Managing the wild and wacky world of affiliates 

Many operators would, if they’re honest, rather do without gambling affiliates. There are clear risks to outsourcing marketing and the lack of direct control over the messaging for your company can be disconcerting. 

But there’s no denying the value they bring to the iGaming ecosystem. Particularly when trying to crack new markets or access hard to reach demographics, specialised affiliates often have the knowledge and expertise that no one else can match. 

However affiliates can certainly be a wild bunch and keeping them working efficiently and within the law is a full time job. That’s where the affiliate manager comes in - radically reducing the risks of working with advertising partners and maximising their customer returns. 

Not like that! 

Affiliates and compliance have a murky track record. There are numerous instances of affiliates landing operators in hot water, whether they operate offshore or with local licences. 

In the past, affiliates with little oversight have run promotions that breach local advertising regulations or even make promises to consumers that operators can’t keep. 

Generally speaking, it's the licence-holder that ends up on the hook for punishment when affiliates overstep the market. 

Drama around egregious advertising by affiliates in the UK occurred in the mid-2010s following a series of fines from the Gambling Commission for various operators and investigation by the Information Commissioner’s Officer. 

One operator even went so far as to ditch their entire affiliate programme in response, at what was a historical low point for operator/affiliate relations. 

Thankfully the industry has long moved past this tumultuous phase, thanks in large part to the creation of the affiliate manager role, which is now a core part of many successful online gambling companies. 

Relationship expert 

Wrangling affiliates in 2026 is about more than just keeping them in line, in order to maximise the return on a marketing partnership, it’s important that an affiliate manager supports good two-way communication. 

That’s easier than it sounds, when you’re dealing with a bundle of small businesses and a cast of interesting characters. 

All of which will likely be mixed in with some huge listed companies that have their own processes and ways of working. 

When seeking out top affiliate manager candidates you need to prioritize individuals who are capable of navigation multiple service providers at once.  

The ability to leap from problem to problem without losing focus on a company’s overall objective or losing track of an inevitably long to-do list is key. 

Online gambling is an international business by its very nature and one of the primary functions of affiliates is to add local marketing expertise that may be difficult or too expensive to hire in house. 

That means the affiliate manager needs to not just deal with different business styles, but different national cultures as well. 

An ability to put themselves in other people’s shoes and think beyond the confines of their own experience is critical to performing at a high level as an affiliate manager. 

Insider experience 

An affiliate manager also needs to act a little bit like an affiliate themselves, which can make hiring directly from one an intriguing option for operators looking for new staff. 

A good affiliate manager needs to be wise enough to have a sense of what will and won’t work when it comes to player acquisition strategies.  

Analytics will tell you when something has or hasn’t produced results, but it won’t give you a sense ahead of time if what a marketing partner is proposing is a good idea to begin with. 

A background in the sector can also help when it comes to avoiding potential communication breakdowns that would otherwise lead to costly revenue loss. 

Pentasia is perfectly placed to deliver on this kind of hiring profile. As the industry’s premier recruitment agency, we have access to thousands of industry professionals across a range of roles, including in the affiliate sector.