How to drive betting traffic in Canada?
Canada is more than just hockey and maple syrup. It’s also a highly promising Tier 1 GEO with strong purchasing power, a sizable population, and a well-established sports culture. Additionally, sports betting in Canada is legal in most provinces. According to Statista, the online betting market in Canada is projected to generate $1.12 billion in revenue by 2025.
While Canada may seem like the ideal region for affiliate marketing, its greatest advantage is also its biggest challenge — high competition. This often discourages arbitrage specialists from targeting this GEO. To save you time on researching the nuances of affiliate marketing in Canada, the 888STARZ Partners team has put together a guide on how to drive traffic to betting offers in this premium region.
General characteristics of Canada as a GEO
First and foremost, it’s worth noting that Canada currently ranks among the top 20 countries in terms of average salary and GDP per capita. This results in high payouts for leads from this region, making Canada a promising GEO for betting offers.
Additionally, according to Statista, as of 2024, 95.5% of users in Canada access the internet via smartphones. The most frequently visited platforms include WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Another notable aspect of this GEO is its deeply rooted sports culture. Betting and Gambling in Canada are not viewed negatively. Many locals enthusiastically attend hockey games and other events tied to winter and even summer sports, passionately supporting their favorite teams and regularly placing bets. These factors collectively make Canada one of the top regions for generating traffic to betting offers.
Popularity of hockey in Canada in 2024 (by province)
Source: Statista
Strategies for promoting sports betting in Canada
Now that we’ve outlined the general characteristics of Canada as a GEO, let’s move on to the most exciting part — effective promotion strategies.
Understanding the local population
There are plenty of stereotypical statements online about the residents of the land of the maple leaf. However, it’s safe to say that Canadians aren’t vastly different from their neighbors in the U.S.—though, of course, they do have their own unique cultural flavor.
Affiliates highlight the following traits of Canada’s GEO when launching advertising campaigns:
- Languages
Canada has not one but two official languages — English and French. While most Canadians, especially younger generations, primarily speak English, French remains popular in certain provinces. This is an important factor to consider when creating ad creatives and marketing materials to capture a broader target audience for your offer;
- Currency
The official currency is the Canadian dollar (CAD), but the US dollar is also accepted, albeit to a much lesser extent. This ensures that payment issues are minimal, as Canadians can place bets in USD when necessary;
- Lifestyle
Thanks to the country’s affluent population, Canadians don’t view sports betting as a way to make quick money or get rich. For them, betting is more about the experience and excitement. For this reason, don’t use approaches suited for lower-income Tier 2 or Tier 3 countries like India or African nations. Instead, emphasize leisure and vivid emotions in your creatives rather than quick financial gains;
- Interest in Sports
Canadians are passionate about winter sports, especially hockey. Locals often attend sporting events with their families or watch live broadcasts, frequently placing bets as part of the experience. To leverage this, use the Canadian flag, local teams, and famous athletes in your creatives. Highlight popular disciplines like hockey, curling, and figure skating;
- Targeting
According to MadeInCa, the most financially capable demographic is men aged 25 to 45. Focus your targeting on this audience and tailor your creatives to their interests within this age range;
- Tolerance
Canada is known as one of the most tolerant countries in the world, where people avoid discussing personal matters like housing or income. The country is also home to various subcultures and social movements. To ensure your ads resonate with a broader audience, including different social groups, it’s best to keep your creatives neutral and inclusive.
If you need unique and high-converting creatives with a Canadian twist for betting affiliate marketing, contact your personal 888STARZ Partners manager. They’ll provide you with ready-to-use promotional materials tailored to your request.
Is sports betting legal in Canada?
While Canada takes a relatively liberal stance toward iGaming, the sports betting vertical is regulated by laws that vary across provinces. Below is a list of provinces where online casinos and sports betting is allowed:
- Alberta. Players and sports enthusiasts can place bets through licensed private operators or platforms like TSN Sports Betting;
- Atlantic Canada. (Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador): Sports betting is permitted but limited to lottery commissions;
- British Columbia. Players in this province can place bets on PlayNow website, operated by the British Columbia Lottery Corporation;
- Manitoba. All forms of Gambling, including Betting, are regulated by the local government, and bets can be placed on PlayNow;
- Ontario. Betting here is allowed, but using famous athletes’ faces in advertising is prohibited;
- Quebec. The province’s betting market is monopolized by Loto-Quebec, which oversees both online and physical betting operations;
- Saskatchewan. Betting and gambling traffic are permitted in this province.
Top traffic sources for driving traffic
Now that we’ve learned more about the Canadian population and the legislative aspects of betting regulation, it’s time to move on to the top traffic sources. The most frequently used platforms in Canada include the following:
According to MadeInCa, there are 29.44 million active Facebook users in Canada, making it the country’s leading social network. This large audience is ideal for launching betting ad campaigns. Additionally, you might consider other Meta platforms, such as WhatsApp, which has a local user base of 9.1 million.
You can target specific audiences by tailoring your ads and purchasing advertising in niche groups to engage users deeply interested in sports betting. Moreover, interacting with your audience frequently will help increase engagement.
Instagram boasts over 19.7 million users among Canadians, making it another great traffic source for betting campaigns, albeit with some nuances.
On Instagram, avoid overtly showcasing luxury and the wealth of successful bettors. Instead, focus on creative content with patriotic undertones, highlighting sporting events and tapping into national pride and the locals’ love for sports.
YouTube
YouTube is Canada’s second-most popular website after Facebook, with an audience of 33.1 million users. However, you can’t rely on traditional ads with images and text here, so that’s why video creatives are a must.
On YouTube, pre-roll ads and mid-roll video ads work effectively. To drive traffic to Betting offers, consider creating relevant content, such as sports team reviews or match predictions.
With 888STARZ Partners, you’ll have access to ready-to-use mobile apps for driving traffic. Our experienced development team creates high-quality, engaging mobile apps for iOS, Android, and PWA platforms, customized to your requirements and optimized for over 100 GEOs across Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 markets.
How to drive traffic to Canada: basic tips
It’s important to understand that due to high lead payouts, Canada attracts a significant number of affiliate specialists. Additionally, not only solo webmasters, but entire affiliate teams are active in this GEO, resulting in intense competition. To keep up, here are a few tips to ensure your ad campaigns remain competitive in this Tier 1 market:
Analyze your competitors
Start by studying your competition. Often, they use proven, high-converting strategies. Using spy tools, you can uncover their promotion methods and adapt the most effective ones for your betting campaigns. However, don’t blindly copy their creatives and strategies, as this can lead to generic ads that fail to convert. Instead, take inspiration from how others target Canada while developing unique and engaging promotional materials tailored to your audience.
Optimize your ad campaigns
Regular campaign optimization is another crucial step. While in less competitive GEOs like Tier 2 and Tier 3, one or two optimizations might suffice for the entire campaign, in Canada, you’ll need to optimize much more frequently. Test your creatives, disable underperforming banners, and scale your campaign across multiple traffic sources to avoid significant losses and stay profitable.
Improve your landing pages
Even experienced webmasters often wonder, “how to drive traffic to your website”, especially while working with GEO Canada. A well-designed landing page is key to the success of your campaign. The better it performs, the fewer potential leads you’ll lose. Consider using postback tracking to monitor user actions on your landing page and optimize accordingly. Improve loading speeds by compressing images, removing unnecessary elements, and refining the code.
Additionally, focus on creating eye-catching visuals with well-placed attention blocks and a strong, motivational Call to Action (CTA). This will capture the interest of more leads and increase the likelihood of conversions.
Conclusion
It’s clear that Canada is a rather specific GEO for promotion, especially for novice webmasters. However, if you adopt the right traffic marketing strategy for betting offers, create appealing creatives, regularly optimize your campaigns, and continuously aim to improve metrics, this GEO can deliver a high volume of valuable and profitable leads.
If you’re still searching for new opportunities to generate traffic to Betting and Gambling offers in top-tier markets, we’ve got great news for you. At 888STARZ Partners, we work with over 100 GEOs, each offering a range of high-converting offers. Contact your personal manager today to get a full list of profitable deals and the best market conditions for driving traffic to iGaming!
