TOP-5 Prohibited Casino Promotion Methods

In an attempt to quickly get traffic and deposits, some partners and operators follow "short" and risky paths. These practices have a short-term effect, but in most cases lead to blockages, fines and reputation losses. Below are the top 5 prohibited methods, their danger, detection methods (at a high level) and legal alternatives.

1) Cloaking and hidden landing

What is it: showing different content to different users: moderators/robots - "white" version, real users - offer.

Why prohibited: This is a deliberate deceptive scheme that violates the rules of sites (Google, Meta, TikTok, etc.), undermining transparency and increasing the risk of deceiving users.

Risks: blocking advertising accounts, deleting domains, problems with payment providers, legal sanctions, loss of partners and reputation.

How it is given (at the signal level): discrepancy in page versions when checking from different IP/GEO, redirect anomalies, an increase in complaints/chargebacks.

What to do instead: work in permitted GEOs, prepare compliant landing pages (visible license, RG block, transparent bonus conditions), use server-side redirects without content substitution, honest S2S tracking.

2) Phishing/fake sites and "clone-apps"

What it is: creating sites and applications masquerading as an official brand in order to lure payments/logins.

Why prohibited: This is fraud, criminally and civil law punishable in most jurisdictions.

Risks: criminal investigations, civil claims, massive chargeback, blocking payment gateways, reputational collapse.

How it is revealed: receipt of complaints from users, DMARC/SPF/DKIM files in mail, monitoring of domains/certificates, inconsistency of creatives with the official repository.

What to do instead: fight phishing (takedown), publish the official list of domains/applications, protect mail (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), inform players, cooperate with registrars and platforms to quickly remove fakes.

3) Purchase of bot-/fraud traffic and incentivized schemes in "gray" sources

What is it: buying traffic from providers that generate low-quality clicks/registrations (bots, click farms, fraud networks), or schemes with fake deposits.

Why is it forbidden: spoils the economy, violates contracts with platforms and payment partners; often it is outright fraud.

Risks: debiting funds, chargeback, ban of advertising accounts, blocking payments to partners, legal claims.

How it is detected: an abnormally low reg→FTD rate, a high proportion of returns/chargebacks, suspicious behavior in sessions (short/repeated), unusual geography/ASN.

What to do instead: invest in white sources, early scoring of traffic quality (D1/D3), capping/pacing, partnership agreements with transparent SLAs and fines for fraud, anti-fraud rates and ASN/IP filters.

4) Substitution/falsification of postbacks and "retrofit" of conversions

What it is: intervention in the tracking chain: substitution of server events, retro-adjustment of conversions or artificial generation of "financial" events for accruals.

Why forbidden: this is an abuse of the accounting system, in fact, fraud in accounting and payments.

Risks: criminal liability for executors, cancellation of payments, severance of relations with partners, audit and regulatory sanctions.

How it is revealed: inconsistencies between logs (click_id vs event_id), discrepancies "operator ↔ DWH ↔ partner," idempotency errors, anomalies in the time of events.

What to do instead: transparent signed S2S stream (HMAC), idempotency by event_id, log audit, regular reconciliations, API key revisions and access restriction.

5) Typosquatting/brand hijack and hidden brand bidding

What is it: registering typo domains, buying brand keys from competitors, using three-pipe names, masking UTM to intercept brand traffic.

Why forbidden/dangerous: violates trademarks, misleads users and is often prohibited by contracts with stores/platforms/partners.

Risks: UDRP/lawsuits, domain blocking, claims from brands, termination of party agreements, loss of confidence.

How it is detected: brand complaints, detection of repeated typos/parodies, monitoring of brand requests and ads.

What to do instead: security domains and TM, contractual bans for partners (no-brand bidding), SERP/ads monitoring, correct partner programs with transparent rules and sanctions for violations.

Detection Philosophy (Signal Level)

sharp discrepancies between clicks and real deposits;

bursts of chargeback/failures;
geo/ASN and behavioral metrics anomaly;
a rise in complaints and undeclared brand advertising;

unstable or unreliable postbacks/logs.

These indicators require investigation - and often lead to confirmation of the use of prohibited methods.

Why a "short" win turns into a long-term failure

Short profits from gray schemes are paid at a high price: loss of advertising accounts, loss of payment channels, regulatory fines, legal costs, inability to restore business reputation. Investing in white processes is the only sustainable route to scale.

Practical checklist strata (how to go from "gray" to white)

Stop any questionable traffic purchases; audit sources.
Enable S2S signatures and idempotency, check logs with partners.
Configure anti-fraud (IP/ASN/velocity, device fingerprint).
Check all advertisements against landing pages (content parity).
Register TM and defensive domains; monitor SERP and social networks.
Impose contractual sanctions on partners for violating the rules.
Train the team to comply and maintain a list of prohibited practices.

30-60-90 Response Plan (if gray practices are found)

0-30 days: stopping suspicious sources, log history (click_id/event_id), temporary limits for payments to partners for investigation.

31-60 days: implementation of postback signatures, renewal of contracts with partners (SLA/fines), launch of anti-fraud D1/D3.

61-90 days: revision of BI showcases on NGR (not GGR), team training and regular audits; translating marketing to white channels and long-term growth strategies.

Conclusion and refusal to facilitate deception

Short hacks and gray schemes look tempting - but in iGaming, the price of an error is often significantly higher than the temporary profit. I do not help in implementing prohibited methods, cloaking, falsifying tracking or bypassing moderation. Instead, I give practical and legal alternatives: a clean S2S circuit, complimentary landing pages, white partnerships, anti-fraud and early scoring of traffic quality - something that really scales and protects the business.

conduct a checklist for your current tracking stack and traffic sources;

draw up a plan for the introduction of early scoring of quality (D1/D3) and anti-fraud;

prepare penalty point templates in partnership agreements.