While many affiliates are exiting the US market, BettingUSA is staying put. In this exclusive interview, founder Mike Murphy reflects on his journey from flooring to iGaming, the challenges US affiliates face today and what’s next for the brand.
Knowing early that he wasn’t the teachers’ favourite, BettingUSA founder Mike Murphy decided to get into a trade and stand on his feet. After spending a year learning how to sand, refinish and install hardwood floors while working for someone else, he struck out founding his own business at just 19 years old.
To bring in customers, Murphy initially spent thousands a month on yellow page ads before teaching himself how to build a website and generate free leads through Google. Around the same time, he became a “semi-serious” poker player in a local bar league and realised he had a knack for it, even though no one in his family played. As the online poker boom hit in 2006, he became a player advocate in online communities and launched a rakeback site.
Murphy’s brainchild BettingUSA, was born in 2013 when New Jersey legalised online gambling. Having a strong feeling that more states would follow suit, he positioned the site for all 50 states. Then the moment finally came when PAPSA was repealed in 2018. Since then, BettingUSA has been his core focus.
I certainly wish I had gone ‘all in’ even earlier, but I'm proud of what we have done
“I don’t believe any other website at the time had a dedicated guide for all 50 states and what type of online betting was legal, which was mostly horse racing in the early years outside of New Jersey,” Murphy recalls. “I certainly wish I had gone ‘all in’ even earlier, but I'm proud of what we have done.”
Bettor-centric for better
How much time does Murphy spend working on the site? Way too much, according to his wife. A self-proclaimed “OCD workaholic” and “perfectionist”, Murphy works 50 to 60 hours a week with the brand’s co-founder Wes Burns. Run by a two-person team, BettingUSA might not be the affiliate site with the most eye-catching web design, but Murphy is confident that they “have some of the best content in the space”. The site now covers everything from online casinos to daily fantasy and banking methods.
Although Murphy sees organic search as the site’s biggest challenge, he’s relieved BettingUSA has never suffered a major penalty from Google updates. Unlike many affiliates focused on link building or paid ads, Murphy puts content quality first, even if it means earning less.
Our site’s pretty basic, but our main focus has always been content quality – I’d argue we have some of the best content in the space
“Our main focus has always been content quality,” Murphy explains. “We’ve tried hiring freelancers, especially writers, but they rarely meet our quality standards. People paid by the word often don’t invest in accuracy or clarity.”
Another focus for Murphy is tackling problematic gambling, something he views as one of the iGaming industry’s biggest issues. BettingUSA once ran a “1% initiative” in partnership with the NCPG, donating 1% of its revenue to responsible gambling causes. Despite the team’s efforts, the initiative struggled to gain traction among other affiliates and was eventually phased out.
“I believe affiliates need to be leaders in this space. It’s for the long-term health of the industry and for affiliates to keep having access to the market. We need to take compliance and responsible gambling seriously,” he says.
My main frustration with the industry right now is what I’d call gatekeeping and the difficulty in even connecting with an operator to secure a deal
Operators or competitors?
In a previous iGBA interview, iGamingNuts CEO Adam Bielinski says US operators are becoming affiliates’ competitors in recent years, which is why his brand is not entering the country.
Murphy says he agrees with Bielinski to a point. Compared to the 2010s era when he had just started, much has changed in the US iGaming affiliate space. Once a market where “any affiliate with a dream” could enter, Murphy is frustrated that operators are “gatekeeping” the industry and even resist working with smaller affiliates. Communication also appears to be an issue, and Murphy says he has wasted a good chunk of his time dealing with operators’ “red tape” rather than partnering with each other for mutual growth.
Working with an affiliate network helps you avoid the stress of quotas and provides a source of centralised and up-to-date information
“Over the last couple of years, there’s been this trend in the US toward lowering CPA amounts, too, often quite disproportionately,” he adds. “For example, you might go from having a $300 - 500 CPA in sports betting to an operator in a high-tax market like New York, slashing to as low as $40 – that’s extremely low.”
Murphy’s best suggestion for small affiliates is to link up with a network for access to deals and access to a central payment hub.
“It can be very difficult to connect with an operator and secure a deal these days when just starting out,” he explains. “Working with an affiliate network helps you avoid the stress of quotas and provides a source of centralised and up-to-date information on compliance policies, required disclaimers and frequently changing promotions to offer.”
To build a genuine, engaged community, you need people united by a common goal, and gamblers tend to be quite individualistic
No knee-jerk reactions
Recently, community building has become the buzzword in the iGaming industry. As Reddit hogging SERPs and AI Overviews shaking up the search landscape, many affiliates are experimenting with it as a retention strategy. But while Murphy has long been involved in player communities, he sees the trend as “a knee-jerk reaction” and urges caution.
“The reality is, the nature of the business just isn’t very conducive to that. An average gambler who finds your community usually doesn’t have great things to say, because statistically, most gamblers lose,” Murphy explains. “To build a genuine, engaged community, you need people united by a common goal, and gamblers tend to be quite individualistic.”
While sweepstakes have become a scintillating goldmine for some affiliates, Murphy has been avoiding the market until recently - not because of its potential ban, but for the largely unregulated nature of the industry. He points out that most sweepstakes companies are based in Malta or Curacao, making the industry “an offshore environment”.
Right now, we list them (sweepstakes) as an available option for players, but we are really clear that it’s not the same as playing with licensed operators
“I think it’s only a matter of time before one or two highly visible companies take players' money and either run or shut down. When that happens, state regulators will be quick to ban them,” he says.
“So right now, we list them as an available option for players, but we are really clear that it’s not the same as playing with licensed operators. We strongly advise players to be cautious and not to play for large amounts of money.”
Who’s looking to buy?
Admittedly, working long hours isn’t good for the 46-year-old’s health. As much as Murphy loves his job, he still hopes to retire in the near future, ideally by 55. BettingUSA is in need of an heir.
Murphy is no stranger to M&A, having sold the flooring company and the poker rakeback site. As an active domain investor, he has been buying and selling millions of dollars worth of domains in the gambling industry for the last 10 years. In the past, a few super affiliates have offered to buy BettingUSA. However, as Murphy’s favourite child, he is not willing to orphan it even for the right price.
“A partial acquisition or a long-term partnership with the right company in the next year or two is something I’d definitely consider. Working with a partner who has access to better deals, stronger CPAs and support in areas we’re not strong in – like design – would free us up to focus on what we do best, which is content,” he says.
A partial acquisition or a long-term partnership with the right company in the next year or two is something I’d definitely consider
He’s also turning his attention to a new passion: indoor golf. As we speak, Murphy is standing on a patch of green at home, which extends to a misty forest on a man-height screen at the back of the room. He’s currently building an e-commerce site for indoor golf simulators to be launched this autumn. As for the retirement plan, he’s decided to move to Florida, somewhere close to a beach and a golf course.
But he’s not walking away from the US iGaming space in any way, a market he is “extremely passionate” about and a source of reminiscence after spending more than a decade working on it. Though challenges lie ahead, he’s committed to seeing where the future takes BettingUSA and to creating the best content for the country’s igamers.