Srdjan Kapor, Head of Affiliates & Acquisition at BitStarz, shares how the brand’s long-standing “player-first” philosophy shapes its acquisition strategy in an increasingly competitive iGaming landscape.
In this CasinoRank interview, he discusses why trust, transparency, and operational reliability; rather than aggressive bonus offers, are becoming the key drivers of sustainable growth, how BitStarz evaluates affiliate partnerships beyond traffic volume, and why modern players expect authenticity and provable fairness from the brands they choose to play with.
BitStarz has long promoted a “Player-First” model. How important is this brand identity in maintaining a lower CPA in today’s crowded market?
Srdjan Kapor: Absolutely vital for us. When players associate a brand with fairness and trust, it makes everything more sustainable. Instead of having to essentially bribe people with enticing offers, we can instead focus on building a trustworthy brand and good product which benefits everyone long-term. Naturally, lowering the CPA.
A strong brand reputation also improves the quality of the players you attract. When users come in with confidence in the platform, they tend to stay longer, engage more with the product, and build a genuine relationship with the brand. That kind of organic trust reduces the need for constant promotional spending and creates a healthy acquisition model overall.
How has BitStarz adapted its acquisition strategy for the more sophisticated, “data-aware” players entering the market in 2026, particularly regarding transparency and provable fairness?
Srdjan Kapor: We’ve always been taking a lot of pride in being transparent in our operation. Besides the provable fair, we display live withdrawal times, as well as current RTP on games. We also try to make our terms more easy to understand and less jargon-esque.
I also think it’s very relevant now to focus more on education as opposed to persuasion. As players are more experienced and savvy, they’re less likely to be swayed by fancy words, and require a more “real” approach.
Ultimately, transparency builds confidence. When players feel they have access to real data and honest communication, it creates a stronger relationship with the brand and encourages long-term engagement rather than short-term promotional interest.
Beyond traffic volume, what key KPIs do you look at to ensure affiliate partnerships align with BitStarz’s standards?
Srdjan Kapor: I’d say that Conversion and LTV are for sure the main others. Traffic is good and all but we gotta ask ourselves what traffic we’re getting especially as more operators move toward data-driven affiliate strategies that prioritize long-term player value. As we focus a lot on rev share, long term relationships with players and affiliates are super important to us. We’re in the business of winning together with our partners.
Beyond that, we also look at player quality and retention. It’s not just about bringing someone in, but about whether those players actually engage with the product and stick around.
BitStarz was an early advocate for instant withdrawals. As real-time liquidity becomes standard, what is the next operational frontier for retaining high-value users?
Srdjan Kapor: First and foremost you can always do things faster. When we talk about real-time we gotta ask what that actually means? In that case, seconds will matter over minutes, so there’s always something to be done to push this real-time to the true sense of the definition.
On that note, instant withdrawals are a huge trust factor, and that’s what high value players truly care about. As much as bonuses and value matters, people want trust and reliability more than anything, They want to know that when they cash out 1 million, they won’t run into issues. That’s why the reliability and efficiency of payment systems have become an increasingly important part of the overall player experience.
They want to play with peace of mind, knowing that there’ll be 0 issues with absolutely everything that goes into the full casino experience. A lot of casino focus on throwing bonuses instead of considering that consistency and reliability is super important, especially for high value players who don’t rely too much on bonuses.
As a brand with a strong global identity, how does BitStarz balance its core values with the need for localized adaptations when entering newly regulated or emerging territories?
Srdjan Kapor: We actually don’t put as much emphasis on localization like others do. I remember this being a huge talking point back in the day, but we never really embraced it to be fair.
We believe that the core values of gambling are the same pretty much everywhere. Sure, you can be super granular in your analysis of the player but we think that this should be done on a player basis and not on a regional basis.
What player behavior shift do you think the B2B iGaming space is overlooking for 2026?
Srdjan Kapor: One thing I think is under-discussed is how tired and sceptical players have become with traditional bonus-driven acquisition. Big headline offers just don’t carry the same weight anymore, and players are a lot more sensitive to how fair, simple and authentic a brand actually feels.
Players today are much quicker to spot when something feels overly promotional or misleading. They’re looking for transparency, straightforward terms, and a brand that delivers on what it promises. If that trust isn’t there, even the biggest bonus won’t make much of a difference. The brands that focus on trust, product quality, and consistency will ultimately have the strongest relationships with players.
With a background in digital media and a keen eye for emerging technologies, Ronaldo bridges the gap between players and platforms through clear, insightful reporting to the iGaming industry.
