking links, as they are server-to-server tracking tech. If a sale is made, the affiliate gets a response confirming it, and sometimes, that deposit amount is confirmed. While some affiliates use this for performance marketing, others use these tools as another layer of trust because it is difficult to delete data when things are happening in real time.?

I believe that not enough affiliates are looking at the right data, and it goes back to EPC and various Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). When affiliates do this, it will improve things. Likewise, the same could be said for affiliate programs. How many programs know the conversion rate of all their landing pages? As far as I know, 98% of programs don’t really know this at all and don’t know what data to even look at to study this. If they did this work and tracked the right data, they would be able to improve their conversion rates, which positively affect affiliates, too.

As we conclude today's Q&A with John, it is clear that as the industry has evolved, data has become the new gold, and innovation is the currency of survival.

The future of online casinos is being shaped by companies mastering the application and integration of data science while offering unique player experiences. While the role of AI, both on the operational and affiliate marketing fronts, promises efficiency, there is still a premium placed on human analytical prowess.

Even though there is a promise of progress, shadows persist. The challenge of shaving in the affiliate marketing space raises questions about the loopholes around affiliate visibility and real-time tracking.

Is the path to authenticity and trust paved with technology, or does it lie in a deeper understanding of conversion rates and key performance indicators?

So, what's next for iGaming? Perhaps the answer lies in the hands of those who, like John, are adept at reading not just the cards but the pulse of an industry that is ever-changing.

#GalisGuide #iGamingInsights #DataDriven #iGamingEvolution #AIinAffiliateMarketing

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