Best Poker Affiliate Programs List 2024 | StatsDrone
15+ TOP Poker Affiliate Programs — Best Poker Affiliate Networks of 2024 For Online Money Making
Is online poker dead?
It definitely isn't but some people in the poker industry might disagree. With that said the world of poker has made a bit of a comeback as people continue to play live games including Poker at the Lodge, Poker after dark and the World Poker Tour.
Poker affiliate networks are making a comeback and to throw a curveball into the mix are the rise of crypto poker sites.
On this site, you'll find the best poker affiliate programs 2024. This list is updated many times per year and you can use a tool like StatsDrone to filter for any affiliate program based on any criteria. Likewise you can also search for the casino affiliate programs page which is our most popular directory of high paying affiliate programs.
The featured poker affiliate programs on this page have to meet a strict set of criteria to be listed and to remain there.
Under no circumstances will we list programs that have a reputation for shaving affiliates, closing affiliate accounts using terms and conditions or any that have a bad reputation.
The criteria for featuring the best poker affiliate programs is as follows:
Reputation & popularity amongst online poker players
Product quality
Reliable data for affiliates including API
Commissions
Reputation
Reputation is very important and this is for both the players as well as the poker webmasters. The best poker affiliate programs need to live up to their reputation on both sides of the fence.
Product quality
You always need a quality online poker room. It goes without saying but the biggest poker sites made it to the top by ensuring there is a quality product for poker players. Poker affiliates should always care about quality and that means not promoting a sub standard poker room for the sake of a flat fee payment.
Reliable data
Programs should have data for affiliates in a timely manner ideally minimum every 24 hours and by the hour or more is the ideal future. Also API for affiliates is very important along with postbacks and dynamic variables. These are the advanced tools that more and more poker affiliates demand. Real time stats would be nice but that might take a few years to happen in the industry.
Commissions
Having a solid reputation, quality product and reliable data won't mean a thing if the poker program doesn't pay out competitive commissions. A solid poker affiliate business should rely on stable revenue share commissions and perhaps a generous CPA model to go with it.
Selecting a poker affiliate program
When it comes to poker, it is very different to online casinos and in some aspects similar to sports betting. As a product segment within online gambling, there are probably less than 50 legitimate online poker rooms whereas you can find 1000s of online casinos.
The reason for this is that players want to play against other players, so the pool of players is important. This gives power to the number 1 poker room in that they start to attract players naturally. This is why the Stars Affiliate Club is one of a popular poker affiliate program just by default.
In poker affiliate marketing, affiliates can use SEO, PPC or social media as their main methods for driving traffic to their online poker affiliate programs. Overall you'll not really find any affiliate network to work with.
PokerStars Affiliate Program
The PokerStars Affiliate Program is the biggest poker affiliate program around but it doesn't mean it is the most popular. Before the program rebranded itself to the Stars Affiliate Club, it had closed numerous revenue share accounts of many big poker affiliate sites. Ever since that happened, you don't completely see PokerStars as the dominant number 1 poker room around. You'll now find different brands like WPT Global, 888Poker and GGPoker.
Having a quick look at 2 of the most popular poker affiliates sites, PokerListings and PokerStrategy, there is hardly a mention of PokerStars.
Poker affiliate networks
There are not many but one of the best poker affiliate networks around and the first one that does come to mind is Poker Affiliate Solutions (pas.net). The site has a good reputation and is owned by Sharplink Gaming which is listed on the NASDAQ as SBET. The only negative on pas.net is the site isn't secure and it could use some updates. The PAS poker affiliate network will manage your poker bonuses, tracking links and banners that you can place on your poker site.
Overall there simply isn't too many decent poker affiliate network sites to work with.
Cross promoting online casinos on poker affiliate sites
Have you noticed a trend of poker sites having a directory of online casinos? Some will have other types of online gambling that includes sports betting. If you look at the best poker affiliate sites like PokerStrategy, CardsChat, and PokerNews, you'll see casino affiliate content including online casino bonuses.
Do poker players like playing other games like blackjack, baccarat, roulette and slots? If they didn't, I don't think some of these sites would promote any casino reviews or bonuses. Likewise you can also see the same in return of casino affiliate marketing pros also promoting poker networks on their sites.
Some of these will also feature sports betting reviews as poker and sports betting is mainly male dominated for a niche within poker.
Poker affiliate market research
You can start with a lot of market research by using tools like Ahrefs to see which sites are linking to the top poker rooms using an affiliate link. From there you can look at all the types of sites that link to these poker rooms.
The best poker affiliate sites might be competing for some competitive poker related keywords.
What you can do next is to join the newsletters and social media channels of any poker website and study how they do their content and marketing. So if you happen to see many poker sites featuring casinos then you know they do it because it is clearly making them money.
Top ranking poker affiliate sites
PokerStrategy
PokerStrategy is a big poker affiliate site that was acquired by Playtech in 2013 for 38.3 Million Euros. It has been a long standing affiliate site for decades. Just like other poker affiliate sites, they also promote casino and sports betting.
PokerListings
PokerListings has been online since 2003 making it one of the oldest online poker affiliate sites around. Just like PokerStrategy, they too promote online casinos and sports betting offers with reviews as part of their content and cross-promotion.
Poker affiliate programs terms & conditions
One thing nobody ever wants to do but is important is review the t&cs of an affiliate program.
What to look out for in terms and conditions of any poker affiliate program
Minimum activity quota (MAQ)
Dormancy clause
Right to terminate account or modify terms
Negative carryover
Compliance
MAQ - this means you have to refer a minimum number of players in a set time. Some programs will withhold commissions until this condition is met and other programs will simply close your affiliate account.
Dormancy clause - this is somewhat standard if you're not actively checking your accounts or responding to emails.
Right to terminate account - unfortunately this is standard as the program has the right to do whatever they want. Awesome!
Negative carryover - I wrote this as a bit of a trick comment to get your attention. In poker you should be getting paid CPA or revenue share based on rake, not winning or losing players. Negative carryover are things you see more with casino and sports betting.
Compliance - some programs will require and demand compliance for marketing campaigns that can also extend to social media platforms.
Tips For New Poker Affiliates
Getting started as an online poker affiliate is fairly tough. Poker players usually have an affinity for certain brands and your new brand will have to stand out. Branding seems to be more important for poker players than it is for casino players.
That said, poker players are always down for a fresh voice in the world of poker. It helps to have a solid understanding of the online gambling industry so you can be the one looking out for your own prospective players and target audience.
One thing that seems common in for are positive reviews and review sites. Your site doesn't have to be a complete review site but many poker players are looking for reviews and recommendations.
How poker affiliation works
If you're completely new to affiliate marketing, poker affiliation is not too different than other forms of affiliate marketing outside of the iGaming industry.
What makes poker a unique product is that you can earn passive income when you refer your FTD (first time depositor) and others also call this NDC (new depositing customer).
Getting started guides for new poker players
Since there are always a lot of new players, one thing most affiliate marketers overlook is the basics for new users. It isn't common that affiliates cover information about things like the registration process, live chat support, promotional materials and anything associated with a player's gaming account.
Frequently Asked Questions FAQ
Is PokerStars the best poker affiliate program?
Pokerstars is hard to argue as the top online poker room around. The affiliate program is now referred to as Stars Affiliate Club. PokerStars is part of The Flutter Group and they have casino and sports betting in their portfolio. In 2019 it was reported that the affiliate program at the time terminated numerous active poker affiliate accounts. This was widely reported on the GPWA gambling affiliate forum and pokeraffiliatelistings.
What are some of the other popular online poker rooms around?
WPT, 888 Poker, Party Poker, and GG Poker are some of the most popular poker brands online. There are other poker networks where some of the smaller brands are skins where the players are pooled together.
What tools do these online poker affiliate programs provide?
Every affiliate program is different but here are some of the things you can expect from some of your affiliate programs:
Landing pages, detailed reports, poker tools, custom creatives, custom written reviews, poker tournament widgets, banners and affiliate tracking links. Some poker networks may provide live poker tournament feeds and widgets as part of their marketing efforts to help promote their brands.
What are sub affiliates?
If you refer an affiliate marketer to an affiliate program, that usually would make you a sub affiliate. Sub affiliates usually will earn a small percentage of the revenue share made from the poker affiliate websites.
Is WordPress the best CMS for my poker website?
WordPress is one of the leading CMS for most affiliate marketers. Any poker affiliate business is usually powered by WordPress unless they happen to be a streaming affiliate, video content affiliate or a poker podcaster.
If you look at the source code of most poker websites, you'll see they are powered by WordPress.
Where can I buy an existing poker website affiliate business?
There are a few basics ways.
Contact the poker site you want to acquire
Find marketplaces like Flippa.com that often have poker affiliates available to buy.
Overall there simply are not a lot of poker businesses in affiliation that are easy to buy due to the competitive nature of the poker niche.
How do I get paid in poker affiliate marketing?
Poker affiliates can focus on revenue share deals or CPA models. The benefit of CPA is not just getting on time payments but having the upfront money will mean you have that extra money to invest into not just more traffic, but it compounds towards your ability to send traffic to these poker brands. The extra cash upfront is your trade off of revenue share which is more of a life time commission. If you ever experience late payments on any program then the up front CPA is welcome because you don't have to worry about future timely payments whereas the revenue generated from rev share accounts could last as long as years but CPA is an upfront payment model.
When your players deposits money into their account, this will show up in your affiliate login as an FTD or NDC which is first time depositor or new depositing customer.
Sub affiliates is another way to earn money but that is B2B affiliation where you promote a poker affiliate program to another poker affiliate.
Does the William Hill group offer poker?
Checking their website now, it appears they don't offer poker anymore. They do have a section called 'Poker' however it features table poker casino games. William Hill affiliate program does offer betting and casino in their partner program.
What affiliate solutions exist for helping out an affiliate poker business?
There are WordPress templates like FlyTonic but otherwise there isn't much. Affiliate networks in theory could have been the saviour for poker businesses but there are not many around.
In short, the only real affiliate solutions out there are WordPress themes and tools like StatsDrone to help affiliates track their stats and commissions.
What makes more money, poker or online casino affiliate programs?
Without a doubt, online casino can earn more money than the average poker affiliate program. Although this may be true, it doesn't mean you should start a casino affiliate site tomorrow. If poker is what you want to do for a website, the work won't seem like work and you'll build something that is a digital asset that grows in value and equity over time.
Is a poker site really the main channel in poker affiliate marketing?
Although most people associate affiliate marketing with websites, it can be any type of channel. Here are some alternative channels to building an affiliate site that are worth considering today.
Newsletters
YouTube channel
Video channel
Live streamer
Poker podcast
There is no shortage of alternative channels for growing your poker affiliate business.
I've been approved for my poker affiliate program, now what?
Great! Now what you need to do first is ensure your payment method has been setup properly and you'll want to get the right tracking links from your account.
Does casino give higher CPA payments than online poker?
Yes. When you look at the affiliate program sites of prominent casino affiliate programs and poker affiliate programs, you'll see the casino CPAs typically be described as higher or the up to amounts can be listed higher. In talking with some affiliates, they tell me that casino pays at least 50% better in CPA compared with poker CPAs.
Why are there less poker rooms than casinos?
A poker room won't survive if it has less than 500 active players on at any given moment whereas a casino can be successful with 10 active players. Online poker makes money by collective a rake which requires a whole table of players. Online casinos can make good money with a single player playing a slot game that has a house edge of 4%. A slot player can play through this type of gaming revenue faster than a whole table of poker players.
How can I get a better commission plan?
You can negotiate with your poker affiliate manager to get a higher commission deal whether revenue share, CPA or a hybrid deal. Just be prepared to give them some extra traffic and exposure on your site.
It does help to monitor the performance of these campaigns because they should drive more revenue for you. If they don't, you'll want to consider pulling the campaign or choosing another brand to promote.
Does the World Series of Poker help refer more players?
The WSOP is one of the most popular poker tournaments in the world. Most online poker rooms will have contests and satellite tournaments to promote the World Series of Poker.
Are there any legit alternatives to PAS.net?
Poker Affiliate Solutions is one of the original poker affiliate networks. That said I hear they are decent but I cannot think of another poker network that comes to mind. It seems to be a decent option for any online poker affiliate to use.
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