Understanding gambling affiliate commission rates is essential to getting started as a casino affiliate. The commission is the amount off each transaction that you earn; it’s how much you get paid.
And it can vary quite a bit, depending on what kind of commission rate structure you choose. In other words, it’s not as simple as it seems at first. So, here’s a quick gambling affiliates’ guide to commission rates:
Revenue Share (RevShare, MGR)
With the revenue sharing, or revshare or MGR, model of gambling affiliate commission rates, you, the affiliate, receive a percentage of the money spent by the players you refer to a gambling site. This is the standard form of gambling affiliate commission rates, used more widely than the others.
Casino affiliate revshare rates generally range from 15 to 50 percent, with some affiliate programs even offering more than 50 percent in certain situations. You’re credited each time a deposit or payout is made by a player you referred, and then paid whenever the affiliate program issues its payments to affiliates (usually once a month on a predetermined date).
CPA, or “Cost per Acquisition”
With the CPA gambling affiliate commission rate, you get paid whenever a casino or poker room acquires a player sent by your site. It’s similar to the retail-based affiliate marketing model of pay-per-click (PPC), but more specific: The affiliate program doesn’t pay you for each click you deliver; you get paid only when that click actually converts into a paying customer.
CPAs can reach up to $200, but you’ll usually find ‘em in the $75-$125 range. Sometimes they’re negotiable. With this potentially high immediate payout, programs with a high CPA are generally preferred for beginner affiliates because they offer bigger and faster earnings than revshare.
Rakeback
A third choice for gambling affiliate commission rates is rakeback, which relates directly to poker. The “rake” is a percentage of each player’s pot taken by the poker room as a fee or payment; “rakeback” is when that rake is paid back to the player.
In rakeback affiliate plans, your affiliate commission is part of the rakeback payout — generally around 25 to 30 percent. Again, this is generally used by advanced Internet poker affiliates only. But rakeback is also pretty popular with players, so don’t be too quick to dismiss it as a gambling affiliate commission rate model.
Making Your Choice
Here at CAP, we’ve set up our directory of casino affiliate programs to help you see at a glance what type of gambling affiliate commission rate is offered by each. That’s valuable information, but you’ll also need a certain amount of trial and error to figure out what gambling affiliate commission rates are going to work best for you. Generally, gambling affiliates start out with CPA and, if they’re successful with that, they soon move on to revshare. But ultimately, most affiliates choose to mix and match gambling affiliate commission rates based on each program’s individual situation.
To understand what other gambling affiliates have had success with, it’s worthwhile to register at a major casino affiliate forum where actual affiliates are already discussing what gambling affiliate commission rates work best for what program, and what to avoid.