Licensed, state by state
The United States regulates gambling affiliates more directly than any other jurisdiction and less uniformly. There is no federal affiliate rule; each state that has legalised online sports betting or casino has decided for itself whether affiliates need a licence, what kind, at what cost, and with what obligations, and the answers differ enough that an affiliate operating across the country runs a licensing programme rather than a compliance policy. This lesson sets out the pattern, the main states, and the two questions that decide everything: how the affiliate is paid, and what it promotes.
The compensation test
Almost every state that licenses affiliates does so on the basis of how they are paid. The logic is the regulator's traditional concern with anyone who shares in gambling revenue: a party paid a percentage of what customers lose has a stake in the gambling itself and is treated like a supplier; a party paid a flat fee for advertising is treated like a media vendor.
Flat fee or fixed payment (a placement fee, a sponsorship, sometimes a fixed CPA that does not depend on the customer's subsequent activity) typically triggers the lower tier: a vendor registration with a modest fee and basic disclosure.
Revenue share, or CPA tied to the customer's gambling activity typically triggers the higher tier: a vendor or supplier licence with application and licensing fees in the thousands of dollars, background checks on owners and key personnel, fingerprinting in some states, and annual renewal.
The distinction is applied to the deal, not the affiliate, so the same affiliate may hold a registration in one state and a licence in another depending on how its operators pay it there, and a change of deal structure can change the licence required.
The main states
The following reflects the regimes as reported by compliance practitioners and regulators at the time of writing; each state's rules, fees and forms change, and the regulator's own site is the source.
New Jersey. The Division of Gaming Enforcement requires affiliates to register or license according to compensation. A vendor registration covers affiliates paid a fixed amount regardless of what the referred user does. An Ancillary Casino Service Industry Enterprise licence covers affiliates paid on the basis of the user's gambling activity or the revenue tied to it. The DGE has stated that sub-affiliates receiving compensation that would trigger the requirement must themselves be licensed, has emphasised geolocation so that promotion reaches only New Jersey residents where intended, and has published guidance that affiliates must not promote gambling platforms not authorised by the state, which it has applied to sweepstakes and to prediction markets. New Jersey is the most demanding state and the one whose approach others have followed.
Pennsylvania. The Gaming Control Board treats affiliates as Gaming Service Providers supplying non-gaming services to licensees, with registered and certified tiers depending on the affiliate's income from Pennsylvania licensees, and a distinction between sponsored applicants (already contracted with a specific licensee) and unsponsored ones. Personal history disclosures for owners, officers, directors and key employees, additional fees for holding companies, and a non-refundable application deposit apply.
Michigan. The Gaming Control Board distinguishes affiliates paid flat fees, who register as vendors for a modest application fee, from affiliates paid on revenue share, who must hold a supplier licence with an application fee, a background investigation, a licensing fee and an annual fee running to several thousand dollars in total.
Colorado. The Division of Gaming licenses affiliates as vendors: a vendor minor licence for marketing and affiliate work paid on a CPA basis, at a few hundred dollars, and a vendor major licence for revenue-share arrangements, at a higher fee plus a substantial background-investigation deposit.
Indiana. The Gaming Commission uses sports wagering vendor, supplier and registrant classifications, with a certificate of registration for marketing affiliates, triggered by revenue-share and CPA compensation, and requires ownership and key-personnel disclosure with fingerprinting. Indiana has eased its requirements for affiliates it regards as minimal-risk.
Virginia. The Virginia Lottery requires a sports betting vendor registration for marketing, referral and content functions, with background information on the business, its ownership and criminal history.
Others. Arizona, Tennessee, West Virginia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Ohio, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and the rest of the online states each have their own vendor, supplier or registration category into which affiliates fall, on broadly the same compensation logic and at a range of fees. Several states also require affiliates to be listed by the operator in its own licence filings.
What the licence obliges
Beyond the application, a licensed or registered affiliate in a US state carries obligations that the state can enforce directly.
Promotion of licensed operators only. Every state's rules prohibit promoting unlicensed gambling to its residents, and the enforcement questions of the last two years have been about what counts. Sweepstakes casinos and prediction-market exchanges are, in the reading of most state regulators, unlicensed gambling in their states, and affiliates promoting them to residents of those states have received the same cease-and-desist attention the operators have. An affiliate's state permission matrix now has to specify not just which operators but which product categories it will promote in each state.
Geolocation and targeting. Content directed at a state's residents must comply with that state's rules; content that reaches them from elsewhere is the affiliate's problem to manage, and New Jersey in particular expects affiliates to geo-target.
Advertising standards. State regulations and the industry's own responsible-marketing codes require age statements (21 in most states), responsible gambling messaging and helpline numbers, no targeting of under-21s or of colleges and universities, and, in a growing number of states, restrictions on "risk-free" language, on inducements and on the presentation of bonuses. Several states prohibit the phrase "risk-free" outright.
Reporting and cooperation. Change-of-ownership notifications, renewal filings, and cooperation with the regulator's enquiries.
The unlicensed-promotion frontier
The live issues in American affiliate compliance are about products rather than operators.
Sweepstakes. Affiliates have earned well promoting sweepstakes casinos in states without licensed online casino. As states ban the model or enforce against it, affiliates holding state licences elsewhere are exposed: a licensed affiliate promoting a product a regulator regards as illegal gambling is a licensee in breach. The Sweepstakes and Social Casino course covers the segment.
Prediction markets. The same question with a federal complication: the exchanges hold CFTC designations and argue the states have no jurisdiction; the states disagree and have sent cease-and-desists to the exchanges and, in some cases, to those promoting them. An affiliate promoting sports event contracts to residents of a state that has acted is taking a position in that litigation. The Prediction Markets course covers the fight.
Offshore sportsbooks and casinos. The affiliate industry's original American business, now unambiguously illegal promotion in every regulated state and a disqualifying history for a licence application. Regulators check.
Running a US licensing programme
An affiliate operating across American states needs: a register of every state's requirement, licence type, fee, renewal date and form; a decision per state on whether the revenue justifies the licence; a compliance calendar; a permission matrix by state, operator and product; a geolocation approach for content; a template that carries each state's age, responsible gambling and disclaimer requirements; and a person who owns it. The listed affiliates run dedicated licensing teams; smaller affiliates use specialist counsel or consultants who file in bulk. The cost is real, the alternative is being unpaid, and the states that are "worth it" are the ones where the affiliate's revenue exceeds the licensing cost by a comfortable margin, which for most affiliates is a short list.
What to take from this lesson
American states license affiliates directly, on a compensation test: flat fees trigger registration, revenue share and activity-based CPA trigger a licence with background checks and fees in the thousands. New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Colorado, Indiana and Virginia are the reference regimes, and the rest follow the pattern with their own forms. The licence obliges the affiliate to promote only licensed products, to target by state, and to meet each state's advertising standards, and the live frontier is sweepstakes and prediction markets, where an affiliate's promotion is a position in a legal fight. Run it as a licensing programme with a register, a calendar and an owner.