I first became an affiliate for Virtual World Direct not long after their launch in 2002, and have been receiving cheques ever since, despite not actively promoting them for more than four years now, which is what I love about the residual income that affiliate programs such as VWD offer. At its height, I was receiving commissions of more than £50,000 a year, for less than an hour’s work a month (yes, a month), and although my earnings are no-where near that now, I still earn more than £100 a week for doing nothing at all (and have done for the last four years).

Many people (mainly friends and family) said at the time that Virtual World Direct must be a scam, and that I’d end up losing my money. Well, six years later and far from losing my money, they’ve paid me somewhere in the region of £150,000, and despite not really pushing them for four years, they still send me a cheque religiously every four weeks, without fail.

For those unfamiliar with virtualworlddirect, it is basically an online Lottery syndicate, covering both the main UK Lotto and Euro Millions draws every week. Players who join the eLottery benefit from a massively increased chance of winning compared to playing on their own (winnings are automatically sent out to them via cheque), and never have to remember to buy their tickets again. For affiliates, it gets even better – You get paid 20% commission on the e-Lottery subscription fees of every player you refer for life (The “for life” bit is the important bit, and is why I’m still getting cheques now).

You can also refer other affiliates to eLottery, and receive 5% of the e-Lottery subscription fees of their players. Bonus! So, how to refer people? Well, without a doubt most of my success was down to PPC advertising on Google, which brought a constant flood of new players and affiliates. Unfortunately, in April 2004 the God that is Google decided it would no longer allow gambling adverts on its UK site (despite it being perfectly legal to gamble in the UK), and instantly my stream of players and affiliates turned into a trickle.

That’s not to say you can’t still get good traffic to your VWD site – Yahoo Search Marketing and MSN Adcenter have both accepted eLottery ads in the past, and if you know a little about SEO, it’s perfectly possible to rank well for some longtail keywords based around Lottery Syndicates, and there are many forums dedicated to recruiting affiliates. Virtual World Direct also offer a wide range of tools to help you promote your eLottery business, including beermats, flyers, leaflets, posters etc. You’ll also find some great resources on the VWD website full of hints and tips to get more players and more affiliates.

Occasionally, eLottery will run some fantastic promotions. The main one I remember was back in 2003, where the person who recruited the most new players in an 8-week period would be given a brand new Mini-Cooper car, worth about £15,000. At the time, I wasn’t bothered about winning a mini (I’m 6 foot 2, and had just bought a new car), so didn’t make any effort at all. I soon wished I had though when I got the call to say I had come second (by around 12 eLottery players), and with a little bit of effort I could have had the keys to a £15,000 car. Even then VirtualWorldDirect were brilliant, awarding me a £1,000 “consolation prize”. What a consolation!

In conclusion, Virtual World Direct is certainly not a scam, but a legitimate Lottery affiliate program, that pays residual income for the lifetime of players you refer. Even four years after you stop promoting them…

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