Casino streaming has become a big thing lately. There is an ever-growing number of people streaming their online gambling live on Twitch or YouTube, with hundreds and sometimes even thousands of people watching them at any given time. And, while some of these streamers only do it occasionally, there are large streaming channels that stream nearly every day for several hours a day.
The truth is, a majority of streamers do love what they do and they enjoy playing slots and casino games live, for the whole world to see, but having fun isn’t their only motivation. Casino streaming has, in fact, become a rather lucrative business model, which begs the question: how much do casino streamers actually earn – and how?
Casino Affiliation as the Primary Source of Income
As a marketing model, affiliation has been popular for quite a while, especially with the rise of the internet, allowing almost anybody to become an affiliate for a particular product or a service. How successful they are at it usually gets down to their own effort and skills.
Affiliation has been particularly popular in the online gambling niche as online casinos found this model to be very successful and virtually free for them. The way it works is, they don’t have to pay anything upfront but rather pay their affiliates based on the number of people they bring in and/or the losses of the affiliated players.
Casino streamers are in a perfect position to market affiliate casino deals to highly motivated audience, incentivizing players to join by offering deals like a 30 free spins signup bonus, no deposit required. These deals may not be enough to get them their affiliate commission, but once a player signs up, the casino takes over with their offers and bonuses, enticing them to deposit their own money and play some more.
Usually casino streamers will tell their viewers to click on a link in their description, and this is how the viewer gets tracked. Some of the streamers also have websites where they review the most popular online casinos.
What about Actual Figures?
Like in most walks of professional life, casino streamers aren’t particularly keen on revealing their financial details. However, some of them don’t seem to mind sharing some of the info in their videos, so we at least have some idea about their income.
Those using CPA deals can (Cost Per Acquisition) are paid for every player that signs up and deposits using their link. The actual amount can be anywhere between €50 and €250, so if they get 50+ players to sign up in a month, it is already a nice figure. Big streamers probably get more than this.
Revenue share deals are a bit more complicated. Affiliates (streamers) get a share of their players’ net losses, usually on a monthly basis (25% to 50%), but depending on the model they use there may be some deductions before they’re paid. It is safe to assume big streamers do rake in a lot of money (€10k – €20k would be a reasonable estimate) because they must have signed up a number of players under them over their streaming careers.
Of course, when thinking about these numbers, we must also consider the fact that streamers do lose a nice chunk while gambling because, like everybody else, they can’t beat the casino. Some of the more popular ones have shared their yearly numbers and their losses reach into the six-figure territory.
So, overall, casino streaming is a lucrative business, but those doing it also have a big overhead and need to set aside lot of money to keep their gig going. Viewers always demand bigger stakes and crazier gambles, and these costs can add up fairly quickly!