| Overall Rating: | 7.5 |
| Navigation | 7 |
| Statistics | 7 |
| Unique Features | 6 |
| Marketing Tools | 10 |
| Revenue | 10 |
| Reward System | 4 |
| Subaffiliate Program | 3 |
| Pay Schedule | 8 |
| Affiliate Managers | 10 |
| Visit Affiliate Program |
Review of 888 Affiliate Program
Many people have been attracted to the 888 affiliate program for the reason that they have paid the most money compared to the other gambling affiliate programs. Personally, they are my favorite program because of the excellent and personable help that is offered to affiliates. I’m also attracted to the ability of 888 to keep their players loyal to their products. Their affiliate program includes 888 Poker, 888 Casino, and other popular internet gambling brands.
Introduction to 888 Affiliate Program
888.com not only encompasses the online poker industry, but also offer products such as casino games. They are expecting to release new products such as backgammon and bingo in the coming years. In addition to this, the 888 affiliate program has been around for a very long time, and so have their products. I believe that the 888 products opened for business around 1997, and the affiliate program came years later.
Navigation (7)
When you log into your 888 affiliate program account, you will automatically see how much money that you’ve earned during the current month. During the beginning of the month, the 888 affiliate program console will display how much money you made the prior month.
As for regular navigation, I’m only somewhat impressed. There are several tabs on the top of the console including tracking codes, marketing resources, revenue reports, account information, and commissions / payments.
It might take some learning, but after you get used to the look and feel of the back end, you will realize that you only really need to use certain parts more often than others. I find myself using the welcome page to check my revenue statistics frequently as well as the tracker generator. Many other people like to use the marketing resources, but as you can see from my website, I don’t have any flashing banners here. I have made use of the newsletters and .xml tournament feeds though, which I encourage any good affiliate to do as well.
Statistics (7)
888 gives you a large amount of statistics, but sometimes it would be nice to have more. When you first login, you see a panel that shows essential statistics such as how many clicks you’ve accumulated in the past 7 days, past month, and prior full month. I certainly do enjoy this side-by-side type comparison because it gives you an idea of how you are doing this month compared to last month.
Additionally, you go to to the reports tab and get some more stats. However, the only real benefit that you get from doing that is the ability to choose custom dates, see statistics from separate trackers, and separate your 888 Poker players from your 888 casino players.
Unique Features About This Program (6)
Something that the 888 affiliate program offers that very few other affiliate programs offer is the ability to choose between multiple products (poker and casino) within a single platform. It’s nice to have this because you can cross-market the products without worrying about competing against each other. You may or may not be aware, but poker and casino products only compliment each other and help you to earn more revenue as an affiliate.
Marketing Tools (10)
If you go into the marketing tools section, you can choose to view marketing tools for either 888’s Casino on Net or 888 Poker. All that you have to do is click the + sign for a drill down of the marketing tools that are available to you.
The 888 affiliate program has more marketing tools that you can probably ever use. You can find just about everything that you need, and many of their advertisements are in several different languages including English, Spanish, German, Japanese, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, and Swedish.
Marketing tools that 888’s affiliate program offers include GIF banners, flash banners, text links, standalone games (great for conversions), poker and casino reviews, tutorials (poker and casino game school), logos, .xml feeds, simple links, and newsletters. Affiliates that are using a balanced mix of these is sure to succeed.
Revenue (10)
Probably the favorite part of the 888 affiliate program for affiliates is the revenue that they have to offer. From my experience, which is quite extensive, the 888 affiliate program offers their new affiliates the highest starting CPA in the industry. The revenue is different for poker and casino referrals and I will outline each below for you.
888 Poker Revenue
CPA
888 Poker players will get you $65 each if you send between 1 and 10 new real money players for the month and $75 each if you send 11 or more players during the month. 888 is offering s special rate of $150 per player no matter how many players you send between September 1 through December 31, 2006, which is more than double their usual affiliate revenue.
MGR
In the event that you are reading this after the CPA special has expired, I highly recommend that you do revenue share (but read about being a US affiliate below). 888 Poker will share 25% of the gross revenue with you if your poker gross is between $0 and $10,000 for the month. If you generate above $10,001 during the month, 888 will share 30% of the gross revenue with you.
888 Casino on Net Revenue
CPA
888 will pay you a premium price for the casino players that you send them, more than most other casino affiliate programs. If you send between 1 and 20 new real money players during the month, you will receive a commission of $100 for each player. Send 21 to 100 real money players and you will receive $150 per player. Send 101 to 200 real money players and you will receive $200 for each player. If you are a super-affiliate and send 201+ real money casino players during the month, 888 will give you a $300 commission for each one that you send, which is quite a lot of money.
MGR
Believe it or not, online casino players blow quite a bit of money and revenue share can be extremely profitable for you if your players have a high disposable income. Affiliates that generate from $0 to $10,000 in casino revenue for the month are given 25% gross revenue share. Generate between $10,001 and $30,000 and you will be given 30% gross revenue. Generate between $30,001 and $70,000 to receive 35% gross revenue. Finally, if you can generate $70,001 and above in revenue for a single month, you will earn 45% of the gross revenue. You must also realize that this is gross revenue, and not net revenue, which I talk more about below. US affiliates, please read my comments for you below.
You Receive GROSS Revenue From 888.com
What I cannot stress more than anything here is that 888 is sharing the GROSS revenue with you and not the net revenue or profit. You have to be very careful when choosing who to be an affiliate of because of this very reason. A few companies only give their affiliates a percentage of the revenue that was earned after all expenses. 25% of the gross income is about twice as much as 25% of the profits. Actually, 25% of the gross PROFIT usually only comes out to between 9% and 14% of the gross revenue.
However, if you are from the United States, I would recommend CPA in any event for legal reasons. You want to keep yourself “arms length” from being a partner of the online poker room and online casino in case legislation changes. If you have a stake in the performance of the players that you send, you may be liable for “aiding and abetting and unlawful internet gambling operation” in the event that legislation decides to define poker and casino as “unlawful,” which, according to the Wire act of 1961, it is not at this time (June 2008).
Reward System (4)
There isn’t a “standard” affiliate reward system in place at 888.com, but if you perform well, you will get personal attention and may be able to negotiate your own special deals. This goes true for affiliates that can send a high volume of real money players, but is in no way a guarantee that you can negotiate anything because they do have a fair pay schedule in place.
Also, 888 has special rates offered to their affiliates in their affiliate program, such as the “$150 for every real money player that you refer no matter how many players you send” special that took place between September and December of 2006.
Subaffiliate Program (3)
You can contact your affiliate manager and get a special sub-affiliate tracking link. You can use this link to refer other affiliates and you will receive a 5% bonus of the income that they generate for themselves in their lifetime. Imagine how much money that you can make if you refer a super affiliate.
Pay Schedule (8)
888 uses every month as their typical pay period and pay affiliates based on the prior month’s revenues. You can expect to receive your payment between the 12th and 16th of the month after the revenues were earned (at least via Neteller that is). For example, if you earned $1,000 in revenue during the month of January, you can expect to receive your payment between the 12th and 16th of February.
If Neteller is not a viable option for you, then 888 is more than willing to promptly send payment in the form of a check.
Affiliate Managers and Customer Service (10)
Out of all the affiliate programs that I have participated in, I have never had better affiliate support than the support has been at the 888 affiliate program. The affiliate managers are incredible here and must work overtime every day in order to supply their affiliates with as much revenue generating success skills as they do. I owe much of my success to the advice and tips that have been given to me by the 888 affiliate program staff.