Anton Eshtokin, Boomerang Partners: “The Golden Boomerang League highlights the rise of sports traffic”

The Chief Marketing Officer of Boomerang Partners spoke to Focus Gaming News about the company’s preparation for SiGMA Europe in Rome, the Golden Boomerang Awards and Golden Boomerang League tournaments, as well as the key challenges and opportunities in the industry.

Exclusive interview. – Focus Gaming News sat down with Anton Eshtokin, chief marketing officer at Boomerang Partners. The interview covered many topics, ranging from the company’s participation in the upcoming SiGMA Europe in Rome from November 4th to 6th, to its priorities for the rest of the year.

How are you preparing for SiGMA Central Europe, and what are your expectations for the event?

At the SiGMA Central Europe conference in Rome, our spacious interactive booth 5046 G is bound to crush attendee engagement through a wide range of memorable experiences and creative experiential activations.  We will once again showcase our signature ‘Boomerang Arena’ concept, which underscores our strategic focus on sports. Visitors to our booth will see this firsthand, as we have integrated sports symbolism not only into the booth’s design but also into the activities we have planned. Without giving away all the secrets, I can say these will include both proven successful activities from the past and new experimental elements designed to surprise the audience. Our ability to deliver on this was clearly demonstrated at the recent SBC Summit in Lisbon, where our ‘Boomerang Effect’ performance featuring professional artists allowed Boomerang Partners’ booth visitors to witness a unique symbiosis of marketing and art.

Another key element of our SiGMA Rome program will be the announcement of the results and winners of our first sports traffic tournament, the Golden Boomerang League. This competition is our direct response to the growing significance of the sports segment in the affiliate marketing industry. Participants are competing not only for recognition and a chance to showcase their expertise but also for the opportunity to gain direct entry into the Golden Boomerang Awards 2026 and win 2x AC Milan Experience packages, which include flights, accommodation, and tickets to a home match at the San Siro Stadium. This is possible because Boomerang Partners is an Official Regional Partner of AC Milan. And, of course, elements related to AC Milan will be featured throughout our booth’s design.

What do you consider to be the most relevant issues on the agenda at the expo? Why?

The significance of SiGMA for the igaming industry cannot be overstated. As is tradition, participants will delve into key trends and challenges. One major topic, given the conference’s location in Rome, will be the upcoming regulatory changes for Italy’s online betting market. This reform is expected to significantly concentrate market influence among larger operators, as the licence fee is set to increase to €7 million. The number of licensed companies is projected to drop from over 400 to around 50—a substantial consolidation. This is a large-scale reform aimed at enhancing industry transparency and player protection through the introduction of various tools, ranging from AI-powered analysis of user behavior to automatic pauses triggered after a certain amount is spent or a specified amount of time is spent on the site.

Beyond this, other topics generating significant interest include the growing dominance of the mobile format in igaming, sports marketing, and strategies to combat fraud utilising AI, deepfakes, and cross-border threats. It’s also worth paying attention to the shift in traditional SEO approaches, as AI-driven systems, LLM, and generative technologies are fundamentally changing how players discover products.

“The significance of SiGMA for the igaming industry cannot be overstated.”

Anton Eshtokin, CMO at Boomerang Partners.

You recently launched initiatives like the Golden Boomerang Awards and Golden Boomerang League. What role do you see such affiliate-tournaments and recognition programs playing in building Boomerang’s brand and attractiveness to top affiliates globally?

These tournaments are one of our marketing strategy’s cornerstones. We take a highly distinctive approach to their execution, blending intuitive mechanics with original, layered elements. It’s important to understand that while the market offers many tournaments with basic structures, that alone doesn’t suffice for us. Beyond the competitive framework, we provide participants with the chance to earn ‘money-can’t-buy’ experiences. For instance, in May 2025, we invited the top 30 affiliate teams from the Golden Boomerang Awards 2025 to a three-day event in Milan for a truly unique experience. The pinnacle of their trip was the awards ceremony held at the iconic San Siro Stadium, where the winners across 11 categories were presented their awards by AC Milan Legend Andrea Pirlo.

Hosting the Golden Boomerang Awards and Golden Boomerang League allows Boomerang Partners to address a comprehensive set of objectives, spanning from commercial to branding goals. From a brand perspective, these events are the perfect narrative. They enable us to achieve massive PR reach (106+M in 2025). The invited media and industry influencers significantly contribute to covering our projects, thereby boosting brand recognition and fostering loyalty among our affiliate partners.

Finally, through the creative execution of the Golden Boomerang Awards and Golden Boomerang League, we generate a wealth of impactful content that ensures we remain prominent and easily recognisable in the industry.

What are your priorities for the rest of the year?

The final stretch of 2025 will be event-packed for us. On October 31, our first sports traffic tournament, the Golden Boomerang League, will conclude. We will announce the winners at SiGMA Europe in Rome, where we will have our own booth 5046 G. We invite all exhibition attendees to visit it, as we have prepared plenty of engaging activities—from sports-themed interactives to a unique gift auction.

The end of SiGMA Rome doesn’t mean we can relax. We will immediately begin preparations for another prestigious event—iGB Barcelona in January 2026. Later that same year, we will host the third season of our global tournament, the Golden Boomerang Awards 2026, which has firmly established itself as one of the pivotal events in the affiliate marketing industry. We have many plans ahead.

What would you say are the biggest opportunities and challenges for the industry today?

Let’s start with opportunities. It’s common knowledge that the affiliate marketing industry is highly dynamic. To work effectively within it, you need to constantly monitor trends, adapt to the most promising ones, and ultimately strive to become a trendsetter yourself. Achieving and maintaining market leadership is made possible by advancing AI and integrating automation tools across workflows. This applies to marketing, BI, product development, fraud prevention, cost reduction, and enhancing operational speed.

Among other promising opportunities, we should mention the development of gamification products and systems, as well as the expansion of the affiliate ecosystem by increasing the number of partners. Additionally, we see significant potential in the development of the sports traffic segment, which is why we are interested in collaborating with affiliate teams specialising in this area.

Of course, operating effectively in the affiliate marketing industry is impossible without considering its challenges. Key obstacles include:

• Market saturation, which leads to increased competition;
• Customer retention (this is also connected to the first point);
• Potential difficulties in recruiting qualified personnel, again, due to growing competition.

Finally, I would like to highlight a trend that can have both positive and negative consequences for market players: regulatory changes. In some regions, regulations are becoming more orderly and transparent, in others, we see deregulation, while elsewhere, stricter rules and limitations are being introduced. Therefore, it is important to always stay informed and keep a close watch on the legal trends.