How does online casino affiliate marketing work?

Online gambling operators must create a broad base of loyal punters and keep reeling in new members to expand their market reach to maintain steady traffic. But then, it is immensely challenging for casinos to retain and grow their customer base independently. As such, the most popular online casinos like Vulkan Vegas Slovakia resort to different advertising methods to put the word out about their offering.

So how do online casinos market their services with the gambling industry projected to generate over $90 billion by 2023? While operators use many different effective advertising methods, including media ads and SEO, affiliate marketing is the most effective based on the amount of investment in relation to the results. 

As a result, they gain trust among punters, increasing the number of punters on their website, and through avenues such as pop-ups, banner ads or links, they direct traffic to the online casino operators. 

How Affiliate Marketing Works for iGaming Brands

The role of online casino affiliates is to market casino products to punters. To do so, affiliates often join a network of publishers who promote similar products or services. In the gambling industry, affiliate networks are usually a group of publishers whose niche involves promoting sportsbooks, online casinos and other betting products and services. This network then provides the affiliates with marketing tools such as a list of products they would prefer to advertise on their site. Additionally, some well-established casinos will prefer getting their network of affiliates.

So, when marketing online casino products or services, an affiliate will usually start by determining which products or services will appeal to their target market. Based on the target market, the network of publishers then directs traffic through their platforms for affiliates. From there, the target market will purchase online gambling products or services through these platforms provided by affiliate networks. After a purchase has been completed, an online casino operator will make an agreed payment. And finally, from the commission earned by affiliates, about 20-30% is used to pay the publisher. 

Different Affiliate Marketing Partnership Deals

Affiliate marketing is a performance-based strategy, and affiliate marketers are compensated based on the traffic they direct to online casinos. So, the partnership deals penned between affiliates and online casino operators take the following models:

• Revenue Share (Revshare): Affiliates receive 20-50% of the generated net revenue from the referred punters. It is the most preferred model for online casino operators because it encourages affiliates to direct loyal punters who generate constant income for the casino.
• Cost Per Action (CPA): The online operator gives the affiliate a fixed rate for every punter they bring in the CPA model. The affiliate is paid once a player has made a deposit or spent a certain amount on the gaming platform.
• Mixed Models: This model is typically used for high-profile affiliates where the online casino operator can combine the Revshare and CPA model or even offer to make upfront payments.
• Pay Per Click (PPC): Here, affiliates are paid once a player clicks on the casino website. However, the rewards here are usually comparatively low since not all clicks lead to any meaningful conversions.
• Cost Per View (CPV): The income generated in this model by affiliates is lower than the PPC because they are paid when a punter sees an ad, whether they click on it or not.
• Pay Per Sale (PPS): The model generates one of the highest revenues for affiliates. They are paid if the punter they directed to the casino website via the affiliate link plays for real money.
• Media: Affiliates with high traffic on their websites can negotiate a media deal with online gambling operators. For example, the affiliates who run betting news sites offer advertisement services for in-article banners and sidebar banner placements for a flat fee.

Advantages of Affiliate Marketing

In simple terms, the mutualistic relationship between casino operators and affiliates in the gambling ecosystem is highly recommended as they both benefit in the long run. Some of the most notable advantages of affiliate marketing are as follows:

• Remuneration based on performance – In affiliate marketing, online casino operators pay for services they have received, guaranteeing a high ROI mainly when dealing with a revenue-sharing model. That is, the traffic received is converted into sales.
• Easy to track progress – If an online casino operator uses an efficient affiliate system, they can track different affiliates’ performance. That is, an operator can evaluate which ads suit them best and adjust accordingly.
• Reputation – Partnership with high-end affiliates adds credibility and good publicity to the online casino operators.

With the above benefits, it is easy to see why the casino affiliate marketing industry on its own is incredibly lucrative. iGaming operators usually pay top dollar for the services of the best affiliate marketers.