The UK gambling industry continues to thrive despite the continued introduction of more stringent regulations. According to figures published by the Gambling Commission, the sector pulled in more than £14 billion in gross gambling yield from 2016 to 2019. But is it still possible to harness the rich money-making potential of this lucrative industry, given how crowded the market has become?
Market Saturation
There’s no getting away from the fact that the iGaming industry is fiercely competitive. These days, online casinos are a dime to the dozen. So those of you looking to start your own casino gaming website will find yourself up against a seemingly endless array of big-brand operators with decidedly deep pockets. Then you’ve got the legions of white-label outfits that rebrand the software of these big-brand operators and then vie with each other for top rankings in Google.
To get around these problems, many casino start-ups focus on a specific gambling niche. Some feature content created by a specific gaming developer, others build their platforms around casinos that offer a certain payment option – yes the market has actually become that splintered. Then you’ve the different gambling verticals. Take online bingo for instance.
Online Bingo
Although not as popular as online casino gaming, bingo remains a viable option for many digital entrepreneurs, especially in the UK. Although competitive, it’s still possible (albeit quite difficult) to rank a website in the SERPS, provided you’re willing to put in a lot of time and effort. They key is to identify the type of platform you’re going to create early on. These days, you’ve got two realistic options that can potentially offer a reasonable chance of making some money: the white label option and the review site option.
White Label Online Bingo Sites
White label solutions are extremely popular in the iGaming sector. Basically, casino and bingo operators offer their gaming content via a software framework or engine. Third party websites are then able to repurpose this software to fit their own branding. In most cases, the maintenance and update of the actual games is left to the company offering the content as are payment methods and customer support services. Integration is usually fairly straightforward. However, be prepared to spend a few thousand pounds for the privilege of using the service. You’ll also need to fork out for a dedicated/virtual private server.
Affiliate Review Site
A more cost effective alternative is to develop a review site and include affiliate links to bingo sites. Affiliate marketing programs are arrangements in which an operator pays commission to a third-party website for sending traffic or generating sales via links placed on the latter’s website. Many online bingo providers offer these types of partnerships – in the vast majority of cases they’re also free.
Although affiliate commissions tend to be small, if you manage to attract large visitor numbers to your website, the financial rewards can be considerable. However, be prepared to write a ton of content if you want to rank in the SERPs. And not just any old content either. To stand a chance of getting on Google’s front page, you’ll need to provide useful, informative copy that’s of benefit to the user. Then you’ll need to acquire quality links and be very, very patient. It often takes up to 18 months for a new site to get (properly) noticed by Google. But if you manage to create a unique, compelling website then you’ve got every chance of setting up a successful online bingo website.