Site information
How we are paid
Updated We read the operator paperwork
How the publisher of Naughty Poker earns money from the operators it covers, and the walls between that money and the copy.
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21+. Play only where your state regulator allows it. We take a commission from some operators; it never moves a room up the list. Gambling problem? Call the National Problem Gambling Helpline, 1-800-MY-RESET (1-800-697-3738).
The short answer
Some of the operators covered on Naughty Poker pay it. When a reader follows a commercial link from here and then registers, the operator concerned can owe a commission to the publisher, Lanyardstead Publishing Limited. That money is what keeps the desk working, because the site sells nothing to readers, has no paywall and carries no display advertising.
Which links pay
Commercial links almost always run through an address that begins /go/; you can see it by hovering over a button or a link before you click. They sit mainly in lists of operators and on operator pages. Links to regulators, to bills and court records, to help lines and to news sources pay nothing. A brand can appear on the site without a commercial link at all, and many do.
What the arrangements look like
Deals differ from operator to operator. Under some, the publisher earns one set sum when a player it sent funds an account for the first time; some instead hand over a slice of whatever that player later loses with them for an agreed period; some mix the two. The publisher does not receive any part of a reader’s deposit directly, and following a commercial link does not change the offer, the terms or the price you get. If you prefer that a sign-up is not credited to us, open the operator’s site by typing it in directly.
What commission does not buy
Money from an operator does not purchase a slot in a list, a kinder sentence, the removal of a critical one, or an early look at a page. Lists are ordered by what the page is about — a state, a product, a payment method — and the reason for the order is written beside the list. When the paperwork shows a problem, such as a clause that lets an operator void winnings or a payment route that has stopped, it is written up whether or not that operator pays commission. The fuller rules are in the editorial policy and on how we rate.
A conflict we do not hide
A site paid on sign-ups has a reason to want sign-ups, and it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise. The answer the desk uses is to keep money and copy apart: the people who agree commercial terms do not edit pages, and a page that names an operator is checked against the operator’s own documents, not its marketing. You are entitled to weigh what we say with that conflict in mind.
Who gets a link, and who does not
A commercial link is added only where the page is already about that operator or already lists it on its merits. We do not add a brand to a page because a deal exists, and we do not keep a brand on a list after its terms or its payment record stop justifying the place. Where an operator in a list holds no US state licence, the page says so rather than leaving you to guess, and the legal notices explain what that means for you. Operators that pay nothing are linked plainly, without tracking, when a page needs them.
Why commission and not advertising
Banner advertising would put operator messages beside pages that are meant to read the operator’s own rules back to it, and it would bring third-party ad scripts and their cookies onto every page. Commission keeps the pages clean of both. It also means the desk only earns when a reader chooses to act, which is a reason to be accurate about the rules: a reader who signs up and finds the terms were misdescribed does not come back. That is no guarantee of anything, but it is the arrangement, stated plainly.
Tracking
A click on a /go/ address drops a pair of cookies good for less than a day, so the click can be counted and credited, alongside the two first-party cookies set on every page. They are listed, with their lifetimes, in the privacy policy.
Questions
Ask about any arrangement at [email protected]. The wider caveats sit in the legal notices.