The ‘Wild West’ of Wagering Affiliate Marketing and Implications for Gambling Harm

Wagering affiliate marketing is a performance-based system where online wagering operators pay third parties (affiliates) to recruit and engage customers for them. Despite widespread use, it has attracted limited research attention in Australia and elsewhere. This exploratory Australian study aimed to capture key informant perspectives on (1) the key features of wagering affiliate marketing and (2) how it may increase the risk of gambling harm. Interviews were conducted with 44 individuals from 28 organisations representing wagering operators, wagering affiliates, gambling regulators and legal advisors, and gambling support providers. Based on thematic analysis, the findings identified numerous features in business and payment models used in wagering affiliate marketing that can increase the risk of gambling harm. Affiliate marketers are paid generous commissions by wagering operators to purposefully encourage new customers to bet and existing customers to bet more. In direct conflict with harm minimisation objectives, affiliate marketers are incentivised to target bettors with high-loss potential and people at-risk of gambling harm and engage in deceptive and predatory practices likely to attract vulnerable people. The current regulatory environment has limited capacity to monitor and prevent harmful and illegal practices and is further hampered by both the scale of the industry and its dynamic and hidden marketing practices. The findings can inform future research to test relationships between gambling affiliate marketing and gambling harm. They can also prompt consideration of more effective regulation and ways to increase consumer awareness about misleading affiliate practices.