AskGamblers and Catena Media

[Webzcas]

You would have thought that a company well capitalised such as Catena Media could and would use their visibility and position in google for the greater good. But alas, it seems that Catena are another super affiliate company that likes to keep everyone at arms length. Not responding to concerns over who they promote via email, just sending out a couple of glib talk to hand type tweets.

Everyone for instance knows that for rogue casino groups to fail you need to shut off their money stream. For example it is all well and good the vast majority of us blacklisting AffPower for instance, but what good does it do when the likes of AskGamblers let them use their 'Certificate of Trust' seal on their sites. The site in question is CashPot Casino, which prior to the name change in 2016, was known as Cosmik Casino.

The same Cosmik Casino which was using pirated games from NetEnt and others. Yet it seems Catena Media and their portals such as AskGamblers operate on the principle of selling space to the highest bidder, regardless of who or what they subsequently promote. A nice home page backlink courtesy of the seal on the footer of the rogue casino, also seems to be part of the deal.

It has often been said that getting affiliates to collectively work together for the greater good is as hard as dealing with feral cats.

I'm a player as I am sure many of you are as well. i just can't understand how AskGamblers can make out it is this super trustworthy portal.

They also were applying to become an approved UKGC ADR. Well if this is still the case, I will be making representations to the UKGC to ensure this does not happen.

I have blogged about this here: https://www.onlinecasinoreviewer.com/good-bad-ugly-online-casinos/

 

[Casino-Matt]

I would have thought that at some point they will start losing half of their player base? Surely there's only so much a player can take when being spoon fed showers of shite casinos on a daily basis? Their "ratings" completely conflict with what their own players are saying and you struggl to find a decent casino to play at when visiting their sites as it's just rogues rising to the top of visibility.

 

[casinonewbie]

It will all turn to tears when Google and UKGC work out that AskGamblers / Catena Media ain't that independent and i wonder how many of the reviews on the site by "players" are actually not real players.
info on them starts at the 8.40 minute mark

 

[Biti]

Everything is for sale at that website: from the position of "the most popular casino" to banners to top 5 affiliate programs, etc. I've heard some stories about them from casino owners... But, it's 'heard' so I can't post it here as "heard" is no bulletproof evidence.

I guess also everybody knows that people from 2nd and 3rd world countries are writing reviews for money they get from AG.

The website of Catena is very clear.

Who's Catena?

We're a lead generation company, driving traffic to online casinos and sportsbooks.

This is exactly it. They are a lead generation company, driving traffic to online casinos. They're not a review company, an indepent 'broker' , etc. They are generating leads and they get paid for it. They don't care by who.

 

[AussieDave]

The same Cosmik Casino which was using pirated games from NetEnt and others.

I'll also add, that Cosmik Casino were (still are?) working with the WP hacker... Cosmik is yet another upstanding venue to come out of Israel

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe one of the owners used to work for either FA or FL.

 

[AussieDave]

Creation Date: 07-jun-2017
Expiration Date: 07-jun-2018

Wonder who that might be

 

[Webzcas]

I'll also add, that Cosmik Casino were (still are?) working with the WP hacker... Cosmik is yet another upstanding venue to come out of Israel

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe one of the owners used to work for either FA or FL.

Cosmik changed it's name to ShitPot I mean CashPot Casino in 2016, after Cosmik was found to be one of the casinos operated by AffPower using pirated NetEnt games.

And yes the main man behind AffPower a certain Alex, who also was behind detagging players at Affiliate Edge did use to work for Fortune.

 

[AussieDave]

They are generating leads and they get paid for it. They don't care by who.

Just because it seems like a good business decision, doesn't mean it's the right decision!

I've always believed in responsible gambling practices. In our Industry or its Land based counterpart, it ensures a level of professional integrity.

Unfortunately some people in this industry are ethically challenged and, their moral compass is broken... In the footer of AskGamblers.com they display (and link to) "BeGambleAware" and "GamCare". Clearly these are just token gestures; a picture painting a false impression.

Cantena Media have their fingers well and truly placed on the pulse of this industry. They would be well versed in the daily goings on per se. Especially the criminal ativitives of CashPot Casino (ne Comsik) et al. Hence, for AskGamblers.com to promote such a clip-joint, shows they value $$$'s far above being a truly integrity driven and, a reputable source of online casino recommendations.

From here onwards, anything Cantena Media have on their various portals should be taken with a grain of salt. In simple terms (imo), they can't be trusted. Because anyone who by all accounts is in-the-know, who still work with crooks, are more than likely dodgy themselves!

 

[casinonewbie]

Hopefully the UKGC will also take a look at a few affiliate portals who may have some conflicts of interests in the way they operate.....they may not have direct authority over these affiliate sites but possibly some of the casinos may have some questions to answer regards their "associations" with them.

 

[casinonewbie]

"AskGamblers, in the day, became popular thanks to its fairness and uncompromised defense of players’ interests. Modern AskGamblers is nothing else but a commercial juicer focused on maximum profit without any future. Look closely at those who post their reviews on the website. Half of them are fake players, common Indian copywriters writing fake reviews"

source https://slotrunners.com/is-catena-media-another-stock-market-bubble.80/

 

[Casino-Matt]

Hopefully the UKGC will also take a look at a few affiliate portals who may have some conflicts of interests in the way they operate.....they may not have direct authority over these affiliate sites but possibly some of the casinos may have some questions to answer regards their "associations" with them.

What about casino chains like GIG, Betsson etc who are actively buying up affiliate portals?

 

[casinonewbie]

What about casino chains like GIG, Betsson etc who are actively buying up affiliate portals?

One day these fake portals might get a look at by a real person at Google, hope they don't get on the naughty list

 

[bonustreak]

Cantena may just cannibalize its self. Getting too big for their own britches ...

 

[James Horpes]

its probably run by a bunch of greedy investors who put up the money to buy up all the big sites and its run by a bunch of stupid ex-ad agency people who know nothing about gambling. most of the affilate programs on ask gamblers are rogue yet somehow has ratings of 4+ stars

 

[Biti]

What is perhaps interesting is that they seem to have pulled out from the NL market.

In their annual report they mention some websites that they've bought, but are offline now.

 

[Knori]

"AskGamblers, in the day, became popular thanks to its fairness and uncompromised defense of players’ interests. Modern AskGamblers is nothing else but a commercial juicer focused on maximum profit without any future. Look closely at those who post their reviews on the website. Half of them are fake players, common Indian copywriters writing fake reviews"

Completely agree. I play a lot online mainly without issue. In the two times I've posted to AskGamblers as a player, they have removed my comments as negative feedback because these casinos have been "awarded" the AskGamblers Certificate of Trust. These mutually beneficial agreements between these casinos and AskGamblers create an undeniable bias, propagate fake reviews and ultimately the censorship of real player reviews. Lining their pockets - yes! "The most reliable, trustworthy and unbiased source for Online Casinos in the world" - Hell no!

 

[Kristine]

They sent out a Newsletter in May saying they were cutting all the bad brands and keeping the good ones.

 

[Knori]

Considering what they turn a blind eye to, I can't imagine what would constitute a "bad brand" for them. I'm assuming it would be those who they stand to make the least amount of money from.

 

[juegos]

Didn't know they got out of the Dutch market, interesting!

 

[Moonlight Cat]

I don't think, that Catena Media will be successful. From my point of view, to match absolutely different sites, created with different owners. Many of them targeting on markets with very unclear future. Former owners of sites, bought by CatenaMedia, now work for bonuses as hired managers. Now this is the same people but with another motivation. Are lot of shareholders but not main owners. The use borrowed funds for buying sites e.t.c.