There once was a point in time when being an online affiliate in the gambling industry was good business. You promote various gambling sites on your site with banners, players click this banners, play on their sites, and you get a piece of their losses. It was pretty straight-forward and with the booming popularity of online gaming, it was also a nice way of doing business.
But somewhere along the line, the circumstances changed when governments decided to crack down on online gaming. In the process, affiliates found it more difficult to get a piece of the action because various restrictions – depending on the country – have made the entire industry a virtual crap shoot for a lot of parties invested to the industry.
So with that avenue seemingly getting roadblocked, it was only smart and prudent for affiliates to begin their own diversification and to look at new products to explore other than gambling. It makes sense, too, because when one street becomes too complicated too pass, you look at alternate roads to get to your destination.
We corresponded with somebody who runs a gambling affiliate site – gamblingshares.com – and asked him how recent regulatory changes have affected affiliate revenues. Though he wishes to remain anonymous – we’ll call him Smoke in this instance – he did have plenty to say on the subject, including his thoughts that while there may not have been a lot of noticeable changes as far as non-US players are concerned, the crackdowns stemming from Black Friday did open his eyes on the importance of diversification. “When Black Friday hit, it was an eye opener for me with not keeping all the eggs in one basket,” he told CalvinAyre.com.
“Diversification was needed; so that was the start of affiliating in non gambling niches and other income producing areas online.”
The diversification didn’t come easy in the beginning because starting up a new niche took up a lot of time and work, including doing research, establishing new contacts, and stepping into unchartered waters. Despite all of that, it was still something worth diving into because it wasn’t as complicated as it was in the gambling industry and, more importantly, it offered revenue streams that are not affected by the government regulations that has affected the gambling industry.
With this new way of thinking in mind, Smoke has ventured into a number of niches, including Web Hosting affiliating to marketing individual products and/or services. “I continually continue to expand into other areas so that if a Black Friday event happens again it should not affect me as much (unless the Internet disappears).”
When it comes to the future of online gambling affiliates, especially in the US, the issue has become a state-by-state case and how individual State Lawmakers handle the industry from here on out. Some states like New Jersey, California, and Delaware have taken the steps to allow online gambling. It could lead to a start for renewed interest, but as Smoke pointed out, “there is still far to much speculation until something is set as law and how online gambling will be regulated”.
If there was one lesson events like Black Friday taught to gambling affiliates, it is, as Smoke said earlier, the need to put your eggs on more than just one basket. In looking at other products, affiliates can diversify their business in such a way that it doesn’t get entangled in just one industry.
It’s all but balancing risks and rewards, something a lot of gambling affiliates found out the debilitating effects an event like Black Friday could have on the industry.
