Affiliates and acquisition

Media buying: buying traffic for deposits

Media buying (paid acquisition) is buying ad traffic and sending it to landing pages and casino registration. It works while player revenue stays above ad spend, so it is measured by ROAS and payback period, not by the number of registrations.

Yevhen SychovOctober 2026

Formula and example

ROAS = NGR of acquired players / ad spend x 100%For example, €10,000 went on ads. Player NGR is €6,000 after 30 days and €12,000 after 90 days: ROAS of 60% and 120%, so the campaign paid back between the first and the third month.

Count revenue in NGR, not in deposits: bonuses and player winnings eat a noticeable share of deposits. The payback period is the time it takes cohort NGR to catch up with spend. The longer it is, the longer your money is tied up in traffic.

In-house team or affiliates

Traffic is bought by the operator's in-house team or by media buyers who work as affiliates. An in-house team sees LTV and can optimise campaigns for the second deposit. An affiliate on CPA profits from the first deposit, and without a baseline the traffic quality risk stays with the casino.

Restrictions and advertising rules

Ad networks and platforms restrict gambling: some require approval and a licence, others ban it outright. Advertise a casino only in markets where the operator holds a licence, and follow each market's rules. These usually cover audience age, mandatory disclaimers, responsible gambling and a ban on promising wins or income.

Check creatives and landing pages before launch. Fake news stories, fake celebrity endorsements and promises of easy money bring registrations, but they hurt the licence and the reputation. Players with self-exclusion or limits are excluded from retargeting.

Common mistakes

  • Optimising for registrations. The ad network's algorithm finds cheap registrations that never deposit. Pass the network the first deposit event, or better still, the second.
  • Incentivised traffic. People came for a reward or a bonus, not to play: lots of FTDs, few second deposits and a high risk of bonus abuse.
  • Not vetting affiliates. A media buyer promotes you with banned promises or in a market where you have no licence, and it is the operator's licence that answers for it.
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