This post was created with the help of Patrick Wareing, owner of Scratch Digital, a portfolio of casino affiliate sites spanning multiple GEOs.
He first got involved with the casino affiliate industry when looking to monetize his first casino-themed website.
For Patrick, finding and understanding which casino affiliate programs were lucrative and which weren’t, was a case of trial and error for several years.
But his experience and know-how will be condensed into this article, allowing you to work with the most profitable programs right away.
Whilst many affiliate marketers may choose to shy away from gambling and casino-based affiliate sites – due to the highly competitive nature and intense regulation – there is no doubt that when done well, they can be highly lucrative.
Couple this with the fact that many countries in Africa and states in the U.S. are starting to allow more mainstream online betting, the potential to earn money is incredibly high.
With that said, here’s the networks we will cover:
- 888 Affiliates (Large Selection of Casino Brands)
- William Hill (High Authority Casino Brand Program)
- Betsson Group Affiliates (Best Range of International Casino Brands)
- Entain Partners (Large Range of Top-Tier Casino Brands)
- Casumo Affiliates (Best Revshare Casino Program)
- Bet365 Affiliates (Long Cookie Length Casino Program)
Table of Contents
888 Affiliates
The 888 brand has been in business for over two decades now, and truly was one of the first companies to take such a presence in the online casino industry.
Therefore, it will be no surprise to hear that they have plenty of brands in different locations to pick from.
For casino brands, you have some of the mainstream brands such as 888.com, 888Casino and Casino-on-net amongst other minor and local brands.
One of the benefits of the 888 affiliate network is that not only do you have casino affiliates to choose from, but you also have a range of other gambling affiliate networks, including sports, bingo, games and poker to choose to promote.
- Commission Rate: 20%-35%
- EPC: Unknown
- Cookie Length: 30 Days
- Platform: Uffiliates
- Affiliate Manager: Yes
William Hill
William Hill is another brand that has multiple brands available across multiple GEOs.
The predominant brand is William Hill Casino, with William Hill Live Casino and William Hill Casino Club also included. There are additional brands for European markets – of the same name – and the minor brands EuroGrand and 21Nova.
Much like the 888 affiliate network, once you have signed up to promote, you are also granted access to other gambling offers, such as sports, games, bingo and vegas.
- Commission Rate: 15%
- EPC: Undefined
- Cookie Length: 7 Days
- Platform: Income Access
- Affiliate Manager: Yes
Betsson Group Affiliates
Betsson Group Affiliates is another affiliate network with multiple awards to its name.
It prides itself on a range of trusted brands, high commission rates and a great range or marketing tools for affiliates to utilise.
With over 20 brands available in 30 different countries, there is an opportunity for even the most niche affiliate sites to get started with promoting. Some of the more well known brands include Betsson, Betsafe and Jackpot 247.
- Commission Rate: 20%-35%
- EPC: Unknown
- Cookie Length: 30 Days
- Platform: myAffiliates
- Affiliate Manager: Yes
Entain Partners
Entain Partners is the recently renamed GVC Affiliates that has an extensive casino portfolio for gambling affiliate marketers.
Although a new brand, they are still a serious casino affiliate program, with over 10,000 affiliates and over €6 million worth of commission paid out every month.
And brands that are part of the network? Brands such as Coral, Ladbrokes, Gala, Foxy and partypoker.
- Commission Rate: 25%-35%
- EPC: Unknown
- Cookie Length: 30 Days
- Platform: In-house
- Affiliate Manager: Yes
Casumo Affiliates
Casumo are a relatively new and modern gambling site, yet they show no signs of slowing down in popularity, In fact, Casumo is Europe’s fastest growing casino, which shows that they modern feel and gameplay is proving popular with players.
There is a wide range of revshare commissions available, starting at 25% lifetime revenue for 0-5 deposits, but increasing up to a maximum of 45% for introducing over 40 new depositors in a month!
This presents the perfect opportunity for affiliate marketers to jump on this opportunity and take their own share of the growing market. Just take one look at the Casumo Affiliates homepage and you can see a massive list of positive reviews for the network!
Casumo is present in multiple GEOs, mainly Europe but with the exception of Japan.
- Commission Rate: 25%-45%
- EPC: $50
- Cookie Length: 30 Days
- Platform: Netrefer
- Affiliate Manager: Yes
Bet365 Affiliates
Bet365 is another gambling site that can be considered one of the biggest in the world.
With Bet365 available in 20 different languages, supporting 24 currencies, there is no surprise that it currently boasts 50 million customers globally!
So why should you promote a brand that already has so many customers? Well make the most of the positive brand name perception and utilise the lucrative affiliate terms and you are onto a winner!
- Commission Rate: 30%
- EPC: $.50
- Cookie Length: 45 Days
- Platform: In-house
- Affiliate Manager: Yes
Casino Affiliates – Are they worth it?
I’ve discussed a list of some of the best casino affiliate networks in this post, but there are hundreds of networks to choose from. The list above are well established brands that generally bring a reliable reputation when it comes to customers and affiliates alike.
However, there are equally many small affiliate networks that are well managed and can be incredibly lucrative as they strive for aggressive growth.
You will typically find that the affiliate offers will vary massively, and you must make sure that you are aware of all the terms and conditions before you get promoting them.
Important Things to Know
Endless Options
Some of the affiliate networks will be well-known brands that will be recognised internationally.
Others, however, will have almost no brand recognition and be completely new to the market. This isn’t to say that one is better than the other, but to be aware that the affiliate terms they offer are likely to be very different!
Differing Payout Structures
Aside from that, you typically encounter three forms of commission structures: CPA, Rev Share and Hybrid.
CPA – Cost per Acquisition is an agreed fixed fee by introducing a customer to a partner. Regardless of how much or little this customer makes the partner over a lifetime, you will still walk away with your agreed CPA fee.
Rev Share (Revenue Share) – is the opposite of CPA. Rather than a fixed fee, an agreed percentage of profits is paid out as a commission. This means that if you introduce a new customer and they make money from the gambling network, or don’t continue to use them, you are likely to receive little to no payout. Alternatively, introduce a high roller to a gambling network and you can plan an early retirement.
Hybrid – This is a mix of both CPA and Rev Share. You receive a small fee for introducing a customer and then an ongoing percentage of profits. Both the initial fee and ongoing rev share will be less than if you pick one or the other, but helps mitigate potential loss of earnings.
What to Look Out For
When it comes to promoting new casino affiliate networks, I typically like to use the following criteria as to whether I will get involved with them.
Negative Carryover
One of the first things I do is to discuss commission terms. If a network offers revshare only, I always like to enquire about negative carryover.
When a customer loses money – or profit for the casino – you get paid a percentage of the earnings. However, if the customer wins, you also lose a percentage of the earnings. If a player wins more than they deposit, there is the potential that you can actually earn negative commission.
Usually, this is wiped out on a monthly basis, and negative earnings equal zero earnings. However, there is the potential for negative carryover, and you can actually end up being out of pocket to cover the costs!
Dedicated Account Manager
Promoting casino programs can get complicated at times; especially as there is lots of regulation to adhere to when it comes to different brands and different countries.
If you don’t have a dedicated account manager that you can contact for assistance or advice, any communications can take a while to be responded to, if not at all!
Excessive Affiliate Terms
Most of the well-established networks offer moderate commission and terms. However, some of the newer and less-established brands will offer better-than-average terms as they look to get a foothold in the market.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as it can prove quite lucrative for affiliates. However, should terms seem too good to be true, you may want to proceed with caution and question whether this network is legitimate and can be trusted!
Check the Reviews
There are plenty of sites that have lists of many casino affiliate networks. These sites generally feature reviews and forums, which can help you identify general feedback – positive or negative – and whether they are worth the hassle.
Gambling License
Very much related to the above, you want to ensure that the casinos you are promoting are regulated and where they are registered. It is not uncommon for gambling sites to be registered in Gibraltor or Malta; anywhere else and proceed with caution.
Getting Paid
If you’ve earned money by bringing customers to a network, you want to ensure you get paid.
When it comes to this, make sure you are aware of the minimum payout limits, what currencies they are paid out in and via what banking methods.
Conclusion
I hope that after reading this post, you are now more aware of the intricacies related to the casino affiliate industry.
One of the biggest challenges I find with casino affiliates is keeping track of what networks I am signed up to and promoting, and seeing which ones are earning the most money.
Once you start to get established in the industry, using Afflytics takes out all the time and stress of manually monitoring your performance. As soon as you sign up to a network, add them to your Afflytics account and you no longer have to remember multiple username and password combinations to view multiple dashboards.
If you are not already using Afflytics, you can request two weeks free of affiliate reporting to see how much time and effort it can save you!
