Finding partners and programmes

For igaming affiliates, the best starting point is iGB Affiliate’s directory. This is an essential resource for affiliates looking to find quality partners to work with in the igaming sector.

An affiliate network connects affiliates with operators and vice versa, taking away the need for either party to individually negotiate with each partner. Networks typically provide the opportunity to manage all partners using the one interface, usually with marketing, payments, tracking and statistics all rolled into the service. They can give affiliates access to better deals with casinos and sports betting sites. Gambling operators will typically offer higher commissions to affiliates that send more traffic; because networks have a large number of affiliates within their system, they have more bargaining power than individual affiliates and can therefore negotiate better commission deals with casinos and sportsbooks.

The biggest operators seem to like the best affiliate programmes joining networks, but as a new affiliate it isn’t likely you’ll be accepted. As the igaming affiliate sector has grown and become more professional, casinos and sportsbooks have become more particular about which affiliates they partner with.

This is partly because regulations have become more onerous and more strictly enforced. In many countries with licensed gambling regimes, operators are responsible for the marketing activities of their affiliate partners, so if an affiliate breaks any marketing rules, it’s the operator that faces regulatory consequences.

For this reason, some of the most desirable programmes accept only a fraction of the affiliates that want to work with them, as discussed by Quantum CEO and co-founder Jamie Walters in ‘Affiliate market to become more black and white’. Some regulated markets have only a small number of operators working in them, so there are fewer affiliate programmes to partner with for affiliates that want to work with licensed operators. Portugal is one example of a market with a relatively small number of licensed gambling companies.

Those starting out may find it easier to be accepted onto the programmes of smaller operators or grey market operators, as these are generally less choosy about their partners. Once you’ve proven you can generate valuable traffic for well-run and fast-growing grey-market brands, you are likely to find it easier to partner with bigger brands.

The caveat here is when signing up with any programme, make sure it is legitimate. See How do I know if an affiliate programme is legitimate?

The best place to find good affiliate marketing programmes is in iGB Affiliate’s directory. This is an essential resource for affiliates looking to find quality partners to work with in the igaming sector. For a list of the best affiliate marketing programmes, the shortlists for the Best Affiliate Programme and Best Affiliate Network categories in the yearly iGB Affiliate Awards are a good starting point.

Once you’ve identified potential partners, it’s a good idea to carry out some due diligence on any programme you are thinking of joining. Affiliates have reported payment and other issues with various affiliate programmes over the years. In addition, a number of high-profile operators have suddenly culled their affiliate partners over the past 10 years or so. Authoritative third-party sources of information on programmes include Affiliate Guard Dog, Gambling Portal Webmasters Association (GPWA), Casinomeister and AskGamblers. These have forums that contain regular posts from a large user base. Posts about affiliate programmes that don’t pay or that do not treat affiliates fairly are frequent and you can find a great deal of inside information on programmes from other affiliates on these forums.

A new betting affiliate programme is usually set up to serve a new operator or an operator moving into a new territory. New programmes can sometimes provide more attractive terms to affiliates as these operators look to establish themselves in the market generally or in new areas. It’s a good idea to check the iGB Affiliate Directory on a regular basis for new programmes. Keeping on top of igaming industry news via sites such as iGB Affiliate is also vital as the launch of a new operator often means the launch of a new affiliate programme.

The caveat here is that affiliates should be cautious about investing too much of their time and resources on new affiliate programmes. A lot of new casino and sports betting operators don’t make it in the market, and if an operator shuts down or suddenly goes out of business, you probably won’t get paid. It’s important to undertake due diligence on new operators, for example, looking into the backgrounds of the people behind them and their key staff. If they are industry veterans with credible reputations, there is a good chance the operator will do well. Is also a good idea to look at whether the new operator has its own licence or whether it’s operating as a white label, with the former being more desirable. A licence from a regulated market such as the UK is also more desirable than one from a less highly regarded market such as Curacao.

The risks are not only related to an operator not doing well, but also to it doing better than expected and not having the resources and infrastructure in place to deal with this. Affiliates are always at risk of doing a good job in driving traffic to an operator, only for it to fail to impress players with a poor user experience or subpar customer service and this is especially true if an operator is new.

It's important to research new operators by asking other affiliates in your network for their experiences and also by searching forums, social media and Google for any feedback relating to them.

While many affiliates today prefer revenue share (see The revenue share model)

or hybrid (see The hybrid model) deals, some recommend opting for CPA (see The cost-per-acquisition model) when it comes to new operators if there is any uncertainty about their prospects. This means they will already have been paid for any players they deliver if an operator doesn’t last long in the market.

To determine the top affiliate programmes and networks, a good place to start is the shortlist for the annual iGB Affiliate Awards. These awards are judged by a panel of industry insiders with significant expertise across the affiliate ecosystem, so shortlists for categories such as Best Affiliate Programme and Best Affiliate Network provide good insight into the industry’s well-regarded partners.

You can join as many affiliate programmes as you want. There are very few affiliates that work with just one programme; most affiliates have multiple partners. There are also affiliate networks set up to connect affiliates with multiple operators, taking away the need for either party to negotiate directly with each partner. See also What is an affiliate network?

Most affiliate programmes provide landing pages as part of its marketing offering and will typically also provide a lot of other media assets for affiliates to use to make sure their brand is portrayed consistently. The only downside here is that many other affiliates may be using the same landing pages/media assets so you may need to add in some level of customisation to make yours stand out in the market. See also How do you create a landing page for affiliate programmes?