Poll: Will UK operators follow Sky Bet and end affiliate programmes?

Sky Betting & Gaming today announced it has closed its UK affiliate programme following a strategic review.

The firm said it wanted to take more control of its marketing outputs and standards to “ensure that we can continue to meet the changing regulatory requirements in our sector”.

In short, the increasing level of scrutiny on affiliate practices, which aren’t regulated by the Gambling Commission, appears to have convinced Sky Bet the juice was no longer worth the squeeze.

Practices like losing tipsters and affiliates targeting low-income players have been covered extensively by national media in recent days, while Ladbrokes said last week it had been forced to take closer oversight of its affiliate network in the wake of the CMA investigation into bonusing Ts and Cs.

One of SB&G’s brands, Sky Bingo, was itself hit with an advertising ban recently by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) after a misleading advertorial was published by one of its affiliates.

SB&G said it had never seen the ad before publishing and had immediately ended the relationship with the affiliate suggesting this is exactly the kind of controversy the operator is hoping to avoid going forward.

But of course, SB&G is relatively unique in size and scope that it can afford to simply shut down its affiliate network. Others might not be able to lose that level of customer acquisition, suggesting there could be other ways to bring affiliates in line, similar to Ladbroke’s recent shift in policy.

With that in mind, this week we ask whether other firms will follow in SB&G’s footsteps and end their affiliate programmes, or whether there are perhaps less drastic ways to mitigate the reputational and regulatory risk that can stem from affiliate programmes?

Will UK operators follow Sky Bet and end affiliate programmes? Context: https://t.co/N15ZeSrPHu

— EGR Global (@EGRIntel) September 4, 2017