Share 
Marketing affiliate websites that earn income by referring bettors to sportsbooks are getting a reprieve from a proposed ban on affiliate agreements under Massachusetts state gaming rules.
A waiver on compensation – or paid – agreements between sports betting operators and affiliates was issued by the Massachusetts Gaming Commission on Thursday as the commission considered a draft regulation to ban such agreements in the Commonwealth. The waiver is intended to allow sportsbooks and affiliates to help build the Massachusetts mobile sports betting market in advance of a planned statewide mobile launch on March 10.
The commission voted to keep the waiver in effect until April 14.
Covered by the waiver are both cost-per-acquisition (CPA) and revenue share agreements between sportsbooks and affiliates. Revenue share agreements base an affiliate’s compensation on the amount wagered. CPA agreements – which affiliates say make up more than 90 percent of their compensation agreements with sportsbooks – base compensation on the number of new accounts an affiliate generates.
Marketing affiliate agreements are common in the sports betting industry. Among affiliates that plan to operate under the waiver in Massachusetts is Catena Media, owner of Gaming Today.
O’Brien Votes Against Waiver for Revenue Share Agreements
MGC staff has been allowing sports betting marketing affiliate agreements to proceed on a registration basis. They said Wednesday they needed guidance from the commission on whether to allow such agreements moving forward.
Voting in favor of the waiver on CPA agreements but against a waiver on revenue share agreements was Commissioner Eileen O’Brien. On Wednesday, O’Brien characterized regulation of sports betting marketing affiliates as “critical” and specifically requested strict scrutiny of revenue share agreements with affiliates.
O’Brien today said she voted in support of the waiver on CPA in an effort to discourage what she called “push marketing and saturation of the market.”
The other five commissioners, including MGC Chair Cathy Judd-Stein, voted for a waiver of the ban on both types of agreements prior to April 14.
Vendor Regulations Include Registration, Licensing Rules For Affiliates
Restrictions on affiliates as sports wagering vendors were handled by the MGC in a separate commission vote Thursday.
In that vote, the commission unanimously amended a regulation, now in effect, to require registration and potential licensure of sports wagering affiliates moving forward.
The regulation will be final in 90 days, pending further changes going forward.
