Checking In

[dojo]

Hey all,

I'm Paul fron Northern Ireland, I've been reading the site for a couple of days and joined up today.

I've no clue about online casinos but I have been writing info websites for 10+ years and working part time in affiliate marketing for the past couple of years specifically promoting ebay. Y'all have opened up a whole new world to me!

I ended up here because I was looking for a sports betting affiliate option for a rugby site I have been running for a number of years, I tried Paddy Power for a couple of months but although I had clicks there was never any sale, I got brassed off waiting and started recently to look for alternatives. I signed up with Tote today and I'll wait to see how that pans out.

But you have me all fascinated about the casino approach so I'll be reading lots more here. I've a bunch of experience with tweaking wordpress to make it do stuff it wasn't meant to do, I have some private web design clients and my ebay forum friends or fiverr help me handle most of any more complex stuff. I've a pretty good record with SEO and organic search engine traffic however rather than go for the big shiny keyword apple at the top of the tree that everyone's chasing, I tend to go for long tail keywords, the little apples on the ground. There areas many pounds of them as there are big apples and they're a lot easier to get At least that approach works with with ebay, I'm not sure about casino-ing

Anyway I'll probably create a UK-facing casino site in the next week or so based on what I read here, I'll try not to be a pain in the butt and I'm already grateful for all that has been shared - looks like I've more swotting to do

Anyway just wanted to say hey. I'm either here or not, I'm not exactly a lurking kind of guy

Cheers

Paul

 

[casdir]

Nice to meet you Paul, and welcome to the forum. There is lots of great information in this forum. You should take the time to read through the threads in the different sections. Even though you've picked a difficult time to start up in this industry, best of luck to you. Hope it all goes well, and promoting to the UK market sounds like a very smart idea

 

[Engineer]

Hi Paul -- welcome to AGD! ;D

 

[CaseyM]

Welcome Aboard Paul

The little apples on the ground approach is what the majority do in this industry too

 

[CygX1]

You found a good base to start with. If you are not very familiar with the online casino business, I suggest you also learn about its less intriguing aspects. The blacklist links on the website of the Wizzard of Odds are a good place to collect this kind of information: xxx.wizardofodds.com/online-gambling/blacklist/. By picking your affiliate partners well, you will save yourself a lot of hassle.

Good luck with your project.

 

[dojo]

Hey everyone, thanks a million for the welcomes and your advice

You have a very supportive and well-informed community - I was reading last night until after 3am now it's just after 9am and cramming doesn't feel like such a smart idea now!

Reading loads, learning loads, hopefully I'll avoid asking too many stupid questions

Thanks again

p

 

[Crazyrewards]

Welcome to the forum Paul!

My name is Maria; I look after several brands (slots, scratch, betting, bingo, and casino). If you are interested I can send you some information about them, let me know if you want me to send you a private message.

Regards,

 

[dojo]

I have a couple of questions about the legalities of doing this in the UK - I did giggle for it but but I get casino & aff sites more than solid info

Can someone point me toward any advice about the important EU/UK legal stuff that I should be aware of, or is it not a problem because we are affiliates rather than casino owners.

I know that I can't promote gambling in the US at all but is it correct that I can't use my US servers for gambling sites either?

Maria, thanks, yeah PM me some info.

 

[Crazyrewards]

email sent I look forward to hearing your comments.

 

[baldidiot]

Technically if you're "advertising" to UK players you're only supposed to promote gambling sites that are regulated in the UK or an approved jurisdiction (known as the white list - includes malta, gibraltar, alderney and others). But pretty much no one pays any attention to that rule - even some casinos that have their offices here in the UK ignore it - but it's something you should be aware of.

This could change dramatically with the new UK licence proposals, but it depends if they actually enforce it.

If you're targeting the UK I would use UK hosting companies anyway - I've used many different hosts and can recommend latehosting (for shared only), xilo and vidahost.

As for brands to promote - a good starting point are the affiliate friendly programs listed on this site.

 

[dojo]

Hi Baldidiot, thanks for chiming in

(with that moniker i could be talking to myself! : )

I was on just the Gambling Commission site but I still wasn't clear which elements apply where - If I understand you correctly the affiliation aspect is cool in the UK but technically I should be only promoting UK-based sites or from the approved list. I can live with that!

Thanks for the hosting recommendation, I have reseller hosting facilities in the UK but I tend to use those for my info sites and not my affiliate work. I have most of my affiliate sites on a VPS in the US. I know that my UK hosting permits sites on 'any topic as long as it's legal' so I don't see any major issues with that aspect.

Yes I'd prefer to use brands that are approved here, I know that you have no place for rogues, I am very grateful for the AGD diligence in this.

Thanks for the advice, I'd hate to make a stupid mistake and land myself in legal hot water.

Cheers

P

 

[baldidiot]

No worries

Affiliates are classed as advertising, so the section that applies is the advertising one. I wrote a piece on it a while ago: What is the UK White List? | General Articles - that has links to all of the legislation you need to be aware of, etc..

Oh also (after looking at my own article, lol) to be compliant you should have the 18+ logo or "18+" on the site as well as a link to gambleaware.co.uk.

But like I say, a lot of affiliates just do whatever and I've never heard of anyone getting into trouble for it. The main reason for many to comply is so they can advertise on adwords - gambling ads are permitted but you need to get a "license" - super easy just fill in a form. But they check the site complies with the UK gambling law first, or rather they're supposed to.

 

[dojo]

Hey BI, that's super, very helpful indeed - Thanks +1.

I'd rather stay within the law where possible of course but I'm quite happy to run with whatever is common practice, you all have a lot more relevant experience than me.

I'm already approved for gambling on adwords for my rugby site, it was very straightforward and not a problem for Google at all, it would just be a repeat of that process. I don't do much PPC though but it's nice to have the approval when the time comes.

Thanks again for helping clarify this.

 

[Guard Dog]

Welcome to AGD, Dojo, and glad to see you have already run into some good help here I agree, UK hosting is *best* when promoting to a UK facing audience. However - I think the .co.uk is more important. I do host in the US without issues through LiquidWeb (solid support, solid servers).

Feel free to ask any questions, we are all willing to lend our knowledge to help!

Andy