“Lock, stock, and two smoking barrels…” No, this is not a story about Guy Ritchie’s iconic movie, but rather a thorough guide on how to earn money on gambling affiliate programs legally and with minimal risks.

Gambling is everything that concerns such games as online casinos, roulette, slot machines, unusual games for money such as miners and thimbles. This also includes sports betting, sweepstakes (betting), as the activity is also imbued with the spirit of excitement. Mainly, the review focuses on online casinos and slots.

Gambling and Casino Affiliate marketing – how it works

Online casino affiliate programs are one of the simplest and most profitable verticals in affiliate marketing. 

It’s relatively easy to attract customers. With proper targeting settings, 5-15 clicks or 200-300 impressions are enough to get a conversion for some GEOs.  Of course, it’s not an absolute but only an average indicator.

Last but not least, the argument in favor of gambling is the low price of error. So this vertical is suitable for newbie marketers. And experienced specialists prefer not to change this gold mine for more complex niches.

The quality of the offers is less critical here; traffic will reduce, but not to zero if banners and landing pages are sloppy. Plus, there’s a small entry price. You can start with a hundred bucks or even $30-50,  and you can do a niche test with $20. Anyway, if something won’t work as it was planned, the losses will be small.

Gambling may be simpler than other verticals, but it is still easy to go into the red if you work thoughtlessly. This guide will put everything in its place and help you start making money on gambling.

How to choose and where to find betting and casino offers

The tempting option is to choose the one with the biggest payment per customer. But this is not a guarantee of a large income. You need to take into account the requirements for traffic quality – the fewer requirements, the better. And the popularity of a particular platform in the region. For example, in England and Ireland, it is best to enter the offers of local bookmakers (bet365, William Hill). In Italy, Canada – large casinos with a wide range of slots, such as LEOVEGAS. In Runet – Vulkan, an online reincarnation of popular gaming clubs in the 90s-2000s.

Most gambling companies prefer to work with partners through CPA networks, such as LeadBit. It’s also more convenient for affiliate marketers since they check the affiliate programs and only include those that don’t deceive customers and pay out the gain. Plus, they do not cheat partners and pay a commission. So you can be sure that you are not working in vain.

TOP 3 gambling affiliate programs according to LeadBit in 2021:

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  • LEOVEGAS – pays 150 for each deposit from players from Canada (the minimum deposit is only $10);
  • One Casino – payments up to $14.5 for registration of users from the EU and Canada. Additional condition – first deposit (FDT) from 9%;
  • PariMatch – up to 65$ per deposit from the Russian Federation.

All of these offers are available at  LeadBit, along with a slew of others that are equally enticing.

Target audience for gambling and targeting features

Now the main question is who we should target. Your earnings depend on how well you create your buyer personas. Everything is very ambiguous here. The buyer persona is a variable value, as people’s interests often change with time. 

Advertising networks accurately identify site visitors and allow you to choose who to show your banners to. However, the effectiveness of advertising directly depends on the parameters entered. Here are the basic settings: age, gender, device, OS, browser, country.

The buyer persona should be divided into several categories:

Interest

There are different types of players:

  • regular players –  they are looking for new bonuses, promotions, slots, or betters who professionally earn money. They make repeated deposits, more often deposit large amounts;
  • newcomers – people who have nothing to do or who decided to come in out of curiosity. The probability of repeated deposits is relatively low. However, the first deposit can be pretty large.

We recommend that you spend around 70% of your budget on regular players based on our data. You can entice them with a payment guarantee, bonuses, various contests, competitions, or lotteries, and cool prizes, from an iPhone to a convertible.

The rest of your budget should be focused on newcomers. Among them, there is a good chance of luring a new player to an online casino or a VIP customer. You can entice them with a bright design, beautiful slots, special effects, and the opportunity to try to play for free.

Prosperity

Sure thing, there are wealthy and low-income players. 

Wealthy players aren’t concerned with money; they play for fun and tempt fortune. Consequently, they require secure payments, simple registration, and a wide range of games.

Low-income players seek to make quick money. They are attracted by freebies, bonuses, and beautiful stories about the lucky ones who won a million or made enough money to buy a BMW. However, betting on such people is often useless. Affiliate programs frequently reject such traffic.

Time

This is an important indicator for launching ads or publishing reviews on a blog.

The best time to launch ad campaigns:

  • Spring-summer. The peak of activity is Friday from 16.00 to 22.00. On weekends and holidays, activity is weak. It increases smoothly from Monday to Friday. In addition to the evening time, you can make tests for the time from 9.00 to 12.00;
  • Winter-autumn. The main activity is in the evening, after work, from 18.00 to 22.00. Peak starts Friday evening and lasts all weekend.

GEO

In different GEOs, a buyer persona is different. This applies to age, gender distribution, motives, and preferred online casinos.

Runet

In the CIS countries, the most gambling audience is in Russia, about 95% of all Runet gamblers. Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Belarus also have a good conversion rate (up to 5-10%). The conversion rate is 1-2% in Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, and Armenia.

The main target audience in the CIS is men aged 25 to 45, with a stable average income. Dating, entertainment, social networks, and online gaming are all related hobbies. There are both people who play for fun, and with the desire to get rich quickly.

In the CIS, it is more convenient to work with payment for deposits. Mobile in-app traffic is perfectly converted, more often via iOS.

Asia

Asia is very different from European countries; thus, the approaches are different too. Plus, there are both Tier 1 and Tier 2 countries. 

Tier 2 countries like India, Vietnam, Thailand are suitable for newbies. You can launch creatives in English on Facebook and Instagram. For creatives, you can use the desire to win fast and easy money or touch the Western lifestyle. 

Japan, Korea, and China are more complex. Playing from home, without restrictions, and with a small initial budget is very important for them. 

America and Europe

Among the Tier 1 countries, the most gambling nations spend on average from $550 (Canada, Finland) to $1300 per month (Australia). In the USA, Germany – about $900. Here we can distinguish two groups with similar approaches to work:

  • English-speaking GEOs: USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. The niches are profitable. In Australia and Canada up to 70% of the population gamble at least 1-2 times a year. But the audience is very demanding, as is the very high competition. 
  • EU countries. First of all: Germany, Italy, France, Ireland, Poland, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic. The mentality of the Europeans is similar. If you manage to work out one GEO, you can use similar bundles for others.

Tier 1 buyer personas are consistent across the world. These are either young people aged 20-25, well, 30 at most, looking for entertainment—primarily men. Minors are not allowed to play. It is strictly controlled.

People aged 45-50 and over fall into the second category. Women make about 60-65% of the senior gamers.

The main urge is fun, bright emotions, adrenaline. A possible win is a nice bonus, but not the goal itself. Such players check licenses, monitor security, and are drawn in by new slots, cool visual effects. The trial game also works great.

We recommend you to begin with low-cost GEO like Tier 2 counties. Here, advertising costs (bid) are 5-10 times lower, and occasionally, the difference is even greater. You can start with a low budget to test the niche. The losses will be minor if it does not work out the first time.

How to promote betting and casino offers

Let’s summarize the information from the previous section and form several schemes for promoting gambling offers:

Bonuses

The most popular version of creatives. It works in Western Market, Asia, and Runet. Few people will turn down the opportunity to spin the roulette wheel for free and win a bonus on the first deposit.

This method has a relatively high conversion rate.  So if you don’t know where to start, bonuses are the right option.

Casino gambling schemes

People in Tier 2 countries still believe that it is possible to defraud a casino. So enticing advertising teasers with casino hacking messages pique their interest. Then there’s a pre-lander with a story about how a programmer/former employee hacked the casino’s algorithms. Then comes a summary of the secret loophole and history of enriching people, followed by reviews.

The disadvantage of this strategy is that you must carefully select your audience because not everyone believes in such myths. However, with proper targeting, you can achieve a conversion rate of 20-30%. But keep in mind solid online casinos often do not accept such traffic.

Jackpots, promotions

A simple and safe approach that works with different GEOs. The essence is an ad with a Jackpot offer. In the flow, you can add a pre-landing with news from a popular media congratulating the winner—alternatively, a landing page with a description of the promotion. The conversion rate on the first deposits is high. The number of repeat deposits may be low. If the affiliate program has a KPI requirement, you should use this approach carefully.

Review of the functionality, news about the appearance of new slots, emphasis on legality

These approaches are suitable for a paying audience from Tier 2 countries (VIP clients) and Western Market gamblers (Tier 1). The flow includes a banner and a landing page with in-depth reviews and an emphasis on legality and honesty. The approach is simple, harmless, and attracts high-quality traffic. However, the conversion rate is not high, especially in Tier 2 countries.

Conclusion

Gambling is a very profitable vertical, and it is great for both newbies and pros. The main thing is to be able to correctly identify the target audience and not overlook A/B testing. Stay tuned for the next article, in which we will look at creatives and traffic sources for gaming offerings.

And if you want to find even more awesome gambling offers, sign up with LeadBit today and start benefiting right away.