Your Guide to Casino Affiliate Marketing

Have you noticed that everyone is playing at online casinos these days? What was once a niche market is now rife with opportunities for those looking to run a business. Instead of getting an MBA and sitting in a stuffy classroom while a professor drones on and on about something you have absolutely no interest in, you can enter the world of casino affiliate marketing and make some serious money. Serious money is like regular money but it doesn’t smile because it’s all business. Here, we’ll lay out everything you need to become a betting partner along with how to create compelling affiliate marketing for casinos online.

Casino affiliate marketing is a way to promote online gambling sites. In doing so, you send potential players to an online casino or sportsbook (a site where people bet on sports, not a book about sports) and you make a commission. The online casino that you’re partnering with will create special links that you include on your site. When players click on the links, they’re magically whisked away to the casino and you get paid. The better your marketing is, the more players want to click, and the more money you make.

A famous scholar once said, “Pay me what you owe me.” Okay, that scholar was Rihanna but she was onto something since she is a billionaire. As a casino affiliate marketing professional – yes, you’re a professional the moment you create your website (more on that later) – your role is to funnel players to the online casino. Once the players reach the casino and make a deposit or simply sign up (depending on your affiliate contract), you earn commission. The commission structure varies but it’s generally one of the following:

• Cost-per-acquistion (CPA) – The CPA model sees you earning a flat fee for every customer you send to the casino that makes a deposit. 
• Cost-per-lead (CPL) – With the CPL type of payment, you earn a flat fee for every sign-up. Instead of needing players to deposit money at the casino, you only need them to sign up to get paid.
• Net Rev – The net revenue model (also known as Rev Share), allows you to get a cut of whatever the player makes for the casino. 
• Hybrid – This combines aspects of the CPA and Net Rev models allowing you to get a mix of a player’s deposit and their earnings. Because this commission type combines two payment models, your earnings will be lower but that doesn’t mean it’s not worth it.
• Lifetime – The lifetime model sees you earning a cut of a player’s lifetime earnings for the casino. There will be caveats to this deal, however, as some players will only make one deposit over a year while others will make multiple ones. 

If Smokey the Bear taught us anything, it’s only you can prevent forest fires. There’s a dated reference for you! We love a dated reference at Betting Partners. But, you can apply Smokey’s message because an effective marketing strategy starts with you. There are five key steps that will make you a great casino marketing whiz: finding the right program, determining your audience, making a website, coming up with content, and applying SEO best practices.

Choosing your Affiliate Program

There are numerous online casino affiliate marketing programs around. You want one that provides the backbone for your business. A good affiliate program will take care of the logistics involved in the online casino world like licensing and help you get to market quickly. The space is packed and the sooner you can get to market, the better. However, a packed space isn’t a bad thing. It just means that there are casino affiliates out there that don’t offer everything a customer needs. You can fill that void by giving people not only access to the best online casinos with a large roster of games, but also information on the industry such as where to find bonuses and promotions.

Selecting your Target Audience

Who is your site for? Besides making you money, who are you looking to attract? The demographics for online casinos are all over the place. What was once assumed to skew male, now has players from every gender. The only thing that seems to remain constant is that online casino players tend to be between the ages of 18-35 and prefer to use their phones. This doesn’t mean they’re using mobile casino apps exclusively but that they’ll use the web browsers on their phone to play. 

Building your Website

You don’t have to be a web designer to create a website. There are content management systems (CMS) that provide templates specially for affiliate marketing casinos online. Most are easy to use with drag-and-drop features that allow you to design the site the way you want it. Moreover, CMS are a breeze to maintain and update. 

Planning your Content

Here’s where you get to have a little fun. Any good casino affiliate marketing site will have a blog or news section that needs to be updated regularly. In this section you can get creative and cover casino industry news in an exciting way. Besides the blog and news sections, you’ll need some guides and call-to-actions (CTA) to entice people to click. These should feature information on how to play certain games like the different variations of poker, how to claim bonuses and rewards, and reviews of the online casinos in your network and those that aren’t – don’t be baised, people see through that and will roast you online until you’re charred.

Developing your SEO Strategy

Search engine optimization (SEO) involves finding the right keywords and making sure they’re included in your content. These keywords are what draw in readers and give search engines the go-ahead to send people to your site. There are SEO tools available that can find these keywords for you so you don’t have to rack your brain trying to determine what David in New York is searching for vs what Gillian in Washington is looking for.

Online casinos live for affiliate marketing because without it, no one would visit their Internet gaming site. Besides getting traffic, online casinos love affiliate marketing programs because of the three following reasons:

Provides Value for the Casino

The value of an online casino is measured in players. Since online casinos make their money through player deposits and retention, you’re supplying them with customers. 

Generates Word-of-Mouth

When we say “word-of-mouth” we’re referring to the online version which is word-of-click which is a term we’re trying to make happen, like “fetch”. As an affiliate, you’re advertising the casino on your site and when customers click on the links provided by the casino, you’re sending them business. So yes, it’s like traditional word-of-mouth but without verbalization. 

Programs are Easy to Measure

As part of an affiliate gaming space, the online casino network will have programs used to determine how much players are depositing, how long they’re playing etc. In turn, you get access to metrics that can show you which CTAs are working, which pages on your site get the most traffic, and which pages don’t get any traction. These program are easy to use and provide detailed snapshots of what’s working and what’s not so you don’t have to pull your hair out trying to figure what what your next move should be.

To become an affiliate marketing partner for online casinos, you need to find a reputable program. We’ll outline the top five below but first, this is what you need to look for:

• Commission structure – What type of structure do they offer? Do you want a hybrid deal? Would you prefer CPL or CPA? What about the lifetime agreement? Is that more suitable to your needs? Additionally, when looking into the commissions offered by an online casino, make sure there is potential to restructure your deal after a certain amount of time. This will allow you to re-negotiate once you’ve provided the casino with ample players. Or, you may not want to re-do your deal at all because it’s so good. Either way, make sure you’re getting what you want.
• Payment schedule – Some casinos pay their affiliates monthly, whereas some require you to hit a certain threshold before they pay out. Conversely, some will use the Net 15 model and pay you on the 1st, 15th, or 30th of each month. 
• Terms and conditions – The fine print will haunt you like the ghost of a famous 90s rapper if you do not read it carefully. Before signing on the dotted line, review every aspect of the affiliate program’s terms and conditions. Generally, there’s nothing to worry about but it’s important to know exactly what you’re getting into. 
• Reviews – Online reviews can provide insight into the affiliate you’re looking to partner with. By looking at reviews of each affiliate you’re interested in, you can see which ones offer the best commissions and which ones to avoid. Look for review sites that are unbiased. If an affiliate gets 5 out of 5 stars one one site but 2 out of 5 stars on every other site, it’s safe to say that the former is a biased review.

We’ve compiled a list of the online casino affiliate marketing programs that give you the best returns not just in terms of commission but in terms of the program as a whole.

Casino Affiliate Marketing FAQ