Paul Puolakka
Co-Founder & CMO | 10+ Years in iGaming | Web3 Marketing | Brand Strategy | SEO | Partnerships | Speaker & Industry Ambassador
About
Co-Founder & CMO | 10+ Years in iGaming | Web3 Marketing | Brand Strategy | SEO | Partnerships | Speaker & Industry Ambassador
I’m a commercially focused iGaming executive with experience across affiliate, operator, and leadership roles, including running my own affiliate business. Since 2014, I’ve built a practical, full-cycle understanding of how revenue is generated in iGaming, from acquisition and conversion to sales, brand building, PR, partnerships, and long-term commercial strategy. I work across growth, brand positioning, and commercial development, helping businesses strengthen their market presence, build high-value partnerships, and improve performance across both traditional and crypto casino verticals. My focus combines revenue growth with brand visibility and relationship-driven expansion, ensuring sustainable long-term impact rather than short-term gains.Over the years, I’ve built strong relationships across the industry and regularly contribute as a speaker, ambassador, and podcast guest. I value the network and friendships this industry has given me and enjoy being part of its continued evolution.I’m driven by growth, partnerships, and building businesses that last. Always open to connecting with good people in the industry!
Activity
Work experience
Co-Founder & CMO
Crypto-Casinos.com
Jul 2026 – Present
As Co-Founder & CMO of Crypto-Casinos.com, I lead the company’s marketing, brand, and commercial strategy while helping shape the long-term direction of the business. My responsibilities include digital marketing, SEO, content strategy, affiliate marketing, brand development, PR, partnerships, social media, business development, and go-to-market execution. I work closely with the founding team to grow our audience, build strategic relationships across the iGaming, crypto, and Web3 ecosystems, and establish Crypto-Casinos.com as a trusted authority in the crypto iGaming space. Our goal is to build more than just another comparison platform by combining expert reviews, educational content, industry analysis, news, and responsible gaming guidance into a trusted brand that delivers value to both players and industry stakeholders.
Founder & iGaming Marketing Consultant
leapzmedia
Jun 2026 – Present
Leapz Media is my independent marketing and consulting company, helping iGaming operators, affiliates, suppliers, payment providers and technology companies strengthen their brands and grow internationally. Our work covers market entry, brand strategy, SEO, content, digital PR, affiliate marketing, commercial partnerships and B2B and B2C marketing. We have a particular focus on helping global companies navigate the Nordic markets and Nordic brands expand internationally. Alongside consulting, Leapz Media develops industry reports, digital media projects and selected commercial and media partnerships.
Chief Marketing Officer
Mr Gamble
Feb 2023 – May 2026
Tallinn
Mr. Gamble is an award-winning global iGaming affiliate brand providing unbiased reviews of online casinos, slots, and bonuses. The platform was known for authentic player feedback and strong credibility within the iGaming community. Established in 2019, it focused on building a trusted brand and delivering value-driven content. As Chief Marketing Officer, I led the company’s marketing, brand, and commercial strategy, combining strategic leadership with hands-on execution across growth and partnerships. Key responsibilities: • Developing and executing marketing and brand strategies aligned with business goals • Driving brand positioning, awareness, and customer acquisition across key markets • Managing performance marketing, content, and social media growth initiatives • Building and scaling partnerships with casinos, game providers, and platform partners • Leading PR, industry presence, and external communications, including events and speaking engagements • Collaborating with founders and C-level executives on company-wide strategy and growth initiatives • Tracking performance metrics and optimizing campaigns across all channels • Monitoring market trends and competitor activity to identify new growth opportunities Overall, my focus was on scaling brand visibility, strengthening commercial partnerships, and driving sustainable growth across the iGaming ecosystem.
Chief Marketing Officer
Mediainvesting
Mar 2021 – Apr 2022
Tallinn, Harjumaa, Estonia
Mediainvesting is a company for those who like results. Wanting to see a change in the iGaming and crypto marketing space, in 2017 the company was founded by two friends. After a lot of hard work, looking at and learning from the best in the industry while adding our own touch to our work, we have become one of the most profitable online marketing companies in our industry. We love seeing our clients' numbers rise as we are all about analytics, numbers, and results. If you can't track your progress, how would you know that you're improving? During my contract I re-branded the Mediainvesting B2B product and also created new branding, logos and PR-plan for their iGaming affiliate sites. The role included also attending to the industry events and representing the company, sales and getting new leads.
Co-Founder & CMO
Viabonus.com
Feb 2021 – Feb 2023
Tallinn, Harjumaa, Estonia
In my capacity as a co-founder and CMO of Viabonus, I played a pivotal role in kickstarting and branding the company as a user-friendly, modern, and transparent bonus comparison site that prioritizes the needs of players. Our goal is to revolutionize the iGaming industry by redefining the way players access information. Here are some highlights of my role as CMO at Viabonus: • Conducted market research and analysis to identify and understand customer behaviour and preferences in the iGaming industry. • Created and executed marketing strategies that effectively promoted Viabonus to our target audience. • Collaborated with our design and content teams to ensure that our website had a great design, engaging content, and an exceptional user experience. • Built and maintained relationships with our partners, ensuring that our brand values were aligned and that we delivered high-quality services to our customers. • Monitored and analyzed the performance of our marketing campaigns, making data-driven decisions to optimize our results and improve our ROI. • Developed and implemented a comprehensive SEO strategy that helped to drive organic traffic to our site and improve our search engine rankings. At Viabonus, our vision is based on three main components: Great design. Great content. Great user experience. Our goal is to become the most recognizable affiliate brand in the iGaming industry, and we are constantly working to improve our services and provide our customers with the best possible experience. So if you're looking for the best bonuses in the iGaming industry, look no further than Viabonus - simply the best!
Head of Affiliate Marketing
Metal Casino
Jan 2020 – Feb 2021
Malta
Metal Casino is about taking our joint head-banging sessions to a whole new level. It’s about combining two things we love – metal and gaming – and creating some real magic for fans of both. We’ve got some of the world’s most popular slots, a quality platform, and real-live metal experiences from our ambassadors like Ozzy Osbourne, Scott Ian, and Gary Holt (to name a few). My responsibilities include (but not limited to); • Take ownership of the affiliate program (metalaffiliates.com) and it´s KPI´s, ROI, PnL, and other metrics. • Liaise with without affiliate, media, and influencer -partners • Act as a Country Manager for Nordics • Build strong relationships with our key affiliate partners, key publishers and implement initiatives that create and identify new growth opportunities • Recruit new affiliate partners into our affiliate program which support our brand and acquisition goals • Create and execute promotional campaigns. • Represent Metal Casino at industry events. • Create Brand Awareness thru different marketing channels
Senior Affiliate Marketing Manager (Team Lead)
Global Gaming
Jan 2019 – Jan 2020
Tallinn, Harjumaa, Estonia
(Global Gaming Group) As a Senior Affiliate Manager (Team Lead) I acted as the right hand of the Head of Affiliates. My responsibilities include; • Build strong relationships with our key affiliate partners and implement initiatives that create new growth opportunities • Assign tasks to other teams members • Build strong relationships with key publishers and identify opportunities. • Recruit new affiliate partners into our affiliate program which support our brand and acquisition goals • Provide email, skype and phone support to assist partners. • Create and execute promotional campaigns. • Represent Global Gaming at industry events. • Create Brand Awareness • Take ownership of the best performing/ biggest affiliate accounts • Documentation of the team guidelines and processes • Proactively helping Head of Affiliates with reports and other given tasks
Senior Affiliate Manager
Global Gaming
Jul 2018 – Dec 2018
Tallinn, Harjumaa, Estonia
After gaining a strong foothold in the Nordic region, Global Gaming* has turned its eye towards expanding its properties across Europe and bringing the same kind of groundbreaking service and exceptional gaming experience to players throughout the continent. As part of the efforts to realize this vision, the highly anticipated Global Gaming Affiliates program was launched in 2018. Allowing affiliate companies throughout Europe to work in conjunction with our popular gaming brands, Global Gaming affiliates aims to create a deep partnership with affiliate marketers that will allow them to promote our award-winning products to players looking for the fastest, safest, and most hassle-free online casino experience in the world. *The company was previously known as Global Gaming Group
Affiliate Marketing Manager
Chanz
Apr 2017 – Jul 2018
Tallinn, Harjumaa, Estonia
Chanz Affiliates is the affiliate program for world´s first real money social casino! Chanz has a strong social aspect in their platform that gives players opportunity to communicate with each other and have fun together while playing their favorite casino games! We are all about having fun. We believe in creating a competitive advantage by having a different approach to the customers and what a great gaming experience is all about. My main responsibilities are: - Identifying and recruiting new affiliates - Maintaining the relationships with the current affiliates. - Keeping affiliates up to date on new products and any program enhancements - Reporting for affiliate marketing promotions and activity - Continually motivating affiliates to perform better with us!
Affiliate Marketing Manager
ComeOn!
Jul 2016 – Mar 2017
Malta
Main responsibilities; - Identifying and recruiting new affiliates - Maintaining the relationships with the current affiliates. - Keeping affiliates up to date on new products and any program enhancements - Reporting for affiliate marketing promotions and activity - Continually motivating affiliates to perform better with us!
Affiliate Coordinator
ComeOn!
Aug 2015 – Jun 2016
Malta
Coordinating the internal operations in affiliate marketing for ComeOn! and other Earn affiliates -brands. Liaising and supporting key external affiliate partners, negotiating, and executing the deals. Responsible for promotional workflow on new releases and events.
VIP Customer Support Agent
Betsson Group
Oct 2014 – Jun 2015
Malta
B2C customer support in finnish and english for Betsson, Casinoeuro, Suomiarvat, Mr Smith Casino and Dhoze.Handling customer request,account managing and payments via e-mail,chat and phone inbound and outbound. Contact person for Betsson finnish VIP customers in their native language.
Education
Koulutuskeskus Salpaus
Specialist Qualification for Store Managers, Organizational Leadership
Jan 2010 – Jan 2012
Leadership skills, planning and coordinating pr-events, marketing planning, recruiment process and staff training,sales monitoring
Puolustusvoimat - Försvarsmakten - Finnish Defence Forces
NCO (Sergeant) Finnish Defence Forces, Military and Strategic Leadership
Jan 2003 – Jan 2004
Military Non commissioned officer training,military leadership.
OSAO
Planning assistant, Architectural and Building Sciences/Technology
Jan 2000 – Jan 2003