Affiliate Edge Insider

Edition: 42-upsilon June 2025

affiliate edge insider newsletter

No big announcements this time - just steady progress, ongoing updates, and a few things brewing quietly in the background.

If you're in the middle of building, tweaking, or just keeping things moving: same here. This month's issue brings you an SEO tip for the AI era, product improvements you might've missed, and a small nudge to check your data (yes, even if you need a reminder like I do).

🔍 TECHNICAL TIP

Affiliate Link Hijacking: What It Is, Why It Happens, and How to Fight Back

Your affiliate links might look fine - but browser extensions, copy-paste behavior, and scraper bots can quietly redirect or steal your commissions. This deep-dive explains how link hijacking works, why it's more common than you think, and what you can do to protect your revenue. Includes a practical checklist with real-world fixes like cloaking, proper use of rel attributes, and server-side redirects. Read more on dinomatic.com

📊 INDUSTRY PULSE

Here's a quick rundown of some key movements in the gambling and affiliate landscape:

🇬🇧 UK Betting Tax Hike Could Boost Black Market- BGC warns rising taxes may push two-thirds of players to unlicensed sites (via PwC).

🇺🇸 NY Attorney General Cracks Down on Sweepstakes Casinos- 26 unlicensed sites ordered to shut down for targeting New Yorkers.

🇹🇭 Thailand Eyes Casino Legalization- Parliament to debate a bill permitting integrated resorts - a game-changer in Southeast Asia.

🇵🇭 Philippine Lawmakers OK Permanent POGO Ban- The Senate votes to make the ban on Philippine offshore gaming operators permanent.

🇧🇷 Brazil Betting Tax to Soar to 18% of GGR- Finance minister pushes ahead with an 18% gross gaming revenue tax-affiliates should prepare.

🇯🇵 Japan Bans Online Casinos- Lower House of Representatives approves a sweeping ban on offshore operators.

🇺🇸 Louisiana Governor Vetoes Sweepstakes Ban- Veto keeps current enforcement intact while gray-area sweepstakes casinos continue.

🇸🇪 Sweden Bans Simba NV for Targeting Local Players- Strong enforcement message from Swedish Gambling Authority.

🇩🇪 Germany to Ease Deposit & IP Rules- Updated interstate treaty aims to streamline compliance for operators and affiliates.

🔹 CFTC Nominee Signals Support for Prediction Markets- New nominee hints at openness toward platforms like Kalshi during Senate testimony.

🔹 Affiliates, Think Like Product Companies Strategic advice: system-first mindset is key to long-term success.

🔹 Gamification Is Reshaping EU Casinos- Better UX and retention tactics are now mainstream.

🔹 Blixx Gaming Launches FlowsPlay- No-code gamification toolkit for jackpots, XP, and player rewards.

🔹 10 Emerging Crypto Betting Trends to Watch in 2025- From NFT loyalty to DeFi sportsbooks, Web3 is reshaping iGaming.

📈 ALGORITHM WATCH

No confirmed Google update in the past month, but plenty of turbulence. Most of the recent ranking shifts appear tied to AI-powered search changes - not algorithm penalties.

In May, Google expanded AI Overviews and began experimenting with AI Follow-ups and Deep Search across more queries. These changes are reshaping how we and our users interact with results - and how often they click through.

What to do about it. I don't know, but my bet is improving the below 2 points will never hurt:

  • Structure your content for AI previews Clear subheadings, concise answers, and FAQs increase your chances of being pulled into AI summaries.
  • Use schema to clarify your content Structured data helps Google extract the right bits for AI Overviews - especially for reviews, product pages, and how-tos.

💡 QUICK QUESTION

Do you track results regularly - or go by gut?

Some affiliates live inside dashboards. Others publish, tweak, and hope the numbers are moving in the right direction.

No shame either way. Just curious: how often do you actually check performance data? Daily, weekly, never?

I love setting up dashboards, integrations, and all the moving parts to get the exact data I want - that part's fun. But once it's all running, I tend to forget about it. I literally have reminders just to check the numbers.

How about you?

🔮 COMING SOON

Quiet month on the surface - but plenty happening behind the scenes.

I'm still shipping regular updates to FXT. Also in the works:

  • A geo-targeting upgrade for the Kemoku plugin. It's not quite ready yet, but I'm hoping to ship it soon
  • An important update is coming to the Affiliate CMS (PNN) - more about it soon
  • DinoMatic website full redesign - not ready yet, but very close

Want a sneak peek or early access? Just hit reply.

🎉 PRODUCT UPDATES

Here's what shipped across DinoMatic products since mid-May:

  • Akurai Theme received a series of updates focused on improving author visibility and usability. Author blocks were added to both pages and reviews. These changes make it easier to highlight the people behind your content - and ensure the structure stays clean and consistent. Read more about it here
  • Spinoko Theme and SpinokoGeo Plugin added full support for geo-aware affiliate links. This allows casino links to respect country-specific rules without breaking your existing setups.
  • Sikika 2.0 officially launched - a full redesign built from scratch. It brings a modern look, new hero layouts, improved navigation, and faster performance. Designed to work tightly with Kemoku and built for easy customization, Sikika 2.0 is now available with two fresh demos: Havana and Manila.
  • FXT Theme added a new hero page template, multiple layout enhancements, and UI refinements across comparison tables, post blocks, and listing components.

Thanks for reading this month's Affiliate Edge Insider. Hope it helped you move one step closer to launch - or growth.

A few quick reminders:

  • 💬 Got a thought or an idea? Just reply - I read them all.
  • ➡️ Know someone who'd find this useful? Feel free to forward it.
  • 🔁 Want quick updates between issues? Join the Telegram channel

Until next month, Levon