Affiliate Gaming versus Affiliate gambling: Will you switch?

[KarenRealDice]

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My background:
- 4 years in the affiliate industry.
Amongst them:
- 2 years in the online gambling
- 2 years in the Mobile gambling
- One year in the Mobile casual games arena.

I entered the online affiliate marketing field almost by mistake. Before that, I studied Marketing, worked in business development, ran my own company, worked for a venture capital firm, and more. None of these positions ever really appealed to me.
When I first stepped into the online gambling world, I went through a series of different feelings. I was first surprised, then amused and finally arrived at the conclusion that only part of my title was fitting me: the affiliate part, not the gambling part. I really enjoyed working with affiliates, they usually are very interesting people, with an incredibly large knowledge of the Internet, new online marketing techniques and always up to date on the hottest marketing topics. Of course, there are exceptions!
But enough about me, my professional background is introduced in order to lead me to the main issue: Gaming versus gambling.
I moved from affiliate gambling to affiliate gaming after the law against remote gambling was passed in the USA. This precedent was quickly followed by the French government also banning remote gambling, but without real sanctions, probably because of the upcoming French presidential election. Now that elections are behind us, things will probably move forward faster and soon drastic practical sanctions will be discussed and voted on in France as well, and possibly other nations.
Now most remote casinos and gambling marketing agencies refuse bets from US players. They’ve also removed dedicated American market banners and marketing tools and no longer ensure affiliate payment. In France, most banks do not allow money transfers from merchants that present any possible interaction with remote gambling (they are usually identified as gambling by a specific number in their merchant ID.)
So I am asking you, affiliates, what’s next? Are you thinking to move on and switch to the closest legal market: casual gaming?
Many gambling affiliates send me emails asking how much money they could make with Real Dice CashTM (the first Affiliate Program for next-generation Smartphone and mobile casual games.) My first reaction is to answer that you can not compare revenues from gambling to revenues from gaming. Revenues from gambling are unstable, if a player gets lucky and wins a lot of money the affiliate suffers for the rest of the year, if not longer. If the player is loosing a lot you may think YOU finally got lucky, only to suddenly receive a phone call from your very nice account manager letting you know that the player was under 18 and was using his mother’s credit card to play online and his deposits have to be reimbursed! I am not even talking about CPA (Cost Per Acquisition) deals being paid only if the total amount of the first deposit is above $50 or even $100!
Let’s make a small clarification about the NGR. The Net Gaming Revenue, for those that are not familiar with the term, is the formula on which the affiliate revenue share is based. NGR = Bets – Winnings – Bonuses – Chargebacks - Costs. This is a very tricky equation, especially since very few know exactly what is included in the “costs” description. I would wager that not a single affiliate out there knows what costs are involved.
In any case, let’s leave the NGR aside for the moment and return to the critical question: Will ex-gambling affiliates be able to make as much money in the gaming field?
My answer is simple. An affiliate having a SE optimized website on keywords such as: Poker, Texas Hold’em, Blackjack, Roulette, Slots, Backgammon, casino games, mobile casino and other relevant terms, will make money without a doubt. The traffic they have is highly targeted and it is likely that both mobile/Smartphone casino games AND casual games will appeal to their readers. Real Dice has already released a dedicated casino pack for smart and mobile phones, including Video Poker, Roulette, BlackJack and Slots, in addition to the flagship Texas Hold’em Poker game which has won numerous industry awards. The games are played for “funny money”, but players compete for big prizes and other incentives.
In addition, we offer our affiliates recurring revenues from Real Dice World subscriptions (see below explanation from my previous post: Recurring Revenues from Mobile Gaming - are Affiliates benefiting?)
The Real Dice CashTM subscription model allows affiliates to generate recurring revenues – as long as the customer is satisfied with the service and does not cancel his subscription, the affiliates generate revenues carried over from month to month. Real Dice’s customer cancellation rate on subscriptions is close to 2%, therefore our affiliates generate constantly growing revenues. You can experiment with your potential revenue by using our “revenue simulator” tool - http://affiliate.realdice.com/simulator

In conclusion, I propose that with the restrictions placed on the world-wide online gambling market, casual mobile gaming serves as an instant and even more lucrative alternative. The player interests are very similar, the market is completely legal, and the recurring revenue model on gaming community subscriptions offers affiliates a refreshingly fair chance at sharing the success.

I would be happy to hear your opinion and comments on this topic.

See you soon on the forum

[Ronald Marva]

Affiliate Gaming will be a good alternative or another venture for those already in the gambling affiliate business. But there is still a lot of room for development for that market. I dont think affiliates will be scrambling to jump from gambling to gaming in the near future. But admittedly, there is a growing demand in gaming market. Yet there also a greater demand in international market for gambling as many sites are starting to adopt to change by having multi-language feature to their services. The shift for the international market is paying off for most of these sites.

[cashmirrors]

There is a whole generation of gamers growing up and getting tired of mindless games. Gambling will only be getting bigger in my opinion.