Crypto Casino
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Interview with the casino operator's marketing director
iGaming marketing is a mix of creativity, rigorous math and compliance. We talked to the marketing director of a large operator (generalized interview) to understand how a growth strategy is built without "burning out" the budget and reputation.
1) Strategy: What's driving growth today?
Question: Where do you start the plan of the year?
CMO: With a matrix of markets × channels × content and target KPIs by cohort. Support - product pillars: cash register without friction, personal missions/seasons, live event calendar and strict RG circuit. Channels - portfolio: none should give> 35% of new depots.
2) Attraction channels: what works in 2025?
Question: What channels give efficiency?
CMO:- Affiliates/media grids: still a "backbone," but with tough pre-moderation of creatives and traffic verification.
- Telegram/mini-apps: high CRs due to diplinks and fast FTUE.
- SEO/content hubs: long tail + brand demand, sustainable CAC.
- Influencers/streamers: more expensive, but give confidence and "eventfulness" (white scripts and RG frames are needed).
- ASO/web-to-app/PWA: where possible - boost repeat sessions.
- Paid UA (programming): narrow targets, frequency caps, end-to-end attribution.
3) Onboarding and conversion: Where is the money lost?
Q: The main friction points?
CMO: Registration, KYC and deposit. We press the time to the first deposit (TTFD) to 3-5 minutes: we reduce the fields, give one-tap methods, show ETA and commissions, explain the 3DS status right in the interface/bot. Any delay - transparent status + next best action.
4) No inflation promo
Question: How to keep margins?
CMO: From "carpet" bonuses, we went to uplift-targeting: the bonus is received by those who are expected to increase to the deposit/retench. Plus missions and seasons instead of endless freespins. Budgets - with weekly/seasonal caps and an increment report (not a "bonus payment").
5) CRM and personalization
Q: How does your CRM engine work?
CMO: Segments by life cycle (beginner/active/VIP/" asleep"), propensity to providers/volatility," window "of involvement by time of day. Channels - internal messenger, push, e-mail, Telegram, on-site widgets. Above - bandits for choosing the next mission/offer and frequency limits with windows of silence.
6) RG Ethics and Marketing
Question: Where are the limits of what is acceptable?
CMO: Any RG signal overrides marketing. Offers burn out, neutral messages remain: help, pause, limits. Creatives - without promises of "fast money," conditions - in 2-3 lines, visible restrictions. Design - without "dark patterns" and toxic timers.
7) Antifraud and "cleanliness" of the funnel
Q: How do you protect the budget?
CMO: Joint circuit with security: device fingerprint, behavioral biometrics, velocity, graph analytics of connections (account-device-wallet-affiliate). For traffic - anti-bots, postback-validation of events, blacklists of publishers, quick stop-list.
8) Working with content providers and live events
Q: How do you synchronize marketing and content?
CMO: Quarterly content calendar: new slots, studio shows, tournaments. Joint promos - only with transparent rules, no inflation of awards. In live - "television" discipline: schedules, teasers, selected tables and built-in missions.
9) Metrics that decide
Q: What numbers are you looking at every day?
CMO:- Attraction: CPA/CAC by source, approve-rate, ETA deposit, FTUE depth.
- Monetization: LTV by cohort, ARPPU, payer conversion, ROI of campaigns (D7/D30/D60).
- Marketing effect: increment (uplift) to deposits/retension vs control.
- Quality: share of manual cases at the box office, tickets, CSAT for onboarding.
- RG: share of limits, overnight deposits, time to intervention.
- Risk: share of suspicious registrations/depots, chargeback rate.
10) Attribution and privacy
Question: How do you measure the contribution of channels after privacy changes?
CMO: Combine last-touch, MMM and increment experiments (geo-split, PSA tests, holdout cohorts). We minimize PII, work with aggregates, comply with local requirements and give the user transparent settings.
11) Team and processes
Q: How does the marketing machine work?
CMO: Growth squads: UA, creative, CRM, analyst, developer - a single goal for 6-8 weeks (for example, "+ X% D7 retention of beginners"). Every 2 weeks - retro, post-mortem on incidents and public dashboards.
12) Typical operator errors
Question: What most often "burns"?
CMO:1. "Bonus for the sake of bonus" without uplift control.
2. Overloaded lobby and banner noise.
3. Creatives in conflict with RG/jurisdictions.
4. Lack of fallback routes at the checkout.
5. Affiliates without registry and pre-moderation.
6. No A/B discipline - conclusions on vanity metrics.
7. Zero security and product integration.
13) Examples (generalized cases)
"Cash with one touch": ETA + statuses in the interface → + 7-10% of deposit completions, − 25% of tickets.
"Missions instead of banners": personal tasks for your favorite providers → + 12-18% to the frequency of sessions without increasing the average vager.
"Targeted anti-fraud": step-up → risk alone − 35% of captcha complaints with the same level of protection.
"Geo-split inflation": increment to the first depot + 8-11% at the controlled value of the lead.
14) 120-day road map
Days 1-30 - Basis
Market and channel map, KPIs by cohort.
Affiliate register, rules and stop list.
Audit of onboarding/CCM/cash registers, statuses and ETA.
RG-gardrails in marketing, pre-moderation of creatives.
Days 31-60 - Experiments
2-3 geo-split/holdout increment test.
Missions D0-D7, calendar of live events.
Bandits in CRM, frequency limits, windows of silence.
Fallback checkout routes, approve-rate/ETA alerts.
Days 61-90 - Scaling
Extension of local payment methods and providers.
Influence series/stream events with white scripts.
Canary window releases, onboarding A/B.
Collaborative panels with SOC/Antifrod.
Days 91-120 - Optimization
Uplift models promo, redistribution of budget.
NPS/CSAT on onboarding and checkout, correcting "pains."
C-level reports: channel ROI, RG-KPI, incidents.
15) Checklists
Attraction channel checklist
- White creatives, legally correct wording.
- Postbacks and event verification, bot protection.
- Target CPA/CAC, frequency cap, negative list.
- RG triggers → stop promo.
- Dashboards by increment, not just by registration.
Onboarding and checkout checklist
- TTFD ≤ 5 minutes, statuses and ETA in UI.
- One-tap methods, fallback routes, transparent commissions.
- KYC hints, saved methods, diplinks from the bot.
- Step Failure/Success Logs and Metrics.
CRM checklist
- LTV segments/behavior/time of day.
- Bandits/rules, frequency limits and silence windows.
- RG-gardrails, switching off offers by signal.
- Uplift tests, D7/D30/D60 reports.
Strong casino marketing is a portfolio of channels + "cash without friction" + personal missions + RG ethics + increment analytics. Teams that combine creativity with discipline win: they measure uplift, protect the funnel from fraud, respect the player and the regulator - and turn trust into sustainable LTV growth.