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When people think “betting exchange” they normally think of Betfair. However over the past few years many other betting exchanges have started up, and the direct competitor to Betfair is WBX, the World Betting Change.
This UK based betting exchange has been around since 2006, and over the past couple of years they’ve really ramped things up on the affiliate side, knowing that is somewhere where Betfair are lacking.
I’ve been working with WBX for over a year now and it’s been a very pleasant experience. The biggest thing for me is their affiliate manager Peter Arena. He’s fast become one of my favourite affiliate managers from just chatting to on a regular basis to getting things done.
I sat down with Peter to do a 10 Questions With… to find out more about WBX, and hopefully get more affiliates on board. I encourage you to give WBX a try with their 50% revenue share available here.
Let’s start with the obvious question: EPL is back, Champions League is back, golf is in full swing – pardon the pun. So why should affiliates choose WBX to promote to their sports betting traffic?
Yes, right now is a good time for affiliates to earn on all the popular sports. The Premier League will be a quality source of revenue for our affiliates. We offer over 3,000 soccer markets weekly with coverage from top goal scorer, under/over 2.5 goals, as well as niche markets like Singapore S-League soccer matches. Our daily horse racing and greyhound racing coverage also keeps a constant revenue stream coming in along with the mainstays of live market coverage for soccer, tennis and cricket.
With WBX it’s the consistent bettors that will earn affiliates the most, so the daily horse racing and soccer markets are perfect for this. Unlike bookmaker affiliate programs that pay out a percentage of the net losses at the end of the month, we pay revenue based on the commission that is generated by the net wins on every individual market. The more active your referrals are the more you will earn.
WBX is a good choice for affiliates because it is a safe and secure betting exchange platform. Affiliates can promote with confidence knowing their traffic won’t be signing up with a rogue outfit. WBX is fully licensed in the UK and Member funds are ring-fenced and placed in a trust account that is only used for paying out winning bets, making it one of the safest around.
WBX Affiliates offers an equal split – a flat 50% revenue share. This is the highest base rate for any betting exchange. We convert well for new betting exchange punters by offering a Sportsbook view by default and we have loyalty programs such as a loyalty discount and commission refunds in place to retain Members’ long term.
Betting exchanges seem to be more of a European market. To any affiliates out there who would be promoting WBX to their US audiences for the likes of NHL, NBA and NFL – how should they sell it to their traffic?
While WBX doesn’t accept Members from USA, we do have a following of American sports among our Members worldwide. The strengths of exchange betting are the better odds and the ability to back and lay. No matter what type of punter someone is, if you show them how much more they can be winning at WBX it will always be the strongest selling point.
For instance in the upcoming French horse racing L’Arc de Triomphe betting market, one of the favourites ‘Australia’ is paying at 6.0 odds on most bookies (Bet365, William Hill, Betfred etc) but you can back the same horse at WBX with odds of 16.0! Another horse ‘Tapestry’ is offered at 40.0 at WBX, but is just 11.0 at William Hill, 13.0 at Bet365. So backing the same horses at WBX can lead to wins 2-3 times higher, this is a great way to communicate the strengths of WBX that any punter can understand and appreciate.
If you have a site that attracts casual punters who have never bet with betting exchanges, it’s important to explain the basics about lay betting, why exchanges can offer better odds, and how to trade live to green up and lock in profits.
A key advantage WBX has over other exchanges is that the commission rate is more competitive – 3% commission on soccer, cricket, basketball and other sports with 3 or less entrants. On top of that we offer loyalty rewards to Members that reduce commission further to as low as 1.2%. Other exchanges have a base rate of 5% and charge as much as 7.5% commission, making WBX a better option for low commission exchange betting while still offering a wide selection of markets.
The word “Betfair” has almost became synonymous to “betting exchange” since their launch. For affiliates looking to promote just one betting exchange, why WBX over Betfair?
Betfair is widely considered as the market leader. By promoting WBX, affiliates are providing themselves the opportunity to influence their traffic to convert to another leading exchange. This results in more earning potential since they won’t gain anything by promoting to existing Betfair users.
There are also a growing number of people that feel Betfair have harmed their relationship with customers by increasing commission in many countries, and imposing premium charges which can scrape off up to 60% of your winnings. When these customers are looking for alternatives WBX is a good choice because the commissions are much lower and WBX doesn’t charge winner’s premiums. All Members are welcome to join and bet as much as they like, regardless of how successful they are.
To help our affiliates to attract customers from other exchanges, WBX will match any Member’s existing commission discount rate at Betfair or Ladbrokes Exchange/Betdaq by emailing WBX Member Services proof of their existing discount rate.
WBX does not reduce earnings or close affiliate accounts if they are underperforming. At Betfair if affiliates do not refer any new customers for 3 months, their revenue share drops to 5% until 3 signups are referred. If you refer a high roller under these terms – you would be on a 10x lower revenue share at Betfair than you would at WBX (5% vs. 50%).
We value our affiliates whether they are big or small and if they decide to end their partnership we will pay them what they have earned, and continue paying them for all of their past referrals.
What is the history of WBX?
WBX was founded in London by Malcolm Gray, and officially launched in 2006. He saw that Betfair had a virtual monopoly and wanted to put exchange bettors back in control.
WBX made a splash when it first entered the industry by sponsoring over 200 races and contributing more than £1 million to the UK racing industry. Prior to launch, WBX was the 4th largest sponsor of horse races in the UK. WBX sponsored the Triple Crown, which was a £1 million bonus for any horse that could win the 3 major jump races. So horse racing has been the flagship sport for punters on WBX.
So WBX was officially launched in 2006. What improvements and changes have there been in regards to the punters department over the years? What have you learned that you wished you guys knew prior to launch?
Since launch, there have been a number of improvements to the website. The latest version has been designed with accessibility and ease of navigation in mind. It works seamlessly across mobile platforms so visitors can easily access content that adapts to their mobile, tablet, or desktop device with no apps or downloads required.
Live betting markets and sports coverage also continues to expand as it grows in popularity. Back in 2006 there were a handful of live markets covered. WBX now offers well over 35,000 live markets a year across a variety of sports. People love to bet in-play and WBX caters to these punters by offering a fun and exciting betting experience with odds changing during every play and more chances to bet.
Same question but in regard to the affiliate side of things.
The WBX Affiliates program has gone through a complete transformation. The program was run manually through email from applications, reporting, banner requests to invoices.
The program relaunched in 2012. Netrefer is used for the backend affiliate software so affiliates have the ease to login and download media and track their performance daily with detailed reports.
Affiliate payments are automated monthly and communications are tracked in CRM. The change from CPA to revenue share was a generous move by WBX, some of our affiliates are now earning several times more than they would have on the old program.
What have I learned that I wish I knew prior to launch?
I would say the main thing I’ve learned in my role as an affiliate manager is that persistence pays off. I suppose it’s also true for affiliates and is vital to success. Sometimes it takes time to build up something to the level you want it to get to, but when you see the potential there for something great you need to stick with it and keep working hard at it and improving it over time. It’s a bit of a cliché the saying ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ but I see with our affiliates that they gradually build up their earnings over time, and for us, our success goes hand-in-hand with our affiliates since both parties earn the same amount.
Let’s say tomorrow you left WBX, to become an affiliate. But you wanted to promote WBX exclusively on your new affiliate site. What type of affiliate site would you set up?
I would set up a website dedicated to horse racing and greyhound racing with regular news updates, betting tips and the latest odds for daily UK and Irish races because these are the strongest. I’d still include ante-post markets for the high profile international races like the Melbourne Cup, with the unique selling points of WBX like lay betting included, with both back and lay tips offered. Every race discussed would link to the market page to make it convenient for people to bet on the races they are reading about.
Horse racing is the most popular sport for betting at WBX and greyhound racing is right up there too. These sports have races every 5 minutes or so which results in more opportunities to run up recurring commissions. With an exchange you earn revenue from the net winnings on every race by every referral, not the total profit and loss for all your referrals combined at the end of the month, so these quick markets are well suited to affiliate earnings.
I wouldn’t need to worry about the seasonality of sport coming into play, there is horse racing all year round, and would have quality events to push hard for a boost in earnings during the year like the Cheltenham Festival, The Grand National, etc.
How did you get started with WBX and what’s your history within the industry?
I got started in this role through a friend that was already working with WBX at the time. I already had a strong background in sports and betting which came in handy. I’ve been working with WBX for almost 4 years now and during that time have helped to relaunch our affiliate program and increase awareness of WBX.
What sports offered at WBX do you feel are unsaturated in the affiliate market, and that you’d recommend affiliates look into promoting?
I feel that cricket is one of the more popular sports for betting at WBX that has a growing following especially on the live betting markets, but is under-represented by the number of affiliates registering compared to other sports. I also feel like there isn’t a lot of competition for cricket betting websites. Maybe that is due to fewer people searching for cricket betting keywords and more focus on live scores and news updates, but it does seem to be an opportunity worth exploring.
Greyhound racing is another active sport at WBX as I mentioned earlier, with many races on offer each day and betting picking up in the final minutes before a race begins. It is unsaturated and there are real opportunities there to promote and earn, without too many great greyhound racing sites to compete with. It is targeting a bit of a niche but can pay off if you do it well.
Final Question: In 140 characters or less, tell affiliates why they should promote WBX.
WBX Affiliates offers 50% revenue, friendly terms & fast monthly payments – making it one of the fairest sports betting affiliate programs!
Thanks very much for the interview Peter. Everyone I highly recommend giving WBX a try – click here.
This article was written on September 18, 2014 however all articles are looked at on a monthly basis and updated to keep them relevant.
If you need to contact Graeme, please see his Contact Page. If you are an affiliate manager wanting promoted please see this page.
