For gambling the real answer is both, but the ratio depends on your stage and budget.
Paid ads for gambling are a minefield. Google Ads and Meta ban gambling promotions in most jurisdictions unless you have specific licensing approval, and even then you're limited to whitelisted countries. The gambling ads you see from big operators are running on programmatic networks specifically built for regulated iGaming (like PropellerAds, ExoClick for adult-adjacent, or niche gambling ad networks). Costs per click are high, quality varies, and you'll burn through budget fast without proper tracking and landing page optimization. Not recommended as a starting point unless you have serious capital and an existing conversion funnel.
Affiliates are the better entry point for most operators. The affiliate model aligns incentives — affiliates only get paid when they deliver real players, so you're not burning money on clicks that don't convert. The challenge is finding quality affiliates who actually drive traffic versus the hundreds who sign up and do nothing. The top 10% of your affiliates will generate 90% of your volume. Focus on finding them and giving them priority treatment.
The realistic split for a new operator: 80% affiliates, 20% paid traffic on niche networks where you can actually measure ROI. Once you have data on which player sources have the best LTV and retention, you can scale up whichever channel is working.
A few questions that change the advice significantly:
What jurisdiction are you licensed in? This determines what ad networks will even accept your money.
What's your product — casino, sports, poker, crypto? Each has different affiliate ecosystems and different ad restrictions.
What's your current monthly marketing budget? The strategy for $5K/month is completely different from $100K/month.
Also important — what's your retention and LTV data looking like? Paid acquisition only works if your player economics are solid. If LTV is bad you'll lose money regardless of channel
