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I had been an online gambling affiliate for many years (started out some time in 2007 or so) before I switched over and began working for operators (translation, content creation, SEO etc.) and other huge gambling portals I did not personally own.

I just love the affiliate business (especially gambling affiliating) even though I am currently not running any affiliate sites. I love it so much (even sharing my ideas/tips and just writing about it) that I thought some of you guys here on bitcointalk might appreciate a complete guide for online gambling affiliates. Most people don´t really have knowledge when it comes to affiliating and even here on bitcointalk, I often read posts that are far from the truth and where people obviously don´t have a clue - which is fine, so let´s just try to change this and maybe some of you will even decide to go for it and become online gambling affiliates.

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Online Gambling Affiliate Guide

Online Gambling in general is huge, we are talking about a business making billions by online bookmakers, online casinos, online poker rooms etc. What many forget: Gambling affiliates are also making lots of money "just" by promoting different gambling operators.

As I´ve already mentioned, my goal with this thread really is to provide interested people with all the information they need in order to become successful gambling affiliates.

Below you will find an overview with posts on different topics when it comes to gambling affiliating. You will learn how the gambling affiliate business works and find lots of information on starting out promoting gambling sites. My ultimate goal is to cover all aspects of online gambling affiliating and provide enough tips in order to help you become a profitable online marketer via affiliate marketing.

Some people might think becoming a good online gambling affiliate is very hard, others might think it´s easy and results can be achieved just by posting affiliate links here and there. Well, truth is: Doing well as a gambling affiliate is easier than you might think - no rocket science - but it takes some effort and even more importantly, the will to learn how to create solid gambling related websites and start earning money.

Are you prepared to learn and take advice? If so, you are all set for making good money by promoting online gambling sites in the near future. Side note: If you become a successful gambling affiliate, you will have an easy time when diversifying and targeting the affiliate world outside of gambling.

Good luck everybody and please note that this thread is work in progress. I will add more and more contents whenever I can. The first educational contents will follow later today.

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The thread is self-moderated because I don´t want this to become a spam-party. I appreciate discussions & questions, in fact they are welcome! :) Please just don´t spam in order to meet your signature campaign quota.

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Contents

• Why Gambling Affiliating? (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240342.msg54219183#msg54219183)
• Gambling Affiliate FAQs (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240342.msg54225331#msg54225331)
• How do gambling affiliates make money online (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240342.msg54229129#msg54229129)
• The different payment plans in the gambling affiliate industry (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240342.msg54240761#msg54240761)
• How to create a website (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240342.msg54275075#msg54275075)
• First Steps (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240342.msg54329807#msg54329807)

Why Gambling Affiliating?

You may be wondering why becoming a gambling affiliate can be a good idea when there are so many markets online you can enter in order to earn money online. Well, that´s a good question actually, so is gambling (Casino, Sports-Betting, Poker) the best niche for affiliates and if so, why is that? Well, as shallow as this may sound: You can make absolutely crazy amounts of money as a successful affiliate in the gambling space. You don´t even need to become a top affiliate (one that easily makes 6 figures a month!), as a great affiliate you will also be making more than enough, like 5 figures are definitely possible. All you have to do is putting in hard work and writing good content on a regular base, in order to build a nice website and if you do so, you will definitely be able to make a min of 4 figures a month. Sounds too good to be true? Well, maybe - please note that I am not trying to sell anything, I am only sharing my personal experience, I know the game in and out. All you need to do is invest hard work and be patient.

By the way - of course there are other industries online, where you can also make good money - the money involved in gambling (by nature) is so big though that it is an awesome industry to join. Gambling online is getting more and more popular and has actually outranked traditional gambling by now - dozens of thousands of players from everywhere in the world are signing up for online bookmakers, online casinos and online poker rooms each and every day.

Gambling attracts players of all ages and the target market is huge for that reason - get your slice of the cake now, only few industries are more lucrative (porn maybe or financial loan related stuff). Everyone always thinks: Isn´t it too late now? No, it´s not - it´s never too late but the sooner you take action, the better of course. Especially when thinking about the crypto gambling niche, which is still in it´s beginning compared with fiat gambling, there couldn´t be a better timing than now!

When you are an an affiliate in a great affiliate niche you will possibly make so much money that you can quit your regular job and become a full time gambling affiliate, being your own boss and having financial freedom. You decide how much you work, you decide when you take breaks etc. Needless to say that the more you work, the more money you will make - still, in the end it is you who decides and not some random employer...

Having read this so far you may be wondering: That sounds so good, it´s such a great industry and business, wouldn´t everyone do it, if so?! That´s the best question you could ask and it´s key! I love this question and in the past, people asked me the very same all the time!

The thing why not everyone is becoming a gambling affiliate:

1. Only few people know they can earn money by affiliating for online gambling operators. The few who know, often don´t do it for another good reason - they just don´t have the time, don´t want to invest their time to do it, they think it´s too hard to be successful and not worth it.

2. Here it get´s interesting. Lots of people who learn they can make good money as gambling affiliates actually give it a try, they start, fail and give up. The percentage of gambling affiliates who make significant money is very small and this is because all the rest gives up way too easy when they don´t see a return quickly enough. The reason why those people are only making little money to no money is not the industry itself, it´s because they dont know how to build a decent gambling affiliate website and dont have the patience. While the gambling industry is an awesome online niche to make money as an affiliate, it also requires lots of work and time before you start seeing results.

People like you, who actually read this post, are different than the ones I mentioned previously - I mean, you are reading this post and I will make sure to provide all the necessary information so anyone can run a successful gambling affiliate website or blog. I dont want to trick you into anything - again, I am not earning at all by providing this information - I just love to share my knowledge/experience and I will be happy to see some of you soaking up what I have to say and take the opportunity.

I am realistic - most of you guys will definitely not have the drive to do what´s required to become a successful gambling affiliate. I will even be happy if even one of you gets in touch in a few months/year(s) from now telling me about being a full time gambling affiliate and making more money than ever before in that lame office job they had.

Gambling Affiliate FAQs

Making money online is of course possible and (gambling) affiliating is one of the best options to do so, if you ask me. People are always wondering if it´s not too late by now - well, no, it´s not - the gambling affiliate business is still there and you can still make a lot of money by promoting gambling operators - especially when thinking about crypto gambling - the timing couldn´t be much better. This post is supposed to give you some quick answers to frequently asked questions about how to become a gambling affiliate.

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So what is gambling affiliating?

You are a gambling affiliate when you work with gambling operators (sportsbooks, casinos, poker rooms) and send them players. As an affiliate, you will receive commission for every player you refer to the gambling site.

Can everyone be an affiliate?

Yes, of course! You just have to sign up for the affiliate programs all those gambling sites are offering and then send them players - really, this is it!

And how much money can I make as a gambling affiliate?

Gambling affiliates can earn huge money and I am really talking about crazy large amounts. Personally, I know many affiliates who are easily making 4-5 figures a month and I have even worked with bigger affiliates who were making more than $100k a month - yes, it´s true - more than $100k!

Can I make a living as a gambling affiliate?

You definitely can! As a successful affiliate, you will of course be able to quit your boring office job and focus 100% on the gambling affiliate industry. I am repeating myself here but: I have been a full-time gambling affiliate myself and I know dozens of gambling affiliates who are doing this full-time. Most people start out by doing this part-time and when they become successful, start working full-time.

It all sounds too good to be true - why is not everyone becoming a gambling affiliate?

The answer is simple: Only few people know about affiliate marketing and even less know about how to become gambling affiliates. Of all the people that start out, the big majority fail and give up after not seeing results within the first weeks/months.

How hard is it to become a successful gambling affiliate?

Becoming a good gambling affiliate really is anything but impossible - what it takes is the will to work a lot and be patient. Most people like to think that gambling affiliating is some sort of get rich quick scheme, which it is not! These people fail because they are beginning with the wrong intentions in mind. On the other hand, if you are really willing to work hard and be patient, you definitively have a good chance of becoming a successful affiliate in the gambling industry.

I don´t have any online marketing experience - no chance to succeed for me?

No worries - Really, when I started out I had no clue about marketing, about affiliating, about how to make a website. If I remember correctly, I browsed through Party Poker´s website and came across their affiliate page - then I thought: Wow, making money by referring players and without risking your own? I have to try this! And here we are...

How long will it take before I make my first money?

That´s one of the typical questions new affiliates are asking and it´s hard to give an answer. Fact is, if you want to become a successful affiliate, you need to be patient - you won´t get rich over night. If you work hard though, the first earnings should/could arrive in your affiliate accounts after 3-4 months. Keep up the work and you could be earning 4 figures/month after your first year - this is if you work hard enough!

Is becoming a gambling affiliate worth it?

I would definitely say yes! I loved being a gambling affiliate, I loved being in control of my work and I loved to check my results after each month - and usually, the more I worked, the better I did. Affiliating was a hobby for me in the beginning before I became a full-time affiliate. Today, I am not an affiliate anymore but I am still doing lots of related work in the gambling space - all of that would not be possible if I never started out as a gambling affiliate. Seriously, becoming a gambling affiliate is something that I would recommend to anyone.

How many affiliate programs can I sign up with?

There is no limit of course - you can sign up with as many affiliate programs as you want to. I always recommend signing up with a handful in the beginning though - the reason for that is that it will help with better conversions and money you will earn.

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More questions you would like to be added? Let me know!

I don't know a lot about affiliate business. I know they exist and make good money, but I am relatively immune to it ;D Don't think I ever registered with a gambling site using a ref link, but anyway.

Maybe you will (or planned to) elaborate the specific conditions - which surely varies a bit in the different sites - in a later post, but I can't wait^^


From all I know, just sending them players isnt enough, no ? They have to deposit, play, lose (in best case ;D ) etc. Or are there models, where you just get money by people creating accounts and doing nothing afterwards ? Do you also get money from winning accounts or just a share from losses ?

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And another question: Do you think this whole business is a win-win-win situation ? No losers ?

Too bad man - is that because you always navigated directly to the operator´s sites without having ever before clicked on a link on some review site? :D You would be the type of player affiliates would love to refer! ;)

Yeah, of course, that´s a great question (conditions) and one of the important topics I will be writing about in detail. ;)

Or are there models, where you just get money by people creating accounts and doing nothing afterwards ?

Actually, it really depends on the deal and yes, you are right, mostly just referring players and having them sign up will not be enough - but it can. There are different models and some indeed pay you (smaller amount obviously) just for the referral as soon as they sign up, even today. Party Poker is a prime example for a gambling operator who paid affiliates a CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) of around $50 just for referring players! It was crazy because back then, Party Poker gave new poker signups free money so affiliates could promote free $50 at Party Poker with no deposit needed and they earned $50 for each player who signed up to claim the free money!

Do you also get money from winning accounts or just a share from losses ?

There are models where it doesnt matter if your players (accounts) are winning or losing. It depends on the program. With casino, you mostly earn a revenue share of people´s losses. Still, I had also worked with casino affiliate programs that went another route and paid depending on turnover.

And another question: Do you think this whole business is a win-win-win situation ? No losers ?

It could be win-win-win - the problem is that shady operators can be working with shady affiliates who promote untrustworthy operators just for the money. This happens all the time and we are seeing that even here on bitcointalk... What´s worst: All those aff. sites claim to be independent, objective bla bla and their reviews are pure crap, their ratings are anything but objective and they even promote proven scammers...

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I hope this helps for now? As mentioned before, I will soon write an extensive post on the topic of the different payment plans that are available in this industry.

Earning from affiliates (referrals) definitely possible, and I envy you guys who can freely do content creation about gambling in your country. For example, in Indonesia, creating promotional content for gambling is forbidden. It sucks! Anyway, I tried affiliate programs for exchanges and e-commerce, and yes, it can give me some money.

From what I see, successful affiliates often are thought leaders, celebrities, and ones who create communities. That said, if you are trusted, then people will be more comfortable to click your links and decide to support you. Plus, it works better if there is a bonus for users who registered via your links.

Hehe, every now and then I would visit a bookmaker via a link from a review site. But before I signed up, I would delete the ref manually :D So maybe they noticed some traffic from that link, but no sign-up. Most of the time I was told about new or good bookmakers from friends or would read about other users playing at certain bookmakers in a forum. So I rarely visited review sites and thus didn't have a closer look into this business.


It does, thanks. Looking forward to that post with the payment plans. I guess you know that dude from the (back then) orange german betting forum. He was running his forum like a dictator and all because he wanted to have all those referrals; making money with his users. Since that time, I am a bit ambivalent about affiliates. That was my thought behind the win-win-win question. Because I actually think it is win-win-win (if all is legit), which is quite amazing. 

Hey,

well, what exactly do you mean when saying gambling content creation is forbidden? In general, promotion of online gambling is still missing regulation (almost everywhere) and even here in Europe, there are EU-laws but the countries just dont give a sh**... In Germany for example, bookmakers and casinos are running tv ads and are being promoted in football stadiums etc. - the very same operators do not have legal licenses though, you see, its wild wild west... Needless to say that the promotion of crypto gambling is completely out of space - who would/could stop you from setting up a website for example in English and promote crypto casinos, no matter where you are located?

Regarding bonuses for users that use your links - yeah, all affiliates can promote the welcome bonus to their website visitors. Some are negotiating custom (and better deals) in order to attract more users. Giving additional incentives is mostly forbidden - what I mean is: Sign up through our links, receive a $100 welcome bonus at XXX Casino and we will send you another $20. Affiliate programs usually dont want that because affiliates are abusing the system.

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I knew you would be one of those guys and guess what... I am, too. ;) Clearing cookies before signing up except if I like the work the respective website did by providing high quality content - then I dont mind them earning for my referral. ;)

Of course I know the guy and he sucked big time and that´s exactly what I meant - as long as affiliates are ethical, we are really talking about win-win-win for everyone involved! Unfortunately, many affiliates arent working that way and even the big ones are promoting lame operators for the $$$$$... Nowadays, there are billion dollar companies who run hundreds of gambling affiliate sites and I am always shocked to see they are promoting scammers. Then again, thats exactly where any new affiliate can jump in and why there is a big chance to succeed, simply by being honest and ethical. :)

Creating a website in English is out-of-reach, that's I agree, but it's not what I implied mate from my previous comment. Because, if I do that, my web will compete with native speaker owned website, and I don't think I'll win that battle, or should I say it's already bloody ocean. Even though I write a lot for these past two years, but my language will still sound stiff, incorrect in some part, and not compelling. That said, I would rather compete in Bahasa, but my web will definitely be blocked by "internet positif" -- shitty government filtering software ;D

Thanks anyway with the idea, I'll practice more and let's see what will happen.

How do gambling affiliates make money online

Are you wondering how and even more importantly, why, gambling affiliates make money? Let me to try to explain how things work. Whenever you visit an online gambling site, no matter if it is a casino, an online poker room or a sports book, you will be able to play for real money as well as for play money. Poker rooms and casinos are offering play money games in order to attract more potential customers, hoping they will one day switch over to real money play. Those gambling sites obviously make their money by providing real money games to their customers and whenever they lose, the house wins. Actually, no matter what happens, solid sportsbooks for example can´t lose based on the oddds they are offering - casinos can´t lose long term due to house edge and poker rooms make their money based on the generated rake, that is taken in every cash game.

Poker rooms, casinos, sportsbooks, they all want as many players as possible on their sites and I am talking about people playing for real money. The more real money players, the more money they make. The question is, how do those gambling sites attract players and what´s the role of gambling affiliates?

Gambling affiliates have one simple job - they let people know about the various gambling destinations and send players. The big gambling brands are doing all sorts of marketing nowadays but still - all of them have an affiliate program in place and for a good reason - what´s better for them than having "free" advertising unless sites refer real money players, in which case they will gladly share a % of the earnings they make - affiliates have been f***** in the past by operators and their respective affiliate programs acting shady but thats a whole different story... - So, gambling operators reward people for sending them traffic.

The gambling affiliate´s choice - go with Revenue Share or CPA?

When joining an affiliate program, gambling affiliates will most often have the choice whether to go for Revenue Share or CPA. Revenue Share means that affiliates will earn money based on how their referred players are performing. If they play and lose, affiliates will earn as long as they do so. Concretely, the gambling affiliate is paid a percentage of the player´s losses "forever". CPA on the other hand means that gambling affiliates will get paid a lump sum for every first depositing player they send to the site.

Revenue Share deals usually offer up to %40, sometimes even more, depending on the gambling site that you promote. CPA deals also vary of course, something around $100 can be considered a standard deal - even $200 (and higher) CPAs are possible though. Affiliate programs that offer both options (Revenue Share & CPA) let the affiliate decide - in most cases it´s wiser to go for Revenue Share, provided you are in the game for the longer term. I will write a separate and more detailed post on the various payment plans such as Rev. Share, CPA, CPL and link it here as soon as it´s ready

What many people really misunderstand: Anyone can be a gambling affiliate - all it takes is visiting a gambling operator´s website, signing up as an affiliate and then send players who make real money deposits. It´s not like those gambling sites are specifically recruiting people to become affiliates. 95% of all affiliates will launch a gambling website where they write reviews, give tips etc., in order to send their visitors to the various gambling operators. Still, you can also be a gambling affiliate offline (uncommon these days but still possible).

And how do gambling sites know which players are being referred by who?

This is easy and you dont need to worry about not being credited for players you send. Assuming you are an online gambling affiliate, you will receive so called "affiliate links / "referral links" / "tracking links", that you can use on your site and that are uniquely designed for you. A typical affiliate link looks something like xcasino.com/code and whenever any of your visitors uses your link and navigates to the gambling operator´s website through that link, they will be tracked back to you. That´s how gambling sites know when they have to pay an affiliate for a specific player.

Last but not least, gambling sites may also provide so called "bonus codes" / "referral codes", that gambling affiliates can use in order for their players to get tracked correctly. It´s very common for a poker room, a casino or a sportsbook to ask a player for a bonus code before he/she makes a deposit. And whenever players enter the unique bonus code you gave them, they will be tracked to you and you will make money when they play for real money. In the end of each month, you will get paid via one of the various payment options the respective programs offer - it´s as simple as this and best of all: no matter how simple the process is, lots of money is waiting to be made!ayers you have sent to the room. It really is pretty simple, this is it! And there is a lot of money to be made from this simple process.

First of all, thanks for making this thread. I appreciated the effort.

Question, in your long journey of being an online gambling affiliate, mind sharing with us your experience involving a crypto-gambling website/s?

How it turned out? Does it yield a positive result on you? Thanks for the input.

Interesting, some people including me will definitely ask, how to begin and what have we do next?. Like me, it has a big problem when trying to be an affiliate because I don't know how to market it and how to get a new user. maybe this is just a simple question, but this point which is to be the next determining of success, I think.

I read all your posts, you are optimistic, you have talented, which definitely everyone can't do like you did.

An idea that I'm dwelling on in the past month (which I still didn't do): create a Youtube channel that will provide free picks and then, along with it, provide some affiliate links here and there. I think, that will help you in a very good way especially if you provide picks that are winners or provide positive yield in the long run. It will be an uphill battle at first because you need to garner your audience first but time will help you with that. As long as you provide gambling-related contents (and don't forget the affiliate links) on a consistent basis, you'll have huge amount of subscribers in no time.

Again, just an idea.  ;)

Hi,

I will also write a post on the first steps shortly - I have so many topics in mind that I can write about, keep ideas/questions coming. :) If you have read the posts so far, you should have a better idea by now as to what it takes. Thing will get more detailed soon. ;) Believe me... anyone willing to work hard... can succeed! :) By the way: I am actually considering doing some sort of "live experiment" where I start a project and document its progress right from the beginning in a seperate thread here on bitcointalk - curious if people would be interested in something like that.

Engaging in gambling affiliate program is really memorable and technical to do, as you really need to promote effectively a certain gambling platform. You just need to become honest, good, and have a high marketing skills in order for you to achieve your goal in your affiliate program. It is not easy at first but if you try to become used to it and understand how to promote a gambling casino effectively, then people will trust you.

It is not easy to earn trust but if you will work hard in a gambling affiliate program then you will achieve your objectives and fulfill your potential to become an effective marketer online. You have a lot of time to practice and try online in gambling affiliate so you will have some experience doing it so.


That's how you work on success, you should be always optimistic just like him, although sometimes we experience hard times sometimes but we also need to bounce back with a positive mindset. Everyone can do just like what he did, everyone can be successful and achieve their goal, no matter if you are talented or not, anyone can learn and be successful in their lives.

OP, Very detailed and informative thread. I have read all of your posts, but this FAQ makes me wonder why?


If I may ask, why did you stop being a full-time affiliate earning 4 - 6 figures? Because, as you said, it's not an easy task and requires dedication and hard to become successful. Personally, if I'm successful in a field after much hardwork, I wouldn't just quit it until and unless I find a much better option.

Hey,

very fair question :) I am happy to answer: In my case, there were several factors that combined made me go back to the other side. While I definitely made good money and loved the financial freedom and being my own boss, there are also some disadvantages that come with working "alone" as a full-time affiliate.

The main reasons that led to this:

- There were affiliate programs that retrospectively changed their terms, that stole players, that disappeared etc. With no "real" regulation, you are highly dependent and some program you may have been working with for years and where you have built a huge player base, may "kill" you when they decide to close their operation, not pay you for your player base etc. You can hardly do anything about that and it happens from time to time...
- I have been working crazy hours, day and night, no matter if weekend, holidays, whatever - thats the fate of being self-employed
- I have been working "alone" - yeah, I have had all those partners I have been chatting with each day and several freelancers I hired to support me but still, its completely different when compared to working in a company with all the colleagues - even when finding working space outside home, which I did, it wouldnt replace the chit chat with your colleagues.

I then decided I would be better off selling my websites and player bases to other affiliates, which I did, moved to another country and started a career in e-commerce. Today, I am still in e-commerce but also doing lots of freelancing stuff (and seriously considering starting an affiliate business once again).

Hope it answers your question. :)

can i ask just some questions please. just wanted to learn too.

1. if you are to once again planning to start an affiliate business, which gambling site are you looking to promote?

2. which platform to find clients as well, social media or just organic traffic from search by dong seo articles?

Of course you can - that´s why I have created this thread in the first place. :)

1. Are you asking for specific gambling operators or is this about the niche I would choose? If I were to build a new site, I would definitely target the crypto gambling space. :) It´s still in the beginning (compared with fiat gambling), most of the crypto gambling affiliate sites out there suck big time so you have an "easy" job when simply being honest and there is lots of money to be made.

2. I know a lot about SEO - I have/had to... and keyword research etc. is of course important - still, I never suggest writing articles simply for seo purposes - those so called "seo articles" are not for me - my readers should find value in my content, so I am only thinking about what´s important to the readers and what information they are looking for when searching for a gambling site. Regarding social media - I would definitely recommend adding social media channels and being active there - wouldn´t be my priority though. Nowadays, youtube/twitch etc. are also very popular and can help driving traffic but then again, I am also not that type of guy. At a later stage, I would probably hire people though to create video content for me. :)

The different payment plans in the gambling affiliate industry

This is an important topic and definitely one that can be discussed for hours and hours - what´s the best payment plan? Is there a "best" payment plan? What would you go for? I will start right from the beginning by describing the common payment plans there are for gambling affiliates and also share my opinion when it comes to advantages/disadvantages. Please note that there are many more payment models available in other affiliate niches and in the end, anyone can of course negotiate custom deals, such as flat fee advertising.

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Common gambling affiliate payment plans: Revenue Share, CPA (Cost Per Aquisition)

Okay, you are given the choice between Revenue Share and CPA - which one should a new gambling affiliate choose?

Let me first explain what Revenue Share and CPA exactly mean and I will try to answer the question afterwards.

Revenue Share: Affiliates are paid a percentage of their referred players losses, lifetime. Your payment depends on how your referred players are doing and if they lose, you make money. A 40% revenue share deal means that the operator will share 40% of their revenue with you. (There are several slightly different revenue share models but I wont get into detail here, just keep that in mind and dont forget that there may be terms such as bonuses etc., that are also being deducted)

CPA: Affiliates are paid a lump sum for each new depositing player they refer to the gambling site. CPA deals usually come with a number of different requirements regarding deposit amount, minimum turnover etc. The gambling operators want to make sure that you dont refer players who make the minimum deposit of $10 and leave right away while you are being credited a high CPA - this is to prevent fraud and yes, lots of affiliate try to abuse of course...

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So, you decided to become an affiliate and promote a gambling site. In order to so, you will have to sign up for the respective operator´s affiliate program and sometimes, you will be able to choose between Revenue Share and CPA (Cost Per Aquisition) - even though CPA deals are harder to get nowadays and usually not "standard". Most operators restrict new affiliates to Revenue Share these days, some may also restrict affiliates to CPA and some may offer both options. Lets assume you will have the choice, which one should you go for and why?

I will start by talking about what a "good" gambling CPA deal may look like. Established gambling affiliates can easily negotiate CPA deals as high as $200 (or even way more than that) for every depositing player they refer to the site. Sounds too good to be true? Trust me, some gambling affiliates are getting even more than that and as crazy as this may sound, with a $200 CPA you would need to refer only 5 depositing players per month for a $1000 pay-cheque - that´s 4 digits! And now lets get back to reality - as a new affiliate, no gambling site will offer you such a high CPA deal. Gambling sites will evaluate the players you are referring and the CPA deal highly depends on that. Not all traffic is worth the same - assuming you are running a gambling affiliate site that ranks highly on Google for high-roller related terms, the players you will be sending should be worth much more than if you were to run a gambling affiliate site focusing on no deposit bonuses. A player that signs up on a gambling site through your links for a no deposit bonus, will likely gamble his free money and never come back - there are exceptions all the time of course, but in general, that´s how things are. So naturally, any gambling site will only grant you a "standard" CPA deal - if any - in the beginning. A standard rate is something like $50-$60 per player, if you are lucky, maybe $100. Still a nice pay, isnt it? I definitely recommend discussing your deal with your affiliate manager after a few weeks/months and if you are sending good traffic, they may give you a much better CPA deal.

Revenue Share vs CPA

Bla bla bla - so, what´s better, Revenue Share or CPA? You could say that CPA is the more attractive option, just send a few players per month and make hundreds of dollars just like that, right away. Yes, you will definitely have quicker (higher) returns when going for CPA, in the long run though, you will earn much (much much much much) more money with Revenue Share.

New affiliates often prefer CPA and its normal, they dont know their player´s value and they want the cash - as quickly as possible. You should never forget though - any CPA deal always favors the gambling operator - no exception! Yes, of course, not all of your referred players will lose hundreds/thousands of $$$$ and so what I just wrote might seem odd - still, this is how it is. Trust me, a few "real, bigger players" make up for it all. Plus, dont dare to believe any affiliate program in the world is going to pay you $100 CPAs forever if you only refer players that generate $10 for them - they will simply terminate the CPA deal and - provided you werent trying to scam them - switch you over to a revenue share deal. No casino will pay you $1000 in CPAs if the 10 players you referred only made them $100 - thats just not gonna happen. With CPA, you will always get a worse deal as an affiliate, I mean, never will you get paid more than your players are actually worth and most importantly - the big players you send - you will never get a fair pay for them. Imagine you refer a whale gambling thousands of $$$$ each day and having taken a $100, just because you wanted those 100 bucks as soon as possible...

Revenue share is the way to go if you are serious about your business and its a payment plan that´s actually based on a real "partnership" with the respective operator - you bring good traffic, the operator makes money, you make money - as simple as that.

Is it really so easy, Revenue Share for the win?!

Its of course not as easy as I made it look and there are several scenarios that need to be taken into consideration. Say the CPA is soooo high when comparing it to a low end revenue share deal, then it makes sense going for the CPA - 20% revenue share for example sucks and if they are offering a $150 CPA instead, then go for the CPA - I would... With a 20% revenue share deal, I will have a hard time with my referred players generating me $150. That´s one of the main scenarios where a CPA might be the better option.

Then it also depends on what you are really trying to achieve - do you really want to establish a serious affiliate business? Or are you desperate for quick cash in order to pay for the costs you have had building your website? Generally speaking though, one should always prefer the deal making as much money as possible - and that´s not CPA, but Revenue Share!

In one of my previous posts I have mentioned another disadvantage of revenue share - affiliate programs claim to pay you for the life of the players you refer. I have personally experienced programs shutting down, cutting big players and all that shit - it happens and it sucks big time. Not much you can do legally, so you are always at risk having invested lots of work, time, money, receiving nice income for a long time and then one day, you lose that income stream. That´s why it always makes sense to diversify and not completely depend on one program. That topic actually deserves a separate post.

So whats my conclusion?

Building a nice player base that gets you some good amount of money will take some time but thats about the only disadvantage if you are thinking long-term as an affiliate. Whenever and wherever possible, I would choose the revenue share deal over the CPA deal.

Oh, what about CPL?

Well, cost per lead is really uncommon these days and most operators wont pay you per lead anymore. They used to do in some cases back in the day. I have posted about that here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240342.msg54225709#msg54225709

Very interesting.

Looks like revenue share is indeed the way go, if you are in for the long run. I understand 40% being kind of standard/good and that looks a lot to me - would have guessed it to be way lower. But I assume gambling operators can still make a pretty good living with 60% and in the end they need new players frequently (from their aff).

What I was thinking when reading your post: Wouldn't the decision between Rev/CPA also depend on the gambling site itself ? Talking about bookmakers, there is quite a difference quality-wise. With some bookmakers you are more likely to play a lot (Revenue) and with others you will play only once in a while (CPA). Does that make sense ?

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What about winning players in revenue model ? No risk for affiliates ?

40% revenue share really isnt special - through "private deals", you can get even more than that. Examples: Bitcasino.io for example is paying up to 45% (standard), Sportsbet.io 35% (standard) - no, I am not affiliated with any of these - just mentioning them because they are two of the bigger crypto gambing brands.

I agree it´s quite a lot and that´s why people should go for Revenue Share! Its a great deal for gambling operators anyways, they still make good money and - absolutely correct - they are actually getting constant traffic and only pay for it when people actually generate revenue. Seriously, running a successful affiliate program is great stuff for any gambling brand - that´s until they get greedy and become shady... again, thats a different story. ;)

True - when choosing between Revenue Share / CPA, it always make sense to take a closer look at the site you are going to promote. Are we talking about a huge brand with great reputation? Revenue Share all the way! Are we talking about a brand new site you cant really tell yet? Well, you really may consider the CPA deal. But then again - personally I would only recommend/promote highly trusted / high quality sites... To sum this up: Yes, your point absolutely makes sense. ;)

Last but not least: Many new affiliates are worried about winning players when going for revenue share - but heres the good news - no reputable affiliate program will make you pay in case your revenue goes negative. A negative balance definitely happens, there can be big swings, especially with casino players. If one of your players hits a jackpot for example, you may have a long way to go before you get positive again - heres one more good news, usually you can talk with your affiliate manager and they may remove the player or find another solution. ;)

With most programs, your balance will "just" be negative until your players lose enough. ;) Some programs also offer no negative carryover: In that case, your balance will be reset to zero if you end up in the negatives.

How to create a website

You want to become a successful gambling affiliate, you need a website! If the whole online marketing thing is new to you, creating a website may seem like a very hard task but trust me - it´s not as difficult as you think and technically creating a nice website is much easier than you would think. Read this post and you will see it´s no rocket science at all! :)

I will focus on how you can easily set up a new website and everything that is needed to so and best of all: Not only is it going to be easier than you may think, it´s also not going to cost a fortune!

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Quick start guide on how to create a website in 4 steps:

1) Buy a domain

You need to get a domain - a domain name is the address where your website can be found online, for example efialtisweb.com. Prices for domains have been dropping and you can buy a domain for around $10 for a year - many times even way cheaper as domain name registrants are often offering promo deals. A common address to register a domain name is namecheap.com but there are many more out there. Please stay away from "free domains" - nobody will take your site seriously if you go with a free domain (with alternative address) instead of spending $10 for a year...

2) Buy web hosting

You don´t only need a domain name, which is your address, you also need some space online, where you can upload your website and this is called web hosting. Your domain name will be pointing to this space. Many people use GoDaddy for their web hosting but you could even get cheaper deals elsewhere. Again, I will name a few more options in a separate post. When buying web space, you shouldn´t only look at the lowest price - a lower price usually means worse support, more downtime and you don´t want that for your website!

3) Build your website

Well, before putting anything up on the Internet, you will of course have to build a website. Years ago, building websites used to be much harder than nowadays and people needed more programming/designing skills. Most affiliates bought designs or used free ones and edited/customized them via software such as Dreamweaver. Great news: Forget all of that! Thank´s god there is Wordpress nowadays! With Wordpress, you can get your site up and running in just a few minutes - literally! Wordpress is a CMS (Content Management System) that is very easy to use and I can highly recommend it. It´s not just "a" but "the" most popular CMS in the world, individuals as well as companies are using Wordpress and they are doing so for good reason! Wordpress is open-source, it´s free, it´s customizable, it supports many languages, it supports millions of themes and plugins. I will create a separate post on how to build a website using Wordpress.

4) Upload your website to your web space

After having bought a domain and hosting, you need to upload your files to your web space. This used to be harder back in the day because with Wordpress, you will now be able to automatically install it with just one click (for example when using GoDaddy for your hosting). Otherwise, you can use various ftp programs in order to upload files from your computer to your web space. FileZilla is a common option but there are many more. All you need to do is entering some hosting info and you will be able to transfer files directly to your web space.

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You see, building a website and get it up and running isn´t very hard - it´s pretty easy. This is just a quick guide of course covering only the basic steps. Anyone and I mean it, anyone can create a website, it´s as simple as following the 4 steps mentioned above. More detailed posts covering the specific steps will follow shortly (I hope rather sooner than later).

First Steps

Okay, I think it‘s time for a post about the first steps on your journey to becoming a gambling affiliate. I recently posted about how to create a website (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5240342.msg54275075#msg54275075) and I suggest you read that post if you are completely new to creating websites etc.

So, let‘s not waste any more time and get straight to it. 5 steps to go!

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1st Step – Choose a Niche for your affiliate business/website

As an upcoming affiliate, the very first step should be finding a good niche in the gambling market. By finding a niche you will have an easier time getting traffic and making money. Example: Competing for (generic/huge) terms such as „Online Casino“ will be way harder than „High roller Casino“. You need to find a niche that makes up just a small part of the gambling world.

If you target a niche and build a top notch quality website around it, you will receive more traffic to your website (comparably) and that traffic can be converted to real money players. Targeted traffic is way easier to convert even if the pure amount of traffic is less. Don‘t try to compete with the big gambling affiliates right away, the competition is extremely hard and making money will be tough.

Do your research, online gambling is so complex, you will surely find a part that is promising affiliate wise as well as of personal interest to you. Ideally you need to find a niche with relatively little competition and lots of search engine traffic. I will create a more detailed post on finding a gambling niche later and link it here.

2nd Step – The Domain Name

As easy as it may sound, choosing a domain name can be hard – it‘s the name of your site and it needs to be attractive as well as fitting your niche. Back in the day, internet marketers focused on getting their desired keywords into their domain name but to be honest, things have changed by now and this is no longer „essential“ - yeah, it won‘t hurt of course if you can come up with a domain name that not only sounds/reads nice but also contains your main keyword but with Google‘s recent updates, Branding has become more and more important.

I personally prefer domain names that are as short as possible as well as catchy – it‘s a dream come true obviously if you can find a domain name that additionally contains your keywords. Fact is, no matter if your domain contains your focus keywords or not, you can still rank for any term and I will create a more detailed post on the topic of how to choose a domain name and link it here at a later point.

3rd Step – Get a nice Webdesign

Well, even though I have created and run dozens of affiliate websites for many years, I have never been a (good) webdesigner at all and you know what? It doesn‘t matter at all, you don‘t need to be good at that to become a successful affiliate. Of course it won‘t hurt if you are good it but it‘s by no means essential.

Some new affiliates are making a big mistake by „wasting“ lots of time on trying to design their website on their own – in many cases in order to avoid additional costs – still, I highly recommend you don‘t do that. Your time is valuable and you should use it for productive stuff.

Many years ago, when I started out as an affiliate, there weren‘t as many options available as nowadays and I really tried to build a website from scratch all on my own. The site sucked big time and I wasted countless hours. I finally hired someone to create a great design for me, paid around 200 USD or so and it was one of the best decisions. Nowadays it‘s even easier – you have wordpress (CMS), which comes with thousands of great free themes and then there are several specific premium wordpress themes available, that specifically cater gambling affiliates – these look extremely nice and are optimized for affiliates. You know what? They don‘t cost a fortune and you can get such themes for around $50 or so… a steal really!

A post on webdesign/recommended wordpress themes for gambling affiliates will follow soon.

4th Step – Content is King, write lots of it

Cliché or not – Content is King and it‘s a fact and easily the most important aspect of any affiliate website. Even if you found the perfect niche, without good (and lots of) content, you won‘t ever be a successful affiliate. Just throwing up some lame content and affiliate links on your site won‘t do the trick nowadays – thanks god it won‘t! Instead, you really have to provide lots of top quality content. If you website features great content, your visitors will browse way longer through your site (google ranking factor nowadays), other webmasters as well as regular people will link back to your website and you will obviously rank for various keywords on Google → more entry points for traffic.

Some people really neglect how important quality content is – especially with gambling sites, where so many sites feature the same old stuff. You should never forget a website‘s real use case for each and every visitor: If you visit a website, you are looking for information and you as an affiliate need to make sure, that your visitors can find the exact information they are looking for and in a quality as good as possible.

My rule of thumb is that any affiliate should try to get a minimum of one article online each and every day – sounds harder than it is! Two articles of nice quality a day are even better and will help you rank better much faster. A high quality website is never „finished“ and you should keep adding new content to your website regularly even after reaching 100 pages – don‘t forget that as an affiliate, this is actually your job, it‘s the source of your income and the more traffic you get, the more money you will earn.

A post with tips on Content Creation will follow and linked here.

5th Step – Good, old Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

SEO is a huge field and every affiliate has to deal with it – after all, thousands of websites are competing with each other to get as much traffic from the search engines as possible. You will have a hard time succeeding if you don‘t care about SEO. There are some „rules“ and guidelines you need to follow, in order for your site to rank as good as possible in the search engines. The better your rankings are, the more traffic you will receive and the more money you will make.

Since SEO is such a big topic, I won‘t go into detail here. I will create a post on SEO Basics shortly and link it here. Don‘t be scared though, SEO is no rocket-science… it can be considered some sort of science indeed but anyone can follow the basics and this helps a lot on the way to becoming a successful affiliate.

I read your post and it is really very useful.

Is only wordpress platform can be use to build a website for affiliate?

I am not too good at wordpress usually build a web using blogspost.

It seems like this thread has opened up my insight and knowledge again about how someone can make money from gambling without risking money for gambling. Not only me, a beginner can also be recommended to do it if they want to get bitcoin without having to become a bounty hunter or other that has been widely recommended.

Yes, maybe so far I have often overlooked the opportunities around us to become an affiliate of gambling sites and now it is good for me to learn the basics of how I should start.

OP means web hosting like WordPress. A lot of out there host service and VPS to build website, not only Wordpress, you can use another CMS (Content Management System), this means Blogspot you are mentioned not enough to build it all, let's try to rent cheaps hosting $2/month to begin/learning (with limited service).

Wordpress is not a web hosting service but simply the very "best" CMS (definitely good enough for gambling affiliates) out there. I can't recommend going with Blogspot or the likes but you could do that of course - you could also hand code everything yourself but why would you do that?

What do you mean by "not too good at Wordpress"? - Just buy some cheap hosting at GoDaddy or so and your Wordpress website can be up and running within a few minutes (have everything installed with just a few clicks). You don't even need ftp programs nowadays.

Hey guys,

there are still so many topics and things left I want to share with you but since my time is very limited at the moment, I will stop updating this thread for the time being. I will get back to that in a month or two, hopefully. :)

Full disclosure: While creating this thread and writing about gambling affiliating, I realized I have to get back to this, so stay tuned and be prepared... 8)

Well, that thread "inspired" me to get back in the game and around 2.5 months after I posted I would get back to this, here we go: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5262141.0 :)

Would you be interested in me continuing this thread/guide?

I am currently thinking about starting a new project and (assuming I will go for it), we could even do something like a Journal - how long will it take to build a XXX gambling affiliate site and how long until we start making money? This might even be more interesting than "just" educational posts?

Yes please continue and I also want to earn from affiliate program but I think I am lacking of something,
I used to promote some gambling site through my affiliate link and not just gambling sites I also promote some HYIP back in the old days but I didn't get any person to register using my link.
I had some person's who would comment or ask about the sites but I would soon find out that they are registered to it without using my affiliate links and some of my online friends told me that there are some who would cut-off the affiliate links and only copy the websites address,
This is why I chose to stop promoting any website, Any tips on how I could make them use my link?

I just saw your group of guides, and they are extremely useful to me as one of my long term plans is to launch an affiliate news site (not really affiliate gambling but close enough). This is not going to happen any time soon though, because I need to secure funding for it.

I benefited from the website design guide the most, I suck at programming websites and design so I end up making old fashioned 90s sites with bare HTML.

I agree with you that Wordpress is a must-use for websites, but the large cache of themes for sale; I wonder if there's a way to buy them with bitcoin.

Knowing the trail that each user leaves in its path is difficult ... it is like the comet that appears every certain orbit and you have to take advantage of it, I think the comet is returning !!
I like the idea in practice, as you mentioned ... in my case I would like to start one in Spanish* "profe" (abbreviation for teacher in Spanish)
Hey !! that this idea (crude) arises with the emotion of your post, so, you have inspired me. you have a successful site and you still take the trouble to stop by to help others.

I sign up.

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(*)Although the language as a barrier is the least, but as a niche in the traffic it is important.

If you are really sure about that - I mean that you want to give this a try - go for it now, even if you only put up a landing page now - just register the domain for a few bucks and put something on there --> let the domain age, this will help you a lot when you decide you are ready to really work on it. I wish I had registered my BTCGOSU domain earlier - would have saved me lots of time now. Age of a domain is super important for big G...

Also - you wouldn't have to start "big" right away and the starting costs really aren't that much - register a domain for 10 bucks, buy a cheap hosting for another 10 bucks, get yourself a free wordpress theme (there are really nice free WP themes) and write the content. I guess you are thinking about some sort of news blog?

Seriously, I highly recommend going the wordpress route instead of trying to code stuff yourself - I have been there... :D

I am not sure regarding payment for themes via BTC, would have to google.

Yep, a kind of blog where I hire people to write the content for me.

About the domains, if I were to register one right now, how many months will it take for Google to take it seriously? I have web hosting already so making a landing page won't be a problem, I just don't want surprises where I leave a domain idle for a few months only to find out Google won't index it high when I'm ready to use it.

Domains are super cheap when you pay for them once a year, but regardless I'm hoping Google doesn't make people wait that long.

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Has ICANN ever contacted you about the domains of your sites by the way? I'm not sure how interested they are in investigating affiliate sites but this will give me a heads up to know what to expect in the future.

Google won't rank you highly just because a domain is "aged" but, the age of a domain is definitely one of the various factors and a domain that has been "live" for a couple of months will definitely make your life much easier when you start building the site for real.

Generally speaking, you need to expect at least one year before google starts giving you the rankings your site actually deserves.

Nope, I have never problems with ICANN and that is something I really wouldn't worry about...

Let me know if you need help with anything specifically but listen to me - register that domain, make a little landing page and let it age, now! ;)

Time flies, doesn't it? Half a year passed since I created my BTCGOSU ANN thread here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5262141.0

That was also the time when my "real" website went live - I uploaded some basic stuff a little earlier but the real launch of https://www.btcgosu.com happened when I created my ANN thread here on Bitcointalk.

Half a year later, I can tell that we are on a very good way but of course nowhere close to where we want to be.

Just thought I would give a mini update and let everyone know that you can of course ask questions if there's anything you would like to know. :)

Wow. can't believe it's already been 8 months since I got my domain registered. No ICANN woes either. Time really does fly doesn't it  :)

Anyway, I came to ask you about the mailing list you have on your site - how necessary do you think it's going to be to gain referrals in the long term? I'm asking this because I'm busy upgrading my almost-ready site and am not sure whether to invest in a mailing list service (Creative Mail in particular) right away or put it aside for later.

It's a news aggregator by the way, so gambling's served as a side section. I'm really not making a BTCGOSU competitor ;)

Can you believe I have only realized your post now... Sorry about that!

I am personally quite a fan of newsletter lists, even in 2021. ;) With BTCGOSU, we have been capturing a good amount of emails and stats show that people like getting some updates via email every once in a while.

Talking about time flying... oh man, it`s been 13 months since GOSU launch... Crazy that I started with thread in April last year and there were no signs of BTCGOSU at that point. :D

By the way efialtis - I see that some casinos such as Crypto.games show a list of their partners on their site. So, do you think regular referral link ads make better money or will I make more by contacting them directly by email with partnership offers?

Some problems with regular referral links include not knowing if the casino will let you withdraw your earnings without KYC, since after all you didn't gamble anything, and unwilling to perform the KYC or living in a restricted jurdistinction.

It`s always a good idea to reach out to potential business partners when looking to work together - in some cases you may be able to get a better affiliate deal, many times you could have a hard time since they would ask you to bring in a certain volume. Even then, if I were you, I would definitely contact them. As soon as you are able to send more players, you would surely be able to get an improved deal.

And yeah - you would of course also be able to get answers on your questions. Normally, withdrawing affiliate commissions shouldn`t ever be a problem for the reasons you brought up.

Such a cool thread and so much information to be had from this.

In case you guys are unaware Efialtis has been banned from the forum for 60 days and if you want more details, you may visit this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5346219.0

Upset about the news but I guess he made a mistake and we cannot deny it, as unfortunate as it might be :(

Affiliate marketing is such an underrated part of the crypto gambling industry because if you just get one good player under you and he is by chance a whale, you will easily earn enough for the rest of your life that you don't have to do anything else. I was able to refer some big players earlier at PD and although they are inactive now, I remember earning excellent profit from them all.

People are looking for good and independent reviews when they are researching for gambling sites or any sites that they would like to invest their money and time if you can provide them with real user's experience, and tell them beforehand what they could expect from a particular site, you will have their trust and your chances is high that they will become your recruit, people wants to join in a project where they are introduced by people who know very well about the site.

I hope that this won't get dismissed because I kind of get confused between affiliate and referral? Are they similar or is their a distinction between the two. I wanted to try this too because some of my friends do this and they earna decent money out of it.

Affiliates usually contact the advertiser directly to negotiate contracts that are more profitable than the commission from regular users signing up under a referral link.

The internet is saturated with referral link ads so an affiliate would negotiate for better rates that are also priced per click.

I never noticed that question of yours - apologies!

The main difference between affiliate programs and referral programs is that affiliate partners do not necessarily need to be "customers" of a company. Especially in crypto gambling space, there still are a lot of operators who mix up things, who do not have a proper affiliate program, where the actual affiliate needs to open a player account in order to promote them etc.

Referral programs are basically for "regular" people who want to get little rewards for referring friends over to a site.

We are "forced" by casinos to use the referral system till they decide that we are eligible for affiliate program. What's your opinion on this?

What you do mean about "forced"? Literally or on your own kind of understanding or impression? Come to mind that its just optional about that referral system whether you do like to invite others or not
but we do know that convincing someone to play isnt something simple as it sounds but there are people who do spam out their links and affiliate programs is something
that you cant see often.Sometimes its been offered sometimes its open for everyone.

"Forced" = you need to bring a ton of players and they need to wager a lot of money to get into their affiliate system. With affiliation you can increase your cut with the casino and have more "favors" from that actual casino that ur advertising.

Thanks for the heads up, this nieche is huge and it needs to be taken advantage of.