Trust made it category leader, but it's not enough to keep competitors from breathing down its neck
View the Substack edition and join the email list for future posts.
MyAffiliates is an affiliate tracking platform that has won the trust of both affiliates and operators alike. That trust made it the category leader, but change is coming, and trust alone is not enough to keep competitors from breathing down its neck.
Operators need traffic, a steady stream of potential players to deposit, play, and come back for more. And much like developing games or processing payments, making players click an ad isn’t an expertise operators can or want to have.
Advertising of gambling activities has its own regulatory constraints, operational requirements, and cultural nuances. Advertising of iGaming businesses is banned in some countries, launching campaigns on Meta and Google is against their policy, and converting players in Greece isn’t like converting players in Brazil or Canada.
That’s what affiliates are for. They specialize in generating traffic and sending potential players to operators. They know the cultural nuances, the ad creatives that convert, the operational challenges of managing campaigns at scale, and the regulations in each jurisdiction.
There’s a lot of money involved in generating traffic. Advertising isn’t cheap, competition is fierce, and marketing channels are getting more expensive every year. On the other side, the upside is huge, with players wagering serious money. The incentives are high enough that an entire niche of ‘black hat’ affiliates, those who ignore the rules and use shady tactics to get clicks, has become a lucrative business.
Can operators trust someone who screws Google for a living not to screw them?
Operators sit closer to the money. They can move high-value players between affiliates, tweak reports, and shave earnings. Can affiliates trust an operator not to skim from the top?
Trust in this business is a must. You only work with people you know you can “steal horses” with. People who’ve proven themselves. People someone you trust has vouched for. That’s how deals get made, that’s how partnerships hold. Personal relationships are the foundation of the affiliate-operator dynamic.
But trust alone isn’t enough when the money is this big. Operators and affiliates need a way to “Trust, but verify”, as President Ronald Reagan liked to say. A shared source of truth where both sides see the same data. Which players came from where, what they deposited, what they wagered, what’s owed. Not to replace the relationship, but to protect it.
This is where affiliate tracking platforms come in, and where MyAffiliates shines.
Trust alone isn’t enough when the money is this big. Operators and affiliates need a way to “Trust, but verify”, as President Ronald Reagan liked to say.
MyAffiliates is the leading affiliate tracking platform in the industry. It was founded in 2007, and has a team of more than 20 people across Malta and Australia. As of early 2026, nearly one in five affiliate programs, through which operators track, manage, and compensate their affiliate partners, use the company’s platform.
The platform provides the flexibility that top-tier operators need. It supports complex compensation models that lower-tier solutions can’t handle, lets operators import any data they want without forcing them into a predefined structure, and adapts to how the operator works rather than the other way around. The platform is built around data integrity, a single source of truth where both operators and affiliates see the same accurate data. Neither side has to take the other’s word for it.
Operators can use it from the start without having to go through a painful migration process when scaling. Both a startup launching its first brand and an enterprise operator running 40+ brands can use the platform. There are no tiered feature gates, no premium add-ons. The price is a flat monthly subscription with no traffic caps, revenue-based fees, or hidden costs. An operator knows exactly what they’ll pay for no matter the traffic.
Support and training are unlimited and included because the company wants operators to get the most out of the platform. When operators know the company is there for them no matter what and is willing to invest the time and resources needed, it builds trust and strengthens relationships.
The company nurtures its relationship with affiliates, too. On affiliate forums, for example, when someone complains about not getting paid, their staff shows up to clarify whether it’s a platform issue or an operator decision. That involvement builds credibility no marketing budget can buy. As a result, affiliates don’t just trust the platform. They recommend it. They push operators to adopt it because they trust the data, and know the system won’t be used against them.
This trust loop is what drives growth. Affiliates recommend the platform to operators. Operators adopt it because their most valuable affiliates prefer it. The cycle repeats.
Everything MyAffiliates has built is real. The flexibility, the transparency, the affiliate advocacy. No wonder it earned them the leading position in the market.
This trust loop is what drives growth. Affiliates recommend the platform to operators. Operators adopt it because their most valuable affiliates prefer it. The cycle repeats.
The company has evolved steadily over nearly two decades. But the pace of change in the market is accelerating, and the question is whether trust and steady improvement are enough to stay ahead.
First, the money in iGaming keeps attracting new players into every segment of the industry, and affiliate tracking is no exception. There are more small tracking platforms entering the market, often with modern user experience and product innovation. More casino and sportsbook platforms bundling built-in affiliate tracking solutions with their offering. The pool of competitors is growing and winning its own share of the market.
MyAffiliates is growing, too. The number of programs running on the platform has increased steadily over the past two years. But its market share tells a more nuanced story: it has held between 17% and 19% throughout. Holding your ground while the market floods with new competitors is no small feat. But it also means the company isn’t pulling away. The lead isn’t widening. More on that shortly.
Second, the affiliate model itself is changing. The golden era of anonymous traffic and easy SEO rankings is ending. AI is replacing the generic “best casino bonus” review sites, and the affiliates who built their business on SEO are losing their primary traffic source. Marketing channels are getting more saturated and expensive. Regulation is tightening, making it harder for unlicensed affiliates to operate. Large affiliate groups are acquiring smaller ones because they have the legal teams and compliance budgets to keep up, consolidating the market around fewer, bigger players.
Operators are demanding more from their affiliates, and from the platforms that track them. Simple deals are giving way to complex, performance-based models where operators want proof that players stick around and generate long-term value. Influencers, streamers, and communities are becoming a dominant force in player acquisition, demanding real-time data, new attribution models, and compliance safeguards that didn’t exist a few years ago. The tracking platforms between them need to keep up.
And, third, there’s the threat closest to home. According to the latest StatsDrone report from April 2026, MyAffiliates has lost the lead in number of affiliate programs, for the first time in years, to Affilka by SOFTSWISS. Not because it shrank, but because Affilka grew faster. Much faster.
MyAffiliates built its lead on credibility, trust, and networking. But Affilka has SOFTSWISS behind it, with the reputation, distribution, and deep pockets to build trust and credibility at a pace MyAffiliates can’t match.
For the first time in years, MyAffiliates has lost the lead.
And through all of this, MyAffiliates has no brand narrative suited for the challenges ahead. Nothing that can protect its position when trust alone is no longer enough.
That’s not to say they don’t have a brand. Brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room, and when it comes to MyAffiliates, oh boy, they do. Affiliates love them. Operators trust them. The relationships are real and the reputation travels. But the way people talk about them (“they’re trusted”) may not be enough for what’s coming next.
This matters because among the top-tier solutions, there is no meaningful product edge. The four or five leading platforms all offer flexibility, data integrity, scale, and fair pricing. An operator looking for a top-tier affiliate tracking solution will struggle to find a reason in the offering alone to choose one over another.
The company has spent years building genuine trust from both sides of the table that few competitors can claim. That’s rare, and it’s real. But it’s not captured in a position or narrative that tells the market what MyAffiliates stands for.
“Power your affiliate program with confidence” could appear on any competitor’s website and no one would notice. Their podcast, “Tracking The Truth”, touches the right nerve, hosting people from the industry on topics “the iGaming industry never puts on stage”. But without a clear narrative tying it all together and making it relevant to the brand, it risks feeling too broad to own.
The positioning opportunity is right there. MyAffiliates could be the Guardian of Truth in this market. The single source of truth operators and affiliates can lean on. The bridge of trust between two sides that have strong financial incentives to screw each other. A notion that “Nobody ever gets screwed when using MyAffiliates”.
The Guardian of Truth is an example of a position the company can own. Think of it as a role in the industry, not as a trust function others can imitate. Operators may trust Affilka just as much because it has SOFTSWISS behind it, which lends it reputation, distribution, and trust. But when people think of SOFTSWISS, they see the biggest player in the market. They don’t think of it as a guardian of sorts or anything similar. Only MyAffiliates can own that role, because it has spent nearly two decades earning it. And once owned, no one can easily challenge it, not even Affilka.
To drive the point home, imagine what that identity could look like at events. A MyAffiliates booth where industry leaders step up to a polygraph, with results streaming live on screens for everyone to see. Truth or Dare sessions with key figures from both sides of the table. Operators and affiliates who play clean would love the chance to prove it, publicly, with the company as the stage. MyAffiliates as the Guardian of Truth, whether in tracking traffic or on stage. That’s a brand identity you can’t fake, and one no competitor would dare copy.
The company can compete with Affilka and all other contenders. But it needs brand clarity and a distinct narrative to do it. It should keep innovating on product, absolutely, with a brand identity that guides where to invest and why.
The trust is already there. What’s missing is the story that takes root in prospects’ hearts and minds.
iGaming has always been an ever-changing industry, but what’s happening now isn’t cyclical. It’s structural. The fantasy of quick riches attracts new competitors, and thanks to AI, they can launch products and close the gap faster than ever. Meanwhile, shifting regulation opens up new markets and raises the cost of staying in the game.
MyAffiliates is a mirror of this industry. A company that built something real and earned genuine trust, but the coming change puts it at risk. Without a distinctive identity, iGaming companies like it become increasingly invisible. Growth becomes slow and expensive. Big players with their deep pockets and loud marketing threaten to swallow the small ones. Companies that don’t invest in brand risk being acquired, sidelined, or shut out entirely.
MyAffiliates has the track record to survive. But survival and thriving are not the same thing.
To thrive, companies must turn to brand. It’s the only differentiator left. With brand, companies can stand out. The right prospects notice and shortlist them. Brand narrative creates trust before prospects even talk to sales, and as a result, the cost of growth drops. More importantly, they own a position no competitor can easily take from them. Not even the big guys.
When companies need payments, they turn to PSPs. They turn to studios for games and to affiliates for traffic. Brand is no different. It’s a discipline. When companies need brand, brand strategists are who they hire.
Brand strategists’ strength and expertise come from being outsiders. When you’re deep in the trenches building your product, it’s hard to spot the nuances that matter to the market. Brand strategists help companies stand out by breaking from the norm, not conforming to it. Good strategists call out the bullshit and point out the mistakes. They bring new ideas, not recycle old ones. Every post in this newsletter is proof of that.
But there’s a problem.
iGaming is an industry of insiders. It runs on relationships. Always has. People do business with people they know, people they trust, people someone vouched for. That’s not a flaw. It’s how this high-risk industry has evolved. Having a superior product that solves a real pain may work well in other industries, but in iGaming, unless people know and trust you, it won’t fly.
Changing the culture of a company is hard. Changing the culture of an entire industry is nearly impossible. That’s the challenge Braintail ran into. I was an outsider offering an outsider perspective to an industry that buys from insiders. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. It’s just the way it is.
For the past six months, this newsletter has reviewed iGaming B2B brands, pointed out positioning opportunities, and offered a different way of thinking about branding, differentiation, positioning, messaging, and storytelling. It has reached 750+ subscribers, including senior marketing and brand leaders from tier-1 companies. The feedback praised the focus on positioning and strategy, and welcomed the “unique voice” in the industry. Their words, not mine.
But while the newsletter worked as content, it didn’t work as a business development tool. Braintail couldn’t convert insight into business. In a high-risk, high-stakes industry where trust comes before deals, people shy away from those who don’t fall in line. It didn’t matter what Braintail offered, because being a nonconformist in an industry that likes to be liked doesn’t close business.
This is the last issue of this newsletter. Braintail may still be around, but changing an industry’s culture isn’t a job for a small business. The industry is going through a change that will hurt. The signs are already there. Most companies see them, but few are ready to step outside the circle and work with an outsider.
And for those of you who’ve followed, engaged, and reached out, thank you for reading.
HaArba'a St 28, Tel Aviv-Yafo
© Copyright 2025 by Braintail