The stakes are high in the gambling industry, not just for the players but also for affiliate marketers.
Traffic is expensive, conversions are uncertain, and operators rely on you to send FTDs like clockwork. One click can make all the difference in this game. But what if we told you that an FTD does not have to cost $30 or even $10, but pennies?
These numbers aren’t magic – they are the results of a slick and precise retargeting mechanism.
In this article, as previously on the podcast, the Peaky Ads team and Sergey Sergienko, CEO of Kadam ad network, break down how retargeting is achieved in iGaming, why non-funnel traffic is wasting budgets, best-performing retargeting GEOs, and how Kadam empowers affiliates to make FTDs for pennies.
What is retargeting, and why is it a game-changer for iGaming?
Retargeting is engaging users who have already had some interaction with your product or brand – perhaps they visited your site, maybe even signed up, but didn’t deposit. Or they deposited once and never came back. These are your most valuable leads: warm, known, and already halfway down the funnel.
The classic example is a person visiting your website, leaving, and now they’re looking at your ads everywhere. That’s retargeting. And if it’s done well, it’s not just a reminder – it’s a conversion machine.
Retargeting is not «remarketing ads.» It’s about providing the right message at the right time, in the proper manner. In iGaming, push notifications simply work. Sergey highlights that push ads are the king of retargeting. They don’t depend on whether the user is online or not. We send push ads to their devices. So if they registered five minutes ago but didn’t deposit, they get an instant message – and boom, they deposit.
Why is a well-thought-out funnel a must for your traffic?
One of the most common mistakes new affiliates make is believing that some of their cold traffic will «just convert».
A good landing page or a good bonus will magically work. But real user behavior doesn’t play out according to this fantasy. In the gambling vertical, the user path is long and fragmented. A click is merely the beginning.
«Most users drop off between the click and registration. Then, more users drop off between the signup and the first deposit. If you’re not retargeting them, you’re losing money at every step,» Sergey explains.
Every drop-off in the funnel is a missed opportunity – and without a system to bring users back, you’re flushing your budget down the drain. Especially in expensive GEOs, where CPCs are steep and CPAs need to stay razor-sharp, retargeting becomes the only way to drive real profit.
Expert tips to build a high-performing funnel
A successful retargeting funnel is not the same for all audience types. It’s a stacked funnel with different user intent and behavior.
Here’s a common funnel structure:
- Visitors who did not register;
- Registered but didn’t deposit;
- Deposited once and never came back;
- Once-active players who have lapsed;
- Users who have deposited previously (re-deposit targets).
«Some clients have hundreds of audience segments. The more segmented your targeting, the more personalized your creatives – and the better your performance,» says Sergey.
Sergey also adds that they send as many as 30 push ads per user a day. That sounds aggressive, but it works. It’s about catching them when they’re warm and ready to act.
Kadam also enables a rotation-based creatives approach. In case a free spin bonus offer fails, the system replaces it after several impressions, testing out variants until it finds a winner.
Top GEOs to test for retargeting
Retargeting performance is local – Kadam has boots on the ground in some of the hottest emerging markets and is ready to share insights.
Take Africa, for example. It’s Kadam’s second-largest region by volume, even leading LATAM by activity and growth, according to Sergey.
«We have a dedicated specialist for Africa. The continent is full of potential. But every country is different – language, culture, even religious calendars are involved,» he explains.
User language enters the equation, too. Users in India, for instance, who have English-language browser settings will be more likely to convert than Hindi-using users. Why? English-speaking Indians are generally more affluent. From a creatives point of view, GEO segmentation also matters: cricket in India, hockey in Canada, football in Europe. And for casino traffic, classic images like Wheel of Fortune, animal mascots, and free spins resonate.
Kadam: Why choose the network for retargeting?
Kadam is a full-service platform built for performance marketers. Unlike mainstream networks, Kadam allows clean, compliant promotion of verticals like betting and casinos, without bans or cloaking.
“Facebook won’t show ads on PornHub. We will. We work openly with iGaming, and you don’t need to hack your way around restrictions. You can just run your campaign,” says Sergey.
But compliance is just part of the value. Kadam also supports advanced tracking (pixel and event-based), fingerprint retargeting for cookieless targeting, and smart segmentation. That means you can retarget users even after they wipe cookies or switch browsers.
You don’t need to be a retargeting expert either – Kadam’s team helps you build strategies, craft creatives, and segment users based on behavior. Whether you’re targeting lapsed users or pushing for redeposits, you get hands-on support.
Real cases on retargeting: experience of Kadam
We asked Sergey directly about the real cases and figures of the Kadam team on the direction of retargeting. Right on the podcast, the CEO of the company opened the phone and frankly shared metrics for several audiences and GEOs. It’s worth noting that all situations are real, but we can’t name the operators due to NDA.
India
Redep cost: from $0.01
Reactivation cost: from $0.05
FTD: $2.5Kazakhstan
Redep cost: $0.01
Reactivation cost: $0.07
FTD: $1.34Canada
Redep cost: $0.03
Reactivation cost: $0.23
FTD: $6.5Mexico
Redep cost: $0.01
Reactivation cost: from $0.20
FTD: $5The key factors in achieving these results on retargeting
The metrics are really impressive. We had a reasonable question: how to achieve them and in what time frames?
Sergey’s answer: “The key to success is getting fast and accurate feedback and data so that you can work and optimize campaigns just as quickly. It’s no secret that from the very beginning you need to do tests on the order of 100-200 dollars a day, but it takes about 1-2 months to fully scale”.
Kadam records that 100% of the clients who launched retargeting at least for a test continue to work. And this is probably the best indicator of efficiency.
As you may have noticed, running retargeting in gambling is worth it, at the same time there’s real money and risks involved. So use all the information from this article and contact experienced intermediaries especially in the initial stages.
Conclusion
In affiliate marketing, especially in iGaming, you can’t just «buy traffic». You need to earn it. You need to build, segment, test, optimize, and retarget.
Retargeting is no trend or growth hack. It’s the cornerstone of profitability. It minimizes FTD spend. It offers users reactivations in pennies. And it turns traffic that would otherwise be lost into loyal, high-LTV players.
Go ahead and collaborate with Peaky Ads to boost all your marketing metrics related to profit!
