Mobile is the wave of the future for the online gambling industry and online sports betting affiliate programs that understand mobile are a step ahead of the game.
It may seem like the online sports betting industry has been hyped up about mobile year after year without ever seeing the numbers they’ve expected, but now the industry is kicking off because the technology is finally here.
At this stage, online sportsbooks have already launched a mobile product and affiliates are just now realizing how much money there is to be made in mobile. In order for affiliates to benefit from the boom, online sports betting affiliate programs must provide them with the right tools to succeed.
Henrik Mandal is a mobile media and social marketing expert, currently working with Bodog Asia on mobile marketing. Mandal is a firm believer that the online gambling industry is about to see exponential growth in the mobile sector and he wants Bodog’s affiliates to be able to take advantage of a very lucrative opportunity.
“Mobile gambling is giving players instant access to games without the need for a computer”, said Mandal. “This gives affiliates a whole new playground to setup mobile portals and apps that makes it easier for players to find the games they can play directly on their phone”.
He added, “The mobile affiliate landscape is relatively new ground with few established affiliates and with an enormous pool of players, there is some serious money to be made for affiliates who enter the mobile gambling market”.
This is a great point by Mandal and an example of an affiliate who has also identified the potential of mobile is Simon Cross who operates LuckyMobileSlots.com. Cross’s site may have a casino focus rather than sports, but the rationale is the same- he identified a huge opportunity in the virgin mobile affiliate marketing space and went for it before everyone else has.
While its clear mobile gambling is on the rise and affiliates are becoming interested, there is a lot work to be done by the books and affiliate programs to assist their affiliates in promoting a mobile product.
Sports betting affiliate site EasyOdds.com is a popular odds comparison portal with a special focus on the UK sports market. Amaar Mohammadally is the Senior Account Manager at EasyOdds and shared his opinion on how well sportsbooks are providing their affiliates with an opportunity to capitalize on this market.
“I think there’s still lots of room for improvement as the technology continues to develop, said Mohammadally. “Tools such as mobile-only offers and bonuses provide a great incentive to target users which can all work really well. However ensuring tracking works especially when apps are downloaded and providing more detailed reporting on mobile traffic would greatly help to understand and grow this market to its full potential”.
Mohammadally is not alone when he says there is still a lot of room for improvement. Richard Moffat is the CEO of OLBG.com, a UK facing sports betting forum and information portal, and agrees that there are still some kinks to iron out with tracking.
“Mobile conversion to account generation has always been lower for us than desktop. I don’t think this is purely down to people preferring to open accounts on desktop but more that bookmakers generally have been very slow to get the affiliate tracking and conversion right. Basic issues such the affiliate tag not tracking are frustrating”.
He added, “We still have a lot of poor mobile specific landing pages, some trying to drive our traffic to iTunes rather than gain an account registration for us. Lots of work to do but starting to get there now and I am sure the conversions from our new mobile version of OLBG will keep on improving”.
Its interesting to see that affiliates such as Moffat are now launching mobile versions of their portals, a big reason why sports betting affiliate programs should have mobile optimized creatives in place so these affiliates can use them to drive traffic.
Mandal is clued into these needs of sports betting affiliates who want to go mobile and does what he can to address them at Bodog.
“Bodog offers a comprehensive marketing toolkit to its affiliate partners”, explained Mandal. “An extensive media gallery is provided with mobile optimized images and banners for any smartphone or tablet device. Live odds and dynamic widgets are available for all partners who want to display updated and current lines on matches. Affiliates also get access to QR codes, which players simply scan on their mobile to get started, all transparently tracked back to the affiliate to ensure proper tracking and commission allocation”.
If a sports betting affiliate program understands mobile like Mandal does, they will work hard to make it easy for affiliates like Mohammadally and Moffat to promote their mobile product. By providing reliable tracking, mobile-specific promotions and creative, it only makes it easier for affiliates to send those new depositing players, a win-win situation for both parties involved.
