Gambling Site Host
Getting into gambling affiliation can be incredibly lucrative and quite fun. But there are some challenges involved. One of them being choosing the host for your affiliate site. It’s the legal side of things that’s making things difficult, and you want to find a way to legitimately run a fast & secure site without worries about the host banning your account.
- Gambling Website Hosting Finding a suitable hosting solutions is not that easy because many of the bigger Companies do not offer hosting to gambling related websites. Hosting Companies such as Hostgator will not host gambling websites if there is a direct link to the main gambling brand so this means affiliate links would not be acceptable.
- As you understand, this depends on local laws in your country. Some require a gambling license, some do not or have other rules and regulations in place. Online Poker Script offers a For Fun poker script. We do not support regular gambling activities, nor condone it. We offer a Cashiers module that allows you to start a social gambling site.
What software platform will you use on your online gambling site? Will you just offer popular casino games, like slots, roulette, baccarat, blackjack, bingo or poker? What about a live casino module? These days, professional dealers, live video streams and user-friendly interfaces bring the casino feel into players’ homes.
The problem…
It’s getting more difficult to find a stable host with enough speed to run your gambling niche website on. Many hosts don’t accept gambling related topic on their servers.
We have reviewed three of the best WordPress friendly hosting companies that do NOT prohibit gambling related materials on their servers
As it stands, there are hosts (servers) that will shut down your site without notice if the site is based on gambling. Due to the legal complications from certain countries, these servers simply don’t want to get involved. And there’s not much you can do about it, because they usually have it within the fine print people typically don’t read or understand. Once they pick up on what you’re doing, it’s game over. Forums are rampant with affiliates breaking down and asking advice on what they should do, because Hostgator, Bluehost or Godaddy closed multiple of their sites overnight.
The good news is you have alternative options when choosing gambling friendly hosting, and we’ll be exploring these in this article. We’ll also look at some specific and popular hosts that you should be avoiding.
Quick checklist for choosing a good host
Before getting into the recommendations and warnings, it’s important to know what you’re looking for.
- First and foremost: the host must accept gambling niche websites!
- It should offer a high speed performance
- Must reliable with little or no downtime
- Up to date security features and support for latest PHP versions
- Easy management options for WordPress platform
- Upgrade options (VPS management) when your site scales
- Good quality, responsive support
Fast and Reliable Gambling Site Host Suggestions
SiteGround – The whole package for WordPress
Siteground is a host known for its incredible performance and support. I could always reach their chat support within 2 mins and the staff is extremely knowledgeable and reactive. Chat support doesn’t dismiss you with the usual BS canned messages like in the case of Godaddy and similar terrible host giants. Siteground have 5 data centers across the globe, multilingual teams and offer hosting services internationally.
It’s an independent company as well, which is rapidly growing and has been around since 2004.
SiteGround features
- Free SSL config – no need to spend separately on this and it has auto-renew feature
- Latest PHP version – you site will be lighting fast with PHP 7+
- Latest CURL & MySQL Version
- Content Delivery Network – free 1-click CloudFlare account activation directly from cPanel
- Advanced SuperCacher features and very useful SG Optimizer plugin support
- Staging environment – super useful for developing new versions of your site
Other great things about SiteGround are that it works seamlessly with WordPress, it provides free SSL via Let’s encrypt, and 1 click cloudflare CDN setup. But more importantly, it actually does what it says it can do. Their TTFB (Time To First Byte) metric is indeed impressive, and because of the data centers around the globe, you are able to give international visitors a fast experience on your gambling niche site.
Visit SiteGround(we recommend the GoGeek plan for $11.95/mo – BEST choice for a powerful WP setup)
Digital Ocean – Low cost & insanely fast VPS
With Digital Ocean there are two main benefits that stand out. The first is the freedom you get by using a VPS. You can scale very easily, takes a couple of minutes to spin us a droplet and you can choose the amount of memory, storage space and the number of processor cores you want to use for running your site. They provide the best technology, and you can expect to find this general opinion all over the web.
It should be noted that Digital Ocean does not offer managed VPS meaning: there is no cPanel or other “user friendly” control panels with this hosting package. So we recommend this for more experienced server users – a great foundation for your gambling affiliate site. Absolutely unmatched price / performance ratio for a Virtual Private Server. Honestly, Digital Ocean is dirt cheap with its packages, and delivers insane speed experience.
Visit Digital Ocean(use this referral link to get $10 free credit which covers your 1st month using a VPS)
DreamHost – A low cost, newbie-friendly solution
DreamHost is a hosting services officially recommended by WordPress.org and as you can imagine, it’s probably the most user-friendly choice on the list. With an easy interface and control panel, it doesn’t take long to figure out why overall ratings for the hosting are near perfect. Uptime is excellent and your renewal bill will not break the bank.
Going through their terms and conditions page you can see that they accepts not only gambling niche sites but they are even okay with customers hosting their adult niche websites (within the limits of legal boundaries of course) which shows their flexible approach to giving users the liberty to host a broad range of content topics on their severs which is a benefit by itself.
The entry level packages are already very fast speed and the prices are great. For a little bit of an upgrade fee, it also offers Linux-based tier VPS packages that are bound to work with your ideas for the site.
Visit DreamHost(with DreamPress plan for $16.95/mo you also get Jetpack Premium included (normally $99/yr) with awesome VaultPress backup)
Hosts to Avoid
Hostgator:
Hostgator has got a big list of unacceptable content topics and gambling is one of them. Like mentioned earlier, these guys don’t ask questions when they find you breaking the rules. They are quick to ban accounts if found non-compliant content.
Update on Hostgator (2019 March) – apparently now they accept gambling affiliate content (we checked with their support staff too) but I would still be careful with this host as I seen suspended webmaster account here recently.
Bluehost:
Gambling Site Host Job
Bluehost is another popular server that prohibits gambling outright. You could try and stay under the radar, but you’ll always be at risk of getting banned. We found it cheap but the shared hosting package is just unreliable – you get what you pay for.
Godaddy:
This is by far the most dangerous hosts of them all, and Godaddy pays close attention to the sites they are hosting. The moment they get suspicious it’s game over, literally. And if you didn’t have an off-site backup your site is gone – they won’t do second chances or be patient and give you a couple of days to move to another alternate host. Godaddy just pulls the plug if you broke the rules.
The List is Growing
While online gambling keeps on getting more popular, there are certain entities that work against it for natural reasons. But the negativity surrounding gambling increases the difficulty of finding a quality and stable host, because the list of servers blocking gambling niche sites is still growing.
Just like PayPal tightened their grip around what their clients are receiving money for, servers followed the trend.
But luckily there’s another list you can look at without the fear of waking up to a non-existent site. Because all three of the recommended gambling niche hosts are equipped and able to handle your sites.
Just have to choose the right one for you…
The best choice for each skill level
For example,
- You should go with SiteGround if you want incredible speed, advanced WordPress features and probably some of the best support.
- If you want more options at advanced technical levels and you are a server command line guru, Digital Ocean is the natural choice, plus it’s very cheap.
- Dreamhost is the perfect choice for beginner affiliates, just starting to figure things out.
Pay Attention!
We’re going to leave you with a last bit of advice, namely paying attention when you choose a host. Thoroughly go through their terms and conditions, and if you don’t find anything there, contact them. Don’t launch your site on a host you don’t know for sure allows gambling niche sites.
If you have a favorite host, or additional experiences to share, be sure to leave comments on these posts too!
Gamble enough in Las Vegas or other casino destinations and you’ll get a casino host. This person helps you with travel arrangements. She also offers perks like free rooms and meals.
If you have a host, take advantage of the situation. Use their services for whatever you need.
But a casino host won’t tell you everything.
1- Which Games Offer the Highest Comps
The core of a casino host’s job is to get you to gamble as much money as possible. As long as they can get you to put as much money as possible into play, the casino advantage will eventually take the correct amount of it.
Good casino hosts know which games have the highest house edge and highest hold percentage. They also know which ones have the lowest. This information is usually directly tied to the level of comps you can get.
A casino determines a player’s comp level by how much the player is expected to lose. This is determined by the expected house edge on the game being played multiplied by the total amount wagered.
Here’s an example:
A player bets $100 per hand on blackjack. He plays 500 hands. His total amount wagered is $50,000.
With an expected win rate of 2%, the casino expects to win $1,000 ($50,000 X 2%).
The more money the player is expected to lose, the better for the casino host.
2- Which Games Offer the Lowest House Edge
The casino host doesn’t want you playing the games with the lowest house edge. So they probably won’t tell you which ones have it.
It doesn’t matter which games have a low house edge if you don’t play them with the best possible strategy. But your host still wants you to lose as much as possible. They won’t steer you to better games.
3- They Don’t Have Your Best Interests in Mind
Your casino host doesn’t have your best interests in mind. Sure, they want you to have a good time, but only because people gamble more when they’re having fun.
Your casino host wants you to gamble as much as possible during your stay. Everything they do is directly related to this goal.
4- They Don’t Like You
Not every casino host dislikes every one of their customers. But the host isn’t your friend, and she doesn’t like you. Depending on your behavior, she might not dislike you, but don’t make the mistake of thinking she likes you – no matter how she acts.
The casino host’s job is to get you to gamble as much as possible.
Thinking your casino host is your friend? Try this little test:
Call your casino host – tell her you need to come to town on business but won’t have any time to gamble at all. Ask them what they can do for you or recommend for your stay.
If you drop thousands of dollars a year, you might still get a room. The casino doesn’t want to risk losing your future play. But even this has limits.
And if they do comp your stay in this situation, expect them to encourage you to gamble.
5- They Don’t Care About Your Stories or Your Family or Your Business
Casino hosts listen to your stories and look at the pictures of your kids or pets. But they don’t really care.
Their job is to make you think they care enough to get you to start gambling.
6- Nothing in the Casino is Free
The free drinks, meals, rooms, and flights aren’t really free. They’re paid for out of your expected losses. The casino tells you all of these things are free. They want you to be grateful that they’re taking care of you.
Take the blackjack player who’s expected to lose $1,000 per 500 hands played. He comes to the casino and plays 5,000 hands four times a year. His expected loss for every trip is $10,000. He will have a winning trip every now and then. But on average the casino will have their percentages figured correctly.
The casino knows the player is going to lose an average of $10,000 every time he comes. They also know they can afford to give him thousands in “free” things and still make lots of money.
How much does a round trip flight, hotel room for a week, five buffet comps, and four or five nice meals cost?
Nowhere close to $10,000.
7- Everything You Get is Directly Tied to How Much You Play
Your casino host might hint at this if you aren’t playing enough. But they don’t like to come straight out and say you have to play a certain amount up front.
If you want more comps you probably need to play more. You’ll see exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, what you get from your casino host is directly tied to how much you gamble.
Gambling Site Not Paying Out
8- If You Don’t Ask You Won’t Get
Many players don’t ask their casino hosts enough questions. Your host will probably take care of your meals and room if you play enough. But you really have no idea how much more you may be able to get. If you don’t ask you’ll never know what you might get.
Want to see the Grand Canyon or the Blue Man Group? Ask if your host can help.
What about a trip to the spa for your spouse?
You don’t even have to ask for monetary value things. Sometimes information can be valuable. Your host should either have a great deal of information or be able to access it.
9 – You Can Get a Better Deal at Other Casinos
Your casino host doesn’t want you to consider another casino. She doesn’t even want you to start thinking about talking to another host.
Are you a big player?
You should shop your play as much as possible. Get as much in return for your play as you can.
10- You Can Get an Upgrade for $20
$20 is an arbitrary amount. But often you can get a room upgrade for a small amount of extra money. Has your casino host arranged for a room?
Ask her how much you would have to pay to get an upgrade.
11- When You’re Just Short of a Big Upgrade or Perk
Unless you track your play (which you should do) and know how the casino determines the amount of your comps (almost impossible to find out), you won’t know where you are on the scale of players at the casino. The bigger the player, the more you can get, but there’s always a line separating one level of play from another.
If you’re just a few thousand short of the next level of player it would be nice to know so you could play a little more.
A smart casino host may let you know when you’re close, but most of them won’t. If they do tell you, make sure you know exactly how much more you need to play and what you will get in return. You don’t want to lose twice what it would cost you to buy the same perks.
12- When You’ve Had Too Much to Drink
Why do you think casinos offer free drinks to players?
The more you drink, the more you gamble.
Because your casino host wants you to play as much as possible, she’s more likely to order you another drink than tell you it’s time to stop.
13- Where to Find a New Casino Host
The casino host business is competitive. Hosts protect their clients fiercely. If you start thinking about finding another host, don’t tell your current host.
Conclusion
Playing enough to have a casino host and getting perks from the casino feels great. But you still need to make sure you’re watching out for your best interests.
The casino host wants you to play as much as possible. Everything she does is done with this ultimate goal in mind. Remember this. You should be able to take advantage of their services and have a good time along the way.