Why Gambling Affiliate programs shouldn’t use mainstream networks
When I first started of promoting gambling programs I only promoted casinos/poker/bingo rooms which had their own affiliate program rather than ones which go with network programs such as affiliate window. The main reason is because of the stats issue, you wan’t to see exactly how many people are playing, how many times the client has been download, how many registrations have been made, the total amount of deposits made etc and you can’t access that information on networks like Affiliate Window etc.
Another reason and a much more frustrating one is that a bingo/casino/poker room may one day just decide to drop their relationship with an affiliate network, this happened recently with Sun Bingo dropping their relationship with buy.at, my main reason for signing up with buy.at was to promote Sun Bingo, I made a lot of sales mainly due to their TV exposure etc so I signed up on a commission basis. It was frustrating enough that I only earned commission on sales for 6 months rather than a life time but if Sun Bingo drops buy.at then I make absolutely nothing. After getting no reply from buy.at I can only assume I won’t be recieving any commission after Sun Bingo drop buy.at at the end of the month. If Sun Bingo ran their own program like many excellent bing rooms do (Crown Bingo, Think Bingo etc) then I would expect to earn commission for the 6 months initially agreed.
As such I will find it hard to ever promote a gambling affiliate program through an affiliate network site and instead will rely on the gambling only affiliate networks, most of which are still paying me commissions from players I refered 4+ years ago!
What I’m drinking now - Scrumpy Jack
August 1st, 2008 at 11:02 am
Very useful post. This is a common issue echoed by many affiliates. Our advise as a gaming affiliate network is to research the networks you partner with and see what level of gaming experience and presence they have.
Most often, changes come about from the gaming sites, which makes it difficult for the networks to predict the length of the partnerships.
It may also be worth exploring a bounty payment option if possible.
Cheers.