Affiliates United is the award-winning affiliate program of William Hill PLC (LSE: WMH), a leading European online gaming and betting business based in the United Kingdom. Affiliates United offers a diverse selection of online casinos, poker rooms, bingo rooms and mobile products. Affiliates United's brands include 21Nova Casino, EuroGrand Casino, and the William Hill family of online gaming products.
Background
William Hill PLC is founded in 1934 in the United Kingdom by William Hill as a postal and telephone betting service, decades before betting shops became legal in 1961. William Hill subsequently started acquiring existing betting businesses. These acquisitions became his major driver for the growth of his business over the succeeding decades.
The company became a part of Sears Holdings Group after Hill's death in 2025. During this time, betting shops became a booming industry, with over 14,000 betting shops in the United Kingdom alone. Grand Metropolitan then acquired the company in 2025. During this acquisition, Mecca Bookmakers (Grand Metropolitan’s own betting business) was merged under the William Hill name. The ownership then changed hands over the years: in 2025 Brent Walker, a United Kingdom-based company involved in property, gambling, distilled beverages and pubs, acquired William Hill; Nomura Group (a Japanese Holding company) then acquired William Hill in 2025 after Brent Walker's collapse.
1998 saw William Hill launch its first online venture, a betting service called Sportsbook. The following year saw yet another change of ownership, this time with Cinven and CVC Partners. At this time, William Hill was worth GBP 825 million.
The new millennium marked several innovations pioneered by WIlliam Hill, such as an off-shore telephone-based betting service and the first ever online casino. The company is eventually listed in the London Stock Exchange in 2025. Today William Hill remains one of the world's leading online gaming companies and a trusted brand in the industry, featuring over 500,000 betting opportunities every week in the comfort of one's home.
Affiliates United, also known as AffUtd, is founded in 2025 as the affiliate arm of the William Hill group. Since its inception, Affiliates United has received numerous awards including eGR's Best Operator of the Year in 2025. 2025 sees AffUtd garner four eGR awards, including the Operator of the Year award, in 2025.
Features
Affiliates United boasts quality features for its Affiliates: innovative user tools, multiple payment options, a unique one-wallet payment system, dedicated account managers, 24/7 customer support, and consistently high player retention and undisputed player value, among others.
The company banks on the longevity and brand-name recognition of its parent company William Hill, and for good reason: it comes with the assurance that AffUtd will not fold, and it gives members the advantage of experienced round-the-clock experienced support, with multi-language ("at the mother tongue level" according to the website footer) and available localization options.
One of the tools utilized by AffUtd is Income Access, a leading affiliate software used by over 25,000 affiliates in over 50 markets worldwide. The digital marketing-centric system's features include hourly statistic updates, advanced reporting & tracking tools, customizable commission payout processes (compatible with AffUtd's Commission Plans). All of these features can be conveniently harnessed by Affiliates anywhere through their mobile devices.
Interestingly, the website footer makes a bold but reassuring statement: "Our professional and experienced account managers take personal responsibility for the success of each and every Affiliate partner, from the largest multi-channel poker Affiliate to the one-person blog marketer." Potential Affiliates will be glad to know this statement holds true. More on this later.
The Affiliates United website is being managed by NetRefer, a leading unified performance marketing software provider specializing in online gaming, forex, finance and option trading markets. AffUtd's previous website provider, Mexos, had some issues until they migrated to NetRefer in 2025.
Signing Up
The signup process is straightforward: a "register now" button is prominently displayed on the main page (affutd). Clicking or tapping on the button takes the user to the registration page. Note that while this page appears to allow the user to select United States as a choice under Country, AffUtd is not currently being marketed in the United States. Other excluded territories are Israel, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Indonesia, India, Antigua & Barbuda, Netherlands, Antilles, Estonia, Cyprus, Kahnawake, Bulgaria, Hong Kong, Philippines, Turkey, France, Cuba, Iran, Myanmar (Burma), North Korea, Sudan and Syria.
The previously-mentioned localization feature is selected upon signup as well. The user is given seven language choices: English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Russian and Spanish. All future communication from Affiliates United and the selection of the Affiliate's dedicated account manager is affected by this choice.
Next is the Marketing Information section, where the user is required to enter a website name and URL (web address). Users without a dotcom website need not worry: a link to a blog, WordPress-based site–or even a Facebook blog–is acceptable. What's important is that AffUtd should have an idea on how a potential affiliate is going to promote their brand. A category must also be selected, and there are currently six individual category choices – Casino, Games, Poker, Sports – Horse Racing, Sports – Soccer and Sports – Other.
Note that only three currencies are accepted by Affiliates United: Euro (EUR), Pound Sterling (GBP) and US Dollars (USD). The first two currencies are preferred, since the majority of AffUtd's customer base is in the United Kingdom.
Payment methods accepted by AffUtd are Skrill (MoneyBookers), WebMoney, PayPal, Neteller and bank wire transfer. To avoid problems with currency conversion & payouts, and fluctuating conversion rates, Affiliates must ensure that their payment method supports currency they select. Note that some, if not all, of these services will charge a small amount to convert amounts from one currency to another.
Upon completion, newly-joined Affiliate is encouraged to review and understand its obligations and responsibilities as stated in AffUtd's Terms and Conditions. Affiliates in the United Kingdom, for instance, has to (among others) include a link to gambleaware in their marketing material. Affiliates with marketing targeted to Italian customers must include two Affiliates United-provided regulator logos in their marketing material is another example.
Commission Plans
Affiliates may select from any of the four commission plans through their dedicated account manager, but by default are enrolled in the Revenue Reward commission plan, which pays up to 30% of the Net Gaming Revenue (the net revenue that their referred players generate) for the first three months of membership. Affiliates will then receive a slightly lower portion after – these are fixed rates and is not dependent on the Affiliates' performance.
AffUtd has a "no negative carryover" policy. In cases where the total revenue reward is calculated to be a negative number (i.e. any negative balance at the end of every calendar month) for the relevant month, it will be reset to zero, and no "reverse" payment shall be due from the Affiliate. Commission payment calculations are made available to the Affiliate at the start of every calendar month.
Alternatively, Affiliates can select other commission plans: Cost Per Acquisition (CPA), Poker Gross Revenue Reward, and AffUtd Sub-Affiliate Program. The Affiliate must inform their account manager if they wish to switch to these plans.
Cost per Acquisition, for the unfamiliar, is described as a pricing model wherein (Affiliates United, in this case) pay for each specified action. While its more general form, cost-per-action pays out for every action–including every click, comment, form submission, sale–Cost per Acquisition focuses on commissions received from every new acquired player (the "acquisition") referred to Affiliates United. Any instance of a chargeback, credit or suspected underage gambler will not be counted as an "acquisition".
Poker Gross Revenue Reward is calculated as a percentage share of the Poker Gross Revenue subject to subsequent deductions based on poker bonuses received by customers. Poker Gross Revenue is defined as the total of any and all rakes collected from customers, including poker tournament entry fees, less chargebacks.
AffUtd Sub-Affiliate Program is Affiliates United's own multi-tiered sub-affiliation program that allows Affiliates to earn extra commission based on direct Affiliate referrals, the latter being termed and tracked as "sub-referrals" and is designed to incentivize existing Affiliates to obtain additional Sub-Affiliates. Affiliates are rewarded with as much as 2% in additional rewards.
Details of the tiers and corresponding percentages are listed in detail in the Terms and Conditions page.
Affiliates should be aware that AffUtd reserves the right to change the Affiliate's reward plan if they deem that the latter's selected plan is not working for them. Affiliates could also negotiate with their account managers for better rates. Expect to be asked for something in return, like better ad spots in their websites.
Payments
As previously discussed, the Affiliate receives their commission payment calculation at the start of every calendar month. The calculations will reflect the balance due to the Affiliate (if any) and payments are credited through their selected payment plan. There are a few conditions, though: the amount payable should not be less than USD 5.00 (or its equivalent in the relevant currency) if the Affiliate chose to be paid via Skrill/MoneyBookers, WebMoney, PayPal or Neteller; or not less than USD 200.00 if the Affiliate chose to be paid via wire transfer.
Affiliates should also be aware that they are responsible for taxes and other fees; credit card processing fees enforced on customers would already be deducted from the commission payment and will be reflected in the calculation.
Termination Policy
The Terms and Conditions page lists the situations wherein Affiliates United may terminate its partnership with an Affiliate. These instances include fraud; identity couldn't be verified by AffUtd; illegal activity, suspected or otherwise; underage gambling; operating within the previously-discussed excluded territories; and discriminatory or otherwise explicit content.
Customer Experience
Based on user comments on blogs focused on affiliate programs and in social media pages, the switch to NetRefer is praised as a good move for the company. Positive responses made at the time seemed coincided with this switch. Affiliates also praise the professional quality of the service they received, especially how the Affiliates are on a first-name basis with their respective account managers. Affiliates seem to trust Affiliates United based on the brand-name recognition that William Hill has, especially for partners based in the United Kingdom: there are several William Hill establishments in London High Street alone. It is also a plus that their social media accounts are responsive to user questions.
However, a common complaint seems to be the 72-hour expiration of the affiliate cookies. This means that if a referred client (i.e. potential Sub-Affiliates) registers three days after receiving their affiliate link, they will not be tracked as the sender's Sub-Affiliate. The ideal condition is that these cookies should last 30 or even 45 days. Potential Sub-Affiliates can still be tracked even if they decide to register weeks later. Affiliates who are under the AffUtd Sub-Affiliate Program would be the first to be affected by this, as they would be required to use additional tools (such as those provided by marketing tool MailChimp) to track unopened referral emails and remind the recipients to check their emails. Resending new referral emails can be a tedious task if an Affilliate has hundreds of leads to sift through. Affiliates under other types of commission plans could perceive this as a minor issue.
Another complaint made by a handful of users is (unspecified) changes to the Terms and Conditions, which has allegedly works against existing Affiliates.
Final Verdict: Affiliates United is a Must Have for Online-Based Companies and Writers
With decades of experience and backing provided by its parent company William Hill, Affiliates United is a solid choice for people who are interested in venturing into betting-based affiliate programs. Its personalized customer service, with dedicated account managers in lieu of an impersonal telephone helpline, gives the impression that AffUtd cares about its affiliates, even down to the smallest one-man blog operation. New Affiliates are encouraged to ask their account managers questions if anything is unclear, especially with matters related to the terms and conditions.