Two weeks ago, 888poker was added to the PAS network. Unfortunately, shortly after the poker room's launch on PAS, 888poker made a decision to suspend all new MGR offers for all affiliates (including non-PAS affiliates). Because of this recent development we have had to put the 888poker offer on hold for the time being. If you previously had made a revenue-share request through PAS for 888 it will need to be canceled. We are currently in discussions with 888poker about bringing a CPA deal to PAS. We will update PAS publishers promptly on any developments, which we hope is soon. In the meantime, you can continue to promote any number of our current revenue-share and CPA deals on PAS.
Aced, a Merge Gaming poker room offering games to players worldwide, is giving PAS publishers even more reason to promote the room during the month of December -- by a offering an influx of new exclusive promotions. Aced is closely associated with Carbon Poker so it is only natural that they will begin to share the $10,000 Rake Race and $5,000 Freeroll with Aced players. With this change also comes the introduction of the Free Coaching offer available through Drag the Bar. If that wasn't enough, Aced will also be offering the popular Free $25 Cash Bonus to PAS players during the month of December. Let's take a look at all the promotions you can offer Aced sign-ups during the month of December and beyond. $25 Free Cash Bonus -- December PAS Exclusive This promotion was offered a few months back with Carbon Poker and we're very pleased to be able to bring it back during December for Aced players. New players that register AND make their first deposit through a PAS room during December will be eligible for this $25 Free offer. Once a deposit is made, the bonus will be credited directly into the player's real money account by the following day. To withdraw the bonus, players will be required to earn 1,000 VIP Points. Note that Side games are not eligible for this promotion. $5,000 Freeroll -- PAS Exclusive Previously available exclusively for Carbon Poker players, the $5,000 Aced freeroll is available for new PAS players who generate $1 or more in rake during their first month. Existing players may also qualify by generating $50 in rake or more during the month of December. The freeroll will be held in early January. $10,000 Rake Race -- PAS Exclusive The $10,000 Rake Race has been a hit with Carbon Poker players so we expect some interest from Aced players as well. The promotion will award $10,000 in cash to be shared between the top 75 rake generators each month. Rake race payments will range from $10 for 75th all the way up to $2,000 for 1st. Free Drag the Bar Coaching Players who rake $1 or more at Aced are now eligible for Free Poker Coaching through Drag the Bar. Once a player has signed up for Aced through your sign-up link and met the minimum requirement they may sign-up for Drag the Bar using this link. For more information, be sure to check out our Drag the Bar forum post . Reload Bonus If you have a player who has already signed up for Aced through your links, they will be eligible for all these new promotions except the $25 Free Cash Bonus. These existing players can take advantage of a December reload bonus, however. Simply instruct them to use bonus code DEC375 on their next deposit before December 15th at 11:59 PM ET. The bonus will release in $5 increments for every 500 VIP Points earned. 2x VIP Points During December Double VIP Points are back again for December! Players that sit down at cash games or tournaments on Mondays and Tuesday during the month of December will earn twice the normal rate of VIP Points. Note that these points can not be used to clear bonuses at a faster rate. In addition to these promotions, players may also take advantage of the following: 150% up to $750 sign-up bonus (standard sign-up bonus)VIP rakeback up to 47%Free Poker Coaching through DeucesCracked (A player must rake $500 each month. For more information, refer to our DeucesCracked page.)14 days of $500 daily First Depositor Freerolls after a player's first deposit More Reasons to Promote Aced Recently, like much of the Merge Gaming network, Aced began accepting players worldwide, increasing their appeal to publishers who promote to players in a variety of regions. The poker room last year began offering players a dedicated Mac client and has recently obtained a license from the Lotteries and Gaming authority in Malta, providing the poker room with a LGA license, which enables some European players to obtain special tax benefits. Aced also informed us that the LGA license requires that player funds be separated from operational funds. PAS strongly recommends promoting Aced, especially during the month of December. PAS publishers promoting Aced through PAS will receive revenue-share commissions of 40%. Please let us know if you have any additional questions about this offer of the new promotions available at Aced this month.
Whether you are a new online poker affiliate or an affiliate that has been around awhile, chances are at one point you have asked yourself “which commission model is right for me?” You’ll see some affiliates swear up and down in support of a particular model, while others will argue passionately about another. In my seven years in the online poker industry, I have seen each of the commission models gain and lose favorability. Back when I first got into the affiliate marketing industry in 2004 as the Content Director for BW, we preferred revenue-share. There were tons of new online poker players discovering online poker and they were generating a lot of rake. Around that time rakeback started to gain steam and while our site did not really enter the rakeback game in any meaningful way until 2009, rakeback was clearly the place to be – at least in our market segment -- in the years after UIGEA in 2006. In the last couple years -- especially since Black Friday – we’ve seen much more focus on CPA deals as affiliates look for more of a “sure” bet. Even if we aren’t in some sort of CPA era there is clearly more interest in the model than there was a few years ago. There are some affiliates that will still swear by revenue-share while other affiliates continue to do well with rakeback. I will try to highlight the positives and negatives of each to hopefully give some of the less experienced affiliates a better idea of what system might be right for them. CPA CPA stands for Cost Per Action, also often referred to as Cost Per Acquisition. With CPA commissions, affiliates are paid a flat fee, often around $100-$200 for every qualified referring player that they send to the poker room. To qualify for sending a player to a room, at a minimum a player usually has to make a small deposit of at least $20-$50. Some poker rooms also require a minimal amount of rake to be generated by the player, often around $20. Pros: More of a sure thing versus alternatives, great if you send large numbers of lower rake generators. Effectively acts as insurance for adverse market conditions (more true of rooms accepting U.S. players). More control over the poker room. Cons: Some affiliates feel rake requirements are too steep (for sites that require them). Less upside compared to revenue-share. Not available at all poker rooms. Countries with low player value are banned (former Soviet republics, Brazil are a couple examples) Check out the CPA deals currently offered by PAS. Revenue-Share What it is: Revenue-share is a percentage of rake that referred players generate over the lifetime of their account, minus applicable affiliate deductions. Commissions for revenue-share affiliates are frequently in the 25%-50% range. Revenue-share has been the most common commission structure over online poker’s history. Pros: Huge upside. Available at most poker rooms. Cons: More risk and fewer guarantees than CPA. Deductions and affiliate terms can be changed. A list of revenue-share offers through PAS. Rakeback What it is: Revenue-share affiliates discovered fairly early that they could market to players by returning some of their revenue-share commissions back to players in the form of rakeback. Rakeback affiliates often pay players 30%-40% rakeback while receiving 5% to 15% in commissions (note: these days, most rakeback is paid by the poker room). Kickback and Free Bankrolls work in a similar way in that they award players some part of the affiliate’s commission (they differ from rakeback in that their base is usually a CPA deal). Pros: Very attractive to players which aids in increasing volume and retention. Increases player loyalty. Cons: Low margins. Competition. Administration of rakeback. Not available at the largest rooms. Model waning in popularity (primarily because many of the largest sites don’t offer traditional rakeback). PAS offers rakeback at over 15 poker rooms with even more VIP-based deals with the latter being based on non-rakeback revenue-share deals. Which Commission Model is Best? Even though you can get two equally savvy online poker affiliates to disagree with the “correct” system, I think one thing that affiliates can come to consensus on is that no model can concretely be applied to every affiliate. “It depends” is probably not what you want to hear, but it does really hinge on a variety of factors (the types of players you promote to, the nationality of the players, what rooms you are promoting etc). One thing to keep in mind is that you don’t have to use one system exclusively; perhaps you want to test one versus the other to see how they perform or even do some sort of back testing when you have enough data. Hopefully we have given you a good foundation to make a decision on the best model for your website and marketing efforts. If you have any questions or need any help on deciding what the best system is for you, we’d love to hear from you. Also, be sure to check out our article why some affiliates are choosing the PAS network model for their CPA and revenue-share offers.
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