SBG Hails Efficient Marketing Spend

SBG, which axed its affiliate programme last autumn, said that although marketing costs increased by 23% in its latest annual results, this was less than revenue growth.

As a result, the marketing-torevenue ratio decreased from 23% to 22%. Total revenue at SBG amounted to £670.5m, a 30% increase on the previous year, largely driven by a 36.7% increase in sportsbook revenue.

SBG terminated its affiliate programme last year amid mounting regulatory pressure from the UK’s Gambling Commission. SBG’s ‘Affiliate Hub’ portal ceased operating on 2 October, with the final payment cycle for affiliates
processed at the end of September.

All outstanding balances were paid into accounts by the end of October. The company said at the time that the decision had been made “to give us more control of our marketing outputs and standards to ensure that we can continue to meet the changing regulatory requirements in our sector.”.

The decision came after the Gambling Commission signalled a tougher stance on operators’ liability for their affiliates’ work. Last year, Lottoland agreed a settlement with the Commission to pay £150,000 to good causes, in part due
to an advert run by one of its affiliates, MyVoucherCodes, before the authority fined BGO £300,000, again partly due to three of its affiliates.