How are illegal gambling operators outranking licensed ones on Google, and what can the industry do about it? That was the central question in the latest Gaming in Europe webinar, “The rise of illegal gambling advertising explained. Methods & countermeasures.”

Our CEO, Prof. Dr. Andreas Ditsche, joined a panel of industry experts to unpack the growing threat presented by the advertising of illegal gambling online.

The discussion brought together SEO specialist Timothy Gan from Magenti Media, Frank Op de Woerd from Casinonieuws, and Martin Haijer, Secretary General of the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA).

The conversation covered everything from manipulated search rankings to coordinated harassment of legal affiliates. It also addressed the policy changes that could shift the balance.

Short on time? Start with the key moments:

• How illegal operators game SEO — 3:30
• Attacks on legal affiliates (DDoS, fake takedowns) — 11:00
• Prof. Dr. Andreas Ditsche on the future of legal affiliate marketing — 22:08
• Martin Haijer on incoming EU legislation — 29:24
• Panel: how to contain the black market — 36:04

Where Players Encounter Illegal Marketing

Search engines and social media remain the main entry points to unlicensed gambling sites. According to panelists, top-ranking results for high-intent queries are increasingly dominated by black-market operators. Those sites can promise what regulated brands legally cannot: bigger bonuses, no deposit limits, and no identity checks.

That puts licensed affiliates at a structural disadvantage. Legal publishers operate within strict guidelines relating to responsible gambling advertising set by regulators. Whereas illegal parties move faster, spend more on aggressive optimization, and face few consequences when caught.

How Illegal Operators Game SEO Algorithms

Panelists described several techniques used to push unlicensed sites to the top of search results, including:

• The “canonical trick” – buying expired domains with high authority, redirecting them to fresh sites, and cycling rapidly when penalties hit.
• Parasite SEO – publishing content on high-authority, non-gambling-related third-party websites to piggyback on their trusted reputation.
• Hreflang and link-building manipulation – practices conducted at industrial scale.
• Mimicry of trusted brands – including cloned logos and stolen content.

Frank Op de Woerd described how legal publishers can face DDoS attacks, false complaints, takedown notices, copied branding, and legal letters. These tactics go beyond aggressive marketing. They can be designed to damage the visibility and credibility of compliant businesses.

This matters because trust is central to safer gambling. When illegal advertisers mimic legitimate brands, copy content, or hijack the appearance of authority, players may find it harder to tell the difference between a trusted information source and a dangerous one.

Who Illegal Operators Are Actually Targeting

Prof. Dr. Ditsche explained why illegal affiliate marketing is effective. In many cases, it targets players who are actively searching for fewer restrictions, bigger bonuses, no limits, or ways around national protection tools.

Those players are typically high rollers who cannot find what they want on the legal market. Searches for terms such as “casino without limits” or “casino without OASIS” return no licensed results in the top 10 in Germany.

That is not an easy audience for the legal market to reach. Licensed operators cannot offer illegal products, and responsible affiliates cannot honestly promote what those users are asking for.

This situation creates a vicious circle. If a player searches for an illegal feature and only illegal sites can provide it, search engines may end up rewarding those sites with engagement. Legal results may be ignored, even when they are safer.

Our CEO framed legal affiliate marketing as having undergone three structural shifts in recent years:

• from growth to compliance
• from scale to fragmentation
• from conversion to responsibility

Affiliates who adapt to that new role as trusted intermediaries rather than traffic brokers are the ones likely to remain relevant.

What Big Tech Could Do, But Isn’t Doing

Several panelists pointed to the same root issue: large platforms still treat the liability for what they display as a gray area. Recent US rulings that held Google and Meta accountable for product design choices were cited as a turning point. EGBA Secretary General, Martin Haijer, argued that these rulings will reshape platform behavior far beyond US borders.

In the meantime, the black market continues to capture revenue share across regulated European markets. Some jurisdictions report that unlicensed operators now account for the majority of online activity.

Upcoming EU Legislation and What It Means

Martin Haijer noted that a horizontal piece of EU legislation focused on big platforms is expected later this year. It comes alongside new online services rules covering gambling, protection of minors, and influencer advertising.

Combined with the US rulings, panelists agreed that these developments could finally give regulators stronger tools to address platform-level abuse. However, enforcement will only matter if the licensed product remains attractive enough to compete.

Where iGaming.com Stands

For Prof. Dr. Ditsche, the path forward is unambiguous. Legal affiliates must build brands worth seeking out. They must become the most trusted and useful resource on a player’s journey. They also need to diversify beyond a single algorithm. That mirrors iGaming.com’s own compliance-first stance and its responsible gambling work hosted on iGamingCare.

Explore Our Resources

At iGamingCare, we remain committed to safer gambling through education, compliance, and open discussion. For more on responsible gaming, affiliate ethics, and the policy debates shaping the industry, explore our iGamingCare resource hub.