I've recently seen an affiliate site with an integrated casino, would that work?

[WagerX]

Hey guys,
I've recently seen an affiliate site that would be considered a niche site. It's in the top 20 for some medium competitive terms. What they've done is integrate a relevant "play for money" casino in to the site. There's no affiliate program. It's sort of weird in the sense that it offer players the ability to play there, and also, suggestions for other brands. I don't want to "out" the url publicly. I can PM the url for those that request it. I know the owner and he's doing well with it.

Has anyone seen this successful before?

The benefits I see are:
(1) Higher user engagement. This will lead to better SERPS. More time on page and lower abandonment.
(2) Optimization of the monetization of traffic. ie. send traffic you can't use to other brands that can convert better (ie restricted markets).
(3) Easier to build quality content, because you are not limited to your own's brands offerings.
(4) Longevity. This one is a little subjective, but it seems to me that brands themselves don't stay around that long. After being absent in the affiliate business for quite some time , I found that almost all of affiliate programs I used to promote are no longer around. Heck, I know intimately, the inner workings and economy of brands that I've had as projects, and understand why a good and decently run brand may not be sustainable. So, it seems like you can build a player base as well as an affiliate audience at the same time.


The "cons" would be:
(1) Conversions? I don't know how players would feel about that arrangement. Would they feel confident in making deposits knowing the they were offered other brands?

Am I wrong? is there something I am not seeing?

[universal4]

Yea I also with your last point and think conversions would be difficult, and might confuse the visitor some.

So you have a review for casino x having the absolutely best bang up games and a great deposit bonus with an out going link.....but wait the link that sent me here said casino Y had great games and a great deposit bonus.

One would think if doing that and you reviewed your own brand and then sent the traffic from that review to an external link ad external domain would be the most effective way.

Rick
Universal4

[WagerX]

I agree, sending a player to "Y" casino when they are expecting "X" casino would be untrustworthy. I returned to the site and found that the affiliate site/brand hides the "PLAY HERE" banners until the browser user has been there for a minute or so. So it seems like the site owner wants to prioritize the affiliate promotions over their own in house options.