Did you know that you can earn money from your favorite online casino and poker rooms, without risking any of your own money?

It’s called affiliate marketing and it works by earning you money whenever people you refer (usually via a link on your website) generate income for the merchant.

Affiliate Programs aren’t just restricted to the online gambling industry, you can find affiliate programs for just about anything that is sold online, Amazon were one of the first merchants to make use of affiliate marketing and still run one of the most well known affiliate programs today.

Unlike more traditional industries (which give you typically 10-15% of what your referred customers buy), casino affiliate programs give you a percentage (usually 25%+) of what players you referr lose… you know all those bright shiny lights that line the Las Vegas strip? they’re all funded by money people have lost at those casinos – I shouldn’t need to convince you that earning 25% of everyone’s losses is going to earn you more than 15% of a few $20 books. Poker affiliate programs operate in a similar fashion, except that your cut isn’t based on the money players lose, but the amount of rakes generated while they are sitting at the tables… so the more active players you can bring in, the better.

Different affiliate programs offer you different tools for promoting them – at the basic level, each program will provide you with an affiliate tracking tag. This tracking tag is a url to their website that tells their affiliate software that the person visiting the site has been referred by you. They can then track this visitor through the download process, to account creation and permanently tag that player with your affiliate code. Whenever a player makes a deposit, or wins some money, the affiliate software knows about it and knows where that player was referred from.

Practically all affiliate programs provide graphical banners in a range of sizes that you can use to promote their site, some programs make it really easy to promote them by offering you a few more options. The Full Tilt Poker Affiliate Program for example provide javascript widgets that can easily be copied into any website that show dynamically changing content such as news, poker trivia, poker tips, their tournament schedule, current promotions etc. and every link in their widget points back to their website with your affiliate tracking code already embedded, ready to track.

Here are a few terms that you might come across when looking at affiliate programs.

• Revenue ShareA revenue share is the type of offer I described above, where you get a % of sales made to the customers you refer. A typical revenue share for gambling affiliate programs starts at 25% and may go as high as 35-40% for top affiliates.

• Cost per Acquisition (CPA)A CPA deal gives you a flat fee for each customer you refer who meet an agreed minimum threshold. For casino affiliate programs, CPA deals typically offer up to $150 per new depositing player, while poker affiliate programs usually offer around $75-$90 for new players who have deposited and earned a minimum number of loyalty points.CPA deals give you a higher amount earlier, but as they are usually only one-time payments, the revenue share options are usually more profitable over time. Personally, I would never take a CPA deal for a casino affiliate program, but I don’t mind them so much for poker affiliate programs.

• 2nd TierSome affiliate programs also make a 2nd tier payment. If you refer someone who signs up for the affiliate program, then that affiliate becomes a part of your earnings chain and your 2nd tier payment is a percentage of the commissions the affiliates under you earn.2nd Tier payments aren’t typically all that large, but every little bit helps, and if you refer a lot of affiliates then this component of your commission could become a significant part of your monthly earnings.

Here are some Affiliate Programs to get you started

The best way to explain affiliate programs is for you to signup for one and start using it. You don’t even need your own website as you can submit content directly to Gamblz and include your own affiliate tracking tags there.

Here are two programs I use, both have 2nd Tier payments… so sign up under one of these links and it’ll be in my best interest to help you succeed as they’ll send me a few % of what you earn as a bonus (2nd tier payments don’t come out of your earnings btw, they are additional payments to the referring affiliate based on what you earn that month).

• Full Tilt Poker Affiliate Program
• Star Partner Affiliate Program (formally Vegas Partner and Golden Star)

Good luck, and if you need more advice, keep an eye on this site, there’s plenty more to come… but the best thing you can do is get started – affiliate programming is a numbers game, the more players you refer, the more you’ll earn, so the quicker you can get a start on it the better.

It’s not hard to see why Online Gambling Affiliate Programs are some of the most profitable Affiliate Programs on the Internet. Casinos are money making machines – Las Vegas is a testament to that – and as an affiliate, you get to take your cut from it.

When you refer players to an Online Casino or Poker Room – you don’t just get a flat fee referral (although you do usually have that option), you get a share in the revenue generated by that player, usually around 25% for new affiliates. For Online Casino players, that means 25% of everything they lose – it’s quite possible that you could refer just one player to a casino, and earn commissions of several hundred dollars a month. For poker players, you earn a percentage of all rakes they contribute to – so a very active poker player could earn you some significant cash.

These revenue share percentages are usually for the lifetime of the player, which means as you start to refer more and more players, your net monthly income will grow over time, to the point where it will even earn you money if you stopped promoting it.

Compare this to something like the Amazon affiliate program where the buyer you refer might buy a book, and a DVD for a total affiliate payment of under $10 and little prospect of earning more.

There are variations in affiliate programs terms and conditions, so make sure you read each one thoroughy and know what the rules are, but no matter how you slice it, Gambling Affiliate Programs can be very profitable and are a great way for even a casual affiliate to earn some nice money.

Anyone can start referring players by writing an article for us here at Gamblz.com – why not review some of the games at your favorite casino, or relate some experience you’ve had with customer support staff etc. Add in your personal affiliate tag from an affiliate program you choose, sit back and watch the numbers climb.

We’ll be putting together a list of recommended gambling affiliate programs soon, with full profiles and details about what they have to offer. If you have no idea where to begin, that would make a great place to start – so keep an eye out, it’ll be here soon.

(photo by Tracy_O)