With Google cracking down on parasite SEO, regulatory pressure mounting and listed affiliates pulling back, is the US igaming market still the goldmine it was once thought to be? We speak to igaming veterans about challenges ahead and diversification strategies from community building to AI-driven content personalisation.
The year 2025 is set to be an eventful one for the gambling industry in the US. In a country where 57 million people gamble actively, opportunities for affiliates remain enticing – the sports betting gross win alone is expected to reach $23.2 billion (£18.7 million/€22.3 million) by 2030 (H2).
Yet, the challenges are just as immense. Last year saw XLMedia exit the US market, selling its North American assets to Sportradar for $30 million. Meanwhile, other listed affiliates including Better Collective and Catena Media announced sweeping layoffs. For the first time since the federal ban on sports betting was lifted, no new jurisdiction expanded gambling in any form. In some states like Utah, legalisation seems permanently off the table. While sweepstakes remain popular, the sector faces mounting pressure from lawmakers, with stricter regulations likely looming in 2025 and beyond.
“The US is a big country; even in just Michigan there are 12 million people and three big sports teams, so it’s a nice market to target,” says Simon Pilkington (below), owner of Best Betting Media and the ex-CEO of KaFe Rocks Group. “But my honest answer now is, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tougher market to work on in my 17 years of igaming experience.”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a tougher market to work on in my 17 years of igaming experience
Alex Windsor, CMO at GameTime Digital, shares Pilkington’s concerns, noting that competition has ramped up significantly since he entered the market in 2019.
“The US was seen as a goldmine, but it hasn’t really turned out that way. There are quite a few companies that have sold all of their US assets and moved out, so it’s interesting to see where the industry is going from here. The gold rush has certainly slowed down now.”
Partnership headache
According to Pilkington, building partnerships with operators can be a daunting task for smaller affiliates, as operators tend to favour bigger players and often lack affiliation experience.
“The only way to get partnerships in the US is to do sub-affiliation and then slowly work on building up a relationship, which is against my core principle of having strong partnerships from day one, but it is a long-term strategy,” says Pilkington.
In the European igaming market, revenue share is generally preferred over cost-per-acquisition (CPA) for its long-term sustainability. In the US, however, operators favour CPA deals. Windsor explains that working on a revenue share basis is a privilege reserved for only a handful of bigger affiliates who can afford the costly licensing process and feed part of the problem.
If you tell a community of people you love them but then make money every time they lose, you should question if you're a responsible betting site
“You have to do a lot of legal work that involves solicitors to obtain a revenue share licence,” Windsor says. “When you get it, there’s no guarantee that the operator will want to work with you, so you can spend all of this money obtaining a licence for nothing. As a small affiliate, if you are not sending a lot of players, you don’t really have the cards to deal with them.”
Travis Geiger (below), co-founder of sports bets trading platform WagerWire, remains sceptical of the desire for revenue share, arguing that the associated focus on lifetime value (LTV) is “inherently problematic.” He believes CPA remains the better approach for US affiliates through fostering long-term trust with bettors.
“As an affiliate, you should try to elevate bettors’ experience so that they know you are on their side If you tell a community of people you love them but then make money every time they lose, you should question if you're a responsible betting site,” Geiger explains.
Are media deals dust?
In addition to the frequent algorithm updates, one of the major changes Google dropped in 2024 was the Site Reputation Abuse (SRA) policy, which forbids sites from hosting third-party content. Since then, numerous listed affiliates have ended their media deals with news publishers. Betting pages from CNN and Forbes have vanished from SERPs, seemingly leaving gaps for smaller affiliates.
Yet, in the long run, the reality may be more complex than it appears. Windsor points out that Google’s preference for established sites makes it difficult for smaller affiliates to compete and launch new sites in the US. Although Pilkington acknowledges that media relationships are diminishing, he believes they “will remain in some forms” if the betting content satisfies the publisher’s editorial standards.
“For example, if you look at Better Collective’s deal with Goal.com, yes, they are leveraging the domain rating, but Goal.com has always been a football website with betting content. So for me, that isn’t a parasite SEO strategy or piggybacking; that’s just a partnership, a joint venture,” he explains. “Then there’s also the middle ground. Take major media publications like The New York Times. They are not betting companies, but they do cover sports and entertainment, so there’s a loose connection.”
Partnerships have always been the backbone, but now even more so given the challenges from Google
From 2022 to 2023, Better Collective and its rival Catena Media were on a media deal spree, forming partnerships with leading US publishers, including Lee Enterprises, the New York Post and Boston.com. However, these activities slowed down last year, with Better Collective experiencing “lower-than-expected partner activity” in the US and Catena terminating media deals to reduce costs.
Dan Gallagher, head of client success at TBD.Media and former client partner at Sportradar, argues that the SRA policy is making the right media partnerships even more valuable.
“Partnerships have always been the backbone, but now even more so given the challenges from Google. For affiliates, working with partners who have existing established relationships with publishers fosters credibility and also ensures compliance with the likes of Google,” he explains. “In a heavily regulated industry like igaming, such partnerships also enhance transparency and trust, which of course, is critical for sustaining long-term growth in the US.”
Diversification vs. niche power
Last December, super affiliate Gambling.com Group acquired Odds Holdings, the parent company of US betting tool subscription site OddsJam for a potential $160 million. Earlier in the year, Better Collective bought AceOdds for €42 million to provide additional reach for its partners with the sports affiliate’s bet calculator app. While diversification is now the go-to strategy for bigger affiliates, is it viable for smaller players?
You’ve got to think outside the box. You can’t just look for traditional strategies that have worked in the past, especially in organic SEO
In a complex market where policies vary between states, Pilkington believes that geotargeting white-regulated markets is the best option for smaller affiliates: “We are very niche. Our Michigan site is focused solely on Michigan, and our New Jersey site is entirely tailored to New Jersey. In the long run, I believe this strategy is stronger because it allows for deeper engagement with the local community and audience.”
However, Windsor notes that although diversification in the US igaming market with limited resources is naturally difficult, no one should “put all eggs in one basket”. He recommends smaller affiliates leverage their agility and develop a secondary strategy independent of Google traffic to future-proof their businesses.
“You’ve got to think outside the box. You can’t just look for traditional strategies that have worked in the past, especially in organic SEO. Affiliates need to look at social media, podcasts, video or in-app engagement to drive traffic to operators,” says Windsor.
Recent years have also witnessed a surge in sweepstakes casinos in the US as another vertical in the region. These are especially popular among Gen Z and millennial players, who are “passionate about social gaming and don’t care as much about real-money gambling”, wrote Windsor in a previous iGBA article. Though individual states may enact new laws this year, he assures affiliates that “sweepstakes casinos are here to stay” and recommends preparing licence application documentation as early as possible.
Right now, brands are overpaying for celebrities audiences don’t give a crap about. One day they’re selling skincare, the next day they’re promoting a sportsbook – it all feels fake
One particular strength of smaller affiliates, according to Gallagher, is the ability to build loyal communities, noting that he has seen “a lot of cool partnerships with streamers on platforms such as Twitch, where they are able to create betting related content, which is both relatable and replicable to the US audience”. That said, Geiger advises against jumping on the bandwagon and splurging on influencers who lack authenticity.
“Right now, brands are overpaying for celebrities audiences don’t give a crap about. One day they’re selling skincare, the next day they’re promoting a sportsbook – it all feels fake,” Geiger explains. “Take the Call Her Daddy podcast’s sponsorship with DraftKings, for example. Alex does a one-minute ad read, but 45 seconds of it is just a disclaimer. We call that the skip button.”
On the other hand, Windsor notes that collaborating with micro-influencers – who may only have a few thousand followers – can yield surprisingly strong returns, as their audiences tend to be more engaged and passionate. Another emerging trend in the space is the use of AI. Though controversial in direct content creation, Gallagher emphasises its potential in helping affiliates gain an edge in the competitive US igaming market through advanced personalisation.
“Affiliates are using AI-driven tools to generate dynamic content such as live odds comparisons and real-time match updates tailored to individual users. This offer of personalised recommendation enhances the user experience massively and conversion rates are bound to follow,” says Gallagher. “Other things to look out for would be AI-driven betting simulators, using chatbots for engagement and employing machine learning to identify high-value audiences for targeted campaigns.”
So back to the question – is the US just a gold-mining ghost town? While challenges persist, it seems that smaller affiliates do remain optimistic about the nation with its myriad of markets. Of course, this year could also bring stricter sweepstake regulations. Yet, with the 2026 FIFA World Cup less than 18 months away, there is also hope that this will open more doors to operator partnerships and the right media deals for affiliates. Perhaps it’s more a case of refining gold in a harder environment than the prospecting of old.