Effective October 2nd, 2017, the affiliate program offered by Sky Betting & Gaming will be coming to an end. They recently made the announcement that because of ‘growing regulatory concerns,’ and an overall analysis of the performance of this form of marketing.
This may be surprising to many readers here given the ability of an affiliate program to generate sales in almost any industry, without a company having to invest heavily up front on what might not produce results.
Sky Betting and Gaming released a statement which said in part, “the regulatory landscape in which the industry operates is developing and maturing and operators are experiencing increased obligations regarding their regulatory responsibilities and level of compliance.”
This can create a very difficult environment for companies in highly regulated industries such as gambling. By inviting outside affiliates to engage in marketing, they are giving away control over exactly what happens in many cases. If governmental agencies hold the company responsible for what affiliates do, it is easy to see why a company would want to cut out that risk.
The statement went on to say, “In order to continue to operate in a compliant manner, we feel that operating the programme is no longer viable and that managing the output of affiliates presents a significant risk to our business from a regulatory perspective. It is for this reason that we have chosen to terminate the programme.”
Lots of gaming services thrive on affiliate programs, so it will be important to keep a close eye on what they do in the coming years. If the regulatory situation is really such that this type of marketing is unsustainable, it will cause a lot of turbulence for both gaming companies and marketers.
