Industry experts at SiGMA have given their opinion on the opportunities and challenges brought by new affiliate regulation.

At an affiliate event, discussion moderator Yancy Naughton, founder of HasTraffic.com, asked the panel how affiliates could succeed with new regulations coming into play.

Itamar Ronen, Chief Revenue Officer at Cellxpert, believes the opportunity lies in quick thinking.

He said: "I think that one of the biggest opportunities is playing the regulated game. It’s going to be a first-comers market.

"Those who embrace the regulation in specific areas will get the majority of the traffic, and they can hold that for a certain amount of time and make big money on that. Later on they will have the second-comers and the market will be more competitive. But those who embrace the regulated market first can make a big move here."

John Wright, Co-Founder at StatsDrone, said the more regulation comes into effect, the more professional affiliates will have to be, as it takes a great deal of work behind the scenes to keep up with compliance.

He said: "What is good about this is it’s a Catch 22. You’re going to have the big companies moving in to get more of the pie, but at the same time you’re staying in that regulated market. You’re not going to have to deal with some of these small affiliates that were earning decent money by doing a half-assed job."

Alex Munteanu, CEO of AXL Affiliates, was quick to offer a warning and gave a European case to analyse.

He said: "I think Italy is not the best example. As you may know, they recently introduced this policy where the whole advertising on sports betting, casino and gambling will be forbidden next year. So we don’t want to go that far, or that extreme.

"They are basically destroying the whole industry, and by doing so, they are allowing unlicensed companies the opportunity. That’s why I’m afraid of introducing all of these policies and all these restrictions; the only companies to gain a direct advantage are unlicensed operators.

"We are thinking outside the box and working with a lot of different industries at the moment. I think we shouldn’t focus only on gambling and we should look to the higher perspective of what our websites can do for the world in general because if our traffic is not good for sports betting, it can be valuable elsewhere."