Affiliate Opportunities are Plentiful in the US Market

**Allan_IncomeAccess** · 6 October 2014, 3:04 pm

The US market has been one of the hottest topics across the iGaming industry in 2014. One only needed to stroll across the conference floors in London or Amsterdam this year to hear continuous conversations from both operators and affiliates regarding this quickly emerging market (or re-emerging given that it was the world leader in online gaming prior to 2006).

While the majority of focus and content has been centered on New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware, along with other states such as California and Pennsylvania preparing to potentially enter the legal online gaming market, two things are clear:

The US market is much bigger than only regulated real-money gaming
Most affiliates are unaware of how many opportunities currently exist to make the most of real-money in the US

Affiliates that are mulling over whether to get involved in promoting brands in regulated states need to start looking at the US from a holistic view. While the real-money sector is growing, there are other legal products that affiliates can promote including Real-Money Casino and Poker, Daily Fantasy Sports, Horse and Greyhound Racing, and Social Gaming.

Real-Money Casino and Poker

It’s no secret that many ‘rogue?operators openly and enthusiastically accept US players, with few serious consequences. These operators are mostly unregulated and are not held accountable to any consistent standards with regards to fair play and trustworthiness.

As the legalized market continues to expand and more inter-state partnerships are embraced, regulated gaming will become the preferred option and affiliates will want to follow suit. The individual States have started to legalize online gambling within their borders are New Jersey, Nevada and Delaware

Opportunities for Affiliates in New Jersey

With a population of 8.9 million, New Jersey is by far the largest state to legalize online gambling, and has generated revenues of $10,070,262 in July alone. Affiliates in New Jersey, as in Nevada, must obtain a license from the DGE (New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement ) to promote New Jersey operators to players.

Currently, there are two types of licenses an affiliate may obtain:

Vendor Registration allows affiliates to work on CPA, Flat Fee, CPC and/or CPM deals with no registration cost involved.
Ancillary Licensing allows affiliates to work on Revenue Share and CPL deals, which can prove profitable enough to justify the $2,000 licensing fee and additional paperwork.

Daily Fantasy Sports

Affiliates who have US traffic that they are looking to legally monetize should strongly consider adding fantasy sports operators to their list of partners. Sportsbook affiliates should have no problem monetizing their US traffic through cross selling, and the number of affiliate sites exclusively dedicated to US fantasy sports is not very large at the moment, making it the perfect time to capitalize on this market before it becomes over-saturated.

Advantages to promoting daily fantasy sports operators:

Legally regulated in the United States: Most fantasy sports operators are licensed and regulated in the US, which makes them a safer option for players to go to instead of illegal offshore bookmakers.
No licensing required: Unlike advertising iGaming brands based in New Jersey, affiliates do not need to apply for any licenses to promote fantasy sports operators.
Player value: The average player value in fantasy sports is between $50-$100.
Player volume: While volumesvary from brand to brand, top fantasy operators average up to 5000 new players per month through the affiliate channel, with 60% making a first deposit the same month they register.

Horse and Greyhound Racing

Online betting on horse and greyhound racing offers the biggest real-money gambling opportunity in the US market for affiliates. Unbeknownst to many, US players can legally bet on horse/greyhound racing in most states through operators that are licensed and regulated within the US as the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) enumerates a specific exception for both sports.

Affiliates do not need to get licensed to promote any of the American ADWs (advance-depositing wagering operators) on their sites, which makes this an attractive market for affiliates looking to legally monetize their US visitors
Players can easily transfer money through instant deposits with credit card or debit card, bank transfers or e-wallets
Many ADWs provide betting on international tracks and stream the races online

Social Gaming

“Social games?can be broken down into a few segments, including casual games (e.g. Candy Crush, Clash of Clans, Simpsons Tapped Out, etc.) and social casinos (e.g. Zynga Poker, Double Down Casino, Big Fish Casino, SlotoLotto, etc.). These games can be accessed on mobile devices, tablets, on web-based social platforms like Facebook, or through a user’s browser.

The games are almost always free to download, and players are then monetised in-game through real money purchases. This will allow players to advance through the game by gaining more coins, lives, spins, etc.

Social gaming is an ideal way to both grow and monetise your traffic on-site ?especially that originating from the US. Social games allow participation by players from all geographic locations (e.g. US, UK, EU, etc.) and affiliates do not require affiliate licensing of any kind to promote them. Flexible commission structures are available to players, including the following:

CPL: entering an email, accepting a Facebook app, etc.
CPA: based on a player deposit
Revenue share: 25-100%
Hybrid of CPL + revenue share or CPL + CPA

**chaumi** · 6 October 2014, 4:31 pm

It might be wise to hold off doing too much on poker/casino at least until end Nov. RAWA could put paid to the whole show?

**TheGooner** · 6 October 2014, 5:36 pm

Originally Posted by chaumi

It might be wise to hold off doing too much on poker/casino at least until end Nov. RAWA could put paid to the whole show?

What is RAWA ?

EDIT : Found a primer here ...
https://www.bluff.com/news/rawa-legis...ambling-59356/

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) pushing a Restoration of Americas Wire Act (RAWA) bill which is loosely based on Sheldon Adelson's senile ramblings ...

**TravG** · 6 October 2014, 8:31 pm

Good post. I agree the potential in the US market is awesome. Unfortunately it is a slow process but in a few years I believe some affiliates will be ready to retire in just a short amount of time if they can capitalize on the US market.

Even given 99% of my traffic is US based, I myself have been slow to adopt legal poker/casino and sports in the US by working with operators in Jersey and Nevada. I am at the moment trying to get this going to at least have a representation of the legal operators on my websites. Those serious about this business should have some type of plan in place so that when (hopefully not if) we see many more states legalizing our industry they are ready to go. We could see a boom similar to a few years back. For an affiliate like myself who relies on the US market it is even more important because if this whole thing becomes legal and you are not ready to promote the legal sites your revenue could drop to 0 quickly. Noone will be using the sites who now accept US players as fully regulated and legal sites become available.

**casinobonusguy** · 7 October 2014, 5:39 pm

I plan to wait until my peers start posting about all the money they are making with legal US programs before I do anything.Having said that we are only at 22% US traffic and even that feels too high for me these days.Personally I will assume that there will still be high numbers sticking with the offshore guys over the licensed brands because of habits , the high comps and yes not wanting to pay their taxes.

**mojo** · 7 October 2014, 9:06 pm

Before 2006, the US market was the number one lucrative market in the world. That hasn't changed, nor will it. Americans love to gamble.

Personally, I see nothing wrong with paying taxes on these funds. The huge billions of dollars needs to come back to the USA and not bleed out. Funds provide protection for players.

**Sherlock** · 7 October 2014, 10:19 pm

What is the best US fantasy sport site for US and what is the best affiliate programme? Any experience or recommendations welcome! I did not think about it until now. I did not know that the player is worth of 50-100 usd.

I do not agree with those statements:

Noone will be using the sites who now accept US players as fully regulated and legal sites become available.

Like by downloading, not many ppl are aware what is and what is not legal. Any site can create as many stamps "Regulated" as they want and the small print "in Costa Rica" is not read by users.

I see illegal US market booming now. 5dimes are insanely good for me now. And this is because the legalisation opens spaci for illegal operators as well. US lived fordecads with gambling illegal and noone can expect ppl used to bet -105 lines to switch to heavily taxed -110 or worse. I have seen this in France or Italy. I have doubts how the legal operators will perform, but I have no doubts the illegal will hold their share. It is indeed a question what will they do if they ever go legal and if they will shave us as usually. Unsensitive regulation can kill this industry. The recent regulation, that is not on federal level and is too restrictive for everyone, is not something from 21st century. It will only help even darker markets like BTC gambling. The creators of the regulation will see it too late.

I will not fill licences in 50+ states and pay there taxes and fill some silly forms on the top of W-8 or W-9 forms. No way. It pays me off to stay with honest "rogue" sites.

**AceHigh Pino** · 7 October 2014, 11:10 pm

Originally Posted by Sherlock

What is the best US fantasy sport site for US and what is the best affiliate programme? Any experience or recommendations welcome! I did not think about it until now. I did not know that the player is worth of 50-100 usd.

DraftKings and FanDuel are the best ones right IMO -- also, they're definitely the most heavily promoted on TV as well (especially on ESPN of course).

I'm assuming DraftDay is solid considering how much of a following they've built up from over at 2+2, but I've never pushed them myself just yet.

**Allan_IncomeAccess** · 9 October 2014, 9:34 am

Hi All,

Really great to see the active conversation this post has started, that was absolutely the point behind starting this conversation.

Tones of good points brought up, I will share my opinion on a few based on what I have seen in the market:

1) While some of you have mentioned that offshore betting brands continue to be profitable and will continue to exist, I agree this is hard to argue with. That being said, we have already seen big brands pull out of the NJ market, and this will likely continue to happen as more markets become regulated. While the US market continues to grow, and more and more opportunities open up to promote regulated brands, affiliates will continue to be encouraged to concentrate their promotion on regulated brand. Regulators are strict on these points, that if you want to promote legally you will need to stop promoting unregulated brands, and as the market grows affiliates that do not adopt this will have a hard time entering and growing with the lucrative market

2) Much of the conversation so far has touched on real money or fantasy. There are big opportunities in legal horse racing and social right now. Feel free to message me or send me an email at allan (at) incomeaccess.com and I would be happy to guide you though these

3) As any market, getting involved in it infancy, even in a small capacity is smart for affiliates. Setting yourself up now, and building up you US traffic now will only lead to greater success down the road

And finally: for anyone attending BAC I will be hosting a panel on US opportunities for affiliates on Saturday October 25th at 11:15, you should come by and have a listen! I would also love to meet with anyone attending the conference, so send me a message so we can discuss this in person in a couple of weeks!

Cheers,
Allan

**Sherlock** · 9 October 2014, 10:08 am

Regulators are strict on these points, that if you want to promote legally you will need to stop promoting unregulated brands, and as the market grows affiliates that do not adopt this will have a hard time entering and growing with the lucrative market

If this is true, then we will see a lot of "fun". It is one more argument to avoid promoting regulated brands, because then I will risk very bad things at once:
- risk of investigation of my identity by crazy US regulators, because I would be commiting crime because I promote terrorist sites, which can end who knows where
- risk that my past and actually well working programmes will lower my rev share or completely kick me off for excuse I do not support them anymore; and since I have worked many years on it, I really see no point to risk coming into new regulated market, with unknown new brands, staff, income lowered by taxes and paperwork on the top

Thank you very much for posts full of information and I appreciate that you tell things in balanced way, but this actually persuaded me to stay in grey area and keep observing BTC gambling. I do not believe this regulated model has economical sense and for affiliates I believe it has even less sense. Yet people will still gamble. The question is: how.

Bovada is under heavy pressure so they decided to move out of regulated markets, but thankfully there are still good brands operating US-wide. I am definitely betting on them. This transition ispoorly managed, if they think that unregulated bookies and their affiliates will now throw everything out of window.

This way the official new bookies will be dependant on pricey display ads and direct uneffective advertisement.

I do not believe this market will grow as everyone is planning. I can see what they told us about France and Italy and the success that should come and allegedly came. It is all bullshit. Gambling in those countries is overregulated (yet less than what is coming in the US) and it is not working due regulation. For me Italian visitor has 100-1000x less value than British.

**Allan_IncomeAccess** · 9 October 2014, 11:34 am

Hi Sherlock,

I think the important point to understand from the regulators standpoint is that first mover states are being watched very carefully by the rest of the industry in terms of how the launch of real money gaming goes in regulated states.

I think what needs to be understood by affiliates is that regulators are looking at what brands affiliates promote, and ensuring that affiliates promoting regulated bands are not associated these with non-regulated brands. I think your worries mentioned in point 1 are extreme, but I see the point you are trying to make here.

Bottom line is that the success of the regulated industry relies on them doing it properly from the start, and this is the reason why regulation has been taken very seriously in the US. I think comparing the US market to France and Italy would be tough, simply given the immense size of the market and the proven potential. We are seeing player values incredibly high, and these will likely continue as more states open up, as while there is a market for unregulated brands, there is also a huge market of players that are looking for fully legal places to gamble.

We recognize that there are affiliates on each side of the fence, and appreciate your comments that you like the way we have presented the information. This is a learning process for everyone, and I think that people's perception will change multiple times as the industry grows in the US.

We are always open to chat if you have any questions.

Cheers,
Allan

**Sherlock** · 9 October 2014, 11:53 am

Actually I have been promoting EU brands before regulating and after. And I can see how too tough regulation can destroy everything. US players are not THAT valuable and EU are not THAT inferior.

There are states with better regulation in EU: DK, ES maybe even DE (even when I consider their 4% tax on turnover too much, it is too early to evaluate).

From my point of view to impose such restrictions on affiliates is very unproductive and this statement is much more valid in the beginning, when the US regulators want me to invest huge resources into regulation process and throw away my recent parners overboard, when you do not offer anything.

I am recommending hundreds of new RMP per month in the US only and I have thousands of players as core - what am I forced to do by officials now is something out of economical rationality. After the legal brands will beat 5dimes in Alexa ranks in HUGE numbers, then maybe. Until then the regulated industry should beg me for traffic and not to tell me who I can or can not promote or tell me that I have to make some 2K downpayment for revenue share deals. It is ridiculous. US authorities lost this in 2006 and they have to understand that now is too late just for regulation, especially while facing persistent and healthy grey market.

Do not forget that the money invested into ads will help whole industry incl. the grey areas. Any official ad is promotion of whole gambling sector, not just the particular brand. So from this point of view I am big fan of regulation and I will stay with the offshore guys who will I hope cash the regulation benefits together with me.

US authorities are impotent with taking down websites (not just gambling ones), who meanwhile moved under .eu domains and this will not change, because no one there understands the subtle things of the market and they want to solve everything with power that they are losing more and more.

**Allan_IncomeAccess** · 9 October 2014, 12:11 pm

Hi Sherlock,

The market is still young, but we have seen great player values in casino in particular, and so far that is very encouraging for the growth of the market. The perception is that licensing is a long and expensive process, however getting Vendor Registered in NJ right now is both a very short and free process, which allows you to earn on a CPA.

It is still early to tell, and we do not want to speculate on what will happen in the market in terms of unregulated brands pulling out, this is a conversation for down the road.

I do not want to go off track to far, as the purpose of the post was to discuss all the opportunities in the US, which also include Fantasy Sports, horse racing and social gaming, all sources of revenuesthat are valuable in the market as well.

I do appreciate you taking the time to discuss your thoughts on the market, and if you will be at BAC I would love to meet up and hear what else you to say regarding the market.

Cheers!
Allan

**Sherlock** · 9 October 2014, 12:44 pm

Originally Posted by AceHigh Pino

DraftKings and FanDuel are the best ones right IMO -- also, they're definitely the most heavily promoted on TV as well (especially on ESPN of course).

I'm assuming DraftDay is solid considering how much of a following they've built up from over at 2+2, but I've never pushed them myself just yet.

I will try Fanduel, because Draftking do not count with affiliates outside US/CA.

**Sherlock** · 9 October 2014, 12:58 pm

Originally Posted by Allan_IncomeAccess

I do not want to go off track to far, as the purpose of the post was to discuss all the opportunities in the US, which also include Fantasy Sports, horse racing and social gaming, all sources of revenuesthat are valuable in the market as well.

I do appreciate you taking the time to discuss your thoughts on the market, and if you will be at BAC I would love to meet up and hear what else you to say regarding the market.

Cheers!
Allan

Fair enough. After all it is your thread. If you have some influence over the regulatory process, please think what I have told here, because it is not just some whinging - I wrote here what I will do. It is all about money. (And money is about time, therefore I do not go to conferences and I do not sign up everywhere possible [e.g. 51 states of USA] to have head like watermelon just by managing all my accounts, because then the system and tuning of ROI becomes so complex, that it is not efficient to add more elements.

Even large affiliates are very small businesses, often one man shows, where affiliate does (or outsources) everything from accounting to SEO, because building a corporation causes a loss of flexibility that is the chamechanger if you want traffic, where winner takes it all. If someone wants traffic from those guys, he has to accomodate and makes things simple. I do not know why the affiliate programmes themselves are not the agents that would do paperwork for me and withold the taxes for example.

Affiliates with US traffic are also non_US based. I am not an US entity and everyone knows how US treats outsiders [6 months I am solving now establishing my international account at Lending Club with no success just paying for lawyers and NO WAY I will bother with this again just for some vague promise].).

**Gamer** · 9 October 2014, 12:59 pm

I am reading this interesting thread. I love Sherlock's posts, I can always learn something from him.
I am just curious whether you had any experience with BetAmerica ?

**Sherlock** · 9 October 2014, 1:07 pm

If you are asking me, then not. Even never heard of it, probably bc it looks racing focused and honestly I do not know anything about it. But since their AP looks like Income Access, Alan might tell you more.

**AndrewS_IA** · 9 October 2014, 1:13 pm

Originally Posted by Gamer

I am reading this interesting thread. I love Sherlock's posts, I can always learn something from him.
I am just curious whether you had any experience with BetAmerica ?

Hi Gamer,
BetAmerica's affiliate program is managed by our team at Income Access - if you have any questions, please send me a PM. Happy to help out!

Cheers,

**Gamer** · 9 October 2014, 1:16 pm

Yes, you are right, it's Income Access.
It's strange, no one can tell me more about BetAmerica. Even you, experienced affiliate.

Have sent e-mail to Draftkings, why they do not accept affiliates based outside of North America.

**Gamer** · 9 October 2014, 1:20 pm

Originally Posted by AndrewS_IA

Hi Gamer,
BetAmerica's affiliate program is managed by our team at Income Access - if you have any questions, please send me a PM. Happy to help out!

Cheers,

Thanks for your help. However, I wanted to hear something from other affiliates, not from AM.
Have seen all the pages of BetAmerica and know a lot, even the interesting story about the founders.
However, in-depth experience of other affiliates are priceless stories.

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