Affiliate Manager Interview Series - Miruna Pandele

[GPWA Daniel]

(This interview was originally published in the July 2026 issue of the GPWA Times Magazine.)


Tell us a little about yourself. Where are you from and where are you based now?
I was born and raised in Sinaia, the most beautiful city in Romania, and that is also where I chose to live after traveling around and moving for university.

You started in influencer marketing for lifestyle and jewelry brands. That's a pretty different world from crypto casinos. How did you end up in iGaming?
Indeed. I started working remote before the pandemic as I wanted to be financially independent from my parents. I have the best parents, but I wanted to make my own money, so I started working in the first year of university.

After a couple of years, my former manager from TrustDice found my profile on Upwork and invited me for an interview. Initially, I thought it was a gaming opportunity, like PlayStation, but I found out in the interview it was a crypto operator. It sounded very interesting, I was looking for a change and I clicked instantly with my manager, so I made the leap and never looked back. I love this industry and never regretted it.

What do you know now about the iGaming affiliate world that you wish you had understood when you first started?
It's all a game of knowing the right people and being patient. ROI doesn't come overnight. You have to value trial and error and work on constantly bettering your system to drive results. Data analysis is underrated and always helps when done properly.

Please walk us through what a typical workday looks like for you.
Waking up, I always check our team group chat and messages with affiliates on TG, Discord or Teams (yes, missing Skype is a vibe). Then, I spend time following up on inactive chats, this is a standard pain for all affiliate managers.

After making sure I'm all caught up, I'm doing some lead gen, checking Semrush for new potential partners. Last but not least, I'm probably checking stats and seeing where I can improve conversion and I take it up with the respective affiliates.

For someone who has never heard of Rainbet, how would you describe it?
It’s the best crypto casino on the market right now. We're the coolest kids on the block. I'm being objective I promise, just check Insta. We make it rain (Laughs).

Rainbet is crypto-native. For affiliates who are used to traditional programs, what's actually different about promoting a crypto casino?
I would advise all affiliates to keep an open mind. Crypto is becoming mainstream. There are huge advantages and an entire new demographic to target. Also, traditional players are also starting to look into crypto. The difference is we move faster with less restraints.

The program advertises a revenue share of up to 60%. How does an affiliate actually get there, and what does that progression look like?
We constantly analyze performance, on a weekly basis, for every affiliate. The deal negotiated initially can be taken up for discussion at any time when the affiliate requests, if there are tangible results and we're able to see a return on investment.

Rainbet offers CPA and hybrid deals on request. How do you decide which structure makes the most sense for a given affiliate, and what factors go into that conversation?
Our CPA rates are negotiable and subject to review. We consistently evaluate factors such as web traffic and design quality to determine if a partnership offers sufficient strategic value or potential.

Usually, affiliates come with the proposal first in this business and we negotiate. We might propose a hybrid or CPA if a listing fee is unjustifiably high for the traffic provided. Other than that, we can proudly say we're able to negotiate all deal types and we're flexible on deal structures, thus we welcome all affiliates.

No negative carryover is a big deal for a lot of affiliates. How often does that come up, and how do you explain why Rainbet made that call?
NNCO has become almost a standard for competing with similar brands. It's something that comes naturally as we lay out terms in our discussions. We get more questions asking what NNCO actually is rather than if we provide it or not.

What does Rainbet's game catalog and sportsbook look like, and how does it affect conversion when you're talking to affiliates about player quality?
We have a wide variety of over 6,500 games at the moment; it's a great number for affiliates to advertise. Our catalogue is diverse, we make it easy to find a new game or search for an existing one, or recommend a popular one. Affiliates love to hear that we have thousands of games and promotions going on every week, especially our weekly sportsbook promotions.

What do you look for in an affiliate partner? What signals early on that a relationship is going to work?
Communication, openness, reliability and flexibility. A good partner is neither too pushy (insistence is a scam sign), nor too unavailable, he's straightforward and unafraid of discussing performance, doesn't disappear after he gets paid or if we don't see results (a good partner will try to get conversion no matter what) and is open to meet in the middle. Those are the telltale signs generally.

What are some common mistakes you see new affiliates make, and what do you tell them?
The lack of communication, lack of flexibility in negotiations, and constant prioritization of huge listing fees with no rev share. Listing fees are OK, but performance matters, too. I always advocate for rev share and I know how good an affiliate is going to be depending on how open he is to rev share.

Where do you see the crypto iGaming affiliate space in three years?
More and more traditional affiliates move to crypto, more and more fiat casinos become hybrid. If crypto iGaming affiliation was the Wild West a couple years back, now, with new regulations and popularity it's becoming mainstream, no longer a side character, but taking the spotlight. I suppose the answer lies in how AI and blockchain innovation will advance.

Do you gamble?
I play poker socially. My dad taught me. I practice online but I mostly play with friends and family.

As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I think I have a coloring book from when I was 7 years old and I was asked this question and I wrote "happy." And I'm grateful enough to have a job that I love at Rainbet and I'm part of a great team - so I achieved it.

What's a book you'd recommend to anyone in this industry?
Definitely Milena Petrovska's Biggest Innovations in the iGaming Industry Since 2000:
It was launched around the same time when I joined the industry and helped me understand how things work in this vertical. It's also informative for people who want to understand the history of iGaming.

If someone flew in to visit you in Romania, what does the 24-hour itinerary look like?
I'm lucky here, I live in what is considered the most beautiful city in Romania, Sinaia.

So, that is always the highlight when people come visit. In 24 hours, we'd land in Bucharest, stop for a quick tour of the Parliament house, then go to my home city by train which would be one hour. There, we'd see Peleș Castle, the city center, and the scenic mountain road Transbucegi, top three most beautiful in the country, all the way to a stunning lake in the middle of the mountains, Bolboci Lake, which is 30 minutes from my city. Then a quick detour to Dracula's Castle, an hour from Sinaia, and back to Bucharest.

If there's any time left, we end the day at Therme, close to the airport - Europe's largest spa and water park.

If you could have dinner with three people, living or deceased, who would you pick and why?
Tough one. Probably Vlad Țepeș, the inspiration for Dracula, a huge historical figure in my country, to check if vampires are real. The second would be Princess Diana; I was always inspired by her kindness. Last but not least, my grandfather on my dad's side as he died before I was born.

Tell us one thing about yourself that nobody reading this would ever guess.
I'm a pro PlayStation gamer, not sure if I gave that out.