Casino Review Secrets

At Moonshot Slots, we often claim to be different. And that’s why we’ve created an in-depth guide to how casino affiliate sites work, explaining the stuff that most other sites try to hide from you.

Our casino review secrets will show you what a casino affiliate is, how it works, who gets paid, and whether you can actually trust crypto casino reviews. We’ll also cover how realistic wagering requirements are, who physically writes our reviews, and give you a few tips on how to avoid fake casino reviews.

What is a Casino Affiliate?

A casino affiliate is a company which has an agreement with a casino, or a number of casinos, to share details on and promote them. This could be in the form of a crypto casino review, information on the latest bonus, or by sharing a link to the casino.

In the simplest terms, a casino affiliate is similar to an advertisement for a casino.

You can think of a casino affiliate site as a kind of communal message board, where people can post flyers and leaflets and other information. Instead of these casinos yelling into the void, they use a casino affiliate so that players can easily find information about their casinos in one place.

Without online casino affiliates, you might have the best crypto casino in the world, but hardly anyone will find it.

How Do Casino Affiliates Work?

Casino affiliates share reviews and information on select casinos. If you’re reading a casino review and decide you want to try it, you can click on the direct link. This will create an alert on the casino’s side, as a little note is made that you’ve come from a certain affiliate site.

For example, if you read our HunnyPlay review and use the link (and exclusive code) to get 100 free spins, HunnyPlay will automatically know that you’ve come from Moonshot Slots.

The casino then rewards the affiliate for bringing a new player to its site. This is a standard model which you’ll find all over the internet. For example, if you’re reading a list of the top 10 vacuum cleaners, or the best holiday rental homes, these sites will all have a tracker. When you purchase the product, the affiliate site makes a small percentage.

How We Make Money

Every time you read one of our casino reviews and go on to sign up and make a deposit, Moonshot Slots can potentially make profit. But it’s not guaranteed.

There are several basic models when it comes to how casino affiliates make money. Here are the three most common systems:

Cost per Acquisition

The cost per acquisition model, or CPA, awards a fixed payment to the affiliate when you join a casino. This is a one-time payment and is usually unlocked once the player makes their first real-money deposit.

Affiliates using this model typically want fast payments up front, and are not especially interested in whether or not the player sticks around for a long time.

Revenue Share

When you sign up through a casino affiliate that’s using revenue share, the affiliate site doesn’t get anything up front. You can sign up, make a deposit, play a few games and win, and nothing happens.

It’s only when you have a losing month that a percentage of the casino’s profit will go to the affiliate.

Hybrid

Finally, casino affiliates can be paid using a mixture of both CPA and revenue. Both will be a little smaller, but it’s a solid middle ground.

Our Preference

At Moonshot Slots, we primarily use the revenue share payment model. This is because we believe in our own reviews.

We only give positive reviews to crypto casinos we actually think are good, and we think you’ll agree. So, we’re happy to skip the initial payment. Instead, we’re backing our own research and objectivity, and banking on you guys signing up, loving the casinos, and joining us for the long term.

The catch is that we only get paid if you have a losing month, which is a bit of a bummer. But, on the flipside, we get sweet F.A. any time you smash it and secure a monthly profit.

Either we get a percentage, or we know the casino’s been rumbled by a regular player upsetting the odds. It’s like a win-win for us.

Are Casino Affiliates Honest?

No. The majority of casino affiliates are not completely honest, and will give casinos positive reviews even when they don’t believe they’re very good.

The reason for this is obvious. Casino affiliates are incentivised by money. So, many make the very common mistake of pumping out loads of positive reviews, giving readers as many options as possible in the hope that they’ll get more sign-ups.

That’s not how we do things at Moonshot Slots.

How Moonshot Slots Stays Honest

We follow an objective process to make sure all of our crypto casino reviews are 100% honest. The first step for this is an audit. That’s when a member of our team assesses the site, before we type one word, to see if it’s legit or not.

We then create an account, play on the site, examine the T&Cs, test the customer support service, read player reviews and more.

All of that is pretty standard. Or it should be, anyway. But what separates us from the pack is the fact that we will turn down rubbish casinos, or blast them out with a low-scoring review. Not naming any names, but you can see a few stinkers if you scroll through our A-Z of casinos.

Our Goal

Make no mistake – we need money to keep the business running as well. So, why don’t we just pump out loads of positive reviews, like other casino affiliates?

It’s because we’re playing the long game. We want to become the go-to resource for crypto casino reviews. And we won’t get there by being disingenuous.

Our firm belief is that readers can see through the nonsense. While other casino affiliates may do well in the short-term, we believe that high-quality and honest reviews from human casino experts will eventually rise to the top.

If we try to trick you, you won’t trust us anymore. Honesty really is the best policy.

We also use no AI whatsoever in our reviews. Many other casino affiliates are increasingly relying on Ai instead of human writers. Again, they’re doing well. You’d be surprised to learn how much this is happening at some of the world’s leading casino affiliate sites.

Here, every casino review, every crypto guide, and every terrible joke is 100% human written. Again, we think this will eventually do better than all the AI slop content out there.

Casino Bonuses and Wagering Requirements

One of the main ways a casino affiliate will try to get you to sign up to a casino is by advertising a welcome bonus. But some of them will misrepresent them.

If you check out our links to casinos, you’ll see all the key information about a welcome bonus right there by the link. For example, we’ll tell you about expiry dates, wagering requirements, and any other key terms which could potentially trip you up.

Some other casino affiliates don’t do this.

In our reviews, we’ll often discuss the wagering requirements and how likely it is that you can actually turn the offer into cash. In some of our reviews, you’ll see that we’ve advised you to treat certain bonuses as fun money, because the playthrough requirements are unrealistically high.

Plus, to make the maths stuff even easier, we’ve created a wagering requirement calculator which is free and can be used on any casino bonus.

We don’t sugarcoat bonuses, and always give it to you straight. You should be careful of any casino affiliate that makes out bonuses are too good to be true, as they may be trying to pull the wool over your eyes.

Are All Casino Reviews Positive?

No, but most of them are.

Nobody is going to read a negative review and then sign up, which is why most crypto casino affiliate sites focus on positive reviews.

We like to strike a balance at Moonshot Slots. The majority of our reviews are positive, because we want to share the best crypto casinos with you. And we go into great detail in our reviews. So, we prefer to invest our time in useful sites.

But we do include some negative reviews as well. Especially if the site seems legit, or has a decent reputation, but is trying to hide something.

If you see a casino affiliate site that says every single casino is amazing, and seems incapable of spotting basic drawbacks, you should probably dismiss it as a biased source of information.

Are Affiliate Casino Reviews Genuine?

Definitely not all of them. There are many casino affiliates that promote casinos they know are garbage. Others use AI to write entire reviews, and then there are some (surprisingly successful) affiliates where the writers don’t even understand the basic rules of the games they’re writing about.

The aim of an affiliate article is to get you to click through and sign up. So, most affiliates focus on the positives and try to cover up any reasons not to join.

We take a different approach. It’s our ethos that an honest review will build more trust with readers, which will convert to more sign-ups over time. That’s why we always includes cons in every casino review, and highlight shortcomings – whether that’s a suspicious past, crap copy on the website, or a casino cryptocurrency that serves little purpose.

Who Writes Crypto Casino Reviews?

All of our crypto casino reviews are 100% human-written by our experienced editorial team, who’ve worked with some of the biggest gambling institutions in the world. We use no AI for research nor writing, and we play at all of these casinos using personal accounts before putting pen to paper.

The same can’t be said for every casino affiliate site. Especially the biggest ones. When you’re pumping out literally hundreds of new pages per month, standards can slip, and shortcuts are taken.

Some of the most successful affiliate companies in the world use AI to write articles. It’s sad to see.

What Makes Moonshot Slots Different?

Moonshot Slots is a smaller operation than some of the major players in casino affiliates. That means we have tighter control over our output.

Every casino article we’ve ever written, and ever will write, is 100% created by humans.

We’re not afraid to point out the negatives in a casino, nor to turn down a business proposal if we think their casino stinks.

We’re 100% transparent about how we operate, from the very page you’re reading now to our affiliate disclosure and editorial process. I mean, which other affiliates tell you how they make money in such detail?

We provide completely free guides, which make no revenue from advertising, and go into granular detail on things like how to transfer crypto and the difference between centralised and decentralised.

And we do it all with a sense of humour – which is another indicator that all of our copy is legit, and not from ChatGPT.

Pros and Cons of Casino Affiliates

That’s everything you need to know about how casino affiliates work. So, what are the pros and cons of using affiliates to find your next casino?

Pros

  • Central database. Rather than visit hundreds of casinos, you can find tons of crypto casino comparisons in a single site, often with a rating out of 100 for each one.
  • Exclusive bonuses. Some of the best casino affiliates are able to secure exclusive sign-up bonuses – like 100 free spins at HunnyPlay, or 5% rakeback at Stake.
  • Honest flaws. The best casino affiliates will be transparent when a casino has any shortcomings, which is something you’d obviously never hear on the official casino sites.
  • Key data. Affiliates provide useful at-a-glance metrics such as the number of games at a site or the maximum withdrawal amount.

Cons

  • Incentivised. Affiliates want you to sign up, so you need to make sure you choose a trustworthy site delivering honest casino reviews.
  • Time-sensitive. Some casino affiliates are sloppy and don’t update details. If you use a site like that, you need to double check the details provided are still valid.

FAQs

What does a casino affiliate do?

Casino affiliates are sites that have a relationship or connection to certain online casinos. The affiliate will often post reviews of the casino and advertise new games and promotions on behalf of the casino.

Does an affiliate get paid?

Yes, casino affiliates will receive payment when somebody clicks through their site and signs up to the casino. There are several different payment models. For example, the affiliate may get paid a flat fee per sign up. Or they may receive a percentage of the casino’s profit.

Can I trust casino reviews?

Sometimes. Certain casino affiliates will promote any casino, regardless of how good or bad it is, in order to make a ‘sale’. Other casino affiliates have more integrity, and produce honest reviews to build trust with their customers.

Is affiliate marketing legal?

Yes, casino affiliate marketing is legal. The onus is on the affiliate to create honest reviews and be transparent about any relationship they may have with the casino. Legally, reviews cannot be misleading – especially in regions like the UK, with strict rules from the UKGC.