Affiliate Programs for Betting Platforms
Gaming Affiliate Program
Webmasters can monetise their traffic by sending leads and consumers to iGaming enterprises through gambling and casino affiliate programs.
What is an affiliate program for casinos or gambling?
Affiliate programs, also known as associate programs, are contracts whereby an online retailer (like an online casino, sportsbook, poker room, or bingo hall) gives an affiliate a commission determined on the traffic and sales the affiliate brings in.
There are at least three parties involved in an affiliate program transaction:
- The customer
- The affiliate (website owner)
- The merchant / service provider
in iGaming, there are various types of affiliate programs available, including casino affiliate programs, bingo affiliate programs, sport-betting/sportsbook affiliate programs, programs for poker rooms, and even esports affiliate programs.
How Does a Gambling Affiliate Program Work?
The affiliate refers potential customers to the merchant (one of the many gambling sites or casino sites online) – whose job it is to convert the lead into a paying customer. The merchant will then pay the affiliate according to the terms of the affiliate agreement, based on the (revenue-related) behavior of the referred customers.
How do Casino & Gambling Affiliates Get Traffic?
Some popular traffic sources for casino & gambling affiliates include:
- Search engines: Affiliates can use search engine optimization (SEO) to attract organic traffic to their websites from search engines like Google, Bing and Yandex by creating content relevant to their audience, and ranking for relevant keywords in search-engines
- Social media: Affiliates can use social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and Twitter to promote their affiliate websites and links and drive traffic to their affiliate partners.
- Blogs and influencer marketing: Affiliates can use their own blogs or partner with influencers like casino streamers to create content that promotes their products and drives traffic to their websites.
- Email marketing: Affiliates can use list-building and email marketing to send newsletters, special offers, and other promotions to their subscribers and drive traffic to their websites.
- Paid advertising: Affiliates can use paid advertising platforms like Google AdWords and Facebook Ads to target specific audiences and drive traffic to their websites.
Overall, the most effective traffic sources for affiliates will depend on the specific products and niches targeted by each individual affiliate.
How do I Get Paid From A Gambling Affiliate Program?
Casino & Gambling affiliate programs terms and conditions vary widely, however commissions and remunerations generally come in the following forms:
- CPA – “Cost per acquisition” – The affiliate gets paid a specific pre-arranged flat fee when their referred traffic converts to a depositing customer who performs a specific minimum action (e.g. they may have to wager $50 in the span of three months at the sportsbook to count as “acquired”, or perhaps they will be required to deposit and play at least $50 on slots to count as a “conversion”)
- CPL – Cost per lead – a payment when a referred customer registers and verifies a new player account
- Revenue Share – Affiliates receive a fixed percentage of the net revenue gained by the merchant from each referred customer during a specific time-frame (usually one calendar month). For example, if the customer you referred to an operator yields a net profit of $10,000, you will get $2,500 as commission. Some operators claim to offer “lifetime rev-share”, only to subsequently retroactively change their terms. Due diligence on the part of affiliates is important, in order to avoid costly encounters with what can only be described as “predatory affiliate programs”, based on this behavior.
- Hybrid affiliate deal – A combination of a CPA and revenue-share. This set up can be useful for smaller, cash-strapped affiliates.
Do I Need to Have a License to be a Gambling Affiliate ?
In most of the world, affiliates don’t need to receive a license, however in U.S states such as Indiana, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, New Jersey and Illinois there is a specific licensing regime for media affiliates.
As to the licensing requirements and procedures, these vary widely between states. Indiana for example has a simple and fast track licensing regime, as you can earn your license within 30 days from application. Pennsylvania on the other hand, can be seen as having an intermediate licensing regime in place, while the licensing regime of Washington DC, New Jersey and Illinois are quite complex.
The core requirements in most U.S jurisdictions includes setting up a company in the United States, providing declarations (signed in front of a US consular officer), set of and fingerprints of each shareholder and officer of the company applying for a license.
Some states will require the affiliate media applicant to provide a letter of intent from a local operator. Others, require applicants to obtain a local business registration license as an eligibility condition even apply with the local gaming / betting / sports betting regulatory agency.
US Gambling Affiliate Licenses By State
In the United States, the requirements and fees for registering as a licensed gambling affiliate vary by state. Here’s a detailed breakdown of some states and the fees associated with getting licensed:
These regulations and fees are subject to change, and it’s advisable for affiliates to consult the respective state gaming authorities for the most current information.
Are There Cryptocurrency Gambling Affiliate Programs?
Yes – in fact some online casinos are crypto-currency only for deposits and withdrawals. In regulated markets, crypto-gambling is generally not available to consumers unless they gamble with offshore providers which are not subject to financial restrictions which stop gambling operators accepting crypto payments.
Some affiliate programs pay out in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and other popular cryptocurrencies – while more and more affiliate programs are also paying out affiliates in the stable-coin Tether (USDT) – due to the high volatility associated with BTC.
How do I Choose a Reputable Gambling Affiliate Program?
A reputable gambling company affiliate program has the following attributes (at bare minimum):
- Timely Payments
- Data Transparency
- No retroactive terms & conditions changes
- Good Communications
- Real-time Reporting Tools
- Postback Tracking
- An API
- Easily contactable affiliate representatives
Diligent affiliates can check programs are not listed on casino affiliate program blacklists, and can also find out from other affiliates if operators are truly trustworthy.
How do Predatory Affiliate Programs Scam their Customers?
Rogue affiliate programs have numerous ways to make your revenues, or even your account disappear! e.g
- Retroactive term & conditions changes to “contracts” which a merchant can update to suit themselves at any time – and which affiliates must accept [no matter how ridiculous] or lose all of their income from the supposed partnership
- New player quotas
- Arbitrary or nebulous terms – e.g. affiliate partner must be deemed to be working “hard enough” (quite nebulous) according to the merchant affiliate program – otherwise account could be terminated
- Cookie duration changes – reduction => less conversions tracked to the affiliate, more $ for the operator
- Brand cross-selling – where casino X mails your referred players and gets them to play on their casino Y – without tagging them to you – the referring affiliate
- Skimming – where the brand doesn’t attribute your referred players to you.
- Re-tagging – where the brand de-tags or re-tags your referred players – removing them from your affiliate account
