Should the Industry Reset Operator and Affiliate Deals?

At SBC Lisbon 2025, clovio joined one of the most anticipated panels: Should the industry reset operator and affiliate deals?

Partnerships in affiliate marketing have always relied heavily on pure trust in the past. It made sense. Back in the day, tracking affiliate metrics was difficult, and it was even more challenging to share that data directly.

But with data being so easy to track nowadays, the affiliate marketing sphere is changing. One of the main things is that partnerships require more transparency between both parties, as it’s easy to get information to the tiniest detail.

Are traditional RevShare deals still relevant?

RevShare has long been the backbone of iGaming affiliate partnerships, where affiliates earn a recurring percentage of player revenue.

But the model is under pressure.

‘Lifetime’ RevShare often isn’t truly lifetime, as affiliates are increasingly at risk of not having their RevShare paid out. Plus, its calculation can differ widely from one operator to another, usually due to different admin fees.

However, such distrust threatens the operator’s affiliate program as a whole.

After all, if it’s publicly known that certain operators unilaterally decide to stop paying RevShare, other affiliates may be reluctant to send traffic to the brand for fear of not being compensated correctly.

In response, the panel discussed alternative compensation models, such as a CPA model that provides affiliates with a fixed rate per referred player or a hybrid model combining CPA and RevShare.

With hybrid models, affiliates receive a CPA per referred player, which motivates player acquisition, while also earning a recurring RevShare that rewards retention.

Listing fees are another hot topic in affiliate marketing, offering fixed payments for prime website placements.

These come with their specific set of advantages and limitations and would require an article of their own to go over.

Overall, the panel recognized the rising costs of player acquisition and stressed the importance of compensation models that are sustainable and fair for both affiliates and operators.

Standardising contracts

Contributing to the lack of transparency in affiliate marketing is the fact that contracts are typically drafted solely by operators.

Affiliates often have limited ability to negotiate or adapt the terms, and these terms can even change during the partnership. Affiliates are then left with the choice to accept the new conditions or exit the contract altogether, leaving them in a vulnerable position.

To counter this, affiliates are increasingly drafting their own contracts to ensure all aspects of the partnership are clearly defined and mutually agreed upon. However, these contracts drafted by affiliates can sometimes conflict with the operator’s general terms and conditions.

Furthermore, enforcing the contract can be complicated, especially across different jurisdictions.

A potential solution that the panel discussed is adopting standardised contracts across the entire affiliate industry. This would give both sides more clarity on expectations and obligations.

Technology as a trust-builder

Another key theme discussed was the role of technology.

More and more tracking solutions are becoming available, giving more insights into the referred players, including their customer journey from the affiliate site to the operator’s landing page and the player activity after signing up.

With smarter tracking, affiliates can trust that all the traffic sent is visible on their affiliate dashboards, while operators can be confident that there’s no fraudulent traffic. This helps both parties ensure that the partnership is fair, transparent, and sustainable.

In conclusion

The panel showed that traditional affiliate marketing deals aren’t necessarily obsolete, but they do need an update.

With clearer contracts and better technology, operator–affiliate partnerships can become more transparent, reliable, and sustainable.