Affiliate Manager Interview Series - Valery Mukhina

**GPWA Daniel** · 24 July 2019, 8:30 am

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(This interview was originally published in the February 2019 issue of the GPWA Times Magazine)

When did you first join the iGaming industry? How did you find your way to it?
It was more than a year ago, and absolutely accidentally. I had never thought about this industry before and was tutoring English when I got a call and was offered a job. I was recommended by my friends as a reliable and English-speaking girl, so that is how my knowledge of English helped me come to this industry.

What makes Alpha Affiliates stand out from other affiliate programs?
Alpha Affiliates has been in the market for a long time and has gained a good and trusted reputation. Moreover, it is always growing, creating new projects that are interesting for me to be a part of. Unlike other affiliate programs, Alpha Affiliates has different platforms for different GEOs, working almost worldwide, and we take an active part in iGaming events.

Alpha Affiliates offers 40% revenue share with no negative carryover and no earnings time limitations. Why did Alpha Affiliates decide to go with this model? What are options for affiliates to make deals other than this model?
Forty percent (40%) rev share is a very classical model that is used by most companies. It's very reliable, as both parties have a testing period to estimate traffic. It helps protect from fraud and unfair affiliates. Moreover, it is profitable enough for an affiliate to get 40% from the company's profit if it has real traffic. Sometimes it is much more profitable to get lifetime rev share than to get a one-time CPA cost.
We also offer a higher rev share deal of up to 50% for trusted partners, and CPA deals are also discussed for our target markets.

This November, Alpha Affiliates launched Neosurf, a new payment system. Can you tell us more about this system?
This is just one more payment system among all others we offer, but it helps us to enter new markets such as South Africa. For example, now we are adding sportbook to one of our projects (Webbyslot) and hope Neosurf will help us become more successful and increase conversion in that market. And, of course, it is very comfortable for our affiliates and attracts new partners. We always try to create something new.

What do you most like about the iGaming industry?
There are a lot of opportunities and no limits for personal growth. You may work from any place on the planet, stay at home or go to the office. You may travel. You may make friends around the world, and you may speak English! (Laughing) I do love traveling and I do love speaking English, as it is a foreign language for me. For me, it's a great opportunity. There are a lot of interesting people in this industry, and I enjoy all the meetings and conferences.

Do you often network or attend affiliate events?
Yes, I do. We attend most of them. It is not the first year we have attended SiGMA in Malta, and we are going to LAC in London again. We have visited the Amsterdam conference twice, and (in 2018) we also went to Las Vegas, Lisbon for LiAC and ICE Africa in Johannesburg. We also had plans to go to Bangkok for Affiliate World Asia, right after SiGMA. So, as you see, I don't have time to get bored.

How does Alpha Affiliates work to retain players sent by affiliates?
We have a whole department responsible for it. There are more than 40 people who help us. Besides regular support 24/7 via e-mail and live chat, we follow our players through all messengers and social networks, and, of course, personal communication is an essential part! We have a special VIP manager, and we try to establish reliable and trusting relationships with our players by reaching out to them with messages on birthdays and special occasions, with gifts and different bonuses. All these measures influence a player's lifetime value. And we ensure the security and safety of their personal data, as well as regular, fast and on-time payments.

What would be your advice to an affiliate just getting started in the business?
It's not easy to become an affiliate. It's a long process. I recommend to not give up, and begin with a rev share deal. Since we've been in the market for a long time, we ask almost all affiliates confident in their traffic if they agree to a rev share test or small CPA test without a flat fee. If they have good players, they will get a good commission and don't need any flat fee.

Do you gamble yourself?
No, never. Honestly, I don't even play computer games. And I have never played at an online casino, but one day when we were in a casino in South Africa, my boss gave me 10 euros to spin on one slot. For me, it was enough just to try for fun. Nothing else. I am not really interested in it.

Where do you think the industry will be in the next five years?
It is growing very fast, especially the mobile niche. I am sure mobile traffic will be the most demanded, and everybody will play at online casinos on their cellphones.

If you could change anything about the industry, what would it be?
I wish there was no fraud ?I feel sorry when I read somewhere on the forum that a casino abandoned their players without payments, or affiliates are waiting for their commissions. I am not sure if it's changeable, but I wish the industry would become more trustworthy and clear.
And it would be great if there were no restrictions or license regulations, and you could use one license in all countries. It would make things a lot better and easier.

Tell us about your typical work day.
I work a lot. Usually my day begins at 9 a.m. with a cup of coffee and checking Skype on my cellphone to see how many messages I got during the night and estimate of the amount of work ahead of me for the day. Our affiliates are from all over the world, and they may text you at midnight or at 5 a.m. Then, I wake up a little bit and get ready and begin work. Sometimes I stay at home to work; other times I go to the office. I usually finish at 6 p.m. But it depends. Sometimes my partners need me, and I try to be online until 10 or 11 p.m. and answer as much as I can. It's also a policy of our company to be available for most of the day.

What's the office culture like at Alpha Affiliates?
We have a very warm relationship in the office. It is not a real typical office. We have a coffee machine and like to have coffee breaks with cakes and sweets. We all have lunch together in a restaurant close to the office. We have music at work, and we talk and laugh. And we celebrate someone's birthday at work with cakes and tea. And, of course, on New Year's or some other big public holidays, we try to have a picnic or something like that. It's funny, but I have been the only girl in the company for a very long time.

If you could go anywhere on vacation, where would you go?
I dream about the warm sea and blue lagoons. I have been traveling a lot now for work, and sometimes just need time to stop and relax. I even don't want any excursions or museums and so on. Just the sea, fruits, the sun, calmness, some Thai massages, nature and sunsets. I wish to go to the Bahamas or the Maldives and try diving. It's my dream.

What was the last book you read?
Unfortunately, I don't have too much time to read, but I try. The last book I read was The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. It is a very touching book, with interesting historical moments, about a pretty tough life.

Do you prefer surfing the web via desktop, laptop, mobile phone or tablet?
My laptop is always preferable because of the big screen. But mostly I use mobile phones, as I am always on the move and it's always with me. But honestly, I use the computer so much at work, I try not to use it in my free time, to let my eyes rest.

What's your favorite movie?
It's a hard question. I haven't really seen too many films in my life. But I think that Van Helsing and Gladiator are some of my favorite films.

If you could have dinner with three people, living or dead, who would they be?
This question made me think. I think if I had a chance to meet any person, it would be my father, who died when I was 16. If we are talking about famous people, I have never had any favorite film stars ?only in childhood ?so it's hard to answer. I have watched the film about Queen (Bohemian Rhapsody) recently, and I think it would be a great experience to meet Freddie Mercury and talk with him.
And the third person might be Santa Claus. If he exists, it would be really amazing to meet him!

Name one thing that people reading this magazine don't know about you.
My birthday is on 23 February, which is Defender Day. It's pretty funny to have a birthday on a day when all men are congratulated.

**Cash Bonus** · 25 July 2019, 12:58 am

I enjoyed reading through this interview with an affiliate manager for a change. You make some fair points there, Valery. Especially regarding your answers to questions 5, 11 and 16.

**drifter8** · 25 July 2019, 2:02 am

Really good interview, I liked most of the part and answers.

I like to say something about the fraud. Fraud exists, just to make :

- operators better.
- affiliates to get aware from spam, both traffic or just bad clients.
- frud is the "dark side of the moon" and we can not avoid it. It is like to say " I do not like dark hours" . but they help us estimate and evalute the day and the light of our work and relations.
-fraud or fraudsters are good to point out the mistake in the system, in the mobile version, of the odds on sports event pre-match and live.
-fraud causes losses but it is inevitable.

**Doolally** · 27 July 2019, 3:35 am

Good interview, nice honest answers.

Since we're on the fraud theme it's nice that you acknowledged it's a problem in the industry. From an affiliates point of view, a trustworthy program makes a huge difference. The trustworthy ones will stand the test of time and generate good players and revenue from it. The others generally crash and burn after a while leaving everyone in the hole, including the Affiliate Managers!

Keep up the good work.

**Alpha-Affiliates** · 31 July 2019, 7:51 am

Thanks a lot for finding time to read and comment. I like a comparison with "dark side of the moon" but also as probably a perfectionist as a manager you try to avoid such conflicts, misunderstanding and complaints. Hopefully we have it really rare

**drifter8** · 31 July 2019, 10:46 am

Be always welcome

Dark side of the moon is a special place

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