Gambling.com: Back To Basics - Affiliates
The idea that every company needs to have a US-focused strategy has become a piece of industry wisdom. Charles Gillespie, CEO and co-founder of the Gambling.com Group, tells Zak Thomas-Akoo the online gambling market in Europe can be just as lucrative as that in the US.
Gambling.com: Back To Basics - Affiliates
In 2006, when Charles Gillespie set up the business that would become the Gambling.com Group in his dorm room at the university of North Carolina, online gambling was in many ways still in its infancy.
Gambling.com: Back To Basics - Affiliates
In the US, the boundaries of the law hadn’t been tested – as they would be five years later when US prosecutors brought the hammer down on three prominent online poker businesses.
Gambling.com: Back To Basics - Affiliates
When that happened, growth markets shifted to Europe, where jurisdictions began regulating one by one – before shifting back across the Atlantic as the 2018 repeal of the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) blew the whistle to begin the current sports betting boom.
Gambling.com: Back To Basics - Affiliates
But amid the race for user acquisition that this initiated, Gillespie believes some old truths still hold true – and that much money can still be made in Europe.
Gambling.com: Back To Basics - Affiliates
Sucking the air out of the room
It’s easy to forget the size and potential of the more mature European regulated markets.
Gambling.com: Back To Basics - Affiliates
Against the grim backdrop of inflationary and recessionary pressures on consumer spend, Gambling.com Group reported a 58% year-on-year increase in UK and Ireland revenues in its recent Q3 financial results.
Gambling.com: Back To Basics - Affiliates
Gillespie notes the Gambling.com Group’s success, and the fact that it has come from more than just market growth.
“For a mature online gambling market that is only growing at a single digit rate – that by definition means that we’re taking market share from competitors,” says Gillespie.
He adds that industry success in the US has…
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