Trying to settle on 3-4 affiliate programs to start.

[indepthstats]

We finally got the kinks worked out on our site and I'm ready to start taking a deeper look at which affiliate programs will be the best for us to partner with long term.

I went ahead and signed up for the bettingpartners.com program since I have first hand knowledge of their sites and at least know they are competent from what I've seen.

What other programs would you recommend given the following type of site:

-Very highly targeted tennis traffic, expecting a pretty good volume of traffic in the next 6-12 weeks. So the affiliates must have a sportsbook (not just casino), and live betting is a big plus.

-Based in the US, but will have visitors worldwide (we're working on alternative language sites as we speak). So we probably need at least 1-2 affiliate programs for each major market. But they must accept (and be able to pay) U.S. affiliates.

-Would also be interested in sponsoring some contests or free rolls to help conversion rates early on with select affiliates. Not sure how common this is.

Reading the boards I've learned a lot, but also become a little overwhelmed by all of the information. Some useful, some not so much.

So I'd really appreciate some unbiased suggestions and your experiences.

A note for the Affiliate Program Reps on this board: You're more than welcome to chime in and state your program offerings as well, but please make sure you at least meet the minimum requirements we're looking for. And also, if you have references from other established members on these boards that'd be a huge help.

Thanks all!

[edgarf76]

Commission.bz, 5dimes, topbet, vietbet. Pm me if u want specifics, ie lotto, scratch cards, ext..

[indepthstats]

Commission.bz, 5dimes, topbet, vietbet. Pm me if u want specifics, ie lotto, scratch cards, ext..

Thanks, I will PM you for more information on your suggestions.

I was hoping for a little explanation as well since some things may be great for one affiliate but not so great for another.

[Anthony-Coral]

Hi indepthstats, We take and pay US affiliates but not US players - that a deal breaker for you?

[Asim]

For non US traffic your first choice imo should be Bet365. They have many tennis livebets going on almost 24/7. Also they converts good, and player retension is good.

Other choces could be : Betvictor (great livebetting for tennis), Coral and Tipico.

For scandinavien specific traffic : betsafe (affiliatelounge), bet365, unibet and perhaps Come On

For US traffic : you cant go wrong with Bovada. Also you should think about adding InterTops. They accept US players as I recall. They also have a new great livebetting consol with lots of tennis betting.

If you are looking for a sub-link for some of the affiliteprograms above, you can always pm me

[AndrewS_IA]

Hi indepthstats,

Our team at Income Access manages a few sports brands that are US focused and regulated (BetAmerica and Watch and Wager) but they focus more on horse racing and fantasy sports and less on tennis. Will you be specializing in other sports in the long run?

[indepthstats]

Hi indepthstats, We take and pay US affiliates but not US players - that a deal breaker for you?

Anthony, that wouldn't necessarily be a deal breaker. We expect >50% of our visitors to be based outside the US. In fact, at some point we will probably have location specific page loading which would be ideal for advertising channels both that allow and disallow US players.

If you don't mind me asking, have you ever had any issues paying US affiliates?

Also, any places other than the US from which you don't accept players?

Thanks!

[indepthstats]

For non US traffic your first choice imo should be Bet365. They have many tennis livebets going on almost 24/7. Also they converts good, and player retension is good.

Other choces could be : Betvictor (great livebetting for tennis), Coral and Tipico.

For scandinavien specific traffic : betsafe (affiliatelounge), bet365, unibet and perhaps Come On

For US traffic : you cant go wrong with Bovada. Also you should think about adding InterTops. They accept US players as I recall. They also have a new great livebetting consol with lots of tennis betting.

If you are looking for a sub-link for some of the affiliteprograms above, you can always pm me

That's some good information Asim. Thanks.

You seem to have some experience working with multiple affiliate programs. What do you think is the most important factor to consider when starting?

And are most all of the programs a standard rev share of 25-35%? Or are their other options available?

[indepthstats]

Hi indepthstats,

Our team at Income Access manages a few sports brands that are US focused and regulated (BetAmerica and Watch and Wager) but they focus more on horse racing and fantasy sports and less on tennis. Will you be specializing in other sports in the long run?

Andrew, it's exciting that there are now sites that are legal in the states. Wasn't sure I'd ever see the day.

Can you tell me a little more about your player base?

Also, what are the regulations for players located in states other than the one your site is registered in? Are they allowed at all?

At this point we are 100% tennis focused and our next planned addition would be soccer, but as the company grows we would certainly consider many other avenues.

[AndrewS_IA]

Andrew, it's exciting that there are now sites that are legal in the states. Wasn't sure I'd ever see the day.

Can you tell me a little more about your player base?

Also, what are the regulations for players located in states other than the one your site is registered in? Are they allowed at all?

Agreed! It's great to have the US market back on the radar in general.

Regarding regulations, it's different for each brand - for BetAmerica, they are focused on the US market as a whole (they do accept players from overseas but it's not their main target). State restrictions regarding race wagering and fantasy sports depend on the state where the players log-in from. For example, if a player logs in from Alaska, they will only see the fantasy product available as racing is restricted there. If they were to log-in from North Dakota, they'd be able to bet on racing but not on Fantasy.

Hope this helps - if you are looking to get into horse racing or fantasy sports in the future, please feel free to reach out.

Cheers,

[Anthony-Coral]

No, to my knowledge we've never had any problems sending payments of affiliate earnings to the US.

The Coral brand is strongest in the UK and the majority of our players come from there. We have a long list of countries where we do accept traffic so probably just quicker to look at the country drop down menu at http://www.coral.co.uk/register

[indepthstats]

Well, I thought I was making some progress and signed up for the bet365 program and was planning to start with them and then add two more next week.

However, I was notified that bet365 is no longer accepting US affiliates!?! Is this a recent development? I had done a decent amount of research and had not seen this stated on the website or the forums here.

Is there any chance that I could still get into the program by making contact with an account executive on the boards?

Also, definitely still looking for quality European programs that accept US affiliates so keep the suggestions coming.

[universal4]

However, I was notified that bet365 is no longer accepting US affiliates!?! Is this a recent development? I had done a decent amount of research and had not seen this stated on the website or the forums here.

Interesting, did you get notified of this in writing??

Rick
Universal4

[edgarf76]

I think they said they accept us aff but pay outside

[Sherlock]

If bet365 can not pay you, just dedicate some effort and make a company offshore ONLY for them. But for tax optimalisation it is worth for other programmes as well. I think there is no need to clarify why Bet365 is no brainer.

Except that I suggest 5dimes, not only because they 100% respect deals, but because they are known to offer even smaller tennis events (****** limits like 100usd though).

Then another no brainer is Betfair, because the tennis market, especially live betting, is Betfair.

Well and another good shop is Pinnacle, because one year back they came with minor tennis as well and they are accepted almost worldwide (non US, ES, NL, TR, FR).

For the rest try Unibet, they are good auxiliary bookie and affiliate, and they operate in Italy and France, esp. if you have such traffic.

Tipico is good for German speaking countries, nothing specialfor tennis; same for Sportinteraction and Canada, their affiliate manager is top notch guy though.

Hodgeyboy@coral is very good guy as well, if they fix the live odds banners, it will be a very nice creative for tennis.

I suggest 1st look at your traffic and then choose the auxiliary bookies.

[Sherlock]

... and bettingpartners are indeed a good choice even when they have limited use for tennis; but they do not operate in at least 3 US states NY, NJ, MD, so you need another decent bookie to cover it

[universal4]

It is NOT reasonable for a US Affiliate to create an offshore company just to get paid by Bet365 or any other single affiliate program.

Personally I think this is jumping the gun a little here, and until Bet365 actually verifies this, or other affiliates can verify this is a new term from Bet365 in writing, I think it is safe to say that Bet365 can and does accept US based affiliates.

Now if Bet365 will not pay US based affiliates into US bank accounts, or by check or any other NORMAL accepted methods, then they might as well say they do not take them, but again, until this is verified, this is an unverified speculation.

Rick
Universal4

[Sherlock]

UK, Malta, Cyprus or even Seychelles company is simply a company from that country. The company can have shareholders from anywhere (and it might be another company as well). I do not see why it is unreasonable, I know affiliates who did exactly this. It is legal even for US citizen to have shares from company from different countries, although the accounting might be a bit difficult.

Not only from US, in the eastern europe it is common way if you want to avoid being targetted by local governments, who think they can tell you who you can promote and where . They can not do anything against a company in different jurisdiction.

I have my own offshore companies as well.

[universal4]

In my opinion, what is unreasonable, is any demand that a US Based affiliate must have an "offshore" presence in any way in order to be paid.

I do know that over the years there have been a few programs,(very few) that have implied that in order for a US affiliate to be paid this was required, but there are plenty without that restriction, and therefore most US affiliates have likely just moved on to those without the restriction.

Again, no one has verified that this is a requirement of Bet365 in any way, and I have been told in the past this was NOT a requirement by them.

Rick
Universal4

[edgarf76]

I want to clarify that the company I was talking about was not bet365. I looked through emails and it was not bet365.