The iGaming industry has grown incredibly in the last few years. It's a huge and competitive market, but if you manage to carve a space out for yourself, you can profit from it immensely. Knowing how to get traffic and which geos to target is more than half of the success.
Since traffic sources and geos are the keys to success, we decided to help potential affiliates that want to get started with iGaming, or improve their current campaigns. With this information you should be able to get the best opportunities and have success no matter if you are an affiliate or operator!
Why Traffic Sources and GEOs Matter in iGaming
iGaming traffic is not like standard traffic. Gambling, sport betting, and online casinos attract highly engaged users that like to spend a lot of money. But all of this comes with a huge caveat. Reaching these people is quite hard due to various regulations and laws you need to follow.
Depending on the country, you might have some serious issues reaching anyone without breaking at least a few regulations, but that's something you need to be ready for if you want success in this vertical!
Traffic Source Importance
Not all sources convert well for iGaming. Depending on the source, you could be generating mostly casual visitors that won't stick around for long enough for you to make a commission out of them. Also, a lot of iGaming offers offer long-term rev share for players you bring in, so finding high-value players should always be your goal.
To find them you need to research who your ideal audience is, how to best attract them, and taking into account the regulations, what you can do to best approach them.
The Importance of GEOs
Gambling and betting are not legal everywhere. Just a few years ago, even in the US you wouldn't be able to run anything outside of the Las Vegas strip. But as things can often get harsher, laws can also become more relaxed.
With verticals like iGaming, there are always some regulation issues, as the nature of the vertical is that it can create real gambling addicts out of people. Richer countries that also have players who can spend the most, often have the strictest rules as they want to protect their citizens from gambling their wealth away. But even amongst them, there are always ways to target people and find the right ones.
Top 5 Traffic Sources for iGaming
Before talking about the countries where you should run, here is what the traffic sources look like for iGaming!
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Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
Paid search ads allow advertisers to target users actively looking for online casinos and betting sites. These people are already engaged and want to try their luck out in online betting, so they should be prime candidates for targeted ads.
You can try to target specific keywords like “best online casinos 2025” or “safe sports betting sites”. These more long-form keywords have less competition, and it's more likely that you will have luck with using them, as the industry is quite competitive.
There are also more than a few issues with this. Google and other search engines often have really strict policies. They often require specific licenses and approvals to let you even run any sort of ads, and depending on your connection to the sites you are promoting, you might not be able to get these.
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Social Media
Social media is a great place to advertise anything. The vast user base and interactive content is great at hooking people into your ads and getting them to learn more about what you have to offer. Most platforms restrict or completely ban any gambling content, but you can get around this by adjusting your content and advertising for things indirectly.
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter/X all have varying regulations based on your license, the geo you want to advertise on, and general platform rules. In general, Meta is the best for awareness camps and retargeting, TikTok for viral marketing and influencer partnerships, and X for sports betting promotions, as the users love discussing sports on the platform.
You should try advertising strategies, game reviews, or guides instead of promoting casinos and gambling sites directly. You can also try some platforms where these things are completely accepted and normal, like the online streaming platform Kick, and others!
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Native Ads
Native ads blend in the host site and ads seamlessly so the users have a great experience and don’t feel targeted by ads all the time. This is great for iGaming as the ads can be more subtle and help ease people into the vertical.
The best platforms for iGaming are Tabbola, Outbrain, and RichAds, though you can try them on others as well. Reviews, blog-based content, recommendations, and specialized offers often work a lot better than direct ads to casinos.
You can also expect a lower CPC compared to Google Ads, and far less issues regarding regulations. You will need to have some high quality content and hooks, as you won’t be the only one trying to advertise iGaming. There is a lot of competition and you will need to outperform them all if you want to shine.
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Push Notifications
Push has lost a lot of popularity in the last few years, but it's still going strong for iGaming. These ads are in the form of notifications that are instant, clickable, and highly engaging to users.
They can reach a big audience that might be interested in what you have to offer right away. The costs usually are also low compared to other methods. You can even use them for time-sensitive promotions like sports betting offers during a popular game.
Just watch out that you don’t overdo it, as you will be seen as intrusive and overused and people might start ignoring your ads completely!
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Affiliate Marketing and Influencers
Influencers have probably had the biggest impact on iGaming in the last few years. It seems like a lot of celebrities like Drake, and online streamers like xQC and others have promoted some sort of gambling and betting on their platforms.
These influencers can reach millions of people on their own, but the best strategy is finding more smaller ones that cover a wider audience for a fraction of the cost! Just make sure that you partner up with people that have solid reputations, as if you partner up with hated community members, you might get some backlash for supporting them in the first place.
Top 5 GEOs for iGaming in 2025
Here are the top GEOs that we think you should aim for. As you might see, no EU countries have made the top 5 list, but there is a good reason for it. EU countries have heavy regulations, and advertising there is quite hard for beginners, so starting with popular but less regulated markets is a better strategy!
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United States
The US has opened up for online gambling. Even though it's still highly regulated, things like sports betting, fantasy football, and online casinos based in overseas territories have become incredibly popular. The US is a huge market and most of the players are considered high-value players. It's worth pursuing them even with the regulatory issues as the results are worth the hoops you will have to jump through.
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Canada
Canada has a similar playerbase to the US. Their iGaming market is a bit different. They prefer online poker and casinos, and all of their offers need to offer high security payments. It's also important to note that the players are worth a lot, and the competition is a lot smaller than in the US.
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Brazil
Brazil is huge, and their iGaming market is the biggest in Latin America. They have millions of active players with most of them focusing on sports betting, and soccer is the number one sport for them. The players are not as good as in the US or Canada, but they make up for it in consistency.
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Indonesia
Most affiliates don’t even think about Indonesia, but it's a huge country with a lot of potential players. They are tech savvy, and in love with e-sports and betting. The value is a lot smaller than in the above GEOs, but they make up for it in quantity. There is also almost no competition, so you should have an easy time carving a space for yourself.
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Vietnam
Vietnam has a young population that often interacts with mobile-friendly betting sites, e-sports gambling, and sports betting. They are easier to target than countries like Indonesia, as most strategies known to westerners work there too, while in Indonesia you need to completely adapt to their culture to succeed!
Conclusion
iGaming is all about knowing where and who to advertise to. If you figure out the right traffic source and geos, you should already be able to have some success in this industry. Not all geos are made the same, and in some it might be super easy to get started, while others might be almost impossible to penetrate, depending on local laws.
Some GEOs are not even worth the hassle as the players are not valued enough, and they just don’t spend enough for you to get a reasonable kickback from the casinos.
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