Alexander Korsager, Casino.org: “Players use affiliate sites because they are seeking expert insight”
Alexander Korsager, General Manager at Casino.org, discusses how online casino affiliates are helping bridge the gap between players and brands.
Exclusive interview.- There has been and likely always will be some level of distrust between players and the igaming brands they play at. To overcome this, operators go to great lengths to connect with players and prove they are reputable and above board – whether that be through the licences they secure or even the marketing activity they undertake.
Others choose to work with well-established affiliates who have spent years connecting with players and providing them with the insight, information and reviews they need to make an informed decision about which brands to play at. Due to being independent, affiliates are often a player’s go-to resource for news, information and honest opinions about the casino brands available to them.
Casino.org is one of the most established online casino affiliates in the business having been providing expert insight to players since 1995. To learn more about these trust issues and how they can be overcome, Focus Gaming News spoke to Alexander Korsager, general manager at Casino.org.
In both new and established markets, there remains a lack of trust between players and the online casinos they wager with. Why is that?
The inherent nature of playing slots and table games online fosters a distrust between the player and the casino they are wagering at. This is an experience where players must transfer money from their bank account to the casino and then wager that money on games where the outcome is generated by a computer. Of course, players can win money, but they can also lose money. The entire experience takes place without once having to communicate with a real person creating an environment with little trust between consumer and brand.
In addition, many players have had bad experiences at sites where they have not been able to withdraw winnings or have been treated poorly by the casino’s customer support team. Regulation and licensing go a long way to overcoming these trust issues, but, deep down, I think they still exist even in established and tightly regulated markets such as the UK.
What role do online casino affiliates such as Casino.org play in helping to overcome this challenge and ultimately build trust between players and casino brands?
Affiliates bridge the gap between consumers and casinos. Affiliates should provide players with the information they need about online casinos – the technologies in place, how RNGs work, why withdrawals can take a few days to process – and why playing at licensed online casinos is advisable.
By educating players in this way, they have a much deeper understanding of the whole ecosystem and why things are the way they are. It’s also important for affiliate sites to be independent, and provide accurate, unbiased information about the brands they work with – this is why Casino.org has a comprehensive 20-step review process that each brand goes through before being listed on our site.
We are not afraid to mention the bad as well as the good, as ultimately it is more important for players to trust us than to send them to brands that don’t deliver.
“Casino.org has a comprehensive 20-step review process that each brand goes through before being listed on our site.”
How do players know they can trust Casino.org?
We are one of the most established affiliates for online casinos in the business having published our first casino review back in 1995. Our 20-step review process has been a real catalyst for player trust as they can see just how thorough we are in assessing what each brand has to offer.
We also go to great lengths to provide players with the information they need about online casinos in the country they are playing from – this includes daily news stories about the industry as well as a comprehensive knowledge section that even includes video guides.
All of our content is written by industry experts with decades of knowledge and experience between them. Again, this has proved to be really effective at building trust between players, Casino.org and the brands that we work with – especially in new markets where consumers are still learning about online casinos and which sites are reputable and trustworthy.
How important is it for content to be written by experts, especially when building trust between Casino.org and your readers?
It’s really important. When you read a guide, article or casino review that has been written and fact-checked by an expert, the level of trust you place in that content and the information it contains is much higher. Players use affiliate sites because they are seeking expert insight and that’s why we have pulled out all the stops to build a team of people who know the market inside and out.
As additional countries embrace regulated online casinos, we are adding more experts with local market knowledge to our network of expert writers. This is allowing us to connect with players in markets such as the US and quickly build the trust they need in Casino.org as their go-to online casino affiliate site.
