Nowadays, the internet sets many rules and restrictions for casino and gambling portals, rarely allowing online ads, even banning them entirely in some countries. On the other hand, the gaming industry is moving forward, with expected global revenues of $458.93 billion in 2022 and ongoing market liberalization in many countries, including the UK, USA, and major European, Asian, and LatAm markets.
In such an environment, ordinary users are looking for a trustworthy source that can advise the best casino based on their region, gaming preferences, payment capabilities, and honest reviews. Affiliates became very efficient links between players looking for relevant gaming sites and casinos looking for relevant traffic sources. In short, an affiliate is a consultant who sends the player to the right place in return for some commissions.
For many years, affiliate marketing has proven its effectiveness and profitability. For the most part, affiliates are paid only after they show the result you have set in advance. That is why the affiliate marketing model has become so popular since there’s no need for huge investments. Doing business with affiliates is not only accessible but also very profitable.
On average, the rates paid to successful casino affiliates range at around $50,000 a month depending on various factors, which we will discuss further in this article. And with the right strategy and tools, you can find the best-fit affiliates with whom you can conduct long-term business. In this article, we’ll look at the reasons why affiliate marketing has proven its efficiency for online casinos and sportsbook platforms and how you can launch your own affiliate channel and start generating the most relevant traffic.
The cost-effectiveness of affiliates is a fact as you only pay for the result: be it the first deposit or money spent on your website. In many cases, it is quite hard to operate at a loss because you know your cost per acquisition from the beginning. Casinos may pay up to millions of dollars to some affiliates, but in general, an established affiliate can receive around $10,000-50,000 a month. Of course, casinos never pay affiliates the biggest portion of what they receive, but it is still a huge income for many of them.
Using the right software is one of the most important aspects of an affiliate channel. Modern software should allow you to cover all the affiliate operations within one system: getting reports, making payments, setting commissions, and using a different marketing and security tools.
A big plus is a specialist in your team that will maintain all the affiliate-related operations. An affiliate manager is responsible for finding and partnering with the most relevant affiliates, implementing an affiliate marketing strategy, and dealing with an everyday routine like answering the partner’s questions, assisting affiliates with the system, etc.
Sometimes affiliates might ask for an additional cost just to include your casino in their reviews and lists. This practice is quite common and justified because these affiliate sites – such as AskGamblers – are very popular among players, and just appearing on their site can benefit your brand awareness.
The next step is determining the deals you offer to your affiliates. This refers to the commission models. The rational models preferably include CPA (cost per acquisition), FTD (first-time depositor), and revenue-share types. The CPA model brings income to the affiliates once an action is completed and leads to the desired conversion to your online casino. The FTD model brings commissions to the affiliates only when the referred users make their first-time deposit on a website. The revenue-share model allows the affiliates to receive a set percentage of all the revenue spent by their referred users.
You can also combine the previous three types with the hybrid commission types. This means you can have a lower CPA component but a bigger revenue share combined, offering affiliates more favorable rates.
(!) With the help of real-time reports, an affiliate manager can impact the traffic flow at any time, boosting profitable channels and cutting harmful ones.
Google, being the main advertisement platform, has strict restrictions for the gambling industry. You can advertise your casino only after a special certificate is issued by Google, and only certain country laws allow online gambling ads. In addition to the requirements, there may be further restrictions based on which countries your campaign targets. Thus, Google ads for gambling are fully restricted in the US, UK, Australia, and other major gambling markets.
In this situation, most affiliates create thematic websites that users can find by simple search, considering SEO, professional content and design, and other marketing approaches.
(!) The USA has been the best-performing affiliate market for a long time, and this year, it is not going to change. Many affiliate marketers, however, advise testing the products in other GEOs as well, as many regions have shown major growth in 2020 and 2021 (such as LatAm and Asian markets).
From the client’s point of view, affiliates are experts in a specific area who provide reviews, videos, articles, and any type of content that will help them make a decision. So, an affiliate marketer can be anything:
(!) When you establish a new partnership, think about setting up a transparent reporting system, an anti-fraud system, payment methods with a wide range of options, and crypto solutions. All these details will become the basis of the trust between your business and affiliates.
The PartnerMatrix software is the best software of its kind that fits all requirements covering essential factors such as:
Affiliate marketing, on the whole, is a perfect way for casinos and iGaming websites to promote their businesses. It results in reaching warm leads that convert into considerable revenues. You can make the most out of this marketing means with the right software and service.
Drop a line for more information and get a demo of the product. We’d be happy to help you out.
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