Operators can no longer afford empty clicks': Comparasino's COO on the post-duty affiliate model

Kevin Jones
21 hours ago
8 min read

The economics underpinning the comparison sector are tightening from two directions at once. The UK's 40% Remote Gaming Duty has sharply reduced operator tolerance for low-intent traffic, shifting the metrics operators now grade affiliates on from FTD volume to ARPU and 90-day retention. At the same time, the casino search results that affiliates have relied on for two decades are increasingly cluttered with rented domains and unlicensed brands. Whether the sector adapts to that pressure, or contracts under it, is the open question.

Araminta Hannah, Co-Founder and COO of Comparasino, has built the business around the argument that comparison platforms can no longer compete as ranked lists and have to function as matching tools. In this Q&A, she sets out which first-party signals she argues actually predict retention, what the infrastructure behind a recommendation-led product involves, why operators are now grading affiliates on stickiness rather than acquisition volume, and why she casts a recent ITVX campaign as a response to deteriorating search conditions rather than a conventional brand play.

Gaming Eminence: Comparison sites have traditionally been seen as acquisition channels. Why is that model no longer enough in the current market?

Araminta Hannah: "The traditional comparison model - essentially acting as a high-volume traffic funnel - is being squeezed from two sides: operator margins and platform sustainability. To survive now, you have to move from being a billboard to being a matchmaker.

First, we have to look at it from the operator’s perspective. In the UK, the 40% Remote Gaming Duty has changed the math entirely. Operators can no longer afford to pay for “empty” clicks or low-intent players who churn immediately. The focus has shifted aggressively from pure acquisition to high-quality retention and lifetime value (LTV).

This is why we built our proprietary Recommendation Engine. Instead of a static list of brands, we allow players to share their specific preferences - everything from wagering requirements and minimum deposits to their love of slot tournaments. By the time that player clicks through to a brand, they’re already pre-qualified. They aren't just a lead, they’re a player who has found exactly what they’re looking for, which naturally leads to a better experience and a much longer lifecycle with the operator.

Second, from our own perspective as a comparison platform, the “one-and-done” SEO model is a race to the bottom. Relying purely on search-led discovery is volatile and expensive. We’ve pivoted toward a brand-led strategy, focusing on building our own ecosystem through our Recommendation Engine and Member Zone.

By moving users into a logged-in environment, we’ve created a sustainable community. It allows us to drive additional FTDs from a single member by recommending new, highly relevant casino matches as we onboard more brands. We aren't just catching a user once on Google, we’re building a long-term relationship where we can provide value to the player, and the operator, time and time again."

Gaming Eminence: When you talk about comparison platforms needing to become more technology-led businesses, what does that actually mean in terms of product, infrastructure and user experience?

AH: "For a long time, the comparison sector was essentially a digital version of the Yellow Pages - static, manual and prioritised by whoever paid the most for the top spot. But in a market where efficiency is now a survival mandate, that model is broken. Being “technology-led” means we’ve moved from a content business to a data-and-logic business.

In terms of product and UX, it’s about the 30-second rule. Modern players have “Amazon-level” expectations for speed. They don’t want to scroll through endless lists or read 2,000-word reviews to find out if a site has a £5 deposit limit. Our technology-led approach replaces the “scroll” with the “search”. By taking a consumer-first approach, we’ve developed tools that make the process of finding a match instantaneous. If a player wants a no-wagering bonus and fast withdrawals, our tech surfaces that in seconds. We aren't just giving them a list, we’re giving them bespoke recommendations.

In terms of infrastructure, it’s about the “plumbing”. To make that user experience look simple on the front end requires significant complexity on the back end. Our Recommendation Engine is the core of this. It constantly processes hundreds of data points, bonus terms, payment methods, licensing status and more to ensure that when a player sets a preference, the result is technically accurate in real-time.

Ultimately, being technology-led means we’re reducing the cost of friction. If a comparison site makes a player work too hard to find what they want, they’ll leave. By using tech to handle the heavy lifting of the search, we ensure that the only brands a player sees are the ones they’re actually going to enjoy. That’s how you build trust, and in this climate, trust is the only thing stickier than a bonus."

Gaming Eminence: What data signals matter most when trying to match players with operators or offers more intelligently, and where do traditional comparison models still fall short?

AH: "To match a player intelligently, you have to move beyond just knowing they want to play and start understanding how they want to play. Over time, we’ve refined the signals we track by stripping away the noise and focusing on the friction points that actually cause a player to drop off.

In our experience, the high-intent signals that move the needle are:

Financial Friction: Preferences for minimum deposits (like the £5 entry point) and specific payment methods like Apple Pay or instant bank transfers.
The Wagering Threshold: Whether a player prioritises a huge headline bonus or a “cleaner” offer with no-wagering requirements.
The Experience Layer: Signals like a preference for mobile apps, loyalty schemes or niche features like slot tournaments.

We aren't afraid to test and learn - we actually ask our players what they want. By providing a streamlined search that lets them set these parameters, we’re capturing first-party intent data that most sites simply don't have.

Where traditional models fall short is the commercial bias. Most comparison sites don't actually match, they “push”. They present a list of casinos based on who is offering the highest CPA or the best rev-share deal, regardless of whether that casino is a good fit for the user. It’s a transparently commercial approach that treats every player as a commodity.

If a player wants a £5 deposit casino with no wagering, but the site pushes a £20 deposit brand with 10x wagering just because the commission is higher, the player has a poor experience, the operator gets a low-LTV customer and the comparison site loses trust.

We’ve flipped that. Our tool is commercially agnostic in its matching, so if a brand doesn't fit the player's preference, it doesn't get the match. That's how we ensure a high-quality handoff to the operator."

Gaming Eminence: As operator economics become more pressured, how is the role of a comparison platform changing from a commercial and performance point of view?

AH: "The days of growth at any cost are over. With tightening margins and increased regulatory costs, operators are looking at their acquisition spend through a high-powered microscope. The role of the comparison platform has shifted from being a simple traffic driver to being a quality control gatekeeper.

In recent months, we’ve seen a clear shift in how operators measure our performance. It’s no longer just about the volume of FTDs. They’re dialing in on granular metrics like Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), the frequency of deposits and the stickiness of the player over the first 30, 60 and 90 days.

We embrace that pressure because it validates our model. Of course, a comparison site can’t do all the heavy lifting - the operator still has to deliver a high-end product, fast withdrawals and genuine loyalty rewards to keep the player. However, we take responsibility for the initial alignment.

Commercially, this means our role is to ensure high-calibre handovers. If we send a player who specifically asked for a £10 deposit bonus and slot tournaments to a brand that excels in those two areas, that player is fundamentally more likely to become a loyal, long-term customer. We are moving away from being a transactional line item on a spreadsheet to becoming a strategic partner that protects the operator’s margins by reducing wasted acquisition spend."

Gaming Eminence: Your move into ITVX suggests a broader media strategy beyond search-led discovery. What is the thinking behind that, and how do you assess whether that kind of activity is improving downstream performance?

AH: "The motivation is simple: the search engine results pages (SERPs) have become a minefield. If you look at the current landscape for casino-related searches, it’s increasingly difficult for players to find legitimate, UKGC-licensed brands. You have high-authority media sites “renting” their domains to third parties, rogue affiliates and even unlicensed operators cluttering the space. It’s no longer a helpful environment for the consumer.

By launching an ad campaign on ITVX, we’re stepping out of that noise. We wanted to reach players on a high-trust, premium platform to make them aware that there’s a better way to discover where to play. This campaign is about positioning Comparasino as the safe harbour, showing the public that our Recommendation Engine can match them with licensed, vetted brands in seconds, without them having to sift through untrustworthy search results.

Assessing downstream performance in a brand-led strategy requires a different lens. While we still look at direct attribution, we’re primarily focused on brand-assisted discovery. We measure success by looking at:

Branded Search Volume: Are more people searching for “Comparasino” directly rather than generic terms?
Direct Traffic & Member Zone Sign-ups: We’ve seen that users coming from high-trust media like ITVX are often higher-intent - they skip the window shopping phase and go straight into our Member Zone to lock in their preferences.
The Trust Halo: We track how these players perform once they reach an operator. Anecdotally and through data, we see that brand-first players tend to have higher trust in the recommendations we give, leading to better conversion and longer retention for our casino partners.

Essentially, ITVX isn't just a reach play, it’s a trust-building exercise that pays off at the point of deposit."

Gaming Eminence: Looking ahead, what will separate the comparison platforms that build lasting value from those that remain little more than affiliate pages?

AH: "The industry is reaching a fork in the road. On one side, you have legacy affiliate sites that rely on static content and commercial bidding - on the other, you have technology-led platforms that focus on utility and user empowerment. Those that remain little more than basic affiliate pages will simply drop off over time because they no longer solve a problem for the player.

The biggest separator will be the shift from search to intent. We’re moving away from an era where a player has to manually browse a site toward an era of intent-based discovery. Modern users expect the platform to do the heavy lifting for them. They want to provide a couple of prompts and receive a curated, technically accurate result instantly. This is exactly where our product team is focused right now. We aren't just building a database, we’re building a matching brain.

Ultimately, the platforms that build lasting value will be those that:

Own the Audience: Moving players into a Member Zone ecosystem where you can provide value beyond the first click.
Master Personalised Logic: Delivering results based on real-time user intent rather than who paid for the Top 5 slot.
Provide Brand Certainty: In an era of SERP volatility and unlicensed rogue sites, being a high-trust, UKGC-only destination is a massive competitive moat.

At the end of the day, the winners will be the platforms that players return to as a tool, not just a site they accidentally clicked on through Google. We don’t want to be a stop on the way to a casino, we want to be the starting point every time a user wants to find somewhere new to play."