Affiliate marketing is an industry unto itself, with people of all statures and financial backing making profits from the business. The joy of the affiliate program is the simplicity with which it works. There are no customer relations to worry about, expensive start up costs or extensive knowledge required. All that is needed is some web space a little initiative and a desire to earn money. With affiliates earning money simply by hosting a few advertisements on their site, the potential for custom is immense. There are no limits or boundaries to the earning potential of an affiliate; therefore all affiliates are masters of their own destinies to a certain extent.

All the major online industries have incorporated an affiliate program in order to develop their product name and encourage new custom. However one of the most successful industries to have benefited from the affiliate program is that of online gaming, or more particularly sports betting. Through the variety of sites dedicated to sports, betting or just general interest, the world of sports betting has been able to immediately capture a huge audience. With the vast majority of the worlds population enjoying the spectacle of sports, the world wide web has embraced this and has in turn created millions of sites dedicated to individual or collective athletes, teams and sports. Many of these have in turn chosen to host advertising, with the most obvious choice being sports betting sites. But even though there are already thousands of sports betting affiliates, the market has by no means come to a grinding halt. Just like the sports betting market that it represents, the affiliate-marketing program is always expanding with new comers able to tap into a huge market and flourish.

Affiliates looking to enter the sports betting market are not only joining one of the largest online industries, but are also looking at one of the most profitable affiliate programs. Sports betting sites routinely offer their affiliates between 20 and 35% of a player's lifetime money generated. This is unlike other industries where only a small up front cash bonus or a percentage of a customer's expenditure for a limited period is given out. If a player you attract bets everyday for 5 years, then for 5 years you, as the affiliate that attracted him or her, will be earning a steady wage. Of course in the world of sports betting things can go up as well as down. The bookmakers lose money each time a player wins. However this is not true of most affiliate programs, these offer a protection to affiliates meaning that they can never have a minus figure for a site based on monthly payouts. Therefore an affiliate can earn just like a bookmaker earns cash, without ever having to worry about having to pay money out.