Miss Gaming

Bookmaker and Handicapper Affiliate Programs

HANDICAPPER AND BOOKMAKER AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

There are many handicapping scams on the Internet today. What is described below does not necessarily prove a scam. But there are issues involved that everyone interested in handicapping should be warned about.

Handicappers may join a bookmaker's affiliate program to make more money off their web site. An affiliate program is a business agreement between the affiliate program owner and the affiliate partner in which the former pays the latter for new referrals. What the merchant wants is added exposure (and thus profit) while the affiliate partner is after commissions. The affiliate ad may be a banner, graphic link, text link and so on.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST IN AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

Well, nothing wrong with it, right? Not quite. The problem here is that the bookmaker is after bettors who lose more often than they win. If a handicapper wants to make money off their affiliate partnership with the bookmaker, they must make their customers lose by recommending lousy picks to them. If their clients were to win, the handicapper would earn nothing from the affiliate program.

The bookmaker, on the other hand, would be foolish indeed if they advertised on a highly successful handicapping web site.

Thus a handicapper web site that advertises a bookmaker suggests two likely possibilities:

- The handicapper knowingly recommends poor picks - The bookmaker knows the handicapper is a lousy picker

This is not always the case, of course. And just because you see a handicapper advertising a bookmaker doesn't mean they are out to scam you. However an obvious "conflict of interest" is going on here so in any case, you need to be careful.

BETTING EXCHANGE AFFILIATE PROGRAMS

Now in the case of betting exchanges, there is danger as well. It's different though since betting exchanges make a profit from all their clients. They also give commissions to their affiliates for each new referral, whether these are winners or losers. However, the idea of making money from an affiliate program can still induce the handicapper to recommend more picks then they should. This is because the more picks, the more active bettors are and the more chances of a commission.

SUMMARY

All in all, it is better to stay away from handicappers that promote affiliate bookmakers on their web sites. But if you are not convinced you can investigate the bookmaker's business yourself and how their affiliate program rewards its affiliate handicappers.