The gambling market is growing every year, attracting more and more affiliates. Competition is increasing, user acquisition costs are rising, and governments are tightening regulations. Sadly, that won’t change in 2026. What’s new is that this year, the gambling market hasn’t just grown; it’s matured into a professional, technology-driven business. The key iGaming trends in 2026 include widespread AI automation, a focus on legal offers and proven CPA programs, and a shift toward long-term strategic thinking: affiliates move from immediate gains to RevShare models, prioritising user lifetime value (LTV) over registration numbers.
Let’s break down all gambling trends affiliates need to watch in 2026:
- Overall market review and expert insights for 2026;
- Top gambling offers: what payment model to choose;
- Best GEOs for iGaming vertical in 2026;
- High-converting ad formats and new trending sources;
- Integration of AI-driven technology: how to use AI in affiliate marketing.
What is RichAds?
Ad network for telegram ads,
high quality push and popunder ads,
domain redirect, native and display traffic source,
buy push ads at $0.005 (CPC), pop ads at $0.5 (CPM),
domain ads costs start from $1.5 (CPM), native ads — from $0.001 (CPC),
ad network offers large volumes of traffic in more than 200 geos from Tier 3 to Tier 1.
The Overall Market Transformation: General Gambling Industry Insights
One of the main Gambling trends in 2026 is a focus on quality and a responsibility. CPA networks strive to work only with licensed casinos and offer reliable partner programs with transparent rules. They use strict filters to catch random traffic and ban illegal schemes.
Advertising platforms are also tightening the moderation process, making affiliates’ work more complicated. In most cases, aggressive advertising campaigns just can’t pass checks.
Gambling affiliate marketing is now a serious business, requiring professional approaches. A successful affiliate in 2026 should excel in data analysis, have proficiency with AI tools, and know everything about multi-market compliance. It becomes more difficult for beginners to enter, and even experienced affiliates face mounting challenges that not everyone can overcome. That’s why many solo marketers join teams to get the resources and support required for success.
In 2026, you can’t just drive any traffic to get maximum registrations at any cost. The market has changed, and affiliate gambling trends are shifting to a more careful strategy and economic planning.
Veronica Ponomareva, Head of Customer Service at RichAds
In 2025, RichAds advertising network worked extensively with direct advertisers from the gambling industry – their percentage has grown significantly compared to previous years. These clients have a much better chance of success when launching gambling offers on our traffic because they play the long game. They test hypotheses and traffic, evaluate metrics comprehensively, quickly adapt their approach to campaign changes, and plan strategically for long-term results.
However, solo affiliates don’t always get the most out of our traffic: they usually have little time, a limited testing budget, and strict registration and deposit targets, so they can’t always test high traffic volumes. We work with many of these clients and do our best to simplify the launch process for them, like providing free whitelists so they can test quickly for more targeted results.
If you’re a solo affiliate, I recommend depositing at least $500 to get a personal manager. They’ll help you achieve the best results: provide a whitelist of sources and suggest top GEOs for testing your offer, deliver free creatives, and help you with optimization.
Alexa Bond, Head of Affiliates at N1 Partners
One of the key gambling trends for 2026 is the growing value of partnerships, communities, and ecosystems. Affiliate platforms no longer win solely by costs. Loyalty is now built by delivering community experience, transparency, fast communication, joint activities, VIP terms, and exciting promotions. All of these increase affiliate LTV and help CPA networks build long-term value. The future belongs to brands that provide not only offers but also the conditions for growth, motivation, and scalability.
888STARZ Partners Team
It’s a clear trend for professionalization in affiliate marketing. CPA networks have shifted away from being quick, enthusiast-driven startups. The industry now shows a much more structured approach: full marketing departments, analytics teams, legal support, and significant investments. It has become a mature and stable business sector rather than a “quick money” opportunity.
San Sanich, TeamLead Affiliate at PIN-UP Partners
When it comes to iGaming trends in 2026, the market continues to change significantly, and these changes are systemic. Gaming and sports betting advertising is becoming more difficult, the requirements for responsible gambling marketing are higher, and aggressive methods of attracting audiences are gradually becoming ineffective.
Furthermore, advertising platforms are implementing new regulatory algorithms that more actively fight gray niches. Moderation is becoming more rigorous, and unstable advertising schemes are increasingly failing to pass the filters.
Payment Model Transformation: From CPA to RevShare
Gambling is one of the most profitable affiliate verticals with high payouts, which is not going to change anytime soon. Revenue in the global online gambling market is projected to reach $655.31 billion in 2026, with an annual growth rate of 2.28% through 2030. It’s good news for the affiliate marketing industry, but this growth also creates notable complications. The competition is increasing at the same pace as the market’s expansion, and player acquisition costs are rising across all GEOs. The era of cheap traffic and simple conversions is definitely over.
LTV (Lifetime Value) is becoming the main performance metric in 2026. Partner networks and casinos are no longer interested in FTDs. They need players with long-term potential, who will make repeat deposits. That’s why most offers in 2026 provide a RevShare (revenue share) payment model.
Veronica Ponomareva, Head of Customer Service at RichAds
In 2025, RevShare offers began to generate better results with push and pop ads on RichAds. They are launched more frequently now, and we recommend trying them on our traffic in 2026.
We’re also seeing a change in our clients’ approaches: advertisers are increasingly learning how to work with analytics and are placing greater emphasis on testing. Just a year ago, many wouldn’t even hear about tracking, but now they’re ready to share statistics and work with data-driven optimization. They understand that driving traffic isn’t about a quick win here and now, but is a sustainable strategy based on analysis and careful metrics evaluation.
In the long run and with smart optimization, we deliver better results and attract a quality audience for gambling offers.
San Sanich, TeamLead Affiliate at PIN-UP Partners
The market is moving toward lower ROI and a gradual shift away from random traffic. In 2026, the winners won’t be those who attract the most players, but those who can engage a high-quality, loyal audience and build long-term profitability.
What is RichAds?
Ad network for telegram ads,
high quality push and popunder ads,
domain redirect, native and display traffic source,
buy push ads at $0.005 (CPC), pop ads at $0.5 (CPM),
domain ads costs start from $1.5 (CPM), native ads — from $0.001 (CPC),
ad network offers large volumes of traffic in more than 200 geos from Tier 3 to Tier 1.
Gambling Industry Insights on Top GEOs in 2026
GEO targeting trends are also changing this year. Gambling affiliate partners are increasingly looking to Asia, Africa, and LatAm countries. The online gambling and casino industry is rapidly growing there, while competition is still relatively low.
Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, the Philippines, to name a few – they all offer some form of legal online betting and gambling. Affiliates just need to localize creatives and carefully adapt campaigns to the specific market. Don’t forget about compliance and regional trends: a strategy that works in one GEO could trigger penalties in another.
Veronica Ponomareva, Head of Customer Service at RichAds
The top GEOs for launching gambling on RichAds in 2026 are:
- Indonesia,
- Bangladesh,
- Australia,
- India,
- Philippines,
- Turkey,
- Russia,
- Brazil,
- Thailand.
We have a lot of traffic from these countries with consistently good results. You can try both push and pop ads there.
San Sanich, TeamLead Affiliate at PIN-UP Partners
We see more and more countries legalizing gambling. However, it doesn’t mean a smooth entry into the market. In most cases, legalization immediately implies strict requirements, licensing, and ongoing supervision of the gambling advertising. The market is expanding, but entering it is becoming more difficult.
In countries where gambling has already been legalized, the tax burden has increased significantly. Governments are beginning to view the industry as a stable source of income, and this directly impacts profitability. Operators are forced to rethink their business models and consider the economics much more carefully.
888STARZ Partners Team
We see a shortage of promising GEOs for new launches. Due to market overheating and intense competition, there are fewer and fewer countries where a new casino can be launched successfully. Any new launch becomes a long-term investment with a payback period of at least one year.
Online Casino Advertising Trends: High-Converting Formats in 2026
Push and pop ads remain among the top-converting formats for gambling offers in 2026. They still deliver scale, strong CTRs, and flexibility across regulated markets. In addition, social-style placements, like Telegram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and YouTube, are also gaining more popularity as people spend more time on their phones and in social media. Growing mobile traffic is pushing affiliates to focus on formats that look good on small screens and quickly capture attention. They move away from static banners and boring native ads toward interactive advertising, which provides immersive experience and drives fast action.
Veronica Ponomareva, Head of Customer Service at RichAds
At the end of 2024, we launched Telegram in-app advertising and spent the entire year testing different verticals with this traffic source. For gambling, we’re seeing good results with TMA’s push-style banners (in-app notifications, very similar to push notifications) – they convert well and generate deposits. However, the geotargeting for Telegram gambling push-style ads isn’t quite typical for our ad network: Spain, Poland, France, Norway, and Germany are at the top. In 2026, we’ll continue developing Telegram ads, and you’ll be able to promote gambling-specific Telegram channels, growing your subscriber base.
888STARZ Partners Team
Everything now revolves around user convenience and retention cost. We see rising prices for message delivery across all GEOs – email, SMS, Viber, Telegram, and other communication channels. In this environment, native app push notifications have become the only reliable, effective, and cost-efficient way to reach users without driving retention costs to unsustainable levels.
Alexa Bond, Head of Affiliates at N1 Partners
Reviews, long SEO articles, and simple banners are losing effectiveness. What is gaining popularity? Video reviews, interactive formats, UGC content, and micro-influencers are showing the best results, and this trend will continue to strengthen in gambling advertising in 2026. Social media is also gaining momentum: content consumption on these platforms is growing, along with traffic volumes and an inflow of new audiences.
In 2026, demand will grow for immersive creatives that don’t simply display an offer but engage users directly within the ad. The reason is simple: audience attention is driven by emotion and interactivity. Creatives that provide users with an “experience”, not just visuals, increase CTR, extend retention, and significantly improve conversion. We expect more testing of creatives in the spirit of TikTok, Twitch, and YouTube Live – dynamic, honest, and highly engaging.
AI Automation – The Most Discussed Gambling Affiliate Trend in 2026
Artificial intelligence participates in almost every aspect of human life, and affiliate marketing is embracing it as well. AI is already implemented on many ad networks for managing bidding strategies and providing smarter anti-fraud protection. Affiliates widely use AI-driven tools for creatives development and content creation. Affiliate platforms incorporate AI technology for customer support. And that’s just a beginning – we’ll hear about AI usage in affiliate marketing campaigns more and more in 2026.
Alexa Bond, Head of Affiliates at N1 Partners
AI is no longer a supporting tool, but rather an autonomous participant in affiliate processes. It can already launch campaigns, test hypotheses, optimize bids, and analyze large volumes of data. In 2026, a hybrid model will become even more popular: humans are responsible for strategy and hypotheses, while AI handles speed and scaling.
888STARZ Partners Team
We are already at the point where most advertising creatives in the industry are generated using AI. The next logical step is that all advertising and notifications players receive will be fully AI-generated — highly personalized, real-time, and context-aware. The right strategic move for casinos is to integrate their native app into the everyday services and ecosystems that users already rely on.
Soon, we will see extremely personalized ad experiences perfectly tailored to consumer preferences.
Example: a player might see a Facebook message like: “The Portugal national team has a match coming up soon. Last time you placed a bet, you earned XXXX. Want to try repeating that success?”. This level of personalization will become the industry standard.
Quick Overview of Key Gambling and iGaming Trends Shaping 2026
Gambling affiliate marketing no longer tolerates amateurs. It’s a professional business where you should count metrics, understand and leverage new technology, follow compliance requirements, and set long-term plans.
The most valuable gambling affiliate insights you must remember this year are:
- Master AI tools for routine automation and campaign optimization
- Focus on interactive content with gamification elements and mobile-first traffic sources
- Test RevShare models, building long-term profit strategies
- Try developing markets in Asia, South Africa, and Latin America
- Prioritise quality traffic and legal offers
- Tracking, analytics, and real-time data – your best friends
The market has been changing and evolving for several years now, and looking ahead to 2026, you can’t ignore its evolution – you must adapt to these new gambling affiliate trends.
Get a reliable RevShare offer and launch your gambling campaign on premium RichAds traffic to get maximum profit in the long run.
What is RichAds?
Ad network for telegram ads,
high quality push and popunder ads,
domain redirect, native and display traffic source,
buy push ads at $0.005 (CPC), pop ads at $0.5 (CPM),
domain ads costs start from $1.5 (CPM), native ads — from $0.001 (CPC),
ad network offers large volumes of traffic in more than 200 geos from Tier 3 to Tier 1.
Frequently Asked Questions about Affiliate Gambling Trends in 2026
What are the main gambling trends to watch in 2026?
The five defining iGaming trends in 2026 are AI automation, the shift from CPA to RevShare models, legalization and responsible approach, the importance of ad personalization, and a focus on interactive, mobile-friendly ad formats. The industry is swinging toward long-term value and user engagement and retention. Player LTV is becoming a major performance metric, tracking and analytics are of great importance, and the whole campaign strategy for gambling offers must be built around sustainable profitability, not immediate wins.
Which markets will lead in iGaming next year?
Emerging markets in Asia, Africa, and LatAm will dominate the 2026 landscape. RichAds ad network’s Head of customer service, Veronica Ponomareva, names nine top-performing GEOs: Indonesia, Bangladesh, Australia, India, Philippines, Turkey, Russia, Brazil, and Thailand. These markets offer the winning combination of growing gambling audiences, improving purchasing power, and options for legal advertising.
How can affiliates benefit from gambling trends?
Affiliates can capitalize on 2026 online casino trends by embracing three strategic changes: trying RevShare models for long-term profitability, leveraging AI tools for competitive advantage, and focusing on traffic quality over quantity. RichAds advertising network experts recommend running push and pop traffic and working closely with personal managers to build a sustainable optimization strategy. The AI-powered tools can help automate most affiliate processes, like campaign launches, creative testing, and bidding optimization, but the overall campaign success depends on humans and a thoughtful approach to planning.
What formats and traffic sources are most effective in 2026?
The most effective ad formats for gambling campaigns in 2026 are push notifications and pops. Social ads are also gaining popularity – TikTok, Twitch, YouTube, and Telegram show promising results with registrations and deposits. You just need to choose the right GEOs and align your approach with each platform’s framework. For example, Telegram mini-app ads in the RichAds ad network work well in European markets, particularly in Spain, Poland, France, Norway, and Germany.
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