Will land casinos going "online" hurt affiliates?

[Pokerkeep]

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Off to a roaring start!

 

[Simmo!]

Take a look folks... the future of online casino affiliates.

playnow... uses NO affiliates... Nor will they... ever.

This is the future of legalized online gambling... Only the big boys will be allowed to play... Better start diversifying affiliate people.

I agree that this is definitely worth noting, although there is a slant on this particular one.

PlayNow is BC State Run, which might even see itself as a monopoly, but either way presumably has marketing angles unavailable to competitors. Although while online gambling is not illegal, there will still be competitors who will use affiliates. For sure, it will eat into the market and reduce affiliate opportunities though and if Canada were ever to outlaw online gambling, then yes, it might become a dead market. Personally, I think that is unlikely.

Additionally, while this move might indicate a way forward for Canada, and maybe the USA, it doesn't necessarily affect the rest of the world. Each country is setting out it's stall and some will be more relaxed than others.

Diversification - yes...very important, but can still quite feasibly be within the online gaming sector.

More worrying for me is that when the land-based ops come in from the USA, the casino market could start to go the way of the Poker market with one or two gradually becoming dominant and thus able to set the rules. My understanding of Poker (which isn't great to be fair) is that affiliates are finding it harder and harder as the two Big Boys squeeze them more and more. The irony of that is that it would probably only be achievable by dominating the web space (SERPS) which is best achieved...via affiliates! So we would basically control out own destiny.

But that's talking USA. The situation in other countries will undoubtedly be very different. Nonetheless - the old adage, "nothing lasts forever" is well worth keeping in mind for affiliates.

Meanwhile, Google and Bing hold the key to affiliate life in general IMO. There will always be people searching for online casinos. While affiliates can achieve rankings and traffic, they will be coveted.

 

[lots0]

Off to a roaring start!

According to my sources the playnow servers crashed because they were not expecting nor were they geared up for the huge amount of traffic they received in the first 24hrs.

People seem to be very very hungry for a Government "Regulated" online casino in North America...

More worrying for me is that when the land-based ops come in from the USA, the casino market could start to go the way of the Poker market with one or two gradually becoming dominant and thus able to set the rules. My understanding of Poker (which isn't great to be fair) is that affiliates are finding it harder and harder as the two Big Boys squeeze them more and more. The irony of that is that it would probably only be achievable by dominating the web space (SERPS) which is best achieved...via affiliates! So we would basically control out own destiny.

It is already happening here... I know for a fact several of the bigger Tribes are already investing millions and millions in software, hardware and talent... Most of them fully expect to be online by the end of the year. You can lay odds that the big land based casinos out of Vegas and Atlantic City (watch the Sands, Wynn and of course Harras) are not far behind.

 

[Simmo!]

...(watch the Sands, Wynn and of course Harras) are not far behind.

It may already have been mentoned, but Harrahs are already there, just not facing the USA. They have teamed up with Dragonfish and interestingly, are using affiliates.

I don't think that sets a precedent myself because they are aiming at a market that doesn't really know the brand. However, if (and that's a big 'if' right now) a land casino teams up with an online operation for US facing operations, I would think it likely that affiliates would be part of the equation where the online operation is given responsibility for the marketing.

Additionally, when they made that aborted attempt to come online a few years back, it failed miserably. I wasn't around then, so I don't know exactly why it failed, but I would have thought some part of it would have been a failure to penetrate the market. If that assumption is right, this time round working with an online company that knows the business makes a lot of sense. And both Partygaming and Dragonfish have put down markers already.

One other thing that hasn't been mentioned, but not sure where it fits in. I expect the land casinos would want to present players with some familiar games. Games like Cleopatra etc. And these are licenced by the software providers like Wagerworks, who in turn are owned by IGT. So what impact does that have, on us and on the existing licencees of those games. What sort of say does the software provider have, if any and if they care.

Politically speaking, they may have to tread carefully because they work very closely with some big name brands (Virgin, Rank Entertainment, Sky etc) who are very keen to compete in the USA. At the moment, IGT won't allow US play, but if they licence to US casinos, then that gives the green light to all their licencees that are prepared to wear the risks I'd have thought.

 

[TheGamblingGuru]

I think some of you guys are forgetting that Harrah's and others have been using affiliates for years now. The 'Junket Reps' are most certainly their affiliates and many of them have websites and are also webmasters as well. Harrah's will most likely also use affiliates for the online marketing of their Harrah's Interactive venture as well.
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[lots0]

I think some of you guys are forgetting that Harrah's and others have been using affiliates for years now. The 'Junket Reps' are most certainly their affiliates and many of them have websites and are also webmasters as well. Harrah's will most likely also use affiliates for the online marketing of their Harrah's Interactive venture as well.
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Na I havent forgotten that... But you are assuming that things will stay the same after regulation has come to the US and I don't think things will stay the same.

But only time will tell.

 

[Aussie-Dave]

You can lay odds that the big land based casinos out of Vegas and Atlantic City (watch the Sands, Wynn and of course Harras) are not far behind.

From a reliable land based casino source (Australia) I was told a few years back, some of the BIG Vegas boys have their online casinos already set-up. They're just waiting for the go ahead.

At that point it will be literally flicking a few buttons and they're open for business.

I've commenced on stuff outside the industry, just in case everything as we know it falls to crap. Although it's not making me anything now, I figure least getting something up and running is going safe guard me, somewhat.



Cheers



Dave

 

[Engineer]

PlayNow.com is a complete joke -- check out this article:

Online casino glitch let players use others' money - The Globe and Mail

 

[lots0]

A licensing program for anyone taking bets on the Internet would be established by a bill receiving a public hearing this afternoon before the House Financial Services committee.


Internet Gambling License Considered Today - Yahoo! News

I am going to double post this, I think this little tidbit of news deserves it's own thread.


@Engineer - I agree playnow is not starting out very well... I just used them as an example to show that licensed casinos in north America are not going to be inclined to use affiliates... I was NOT trying to say playnow was some great thing... Actually I was saying just the oppisit...

 

[CGP]

We had a nice discussion a few months ago about the biggest land based casinos that may consider going online and how this may affect the affiliates.

Different points of view have been shared here and many webmasters particiapted in the discussion.

Two weeks ago Harrah’s Interactive has launched its first online brands: Caesars Casino Online and Caesars Bingo Online. It looks that the usual marketing model based on affiliates was implemented and the marketing program behind these brands is Market-ace.

It would be great to see your opinion again...

CGP

 

[Simmo!]

Not sure about the Bingo side, but didn't Caesars team up with Uffiliates rather than Market Ace? Certainly that's who I aff-tag with for Caesars.

 

[CGP]

Not sure about the Bingo side, but didn't Caesars team up with Uffiliates rather than Market Ace? Certainly that's who I aff-tag with for Caesars.

This is what I found on egrmagazine.com:

07/10/2010


"Market-ace, the official affiliate programme for Jackpotjoy, Sun Bingo, and Caesars Bingo Online, is launching its first casino affiliate programme, Caesars Casino Online."

''Harrah’s Interactive has launched Caesars Casino Online, using Gamesys technology. The new site is available to UK residents only.''

You may also verify the information here: market-ace.com/news.html

 

[Engineer]

Guys, I split the Caesars discussion into a new thread: https:// www. affiliateguarddog. com/forums/ceasars-casino-t3290.html

 

[HBKKH]

It'll be the same thing as UK based companies like ladbrokers and so fourth...

aff model won't die but will prob weed out the rouge programs. Kiss upfront payments and high CPA goodbye.

Say hello to much more competition.