Interview with Salvatore Martorana, Founder of Casino2k

Interview with Salvatore Martorana, Founder of Casino2k

The Italian online casino market is one of Europe's most tightly regulated, and also one of its most misunderstood. For players approaching it for the first time, the line between licensed, ADM-regulated operators and unauthorized sites is not always obvious, and that confusion is exactly the gap that information portals like Casino2k set out to close.

Salvatore Martorana is the founder of Casino2k, an affiliate and information portal that has built its reputation on guiding Italian players toward regulated operators and helping them when things go wrong. Over the years, his team has helped players recover more than €1.7 million in blocked withdrawals and winnings, a figure he considers a far better measure of the project's worth than traffic or rankings.

We sat down with him to talk about the beliefs the industry still gets wrong, the mistakes foreign affiliates make when they enter the Italian market, where AI genuinely helps and where it has been oversold, and the opportunities he has deliberately chosen to walk away from in order to stay aligned with the regulated market. His answers follow, in his own words.

1. What is a popular belief in this industry that you think is wrong?

In my view, one belief that is still very widespread, and deeply mistaken, is that all online casinos are the same or, even worse, that they are all opaque or outright scams. In reality, there is a very clear difference between ADM-regulated operators (Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli, Italy's Customs and Monopolies Agency) and unauthorized sites. Unfortunately, however, this distinction is still not clear to many users, and some are not even aware that it exists.

We see this on our forum as well, where direct questions about the reliability of online casinos appear very frequently. It is no coincidence that we have a section called "Casinos to avoid and not recommended", where we collect guides and warnings on this topic. Just looking at thread titles such as "Is 888 Casino a scam?" or "Account deleted by a non-AAMS site and concerns" is enough to understand that many Italian players, especially those approaching online gambling for the first time, are still distrustful or end up making the mistake of registering on unauthorized sites.

So there is still a great deal of scepticism around the Italian market. In part, that is understandable: people who do not know the sector well tend to lump everything together. The point, however, is that an online casino with an ADM licence operates within a strict regulatory framework, with rules, controls, and protections that do not exist in non-regulated sites, the so-called "dot-com" casinos, or at least are not enforced with the same level of rigour.

Another common misconception is the idea that there are strategies, tricks, or software tools capable of guaranteeing certain wins. At Casino2k, in the articles we dedicate to casino game strategies, we always explain that without luck you get nowhere. A well-applied strategy may help you manage your bankroll better or play with more discipline, but it cannot turn a game that is inherently based on chance into a mathematical formula for always winning.

For an information portal like ours, it is essential not to create false illusions for players, but instead to provide clear explanations about things like winning probabilities, house edge, and operator transparency. At the same time, we always stress how important it is to play only on sites with an ADM licence and to know how to identify them with certainty.

2. What is the most common mistake you see new affiliate sites make when they enter the Italian market?

In my opinion, the most common mistake is assuming that the Italian market follows the same rules as other European markets, and that success can come simply by replicating a model that already works abroad. The truth is that in Italy the rules are stricter, the regulatory framework carries much more weight, and players themselves tend to have different expectations, especially in terms of protection, reliability, and support.

It is therefore not enough to produce quality content or offer competitive deals in order to achieve the desired results. You really need to understand how the Italian audience behaves, what doubts they have, and which factors make them trust a brand. From this point of view, user support is also much more relevant than many people might imagine.

That said, it is also true that there are well-established companies from abroad, with strong experience and solid structures behind them, that manage to enter the Italian market successfully. Even in those cases, however, real success requires a very strong ability to adapt to Italian regulation, because simply replicating what worked in another country is rarely enough.

3. Beyond traffic and rankings, what is the one metric you run Casino2k on, and why is it underrated?

Beyond traffic and rankings, the metric that matters most to us is the number of cases we are able to take on and help resolve through the forum. That is where we really understand whether Casino2k is doing its job properly. I am not talking only about traffic or visibility, but about a genuinely positive impact on users' experience.

In my opinion, it is an underrated metric because it is not as visible or flashy as traffic, yet it says much more about the level of trust a project is able to build and convey over time. If a user turns to you when they have a problem, and above all comes back knowing they can receive support, it means they recognize credibility and professionalism in what you do. Those are two elements that Casino2k has chosen to focus on since day one.

In that sense, the forum is fundamental for us, both as a discussion space and as a tool that allows us to measure the effectiveness of our work. I am proud to say that over the years our team has helped players recover more than €1.7 million in blocked withdrawals and winnings. That figure gives a very clear idea of just how useful this metric really is. The number of users who return to the forum and continue following us is also an important signal to consider, but for us the main data point always remains the same: how many cases we are genuinely able to help resolve.

4. Which unglamorous, behind-the-scenes part of running the site do you spend the most on that people never see?

Probably the least visible part of our work, but also one of the areas where we invest the most, is everything that sits behind the daily growth and maintenance of the project. I mean the constant review and updating of content, compliance checks, monitoring the conditions offered by operators, and developing partnerships.

There is also another aspect that people outside the industry often do not see: outreach and external positioning, which means editorial collaborations such as interviews, publications, and digital PR. These are all activities that may appear less glamorous and less tangible, but they require time, continuity, attention, and a strong ability to build trusting relationships with other affiliates and partners in the industry, both in Italy and internationally. This also includes strengthening our relationships with operators, which helps reinforce and grow the authority of the brand. The special offers that online casinos provide to users who register through Casino2k are a clear example of that and the result of years of work.

In the end, all of these elements are essential if you want to build authority, visibility, and credibility over the long term.

5. Where has AI genuinely changed how you work, and where do you think it has been oversold in the iGaming space?

AI has genuinely changed the way we work, especially on the operational side. It helps us speed up tasks that would otherwise take much longer if done entirely by hand: checking for errors, typos, and inconsistencies, reviewing texts, carrying out competitor comparisons, and organizing information. In short, all those details that can sometimes escape the human eye. Seen from this perspective, it is a useful tool because it allows us to work more efficiently, save time, and improve small details that might otherwise go unnoticed.

Where I think it has been oversold is in the idea that it can completely replace human beings, especially when it comes to experience, editorial judgement, and genuine knowledge of the sector. In the iGaming world we see more and more content produced quickly and superficially with AI that sometimes still manages to gain visibility, but that does not automatically mean it is accurate, reliable, or genuinely useful for the reader.

From our point of view, AI can be a very valuable support tool, but it cannot replace the ability to analyse the market, interpret and understand users' needs, or build trust over time with both players and operators.

6. What is something you have deliberately chosen not to build or chase, even though competitors are, and why?

One of the most consistent choices we have made has been to remain fully aligned with the ADM-regulated framework, without looking for shortcuts or methods that might have brought immediate advantages while also creating risks for the future.

When the Italian market started moving in a clearer regulatory direction, we chose to adapt completely, even if that meant giving up solutions that, at that moment, might have generated more traffic. A clear example was when we decided to remove dot-com casinos across the board, while still keeping guides online with useful advice aimed at making players aware of the risks of gambling on this type of foreign platform.

I believe that, over time, this choice has rewarded us. We have always felt it was more important to build a credible, serious, and recognizable project within the regulated Italian market rather than chase more aggressive opportunities that were less compatible with our path. In the short term, certain shortcuts can seem convenient, but in the long run they risk weakening or compromising both identity and trust.