Is anyone else outraged?

[northwester]

Guys, I've been reading through casino affiliate terms and conditions and it's pretty clear that poker rooms/casinos/sportsbooks don't allow incentivization.

But why?

Offering bonuses (aka incentives) is a great way to boost conversions. As a Clickbank affiliate, one of the best ways to get people to buy is to offer 2-3 related bonuses, which helps boost the perceived value of what I'm offering. The customer may not want to buy a $37 digital product, but if I offer 3 bonuses that are valued at $50 each and present it on my landing page, my product becomes more attractive to the prospect.

Yet, poker rooms/casinos/sportsbooks don't like this.

The only gambling merchant that kind of allows this is Fan Duel. According to Fan Duel, "Incentivizing a signup with outside rewards is not allowed, and FanDuel will not pay commission on ANY incentivized users. Exceptions can be made if you are offering a product that helps users play on FanDuel. But you must contact our team first and receive explicit approval."

So, if you offer a book on sportsbetting or fantasy sports strategy, it's ok.

If I'm on a rev share deal, what difference does it make to the casino/poker room/sportsbook? They make money and I make money? no?

What do you guys think?

[Cash Bonus]

I think it’s quite stupid, really. As you said, by offering these incentives, it’s supposed to help make the casinos look more attractive and tempt players to come and sign up to their programs.

Edit: That’s okay, I was also referring to rev share deals.

[northwester]

Thanks for the reply Cash Bonus. I should have mentioned in the OP that I'm talking about rev share deals, not CPA.

I understand that incentivizing CPA offers is a big no no and is considered fraud.

[universal4]

Incentivizing a signup, predominantly refers to an additional incentive offered by the affiliate to gain the signup.

This could be a cash payment, or other item of value that the potential player might not gain otherwise. I could see some operators possibly considering things such as a free book or guide falling in to this definition, although I am not sure I have heard too many instances of such.

The 1st deposit bonus, free spins, free bet etc etc offered directly by the operator is in most cases not considered an dis-allowed incentive since the is between the player and the operator directly.

There are many reasons why the incentive rule has been in the terms of most affiliate programs since the beginning, and should be no surprise to most affiliates.

Incentives, predominantly those of a cash value, offered by affiliates will often lead to player fraud, as well as low value for the casino or book. While you may feel this may or may not be the case in your situation, affiliate programs, at least on the surface, have to attempt to stay consistent on such rules. If they do not, other affiliates which might drive more traffic could possibly threaten to withhold or reduce such traffic by allowing some affiliates to do things against such terms or that they might feel gives someone an unfair advantage on traffic or signups.

Rick
Universal4

[statsdrone]

it is like rakeback. I think a lot of operators experienced enough fraud and I think some of them will exempt you from the terms and conditions on a case by case basis but otherwise casino and bookie cashback doesn't seem to be a thing.

[wonderpunter]

it's good for you but not the program, usually low value players and most aff deals for that use incentives want CPA too

[golfbettingsystem]

I guess the question is whether you can attract good quality players (or better than average, at least) with an incentive, rather than just higher numbers of lower value players.

On rev share it’s in your interest of course to not just get new players of any old quality at any cost, so I can see your argument - would be nice to think that some programs would at least engage with an adult conversation around how you’d go about it and measure performance on a trial basis to begin with, but sadly I think you’ll hit a brick wall.

[TheGooner]

Outraged? No.
Surprised it's not welcomed for rev-share? Only a bit.

If a person needs to be incentivised to join up - it's unlikely that they'll be a big player or a regular player.

Given the bonus incentives that the sportsbook / casino hand out on first deposits, I wouldn't be surprised if they had numbers that showed that the average player that dabbles and just makes one small deposit is barely break even.

Gambling programs make money from regular players - not one-and-done players who only did it for the incentive.

[GCG]

Outraged? No.
Surprised it's not welcomed for rev-share? Only a bit.

If a person needs to be incentivised to join up - it's unlikely that they'll be a big player or a regular player.

Given the bonus incentives that the sportsbook / casino hand out on first deposits, I wouldn't be surprised if they had numbers that showed that the average player that dabbles and just makes one small deposit is barely break even.

Gambling programs make money from regular players - not one-and-done players who only did it for the incentive.

Never did care about if a player would sign up its up to the player based on the info he/she decides to make themselves and if the content you provided was good enough for either a yes or no go.

In all those years I have probably paid $100 for ads I think it was bidvertiser or something similar and still think that was a total waste of money.

Nowadays I have seen websites ranking for #1 positions and I know how (it either involves clever hacking or big payment but I think its about hiding the links on the host after the hack).

And yes they work for multiple programs and most are sponsors on the GPWA.

Affiliate managers if you are interested drop me a pm and I will show you and example (the person is a GPWA member : either hats off you are to buy these links or......you know the deal).

Have yourselves a great day !

[northwester]

Thank you for your input TheGooner. That's interesting info.