Online affiliate marketing is one of the many products of the Internet boom in the mid 1990's. Due to the nature of the system and the way in which money is generated and clients determined, it could only work through a complex computerised system such as that made available by the World Wide Web. Whilst the system may appear simplistic from a business point of view, the inner workings of the affiliate program require some unique calculations.

In a standard situation, when a company wishes to advertise they can do so by hiring an advertising team, and then paying for advertising space. However the affiliate marketing program is very different. The affiliate sites are not paid up front for their trouble, they are paid as customers join through their site. If we take the model of one of the most successful affiliate programs, that of sports betting there are significant calculations that need to be made in order to accurately work out how and when to pay an affiliate.

Unlike in other affiliate programs, the sports betting sites pose a unique problem. Affiliates have the option to be paid a percentage of the money that a player who joined through them generates for the sports betting site. Therefore the sports betting site or the affiliate program needs to be able to track and accurately calculate a players betting, in order to pay the affiliate the correct amount. Firstly the affiliate is assigned a unique URL, so that the sports betting site can accurately locate where exactly the new player has joined form. The second problem is then keeping a record of the player once they are on the site, so that the affiliate is rewarded as and when thy generate money. This is usually done by assigning the new player a unique number, which can then be monitored by the sports betting site, allowing them to reward the affiliate as the money comes in.

The system is complicated in terms of the dynamics of the payment, especially when compared to the simplistic method of paying up front. But in truth the sports betting affiliate program is a simplistic automated system, which works time after time. This is a fact backed up by the thousands of sites that continue to stay with or join the affiliate-marketing program and by the huge profits that these sites are able to command. The effectiveness of the affiliate program industry has also benefited the Internet industries including but not limited to sports betting. It has also offered the opportunity to thousands of small site owners to create a small revenue for themselves, as well as creating an industry in which new businesses can be founded purely to take advantage of the lucrative marketing program.