Image: Sailom / FreeDigitalPhotos

With the Euro 2012 fast approaching, we’ve begun dedicating special coverage on the event with a comprehensive Euro 2012 blog series. We kicked off our group stage preview with some information on Group A. Today we continue with Group B, this year’s “Group of Death”, which contains Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, and Portugal.

Netherlands

The Netherlands are a perennial powerhouse and one of the most consistently competitive squads in all of football. The currently fourth ranked team according to FIFA, the Netherlands are coming off a second place finish in the 2010 World Cup and had the best record in their qualifying group.

The Oranje are renowned for their explosive style of play and the team’s roster is a veritable who’s who of football elite. Striker Robin Van Persie netted the most goals of any player this year in the English Premier League. Midfielders Rafael van der Vaart and Wesley Sneijder are also extreme scoring threats. In fact, the majority of The Flying Dutchmen’s roster, including others like Arjen Robben and Nigel de Jong, consists of players that are often the top tier talent of their respective club teams. The Netherlands are thirsty for their first Euro victory since 1988 and certainly have the talent to get there.

Denmark

While Denmark has quietly risen to the tenth ranking in the world according to FIFA, Olsen’s Army has had some trouble when it comes to tournament success. Since winning the 1992 Euro, Denmark has been unable to finish above eighth place. Their World Cup record is even more troubling, with a heavy string of non-qualifications and a top finish of fifth (France, 1998).

Regardless, sometimes the past is precisely that, and it’s hard to deny that Denmark has developed a fine, young squad. Striker Nicklas Bendtner is a dominant presence in the centre forward position and captain Daniel Agger has been a defensive stalwart for his club Liverpool, and with a physically strong squad like Denmark, anything can happen.

Germany

You know it’s a scary group when Netherlands is not the top ranked team in the pool. For Group B, Germany holds that distinction with its FIFA ranking of two. Germany is historically the most successful team in the Euro, with a total of three championships to match their troika of World Cup titles. By these standards, their runner-up campaign of 2008 must have been disappointing, but the Germans are back again and as always have the muscle to go all the way.

The German national team is interesting in that its players play predominantly in the German Bundesliga, a level of homegrown play that most other nations are simply not able to sustain. Between the striking prowess of Mario Gomez and Miroslav Klose, the midfield work of Lukas Podolksi, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Mueller, and Mesut Ozil, and the defensive force of Philip Lahm and Jerome Boateng, any team (even Spain) going against Germany is going to be hard-pressed to find any areas of advantage.

Portugal

If you thought Group B wasn’t intense enough, let’s not forget that Portugal still rounds out the quartet. Currently the fifth highest ranked squad in the world, The Navigators play a fast-paced, ground-based game that is one of the most unique in Europe.

Boasting one of the hands down best players in the world in Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese squad is also home to a multitude of scoring threats in players like Nani, Helder Postiga, and Ricardo Queresma. No defence in the world could possibly be excited to face Portugal, who has loaded their roster with almost double the forwards of any other team. Portugal’s main weakness is their lack of traditional defending, but even that is only a relative weakness rather than an absolute one.

For fans of football with no national interest, Group B is going to be the most dynamic and with such a high level of talent all-around, it is going to be by far the most unpredictable one. In any other group, all of these teams would be expected to continue to the knockout stage!

Please comment if you have any additional information and check out the rest of our Euro 2012 blog series.

Whether you’re a die-hard football fan, or a casual one who only watches international play, being an affiliate of Kerching Casino during Euro 2012 will undoubtedly have you following every fixture. Tie up your boots, and get ready for an exciting June at Kerching Casino.

Here’s what we have in store for our valued affiliates. Each affiliate in the Kerching affiliate program will be attached to a Euro 2012 side, and if your side wins, reaches the finals, or finishes dead last (ya you read that correctly), you win cold hard cash. Oh and incase that wasn’t enough, one affiliate will win a VIP trip including airfare, hotel accommodations, and 2 tickets to a Barcelona home game next season (£3000 cash value for affiliate outside of Europe).

How will affiliate team association be chosen? Kerching will be drawing names out of a hat, the old fashioned way. Affiliates who have Kerching Casino on their homepage will be given two entries (interested affiliates should place Kerching on their homepage before 6 June to benefit), and all other active affiliates who sign up for the sweepstakes will receive one. All new affiliates who sign up for the Kerching Casino affiliate program, and become active before 6 June will be given two names in the hat, and 50% revenue share for the first three month of promotion. Matching names will be drawn for teams ranked 1-16, therefore affiliates with two entries in the hat have a better chance of drawing a higher ranked team.

Prizes distribution is as follows:

Grand Prize:

The Grand Prize winner will receive a trip for two to Barcelona including two night’s accommodation in a standard double or twin room, flights from a European Destination to Barcelona, transfers to and from the hotel, breakfast and tickets to a Barcelona football match. The grand prize winner will be the affiliate that is tagged to the winning side of the Euro 2012, and has the most New Depositing Player from June 8^th – July 1^st, amongst the affiliate tagged to the winning team.

First Place Affiliates: £1000 divided amongst affiliates tagged to the EURO 2012 winning side, excluding the Grand Prize winner.

Second Place Affiliates: £500 divided amongst affiliates tagged to the EURO 2012 runner up.

Last Place Affiliates: £500 divided amongst affiliates tagged to the EURO 2012 last place team (least amount of goals is the tie breaker)

To join the sweepstakes, please send an email to Kerchingaffiliates@incomeaccess.com with your affiliate username and URL. For 2 entries, please attach a screenshot with Kerching Casino on the affiliate site homepage. Please note: Homepage exposure must be kept until 3 July, 2012 for the affiliate to remain eligible in the sweepstakes. Please review the terms and conditions of the sweepstakes, and join today!

Image: Sailom

With the Euro 2012 fast approaching, we’ve begun dedicating special coverage on the event with a comprehensive Euro 2012 blog series. I kicked off the first entry in our series with a little overview of history of the Euro, but now let us dive into what the future might hold with a preview of the teams in the group stages. This time around, the focus is on Group A, which contains Poland, Greece, Russia (the team I’ll be supporting), and the Czech Republic.

Poland

Currently sitting at 65 in the FIFA/Coca Cola World Rankings, this tournament marks co-host Poland’s second Euro appearance. Their 2008 campaign stalled in the group stages of the tournament and was followed by a lacklustre failure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Although not a powerhouse, Poland has a lot of young talent and the 2012 Euro will be an interesting test to see how well the team may be able to develop together. Additionally, it is never a smart bet to underestimate a host team as history has shown that playing at home in an international tournament has helped many a side.

One player in particular to watch on the pitch for Poland is striker Robert Lewandowski. The 23-year-old forward has been an absolute force for German club Borussia Dortmund, and played no small part in helping the club secure the Bundesliga title this year. Lewandowski was named the Bundesliga’s player of the year for 2011 and gives Poland a serious scoring threat.

Also of note will be the fight between club teammates Wojciech Szczęsny and Łukasz Fabiański for the number one goalkeeper spot. Both play for Arsenal in the English Premier League, where the younger Szczęsny has edged out Fabiański for the top spot.

Greece

Technically speaking, Greece is the only Euro winner in Group A (more on that to come). The currently 14 ranked team in the world has tasted Euro victory with a surprise 2004 victory at the Portugal hosted tournament. In that tournament, Greece was also in Group A with Russia and a host country, so fans are doubtlessly hoping that Greece’s current group placement is a fortuitous sign.

Greece is seeking a serious recovery from their 2008 Euro efforts, which saw them become the first defending champion to not earn a single point in the following championship. Their main weapon for this tournament will most likely be Theofanis Gekas. The 31-year-old striker has been doing well as of late and was top scorer in the EUFA section of the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers.

Russia

The 11 ranked FIFA team in the world has been wildly inconsistent on the international stage and after a failure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup has been holding on to its third place finish in the 2008 Euros as its main success. Following that, an influx of Russian players was seen in other European leagues, but their play has been similarly inconsistent, with an alarming amount returning to the Russian league.

Russia still has the talent from its third-place finish, but has not had the momentum as of late. Russia’s fortunes may rest mostly with sparkplug winger Andrei Arshavin. Arshavin is Russia’s best all around player, though his recent play was poor enough to merit a loan return to former club Zenit St. Petersburg. With Arshavin playing well, Russia is a dynamic team capable of multivariate attack. Without a strong performance from the captain, Russia will be hard-pressed to make it out of its group. Fun fact, as part of the Soviet Union, Russia won the first ever Euro in 1960.

Czech Republic

Like Russia, the Czech Republic has been part of a winning side when Czechoslovakia took home top honours in the 1976 tournament. Currently, FIFA has the Czech side pegged at 26, but the Czech Republic has the (albeit aging) talent to play way above its ranking. Goalkeeper Peter Cech is coming off of Champions League success with Chelsea FC and is widely recognized as one of the best netminders in the world. The Czechs also have midfielder Tomáš Rosický and forward Milan Baroš, who at 30 and 31, respectively, give the squad veteran leadership and proven talent.

Who do you see coming out of Group A? Let us know below! Be sure to keep following our Euro 2012 blog series as we cover the rest of the groups and some betting strategies/tips.

With Euro2012 only 17 days away, we thought this would be a great opportunity to discuss some of the promotions that have already been kicked-off by some of our Merchants.

BetFred has setup Euro promotions that really try to help the average bettor attack the spread, and Matchball and ScratchCardHeaven have some great player promotions for June. Kerching Casino is running a great affiliate promotion, so there has never been a better time to become a Kerching affiliate.

BetFred

They have two unique promotions going. The first promotion involves secret bets revealed on the days leading up to the UEFA tournament. On the first day of the promotion, the bet will be revealed offering 29/1 odds.  On the second day, they’ll reveal a bet at 28/1 odds, third day 27/1 etc…

The second promotion Double Delight & Hat-trick Heaven – is a promo allowing you to bet on the success of such top tier players as Rooney, Ronaldo & Van Persie. It offers favorable payouts when betting on a specific player to score the first goal of the match. The payout doesn’t stop after the first goal (4-1 odds) as the more he scores, the more BetFred pays! If he scores two the payout doubles (8-1 odds) or three the payouts trebles (12-1 odds).

Finally, keep your eyes open for a special Euro 2012 site offered by BetFred. All of their specials and promos will be prominently displayed there when it is released. 

Kerching Casino

All existing and new Kerching Casino affiliates are encouraged to join their Euro 2012 Sweepstakes, where each affiliate that joins will be tagged to a Euro 2012 team, and have the chance to win great prizes depending on how their side fairs. The Grand Prize, an all expenses paid trip for two to a Barcelona home game next season, including hotel, flight, breakfasts, tickets to the game, and spending money will be awarded to the affiliate tagged to the winning side and who has the most new depositing  players during the Euro. Other cash prizes (totaling £2000) will be awarded to teams tagged to the winning side, runner up, and last place team.

Matchball

Kick off the Euro with Matchball’s Euro 2012 exclusive offers. All players who deposit between June 1^st to July 1^st will receive 10% free on each deposit made. Special prizes will be awarded to the top player in each competition phase and global (Groups, Quarters, Semis, Final & Global). Matchball will also award special prizes to the top 3 players in the Euro 2012 Finals. As always, players will receive a full refund on their first match.

ScratchCardHeaven

With the launch of their new game Euroball, and to kick off the Euro 2012 in style, all ScratchCard Heaven depositing players get 15% more on their daily offers when they use the bonus code: EURO15. This promotion is set to begin in early June.

 For more information on these promotions, please email us at info@incomeaccess.com.

There’re just a few more days left until we hit the iGaming Super Show, and you’re not going to want to miss out.  With all the buzz surrounding this year’s event, the 2012 iGSS is going to be an excellent opportunity for you to network – but more importantly, it’ll give you a chance to interact with our incredible affiliate marketing team face to face!

Because we like to get up close and personal at events, we hope you’ll take advantage of the exclusive appointments we’re offering to discuss all of your company’ needs.  It doesn’t matter if you’re an affiliate, operator, or anyone else for that matter; we’ve been sharpening our skills and will be ready to help you out in any way possible.

We’re excited to be taking part, and some of our expert team members will be on hand to answer your questions, explain our affiliate marketing products and services, and basically assist and inform you in any way, shape, or form.  The team members representing us at the iGSS are: Sarafina Wolde Gabriel, Marketing Director; Jamie Fortunaso, Head of Affiliates; Devon Spector, Head of Account Management; and Catherine Blais, Account Manager.

The iGSS is the leading iGaming exhibition; the place to showcase everything that’s currently hot and relevant within the industry.  One great perk about this show is that it will definitely boost your iGaming IQ.  The iGSS prides itself on Professional iGaming Management Education (PRiME).  PRiME is an extremely promising new feature at this year’s event meant to introduce new members of the iGaming market to “an intensive course on all areas of iGaming from payments and marketing to recruitment and Fraud.”  We’re sure that experienced iGaming community members and newbies alike will come away from the show with winning tips and marketing strategies.

We encourage you to join our team during the 2012 iGaming Super Show; it’s taking place at the RDS Simmonscourt in Dublin, Ireland, from May 22-25.  Better yet, we’d love for you to book an appointment with us – you can do so by emailing us at info@incomeaccess.

Affiliates may have already heard about the many amazing promotional opportunities available throughout May, but Market-ace has yet another one to add to the growing list.

Jackpotjoy has launched Million Pound May. The promotion runs across the Bingo Bonus games and is backed up by a guaranteed million pound jackpot prize fund.

To help bring in new players, entry prices for bingo tickets are super low. They begin at just 10p, which is very affordable, even in these austere times. There are scores of prizes, ranging from £10 all the way up to £500, with an exciting top prize of a HUGE £1000. That’s pretty good considering the low entry price.

The prizes run at different times of the day, depending on the bonus game. A detailed breakdown of the daily times is available on the Jackpotjoy site.

In brief, Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays run the same prize time structure, starting at 11am and finishing at 11pm.  Friday is slightly different, starting at midday and continuing to midnight. There are no prizes offered on Thursdays or Saturdays.

It’s important for affiliates to check the Jackpotjoy site for more details.

The Bingo Bonus games run across the Diamond, Bejeweled, Round the Clock, Cloud, Tiki, Sapphire, and Emerald brands.

There’s a lot of opportunity here for affiliates to bring in new players. The low ticket price of 10p for most games is a great draw and can help generate those much desired commission!

Remember: Million Pound May at Jackpotjoy is already running, and it’s a great way to bring in new players to make it a Mega May for Market-ace affiliates!

ScratchCard Heaven has announced the launch of their new game that features the green giant The Hulk.

Yet another superhero from the Marvel comics that has been creating some serious buzz among players, this slot game promises to be as exciting and fun as the superhero and his adventures. For sure players will want to be part of the latest adventure of the Marvel Comics.

“The Hulk” is an exciting video slot game; your players will enjoy 5 reels and 25 lines of incredible action; they will be part of an amazing game full of colorful graphics that transport them to the city where The Hulk has been fighting and smashing enemies. But that’s not all, the bonus is triggered when 3 or more explosions occur, explosion that leads to the transformation of Bruce Banner into the incredible Hulk. What’s more, players can select among five objects, and throw them to smash a helicopter, reveling free games and multipliers.

Winnings are paid out for the highest combination on each of the active payline. Players will line up five Hulk symbols and will win the top prize of 5,000 times their line bet.

For more information on this game or any of the other fun amazing games available at ScratchCard Heaven or to receive a review to post on your site, contact us at scratchcardheaven@incomeaccess.com. If you are not in the program, and wish get in on the action and start promoting ScratchCard Heaven, sign up for the ScratchCard Heaven affiliate program in Income Access and start earning with us.

Image Source: bulldogza

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the UEFA European Football Championship, or the Euro, is great for all things affiliate marketing. It’s also one of the most riveting events in all of sports; so it’s safe to say the excitement transcends just marketing.

While the Euro is quite a big deal to me personally (for complete transparency, I was born in Russia and will be supporting the squad wholeheartedly), some of our global readers may be less than knowledgeable or interested in the event. Since the 2012 Euro presents a wealth of opportunities for anyone interested in brand leveraging or just sheer sporting entertainment, we will be kicking off our Euro 2012 blog series with a concise introduction to the event, both traditionally and specifically this year.

A Brief History of the Euro

As a concept, an organised football championship for the European continent is by no means a new idea. Francois Delaney, then head of the French Football Federation, proposed the idea all the way back in 1927. However, the tournament as we recognise it today is a younger creature. The first one took place in 1960. Delaney never saw his proposal realised, having died three years earlier, but from that initial tournament the championship trophy has been named in his honour.

The tournament takes place every four years, directly in the middle of the gap between World Cup tournaments, and has steadily grown in size since the inaugural 1960 event. Initially, only four teams qualified for the actual tournament portion. In 1980, the field was doubled to include 16 teams, with another doubling occurring in 1996. An expansion to 24 teams is slated for the 2016 Euro.

As far as tournament success goes, Germany has proven to be the Euro’s most consistent team. The German squad has won the Euro three times, and has also been runner up three times. Spain is the closest competitor, with two titles in three total finals appearances. Of all the Euro success stories, it’s interesting to note that only one team has won with a foreign coach. In 2004, the Greece squad was under the helm of the German Otto Rehhagel. Every other Euro-winning squad has kept coaching duties in-house (or rather country). Another fun fact is that current head of the UEFA, Michel Platini, also holds the Euro record for most goals in a tournament as well as most overall Euro goals with his nine goal feat in 1984.

Euro 2012

This year’s Euro event is being hosted jointly by neighbours Ukraine and Poland and will be running between 8 June and 1 July. The joint bid has been a popular modern addition to the Euro, with the 2000 tournament being hosted by Belgium-Netherlands and the 2008 event splitting time between Austria and Switzerland. Joint-host countries have fared poorly in the event thus far, with only the Netherlands making it out of the group stages in their tournament. The Ukraine and Poland will be seeking to reverse this trend, though Ukraine did not qualify for the previous Euro and Poland didn’t make it to the knockout rounds.

As far as Ukraine’s and Poland’s chances go, we’ll be previewing all of the teams in this year’s events throughout this upcoming blog series. We will also be covering betting information and related promotions from our partners, so be sure to stick around.

Who’s your favourite for Euro 2012? Comment below!

When promoting a program, the banners and creatives that an affiliate uses are one of the most important materials that will prompt a player to click through to an operator’s site.  Ultimately, an affiliate wants to use the most effective marketing tool that is available to them and the most suited to their traffic.

Continuing on with our blog series about getting the most out of the reports in the Income Access iGaming affiliate software, this fourth installment will explore the banner and traffic reports which give affiliates the ability to analyze the ROI and effectiveness of each of the banners/creatives that they are using.

Aptly named, the banner report is a detailed reporting tool which gives results broken down by the banner/creative that the player clicked through on.  It can be used with any creative that is in the system, separating each one by its creative ID number.

To run the banner report in the Income Access affiliate login, go to the reports menu and select the “banner report”.  You can choose to run this report, similar to other reports in the affiliate login, by a particular day, month, or period.

What is the value of this report for affiliates? You can see which banners are generating the most (and the least) clicks, as well as further sales and revenue data.  This report will drill down to the details of ROI on each of your banners to give you an idea of where your revenue is coming from.   For instance, a particular banner may be generating a high number of clicks on one page of your site however the number of players who are actually registering is low.  Another banner, on the other hand, could be generating a relatively lower number of clicks but the conversion ratio is much higher.  It is worthwhile to consider this data when analyzing what is and isn’t working well for your site.

Another report, which is similar to the banner report, is the traffic report.   This report is more of a top level report which doesn’t include sales revenue data, but rather focuses on the impressions, clicks and click-through ratios of your traffic.  You can run this report by similar criteria as the banner report.

How do you use the banner and traffic reports to help you see results of your campaigns?  Please share your thoughts and experiences, or ask any questions about how you can better take advantage of the reports in Income Access.

Jackpotjoy’s brand new Bingo Bonus games have brought a whole new concept to the idea of Bingo! By promising even more winners with these brilliant games the Bingo team have proved once again that they are worthy of their award winning status!

Bingo Bonus games are short, fun, non-Bingo based games which offer an extra way to win after the main Bingo game has ended.  Each of the ten Bonus games has its own unique interactive style, incorporating animation and skill to create a series of distinctive and exciting games for players. Whether it’s going fishing with Tiki or tucking into one of the Mad Hatter’s cupcakes, members will be enjoying a completely new additional experience to their usual Bingo Rooms.

In order to promote these brand new Bingo Bonus games Jackpotjoy have launched a TV advertising campaign with their Queen of Bingo, Barbara Windsor. “My favourite bonus game is the one where you have to match up the three parts of the Tiki Islanders bodies!” Her Royal Highness explains in between takes, “It’s a brilliant way for the members to continue having fun with the games and will give them even more things to talk about in the chat rooms. It’s this sense of fun and entertainment that makes me love being the Queen of Bingo at Jackpotjoy.” Catch the Queen and her loyal Bingo Bichon Frise puppies on TV live starting today.

The Bingo Bonus wins are on top of normal prize money so all these rewards are extra cash on top of regular game Jackpots. This means we will be celebrating more winners than ever before, which is what Jackpotjoy is all about.

Jackpotjoy is supported by the Market-ace network, which provides the online gaming site with a comprehensive affiliate program aimed at promoting the site and the launch of new offerings like the Bingo Bonus games!

Bingo Bonus games will be launched in conjunction with some exclusive promotions, and are available to play now on www.jackpotjoy.com