Hi All,
Christine, thanks a bunch for posting the article I've written to be honest it was a pleasant surprise. A big thank you to the community for sharing their ideas as well.
One way or the other every single affiliate has a story to tell be it de-tagging of high value players, not reporting the true stats, shaving commissions, the list can go on and on.
I know someone personally who dealt specifically with player data bases (this was way back in 2003), he wanted me to buy one off him for $5k. I refused outright since I saw it as highly unethical and I wasn't interested in the industry back then. Suffice it to say this has been going on for a very long time and had I stepped over to the 'dark side' I would have been a very wealthy man by now.
As affiliates we're extremely vulnerable, even if we have undeniable proof that programs are stealing from us there's absolutely nothing we can do about it. Although blacklisting is a good way to tarnish an unscrupulous operator's image-to me it's like diagnosing a cold but not eradicating it. The owners simply
'kill off' the site and hop on to the next project-mission accomplished! The industry is rife with money laundering, chequered individuals and criminal activity that boggles my mind.
It's reached a stage where I see the top jurisdictions (Alderney, Gibraltar, Isle of Man, Malta and UK) simply as lip service and hot air. I'll most probably receive a lot of flack for making such a bold statement but I don't care-it's the truth. They forget one fundamental aspect and I call it the ''
affiliate factor''. Why? Well, many operators run their own portals and siphon the players affiliates referred off to their own network, it's a grey area and a very bad one at that. It can lead to money laundering and most probably other kinds off illicit activities as well. If operators are licensed in these jurisdictions they must investigate whether or not they run their own portals. If they run their own portals they should not be issued with a license since it's unethical.
Although the operator side of things in white listed jurisdictions are top-notch the affiliate side of things is not good. Why don't the jurisdiction acknowledge us? How many Malta-based operators' affiliate programs have been guilty of unethical dealings over the years and absolutely nothing happened to them. If we were not that important, why are our Inboxes for ever cluttered with offers from programs to join them?
I even contacted NetEnt (Per Eriksson) and requested that they furnish us with the original stats. I think very highly of this vendor maybe my Swedish heritage has something to do with it. Any way, I hoped that the software provider would have led from the front and said they'll investigates it. I even included links to GPWA about previous discussions of shaving outlining how vulnerable we're really are. Instead I received a rather terse response which bordered on a resounding no.
I propose the following to safeguard our interest:
1. When casino owners apply for a license in white-listed jurisdiction they must undergo a polygraph test. The test is there to ascertain if they've been involved in any illegal activities before: criminal record, money laundering, dealing in player data bases, owning their own portals etc.
2. Jurisdictions must acknowledge us. There must be a registered affiliate body in each jurisdiction. Affiliates will pay an annual membership fee. The role of the affiliate body will be to sue/expose any dodgy program. Obviously legal officials (attorneys) have to be on board too. The funds from the membership fees will be used to pay a legal firm an annual retainer.
3. Last but not least. The vendors must provide us with the stats reports so that we can compare it with the affiliate programs'.
For what it's worth a South African bloke (Casino South Africa) started a thread over at GPWA a few years ago as usual nothing came of it.
Hello fellow affiliates. Today I have something "Heavy on my heart" – In fact I am actually scared to disclose the information that I have. If I should die, I already have some people that will continue the cause!
Many of you haven’t worked at an online casino and is likely unaware of how exactly casinos operate. I have had the privilege of working at Casino’s, consulting on their Premises and working physically very close with these casino operators. During this time as an “Affiliate” I was extremely shocked at how vulnerable we as affiliates are. – and how casino’s shave from affiliates, Trade with Affiliate Databases and how easy it is to remove affiliate tags from affiliates.
I know there are many affiliates that trade in stolen databases. But how many of us worked hard to get traffic to the casino, just to get this traffic stolen by people working at the casino – selling it off to another casino?
Most Casino Affiliate Managers will tell us it is because of the USA that retention is down. This is a lie, retention is off because Casino people steal databases, remove tags and our Player Data is exposed and left unsecured! Casino’s also has to make up for the loss in profit withdrawing from the USA have caused.
Christine, Dominique, Debbie, Shawn, Joey, Gamtrak to name a few, I have never met any of you, but you will be shocked at how well I do know you and your business. I have had access to all your affiliate accounts, your player accounts,your affiliate traffic stats, each keyword you have send traffic to these casino’s for the past 3 to 5 years, as well as office talk about you and many other affiliates. In my opinion it is unethical for another Affiliate to know so much about other affiliates. In fact think about it, I know more about your players than what you know about your own players! (I can see their email addresses and other data you cannot see).
Today I am financially ruined by the actions of this casino. I have built a network of sites for this casino. With a formal contract in place with the Casino that I will earn life time revenue from these sites. The casino has since retrenched several of their employees and it has come to my attention that the casino gets between 10 and 20 depositing players per day from this network!
They have blatantly removed my affiliate links from these sites, and I am only on 7.5% revenue share. Now bear in mind this is a physically signed contract. When I said to one of the affiliate managers that I am considering suing the company because they have deleted my affiliate tags, I was informed that “Who am I going to sue”. – This casino knows that they are untouchable with the way that they have structured their companies, and can literally get away with murder when it comes to affiliates!
I have been further shocked to learn that one of the unofficial stakeholders is a well known and well respected Ex-South African and now prominent Angel Investor in the USA, funding entrepreneurs and yet here in South Africa the company is stealing Intellectual Property without flinching an eye!
This Casino has furthermore stolen my Intellectual Property which was also part of the contract. They have created their own department that now builds these websites on a fulltime scale, and sell advertising space on these sites to other casinos. (I have tracked down 1000’s of these sites).
For me this is enough…
To take them to court is going to cost a significant amount of money. And I will need your assistance with this regard, as I will be standing up for many Affiliates and Respectable Casinos at the same time. We should send a CLEAR message to Casino’s that they should not mess with affiliates!
If you have any other suggestions on how we can work together to identify these casinos, identify their bad practices and how we can resolve these matters your help and assistance would be greatly appreciated.
I will send details to GPWA, APCW and Affiliate Guard dog for their investigations.