Have you been thinking about diving into the regulated U.S. market as a New Jersey casino affiliate? If you have, you know that setting yourself up for a slice of Garden State gambling greenery is not exactly a simple process.
So is Jersey fertile ground affiliates or a bureaucratic nightmare? Here are a few of the facts to help you make the decision about whether New Jersey casino affiliate marketing is right for you.
Affiliate Licensing
After months of serious research, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) decided that affiliate licenses would be issued based on what sort of revenue model they used. Revenue share affiliates require one type of license, while CPA affiliates require a different license.
To say that this model has led to some confusion is a bit of an understatement. Besides that, not too many affiliate (especially the smaller ones) are keen on navigating the licensing process’ maze of red tape.
Despite the layers of bureaucracy, the NJ DGE is actually a pretty sharp outfit that knows the role affiliate partners play in developing an igaming market. They recently posted a bulletin that attempts to clarify the affiliate licensing situation.
The short version of the licensing situation is that any affiliate who gets paid a flat fee (CPA) for player actions, such as sign-ups, must be approved for a Vendor’s license. This process is relatively simple and costs around $250.
If you’re operating off of a revenue share you’ll need to acquire an Ancillary CSIE license be held to a much higher standard, starting with the $2,000 application fee. The Ancillary CSIE licensing process is significantly more in-depth than the vendor licensing process and isn’t something that smaller affiliates will probably want to tangle with.
Sub-Affiliates & Referrals
Sub-affiliates who want to operate in the Jersey market will basically be judged by the revenue model the affiliates above them use. If you’re referring to an affiliate who gets paid with a revenue share model, you’ll be on the hook for the Ancillary CSIE license.
If you’re referring a friend to a site, and receiving a flat fee for it, you won’t need a license at all so long as you make less than $2,500 a year on the deal.
Off-Shore Casinos & the NJ Market
The world of casino affiliate marketing is anything but linear and affiliate partners usually have relationships with a wide variety of operators.
If you plan on doing business in New Jersey, however, you’ll want to sever ties with any unlicensed sites. The DGE is cracking down on affiliates with these connections and is very serious about keeping their market clean. (That’s one of the reasons Bovada has banned New Jersey signups entirely.)
Is Jersey Worth the Hassle?
Unless you’re a major player looking to sink roots in the U.S. and let them grow, New Jersey is probably not a big enough market to really bother with at this point.
Between the regulatory burdens, including the inability to work with offshore casinos, is just too big a hit for smaller operations to absorb.
Whether that situation changes in the future is anybody’s guess.