Farewell, Good Travels and Health

[Jops]

I wasn't going to reply to anymore posts.

However @Jops, given your a new member, I wont read you the riot act on why hijacking someone's thread is bad forum etiquette. I suggest if you feel this strong abut this subject, you commence your own thread. Never hijack another member's thread

@casinobonusguy - We go back a while you and I. We're both in the old-timer league. Thanks for you heartfelt comments, means a lot.

@inspiration - mate thanks for your kind words of support. I only ever did what I did, to try and better the industry for all. I sunk my own cash into operating my watchdog sites. I'm not sure many people know that.

I refused sponsorships etc., etc. I did, for maybe 6 months have some aff-links on DodgyOnlineCasinoHistory.net BUT I felt even those were a conflict of interest, so I removed them.

I was hoping DOCH.NEWS would become my crowning glory. But, unfortunately, aside from my small supportive gathering, the majority of affiliates don't seem to see the benefits.

Anyway, I feel the love from you all, thank you...

Sorry, it wasn't my intention to hijack your thread. I'm sad to see you leave. I wish you wouldn't. Your experience is needed to help guide a new generation of affiliates. With you leaving, we only strengthen the scammers in this industry.

Maybe we together could do a website where accredited affiliates can vote each month on which brands they trust the most? It won't be based on facts, but it will give an indication at least. For example, I would vote Kindred, Betsson and Playamo on the bottom of that list.

 

[PennyCJ]

Sorry to hear this news! Genuine thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience across the forums, you have provided helpful insight.

 

[gobo]

AussieDave, I hope you will reconsider and stick around. We need more transparency advocators, not less.

 

[Moonlight Cat]

AussieDave - please don't leave us. Crypto payments and messengers like telegram will change this industry. I think we will see more interesting within next several years. I think all is only begining now.

 

[gobo]

We have seen 100% transparent casinos + affiliate programs already. Funfair was 100% transparent with affiliate payments in real-time. They had to close though because of the high gas prices on Ethereum.

 

[AussieDave]

Times are tough with programs shafting us more and more. All of that takes its toll. On top of all that, I've got the ATO (Australian Tax Office) hassling me, all because a certain program flatly refuses to provide me with a mandatory tax-invoices for NZ tax, they claim their garnishing from me.

What I receive is Net not Gross.

However, without those tax-invoices, the ATO are demanding I pay this tax again, which runs in 6 figures. So effectively I'll be paying tax twice. I refuse to pay it twice.

So I guess at some stage the ATO will eventually take me to court. Fine, I'll just throw the program under-the-bus, just like they're now throwing me under the same bus.

With everything else, and this, I'm burnt out. I just can't do this anymore.

 

[StatsDrone]

That is at least one of the purposes of these forums is to save others from getting screwed over.

 

[casinobonusguy]

Times are tough with programs shafting us more and more. All of that takes its toll. On top of all that, I've got the ATO (Australian Tax Office) hassling me, all because a certain program flatly refuses to provide me with a mandatory tax-invoices for NZ tax, they claim their garnishing from me.

What I receive is Net not Gross.

However, without those tax-invoices, the ATO are demanding I pay this tax again, which runs in 6 figures. So effectively I'll be paying tax twice. I refuse to pay it twice.

So I guess at some stage the ATO will eventually take me to court. Fine, I'll just throw the program under-the-bus, just like they're now throwing me under the same bus.

With everything else, and this, I'm burnt out. I just can't do this anymore.

Dave
Yes they are deducting taxes on the affiliate income and probably not paying it out which is why they won't give you the invoices .Do you have their tax numbers on any documents? Could you show your affiliate monthly statements to ATO?

Judy

 

[AussieDave]

Dave
Yes they are deducting taxes on the affiliate income and probably not paying it out which is why they won't give you the invoices .Do you have their tax numbers on any documents? Could you show your affiliate monthly statements to ATO?

Judy

Hi Judy,

As we both know, most, if not all casino operators who are not publicly traded companies, hide behind an elaborate ruse of shelf companies, straw-men etc., etc. While I've gathered an extensive dossier about the who's who of this operator et al, and have provide the ATO with screen captures of this 'so called NZ Tax' collection, they (ATO) refused to accept anything other than official tax invoices.

This month, I'm being hammered more TAX than I'm being paid.

This isn't just myself. It's 1000's of affiliates all being shafted. I have little to no faith, just like you've said Judy, that this garnished-tax isn't actually being paid. Instead, it's going directly into this operator's pocket.

In any other industry, a company's CFO (chief financial officer) would be all over this, asking WTF is going on! Instead, and sadly it seems, in this event, the CFO is not only well aware of this crap but is actively working in assisting its ongoing success.

NB - When I asked for my NZ Tax Invoices, I was told: "We don't have to provide you with them because WE are paying the Tax." Yes but that Tax is being garnish from my earnings

In the end it's a circle jerk, and it's like trying to talk sense to a barrel of naughty-monkeys.

Reiterating, can't do jack to prove this tax is actually being paid. Therefore the ATO stand that it's not being paid, and are demanding I pay it $xxx,xxx.xx. It will eventually end up in a court room. Fingers crossed the Magistrate will see the BIG picture and will in turn take the appropriate action.

In meantime, I'll continue to delve deeper into who's who of this casino operator and affiliate program.


Cheers

Dave

 

[TipAGambler]

Dear AussieDave, I don't know you, and we have never spoken. I also don't reply here much.
However, I feel sad to hear these things, like we were close friends.

I think we should all do whatever we can to back you up on this if there is anything we can do.
It is you today and any one of us tomorrow.

As someone relatively new to this industry, with roughly 3-4 years part-time, I can say I, too, have been hurt many times.
Mainly in lost and unpaid commissions from closing programs. Some were quite major too. And this is only what I know about.

It makes me think twice about my future intentions In this industry as I, too, believe that being honest can bring prosperity in this industry as well as in others. And your situation makes me doubt it, unfortunately.

 

[footballaffiliate]

AussieDave's comments reflect a lot of truths about this industry

It's corrupt, people steal, people will do anything for money. Operators and affiliates are incentivised to make money, purely. This generates bad behaviours. There is little encouragement to do anything else but generate FTDs, hence a few years ago the industry started to get more heavily regulated, and sad to say that more regulation of affiliates is needed. Some of the content and tactics out there to get people into gambling is awful, and we're going back to those days (especially with AI bots) where people are going to try any content to get you signed up to gambling. It'll end in more closures, like the SkyBet affiliate program, more regulation forced upon us, and more rules as unscrupulous affiliates try to make a quick buck.

People move around jobs every 12 months, so they can reincarnate themselves somewhere else, and steal more, especially on the operator side

Affiiliates steal, copy, plagiarise, breach copyright, trademark law, etc etc, and couldn't care less

Affiliates will do anything for players. They'll sell their own mother if they have to. They'll generate negative SEO attacks against their competitors, DDOS attacks etc. They'll email your affiliate manager and try get accounts closed, they'll falsely smear your name and brand in order to get one up on you. The affiliate side of the industry is DIRTY. Don't forget that

Never share any ideas with anyone. They'll get copied. Don't even tell your affiliate manager you're doing something new until it's launched. Many of my ideas just went straight to our big competitors when they took our affiliate manager out for drinks at a big event.

Innovation in this industry is dead. The real pioneers of the affiliate industry started maybe 20-25 years ago and did new things - things we'd never seen on the web. They innovated over time and came up with great ideas. Today's affiliates simply copy. They have very few ideas of their own. They will simply run a keyword report on your brand, then create spammy stuffed content to rank above you (this is why the web is now 98% trash). This is partly Google's fault for not seeing through this, but it just happens. Competition will always happen, but for example when those pioneers coined new phrases 20 years ago, new brands, new trademarks, they were thinking out of the box. Today's affiliates just copy that. Lack of innovation is already causing the small affiliate side of this industry to implode

The big affiliates have killed off the small side of the industry. Big operators still go to conferences, but they're not interested in you. They want a minimum of x FTDs a month, otherwise you don't even get responses to your emails. An affiliate manager would rather take 5000 trash players worth a few pennies each, rather than 200 players worth 1000 dollars each. It's just numbers

Social media has allowed anyone to step into the industry and start making money, with very few skills. Most people in the affiliate industry have no IT skills anymore. Social media has allowed people to just buy massive audiences and then claim that they're the biggest thing since sliced bread, when it's all built on fake traffic - most of the largest social media affiliates lose followers by the bus load every day. They are in this cycle of making money, buying more followers, losing more followers, and buying more. Many younger people have just told me that nowadays you just "fake it until you make it". That's the attitude. People don't want to work hard, to do something clever and new. They have little patience for learning to code and developing something great.

Quite a negative take on it all, but the real point is that this industry has matured, and for the last few years has been slowly withering and dying. The oncoming economic downturn will ensure that this phase of our industry history will be forced to end - affiliate programs are already closed to new affiliates, some of the big guys have zero interest in someone new setting up a good idea.