The technological age that has sewn the seeds for the global village that is the Internet has had its share of amazing opportunities and catastrophic failures. The Internet is without doubt one of the greatest forums for people to make immeasurable wealth, thanks to the sheer size of the colossal network. Advertising became one of the key industries that could potentially exploit this market. The result of the Internet tussle for optimising advertising space was a program known as affiliate marketing. This web based program differed significantly from much of the advertising in the real world, as it was primarily commission based. The premise was simple enough, websites would host advertisements for various industries and companies, and be paid when their visitors followed the links and either signed up or purchased an item.

Just one of the industries to have taken advantage of this simplistic but hugely effective advertising scheme, was that of the gaming industry. Sports betting sites were quick to capitalise on the expansive market available to them. In the modern day Internet where the sites are full of advertising and links, it is not hard to see why the affiliate marketing industry became the important money making scheme that it is. With affiliates of sports betting sites receiving a percentage of a player's lifetime money generated, sometimes reaching in excess of 35% there is plenty of incentive for people to advertise.

With the affiliate program being free for both parties, there are no expensive payments to be made up front. This is a clear benefit not only to the advertisers, but also to some of the smaller affiliates who may not have the capital to spend on hosting. It is this freedom of exchange, coupled with the potential earnings of both sides that have propelled the affiliate-marketing program into one of the most important advertising outlets.

Without doubt online industries have received incalculable aid from utilising the parallel industry of affiliate marketing. The huge advertising campaigns spread over hundreds if not thousands of affiliates has attracted the attention of millions of Internet users and has subsequently made the online gaming industry worth billions of dollars. In turn the affiliate market has become a plausible venture even for the smallest and most inexperienced of Internet users. It is through the simplicity of use and the breadth of opportunity that hundreds if not thousands of people have been encouraged to try their hand at affiliate marketing. In turn the are feeding the various industries with thousands of new customers and generating incomparable wealth for the online gaming industry.

Without affiliate marketing it is fair to say that most industries, and especially that of the sports betting business, would not be half of what they are today.