Key Takeaways
  • Effective from May 1 and running until July 31, all affiliates are offered a 50% revenue share deal.
  • Combining the Full Tilt affiliate package with PokerStars Partners was expected.
  • Affiliates referring players to PokerStars receive a base revenue share of 15%, going up to 35% based on the number of real money players referred during a calendar month.
  • Full Tilt will match PokerStars’ revenue share tiers following the introductory period.

Full Tilt Poker has launched a new affiliate program in partnership with its Rational sibling PokerStars, with an aggressive revenue share model for the first three months for all affiliates.

Effective from May 1 and running until July 31, all affiliates are offered a 50% revenue share deal, with no minimums or tiers for the number of referrals.

Referred players will also receive an exclusive “free ticket package” worth $10 in addition to the normal signup bonus offer.

Combining the Full Tilt affiliate package with PokerStars Partners was expected. In October 2012, parent company Rational Group, following the purchase and planned relaunch of the then-defunct Full Tilt Poker, announced it would not be honoring previous Full Tilt affiliate agreements as it “did not assume any liabilities” of FTP beyond non-US player balances.

Full Tilt launched without any affiliate contracts in place, but a combined PokerStars affiliate system was planned for the first quarter of 2013. By January, promotions were running on PokerNews.com and affiliated websites.

Last week, PokerStars Partners reworked its affiliate commission structure, abandoning a CPA (cost per acquisition) model and moving strictly to a revenue-sharing system. This change also came into effect May 1.

Under revenue shares, affiliates receive no upfront payments for referrals, instead a cut of revenue (rake) generated by the referred players is shared with affiliates.

Affiliates referring players to PokerStars will receive a base revenue share of 15%, going up to 35% based on the number of real-money players referred during a calendar month.

Following the three-month introductory period, Full Tilt referrals will match the same structure as PokerStars’.