Gambling affiliates abuse gaming sites for illegal offerings with nightly tricks
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24 Jan 2026 •
Reading time: 2 minutes They seem like harmless platforms for gamers. But behind the scenes, illegal gambling links are increasingly popping up. The world of gambling affiliates is dark and cunning. They buy sites to fill them with illegal gambling offers.
Gaming sites as cover for gambling advertising
Websites like Playsense.nl and PU.nl are well-known names within the Dutch gaming world. They write about new releases, reviews and technology. But in a short time, some pages turned into shortcuts to illegal online casinos. Not with visible banners or overt links, but with hidden content only visible under certain circumstances.
Cloaking: gambling after midnight
One of the techniques used is called cloaking. In this, the ordinary visitor sees a normal page about, say, a game or gadget. But based on time, location or device, others – especially via search engines – are presented with something completely different. In this case: advertisements for illegal gambling sites.
Often, those gambling links only appear deep into the night, when moderators are asleep and surveillance is absent. Bots from Google do see that content, so the gambling pages rank higher in search results. To the unsuspecting visitor, it looks like an ordinary gaming site. To the gambling searcher, it is a direct passage to an unlicensed provider.
Why gaming sites in particular are targeted
The choice of gaming platforms is no accident. These websites often have a young and loyal audience, high traffic, and are seen as trustworthy. This makes them interesting for gambling affiliates, who want to place links without getting noticed. Also, many of these sites are technically vulnerable or run on platforms where content management is done by multiple people – sometimes even by freelancers or through forums.
Once in, affiliates use their own content modules to spread illegal links, without site administrators noticing right away. Until complaints arise, or until a regulator such as the Kansspelautoriteit intervenes.
Increasingly professional methods and international networks
Behind these practices are often networks of gambling marketers operating from abroad. But also recruit employees locally. They use scripts, VPNs, and clever timing to stay under the radar. In some cases, the gambling advertising is linked to cryptobetting or unregulated platforms in Malta, Curaçao, Cyprus or Asia.
The problem is growing. More and more gaming sites are unwittingly becoming part of a network that leads vulnerable players, often young people, to illegal gambling services through the back door.
As far as we know, this has not yet been the case in Belgium, but the Netherlands is awash with this kind of malpractice. But intervenes hard if necessary.