XLMedia has outlined a new approach to recover the casino vertical for the affiliate, by “significantly reducing the overall number of sites and upgrading the quality of those remaining.”

In a trading update, the digital performance publisher – whose assets include WhichBingo, 101 Great Goals and Freebets – announced it is pursuing the multi-track approach after a number of its sites were penalised by Google in 2020.

XLMedia stated it has already removed the penalty from three of the 10 sites it wishes to recover; Casino.pt, Casino.gr and CasinoKiwi.co.nz.

The recovery process will involve reducing the number of current sites in operation and upgrading the quality of the remaining sites.

There will also be a focus on enhanced functionality and content, in a bid to increase traffic and build customer loyalty.

“We have now completed the core development work on all the rebuilt sites we will take forward and have commenced the submission process to Google for reconsideration,” a statement from XLMedia read.

“Learnings from both successes and initial rejections are being applied to the ongoing refinement of the remaining sites and we will resubmit those sites in due course.”

XLMedia also announced its financial expectations for the full year 2020, with revenue and adjusted EBITDA expected to be approximately $54.5m and $11.5m respectively.

Confirmation of those financial results is scheduled for 13 April 2021, along with an update on the casino recovery process.