Today in iGaming Heroes β a candid conversation about how the market is evolving at the intersection of betting, crypto, and global GEOs. In the new interview, 1win Crypto CMO Mike Danshin talks about the strengths of the CIS school, the mistakes of scaling, and why you can't apply your own experience to the entire world.
π In iGaming Heroes, we talk about the people who truly move the industry forward. If you want to become our next hero β drop us a message.
#iGaming_Heroes
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In spring 2026, thousands of developers received a letter from Google about the new Texas SB 2420 law and the launch of the Play Age Signals API. At first glance β just another technical update. But for iGaming, this story could turn out to be far more significant than it appears.
In essence, the market is beginning to move toward a new model of user identification: today an operator verifies a player's age independently, and tomorrow part of the audience may be automatically filtered out by the platform before a single click.
Over the past 20 years, the market has gone through several phases.
First came the simple checkbox: "I am 18 or older." Then document checks appeared at the withdrawal stage. After that, regulators began requiring full KYC and AML procedures. Now a new era is beginning β digital identification.
Regulators want age confirmation before the game even starts, and Texas SB 2420 is being viewed by many as one of the first steps in that direction.
The core idea of the law is simple: part of the responsibility for age verification shifts from operators to app stores.
Instead of documents, the app receives a special age attribute. This way, the app understands the user's age category before any interaction takes place.
For gambling, this is especially significant because age restrictions remain one of the baseline requirements of any license.
If age and part of compliance requirements are verified in advance, the market will face several changes:
β some unsuitable traffic will be filtered out before the app is even installed;
β the value of quality traffic that passes age verification will increase;
β anti-fraud mechanics and account controls will tighten;
β mobile apps will gain additional advantages over web-based products.
Audience volume may decrease, but its quality will improve.
Not really.
β similar processes are already underway in the UK, Germany, Australia, EU countries, and other regulated markets.
β The UK is strengthening age verification through the UK Gambling Commission and the Online Safety Act.
β Germany is building a model based on the principle of "identity first, then gameplay."
β The EU is developing the European Digital Identity Wallet, where a service can receive age confirmation without a passport being shared.
Texas SB 2420 looks less like an exception and more like part of a broader trend.
Several likely scenarios exist.
The first β everything remains a local experiment, and Texas stays an outlier.
The second β similar laws begin passing in other states, and Google and Apple gradually roll out Age Signals as a universal market standard.
The third scenario is the most far-reaching. Age becomes just the first step, and new signals follow:
β identity confirmation;
β region of residence confirmation;
β confirmation of eligibility to participate in gambling;
β user verification status.
There's no reason to panic yet. Today, Texas SB 2420 has virtually no impact on the day-to-day operations of most affiliate programs.
But the direction the market is heading is already clearly visible.
It's worth tracking not just gambling regulation. The following are gaining increasing importance:
β digital user identification;
β age verification;
β personal data regulation;
β Apple and Google requirements;
β social platform operating rules.
β Which scenario seems more likely to you by 2030: a local experiment or a new global standard?
Read also:
β How Do Social Media and Search Engines Block iGaming?
β How Regulation and Integration Are Reshaping the Legal Market
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We spoke with the Spy.House team about the role spy services play today, why data freshness is becoming critical, and which tools webmasters will need in the near future.
πͺ AI generates creatives faster than a spy service can index them. Where does the value of a spy service lie now β and are you planning to integrate AI tools directly into the service to cover this use case?
Yes, AI has significantly changed the market: creatives are now produced faster, cheaper, and at greater volume. But that actually makes spy services more important, not less.
AI helps generate hypotheses, but it doesn't answer the key question: what is actually buying traffic right now. Our value isn't simply "showing a picture" β it's delivering market intelligence: which offers, formats, landing pages, GEOs, and brands competitors are currently using, and what's generating the most activity.
For a buying team, a spy service remains a tool for prioritizing hypotheses, not copying. It helps you understand which approaches the market has already validated, which creative patterns are repeating across different teams, which brands and games are being actively pushed, which landing pages and pre-landers are being used in setups, and where a new trend is emerging before it becomes obvious to everyone.
We view AI tools as a natural extension of Spy.House. What interests us isn't just embedding an image generator β it's closing the full scenario: find a working pattern, break it down, suggest variations, and help a team build new hypotheses faster for a specific GEO, brand, or format.
πͺ Database freshness β how quickly does a new creative make it into the service after launch?
Database freshness is one of our core product priorities. We're working to get new creatives into the service as quickly as possible.
That said, indexing speed depends on traffic volume, GEO, platform, placement type, impression frequency, and how aggressively the advertiser is using cloaking. But our goal is to give webmasters a current picture of what's running right now β not an archive of the market.
πͺ Are there plans for a popularity filter by specific games and brands? And time-based slices β top creatives for the day and for the week?
We're looking at filtering and sorting in several directions: popularity by specific brands, by games or game mechanics, top creatives for the day, top for the week, activity growth dynamics, and the creative β landing page β brand β GEO chain.
For a webmaster, what matters isn't just the absolute "top" β it's what's quickly gaining momentum right now. So time-based slices and dynamics are one of the most useful scenarios we want to develop.
πͺ Creative fatigue detection β can the service show not just "what's running" but "what's already burning out"?
We look at fatigue detection as a separate analytics layer. It can be identified through signals such as declining creative activity over time, a reduction in active placements, the creative disappearing from multiple advertisers, a sharp shift toward variations of the same angle, changes in the frequency of similar creatives appearing, and a drop in a particular approach's share relative to new patterns.
For a webmaster, this saves budget: avoid launching what's already in late-stage burnout and switch to fresh angles faster.
The future of spy services isn't just in finding creatives β it's in interpreting their lifecycle.
πͺ How does the service handle cloaking?
Cloaking is one of the most complex but also most important challenges for a spy service. Webmasters need to see the real funnel: pre-lander, main landing page, brand, mechanics, offer, and user journey.
Our goal is to get as close as possible to real user conditions when collecting data. This requires different verification scenarios: different GEOs, devices, environments, behavioral parameters, and repeated visits.
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New iGaming Heroes, market analysis, promo codes, job opportunities, and conferences. Weβve gathered everything worth reading this week.
Write in the comments what else you would like us to write about.
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Hey everyone! We've put together a new roundup of events from the world of iGaming, betting, and regulation. Here's the most interesting stuff.
β New Zealand has published the framework for its first licensed online casino market. Starting December 1, 2026, the country will operate a regulated market, with operators required to comply with strict requirements on player protection, advertising, bonuses, payments, and responsible gambling. A quarterly levy of 3.5% on operator profits is also being introduced.
β Legalization without illusions: why regulatory success doesn't always mean market success
β Bangladesh has passed a new law targeting online gambling. Participation in online betting can now carry a sentence of up to 7 years in prison and a substantial fine. The law also expands police powers to block sites, seize equipment, and investigate violations.
β From October 2026, the cost of most gambling licenses in the UK will increase by 25%.
β A new industry association, the PCC, has also been launched in the country, bringing together around 50 lottery and prize draw operators.
β In the first half of 2026, Brazil's gambling sector contributed $1.18 billion to the national budget β 86% more than the same period last year.
β According to Oddin.gg, the average stake in esports betting is 7 times higher than in traditional sports.
β How to run traffic on esports?
β In the Netherlands, the regulator has banned the use of savings, business assets, real estate, and one-time payments when assessing a player's financial situation.
β Armenia is creating a dedicated online registry of sites subject to blocking.
β Lithuania's regulator has announced tighter market oversight and additional measures against unlicensed operators.
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We've compiled the offers worth paying attention to right now: strong conversion rates, boosted bonuses, and additional payouts. If you've been planning tests or scaling β now is the time.
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All details β with your manager or in the 3SNET catalog.
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While just a few years ago esports was seen as a niche for gamers, it has now become a full-fledged betting vertical with its own audience, seasonality, and operating rules.
The biggest mistake many affiliates make is running esports traffic the same way they run football or hockey. Esports has a different audience, different entry points, and entirely different triggers.
Esports is already measured in tens of millions of users.
Counter-Strike 2 alone is estimated to attract 50 to 70 million players monthly. Major Dota 2 and CS tournaments draw millions of simultaneous viewers, and total annual audience reach runs into the hundreds of millions.
Betting is growing right alongside it.
In Russia and the CIS, bookmakers recorded approximately 25% year-over-year growth in esports betting volume, with the total number of bets increasing by more than a third over the past few years.
The first question isn't the traffic source β it's the product.
The offer needs a strong esports line: a wide range of markets, live betting, statistics, tournament bonuses, and a clear interface.
If esports is only a checkbox feature for the bookmaker, no amount of traffic will save conversion.
Positioning matters too. Players want to see their favorite teams, tournaments, and matches β not generic "esports betting" messaging.
The core esports audience is males aged 18β34 with a gaming background.
They watch streamers, follow gaming communities, consume short-form content, and enjoy live match discussion.
This type of user rarely responds to a generic "bet on esports" banner, but engages strongly with the story of a specific match, team, or tournament.
The strongest channels remain:
β Twitch, YouTube, and streaming platforms;
β Telegram and Discord communities;
β short-form video and social media;
β content sites and SEO;
β niche communities.
Native integration matters here. Discussing a specific match or breaking down the odds works better than a direct call to bet.
Esports users respond to specifics.
What works:
β decisive matches and playoffs;
β highlights and comebacks;
β favorite vs. underdog matchups;
β a sense of belonging to the community.
Promises of "easy money" and generic betting banners, on the other hand, tend to underperform.
Tournaments are becoming the primary growth points for traffic.
In 2026, the market can expect:
β Esports World Cup: July 6 β August 23, 2026;
β The International: August 2026;
β Valorant Champions: SeptemberβOctober 2026;
β Esports Nations Cup: November 2026;
β Esports at the Asian Games: autumn 2026.
In 2027, attention will shift to the first Olympic Esports Games, new CS2 majors, and a series of major Dota 2 tournaments.
For affiliates, this means one simple thing: the tournament calendar is becoming just as important a tool as the football championship or major sports event calendar.
π By the way, our site features a sports events calendar covering 40+ different disciplines.
Esports traffic is the result of combining the right product, a precise understanding of the audience, and smart channel selection where that audience actually spends time. When you bring together a strong esports offer, relevant GEOs, native formats, and a content-to-bet funnel, esports stops being a "complicated vertical" and becomes a reliable source of quality players.
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From early startups and working for hire to building his own products used by teams across the market. In the new iGaming Heroes episode β Evgeny Fomenko on how to combine hands-on experience and experimentation to build services and educational tools around iGaming and marketing.
#iGaming_Heroes
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Galaksion is an advertising platform with direct traffic, 200+ GEOs, and over 50 billion monthly impressions. In this new guide, we break down how to use the Galaksion + 3SNET setup to launch gambling and betting offers.
β which formats work best for iGaming
β which GEOs and offers to test first
β how to set up tracking and create an ad campaign
β how to optimize campaigns after launch
β which metrics to watch when scaling
+15% on your first Galaksion ad balance top-up from $50 using promo code 3SNET15.
Follow Galakson Telegram and win $100 until July 15th.
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International companies continue to expand their teams and open new positions. If you've been thinking about the next step in your career β now is a great time to see who's hiring.
Content Manager β LEGENDS Team
LEGENDS Team is a large media buying team within an affiliate holding (1,000+ specialists) operating across Tier-1, Tier-2, and Tier-3 markets.
Conditions: remote work (5/2), training and mentorship, international holding, career growth, 24 vacation days, sick leave support, corporate events.
Contact: @Daria_HRDLT
Product Manager β Cobalt Lab
Cobalt Lab is the #1 Rust gaming platform, developing a product for millions of players and expanding across Germany, the UK, the US, and Brazil.
Conditions: direct impact on a leading Rust product, freedom to make decisions, minimal bureaucracy, strong team, fast-paced environment, remote work (5/2), company merch, paid tools, and additional bonuses.
Contact: @yulya_clab
Account Manager β 3SNET
3SNET is an international CPA network working with iGaming projects and partners across multiple GEOs.
Conditions: remote work with minimal bureaucracy, career growth opportunities, participation in industry conferences and events.
Contact: @addhraff
Technical SEO Operator β 3SNET
3SNET is an international CPA network working with iGaming projects and partners across multiple GEOs.
Conditions: remote work, full-time.
Contact: @snet_seo_hiring_bot
Affiliate Manager β Rocks Partners
Rocks Partners is an international iGaming company developing its own brands and affiliate network across global markets.
Conditions: fully remote work with a flexible schedule, no micromanagement, support for initiative and career growth, freedom to implement ideas, and a strong team of like-minded professionals.
Contact: @HRD_RocksPartners
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π°πΏ Kazakhstan Keeps Surprising With Its Opportunities
For those running traffic on KZ, a great opportunity to earn more has just appeared.
π The Ubet CPA KZ Legal offer has launched a new promotion:
π For those who want to dive deeper into the Kazakhstan market, we've compiled everything useful in one place. In the new special section
"Kazakhstan iGaming Market: Full Guide for Affiliates" you'll find:
π regulation and licensing
π market analytics
π top offers
π promo codes
π working setups and case studies
π the latest news
π Explore the Kazakhstan market.
For those running traffic on KZ, a great opportunity to earn more has just appeared.
πΈ If the number of redeposits exceeds 75% of FTDs and the average ticket size is $15 or more, you can earn an additional $10,000+ on top of CPA. The promotion runs until December 31, 2026. Get the details from your manager.
"Kazakhstan iGaming Market: Full Guide for Affiliates" you'll find:
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The World Cup final will be the defining event of July β but definitely not the last one. Formula 1, UFC, the Tour de France, and other major events are still ahead. The second half of July has no shortage of talking points.
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