I guess that’s how social media works in gambling, particularly in attracting whales that will actively play in the gambling site. Yes, if you have good number of followers, this will be possible but they should also be active gamblers, otherwise you will only get a small amount of referral bonus. And make sure that what you are promoting is legit and reputable site, otherwise you will be blamed by these people once they got scam in the end. That’s the reason why some gamblers just don’t give it a damn referring or convincing.
Making a living out of referrals is not something which can be easily accomplished since the conversion rate is very low, on average you could get 10k viewers and only one may follow through your link, and with such a low conversion rate you will need millions of viewers to make a decent amount of money, and if they do not gamble regularly then all your efforts could be for nothing, giving some validity to the statements of the OP about referrals being a waste of time for most people.
Ah, yes, yes, yes. Banking on referrals for a living is like trying to snag a unicorn. It's feasible, but far from a breeze. With a mind-blowing 10k viewers-to-one success rate, you'd need luck that rivals a leprechaun's to secure a respectable income. It's comparable to winning the lottery, but with some elbow grease. Truth be told, most people are more likely to experience a lightning strike than prosper from referrals.
But hey, if you've got that lucky streak, why not take a leap of faith? You never know, you might be the rare gem who hits it big. And if the odds don't favor you, you'll at least have a captivating yarn to spin