Essentially what this does is lowers the revenue sharing given to affiliates. If a new standard of affiliate % back is established, all of our payouts will lower if the market is degraded. Just as rakeback in poker made some poker promotion unprofitable, so could this potential do the same for the other areas.
In the short run, sure, you may get some signups, but we have to think about the bigger picture. There is already enough internal pressure lowering our % and conversions, and with this lowering of the bar, it’s now happening in house. When players come to expect a % back from affiliates this lowers our RoR and also increases the workload from tracking.
I can see this model working in some cases, like a % back in a certain month, but done wholesale I think this is a dangerous route to go in the long run. In general, it’s beter to let the sites run their own loyalty/bonus programs, which we can advertise and use to promote the sites.