At Gamblineers, we spend a significant amount of time trying to find online crypto casinos to partner up with. We’ve noticed that establishing new partnerships and keeping old ones has become increasingly difficult. Even if we put aside that most operators can’t seem to keep an affiliate manager employed in their current position for more than a year, it’s nearly impossible to meet an operator representative who’s even remotely interested in doing something long term that would benefit both parties.When I say, ‘benefit both parties,’ I mean help affiliates to keep offering something exciting and unique to their audiences, and on the other hand, already have an agenda that will make the operator brand stand out from the crowd and continue developing high-quality services affiliates (and operators themselves) can promote.
For this to work, operators must be ready to push the limits and keep coming out with quality novelty products and services. At the same time, affiliates must make their mission to bring these products and services in front of their audiences because they are actually good rather than because they were paid to do so.
But what we really have is a market saturated with affiliates claiming to offer unbiased and objective reviews and listings, even though everybody seems to be aware that the best-rated casinos are the ones that pay the most to be there. We’ve had multiple cases where brands came to us with exact references of what some of the most reputable affiliate brands charge to be placed in the top 3 on particular pages of their websites.
On the other hand, of the hundreds of brands we’ve worked with, I could probably name only a couple that are visibly working towards making something new and better for their players. Most operators ‘lag behind’ with the same games, payment options, promotions and most other services they have while calling themselves ‘the number one crypto casino.’Of course, I might be wrong on this whole matter. But in my opinion, if you offer the same as the next hundred brands, you can’t expect to perform better. I also believe this to be one of the top issues why making and keeping long-term partnerships between affiliates and operators seems to hit a brick wall.
When the negotiations of the partnership begin, the operator’s go-to strategy is usually to offer a higher deal (either CPA or revenue share) in return for a higher placing on the affiliate website. This is already a red flag if you value honesty because what you get paid as an affiliate has nothing to do with how good an operator is, which is what top placings on affiliate websites usually represent. It wouldn’t be an issue if affiliate listings were ads because players would see them as ads. But they aren’t. Or, at least, they aren’t marked as ads.
The problem is that this is the only language operator representatives know - we pay and you deliver. Everything else we put on the table gets rejected because everything else, in this case, means offering something so unique that almost no competitor has it or something much better than what competitors have, that will naturally deserve to be featured on top of everything else. I understand that what we’re asking for requires a lot of work and resources. But this must be done if we want to grow in this industry and make it a high-quality experience for all players.
Meanwhile, working with operators with that trend-setting quality and what it takes to stand out is wonderful. Although players might not know they are playing in a quality casino, they keep playing, have a great experience and keep returning. And that, in turn, also pays affiliates because it generates a steady and rewarding revenue. But this is an effect and not the cause.
of the hundreds of brands we’ve worked with, I could probably name only a couple that are visibly working towards making something new and better for their players
