30+ TOP Casino Affiliate Programs — Best Gambling Affiliate Networks and Offers of 2024 for Money Making

1996 was marked by the launch of the first online casino. Ever since the industry has been continuously growing. Gambling isn’t just one of the verticals in affiliate marketing; it is one of the most profitable verticals. As of now, the online gambling market is estimated as an almost 55 billion dollar industry, which includes various gambling activities and games, starting from slots, poker rooms, and sports betting to online casinos.

Despite the legislative limitations on gambling in many countries, people are searching for a "quick game" in casinos or poker rooms. We all know that there are many ways to promote online casinos, but affiliate marketing is considered as one of the most effective while comparing the investments and the outcome. Yes, this is a win-win situation: casinos benefit from getting new clients and affiliate marketers get their commission for driving traffic to gambling platforms.

Casino affiliate marketing is mostly based on trust, therefore, you have to look out for trustworthy casinos and gambling networks to work with. There always might be some entities to take advantage of inexperienced newbies. So, keep in mind the following:

• Read the contract thoroughly, pay attention to how and when the commission is paid.
• Typically affiliates aren’t charged for joining an affiliate network.
• To become a successful affiliate you’ll have to invest a certain amount of money.
• To promote casino affiliate programs it is not necessary to have a website or a blog.

So, while working with gambling affiliate programs watch out for gambling regulations in different countries. Well, this concerns mainly the difference between the USA and all other countries. Regardless of restrictions, gambling affiliate programs are very popular among webmasters due to their high yield. Either way, the gambling vertical provides lucrative affiliate offers suitable for both beginners and experienced webmasters.  

Commission Models

Now, we move on to serious matters. Yes, it’s about the affiliate commission. It is widely known that the vast majority of gambling affiliate programs offer pretty high stakes.

Actually, you have several options:

• Revenue share: you’re paid a percentage from a casino (in the gambling vertical commissions may vary from 20% up to 50%). Usually, you get a percentage from your clients’ losses. However, with a revshare model you have to be aware of the “negative carryover” and keep in mind that a casino not always earns but loses as well. The scheme is as follows: a player loses, you win (or call it ‘gain’); a player wins, you lose. Therefore, you might land with a negative balance. Some companies set the negative balance to zero at the end of the month, but only some of them. This implies that you must read the small print in your affiliate agreement.
• CPA: you’re paid when your audience visits the casino you advertise and deposits money. In many cases, a casino sets the minimum limit of a deposit.
• CPL: you’re paid for registrations. Sometimes the CPL model is considered as a variation of the CPA model. The profitability of this model (as well as in the CPA model) depends on the traffic quality.
• Hybrid model: here you deal with a combination of CPA and Revshare models. For every deposit, you’re paid (CPA model) but the rate is lower than with the CPA model, then you receive a percentage from all client’s deposits. The percentage depends on your results, i.e. it depends on the number of clients you send to the advertiser. You can get up to 40%.

By the way, never hesitate to communicate with the support team. If you indeed perform well, sending high-quality traffic that actually converts and plays actively, so you can discuss and change the initial conditions, upgrading your rates, percentage, etc.  

Target Audience

With some exceptions, you’re going to target 25-45 years old men with an average income, active and impulsive. In other words, you look for people who work a lot with no time to relax and get rid of stress, so they prefer turning to a computer or a smartphone for strong emotions. Let’s say, you try to attract middle managers and owners of small businesses who look to put off the routine and get a life. Younger audience, 18-25, might fit, but the paying capacity is usually lower; 45+ group is suitable too, although less active.

One of the key aspects is income. Again, you look for the middle class.  Where to search the audience: websites focused on cars and sports, online cinemas, and adult-related resources.    

Traffic Sources

As an affiliate marketer, you should know that keeping a positive ROI is of high priority; hence, you have to consider thoroughly all sources you’re going to get traffic from. By the way, one of the recent trends within the gambling vertical in terms of traffic is mobile apps.

• Apps. Mobile apps represent, to a greater degree, a method of traffic conversion, where traffic itself you get from ads in social media, push notifications, native ads, and websites/blogs. When a user downloads an app (a mobile version of an online casino), he enters the online casino automatically.
• Native ads. One of the 2019 trends in affiliate marketing, particularly in the gambling vertical. The key point here — native ads can’t be blocked or hidden by admins (in comparison with social media). Making ads look natural and suitable, fitting the content, readers are more prone to click on your ads. Well, some testing is required, but generally, native ads have proven to be quite efficient.
• Websites/blogs. Organic traffic is always awesome because it is free. Gambling-related blogs and websites work pretty well and drive targeted, free traffic to affiliate programs topping up your balance. As always, high-quality content is required. Make your readers interested with top 10 lists, various product reviews, how-to guides, tips, and tricks, etc.
• Push notifications. This method isn’t expensive and suits the gambling vertical very well. No need in cloaking but avoid lying in the context of quick and behemoth earnings.
• Facebook and Instagram. It is not unknown that Facebook goes against gambling and bans accounts for gambling ads.

Well, you may still use cloaking and multiple accounts to camouflage the advertising. Hopefully, you got the hint — yes, you promote mobile applications we’ve discussed above. Instagram is one of the most popular and functional traffic sources. Visual ads are potent and efficient. Still, you must be reasonable and careful not to get banned.

• YouTube. It is the second search engine and the most popular video platform, which is still relatively unexploited. The point to focus on is the strategy. The idea is much the same as with blogs/websites. Prepare juicy and helpful videos focused on tips, rankings, and comparisons to attract viewers’ interest. Add here some SEO and season with affiliate links – the fruitful traffic source is ready.
• Telegram. You may consider two options: driving traffic from the VK to the same Telegram channel and then to a landing page or purchasing posts on popular entertainment channels. Both variants will pay off rather quickly.

In fact, E-mail marketing isn’t really effective in the case of gambling offers; with popunder and clickunder you might receive tons of junk traffic. On the plus side, this traffic is very cheap; doorways are impractical for gambling offers — in 2020 they were deployed mostly by pros, however, the majority of marketers find them useless and complicated.  

Choosing a Suitable Gambling Affiliate Offer

Casino affiliate programs can be divided into microgaming casinos, mobile-friendly online casinos, Bitcoin casinos, etc. Actually, they are all similar in one point — they need to attract as many new clients as possible. That is why online casinos are ready to share a part of their revenue with affiliates.  

Not to get lost in the ocean of casino affiliate programs, pay attention to some key aspects:

• Reliability of a gambling affiliate network or a casino (read about the market experience, give a look at recent reviews from other affiliates). Some marketing forums provide continuously updated rankings of reliable affiliate networks and/or black lists of some rouge casinos that hold back affiliate payments.
• Commission rates, negative carryover, and a payment schedule (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly). It is important to keep in mind that some bitcoin casinos pay commissions in cryptocurrencies.
• Committed support team and an extensive range of various marketing and analytical tools.

See here, you’re in affiliate marketing to make money. So, gambling affiliate offers are considered good if they bring a return. Although, there are aspects to keep in mind:

1. Mobile version. People would like to play right off the bat, as soon as they liked the advertisement. Mobiles allow playing with no ties to a specific place.
2. Simple registration process. The rule of thumb says, "The less data, the better." A user should be able to begin playing ASAP. So, give a look at the form — one-click registration is just superb.
3. No bugs or glitches. Check it up — the platform should be convenient and work smoothly.

And one more thing, season and the time of the day are to be taken into consideration. Spring and summer weekends’ activity is low, while weekdays evenings are rather active; as for the winter season, the situation is opposite — weekdays' activity is low but on weekends it is high.

Case Study from Affiliatefix (by Varun)

Offer: Syndicate Casino (CPL + Deposit) from Advidi (April 30, 2019 — May 8, 2019)

Traffic: Push Notifications

GEO: Australia

Expenses: $408

Income: $815

Profit: $407

ROI: 100%

Below you see the creatives used for the campaign and the landing page for the offer.

Statistics from PropellerAds (the CPC for Australia is high — $0.12):

And statistics from Advidi:

Gambling Affiliate Programs

Needless to say, there are numerous casino affiliate programs in the market. Oftentimes you might get a headache while looking for the right offer to promote. Yes, you make thorough research, read forums and reviews before deciding on a specific program. Gambling affiliate networks ease the task for you. Large, well-established networks do not work with shady companies and select advertisers thoroughly, so you just read and compare details of offers with no worries about the reliability of the brand. In fact, networks save your time greatly. Additionally, you get an assigned personal manager to advise on various programs and marketing instruments. If you’re lucky, you might get new experience and upgrade your own skills.

Besides some popular, multi-vertical networks, you may look at some gambling-oriented networks. The key advantage of working with vertical-oriented networks is the high concentration of gambling and betting programs.

Other benefits of working with gambling affiliate networks include scheduled payments on a weekly/bi-weekly basis, various methods of payments (bank wire, e-payment systems, bank cards, etc.), real-time feedback (gambling affiliate networks are interested in your success because they receive their own commission from advertisers), guidelines and advisors.

The gambling industry is influenced by many external factors, such as state regulation, market fluctuations, financial situation, and some others. Therefore, to determine a proficient marketing strategy and organize a successful campaign you have to do thorough research, testing traffic sources, GEOs, social groups, etc.

Notice that gambling isn’t supported (Hem! It’s better to say it is banned or watched over) in many countries. Hence, online casinos do their best to avoid banning with the use of mirror websites or changing domains. Set as a routine to check that you send traffic to the correct domain.

Before diving for pearls you may benefit from joining some marketing-oriented forums to learn something new in the digital marketing industry, learn about affiliate conferences, share your experience with other marketers, get recommendations if needed, find business partners, and so on. Try visiting GPWA (Gambling Portal Webmasters Association), Affiliate Guard Dog, Warrior Forum, and BlackHatWorld. These are some of the most popular forums for SEO specialists, affiliate marketers, and webmasters; however, you might find many other interesting platforms and communities. Numerous threads and discussions are dedicated to gambling affiliate programs and various issues related to affiliate programs (how to join, reliability, commission rates, etc.) Besides that, marketing forums serve as efficient marketing tools. Moreover, forums represent a community, where you never stop learning, collecting different opinions, and sharing experiences. This allows you to see the broad picture of affiliate marketing (and digital marketing) as an international industry.

Juniper Research predicts that the total amount of online bets might approach a trillion US dollars in 2022. Ok, part of this goes to casinos and other gambling companies, and one more part will be paid to affiliate marketers. And you don’t want to slip a golden opportunity to make hay of the gambling vertical.