Star Partner warning

[Engineer]

Yesterday, Star Partner's sponsorship was suspended at the GPWA. This is HUGE, because the GPWA typically doesn't take such drastic action. Clearly this program is (once again) having some serious issues.

Here are some recent threads worth checking out:

I am done, outa here - Gambling Portal Webmasters Association

Stealing players thru cross marketing ? - Gambling Portal Webmasters Association

Starpartner issues - Gambling Portal Webmasters Association

Those of you still promoting this group -- be careful.

 

[Perc]

Looks like at least the cross-marketing is going to be fixed. I have to commend them on this move.

Hi Everyone,

Firstly, I would like to stress that we have always prized ourselves on our integrity and honesty. Our affiliates are enormously important to us and we hold them in the highest regard, so much so that we went and voluntarily got ourselves certified by eCogra.

We take all issues that arise from our affiliates and examine them extremely closely to ensure we come up with a proper solution.
The issue at hand is that there have been complaints recently that group mailers for newsletter; loyalty etc could have had a remote chance that a player would join another casino.

This arises from us having 88 casinos across our brands and languages making it impossible to create 88 mail shots for every newsletter when we release new games monthly. So as a result we send group newsletters per language with links to each casino in our group. I can assure you that this is no different for all groups that have multiple brands and languages

Anyhow we have investigated and discussed this in great detail and after consulting with many different parties we have decided to set the bar and have come up with the following solution.

Plan for all mails going forward:

All group mails for loyalty; newsletters etc from now on will be tagged.
If a player downloads another casino from these mailers, the player will be mapped to the tag where the player last played at a Vegas Partner Lounge casino.

By doing this you can be certain that if a player came through an affiliate and ends up joining another brand through any of our loyalty/newsletter mailers, that original affiliate will be credited for that player in the new brand too.

There were other options discussed (i.e., first casino played at, casino most played at or casino last played at).
After much consulting internally as well as externally it has been agreed that this is the fairest solution.

Further to this we are going make right on any untagged players.
If a player was playing at a VPL casino, prior to the player joining a new VPL casino, this player will be allocated to the tag of the last casino played.
All historical earnings due to affiliates based on the outcome of this query will be settled at month end.

In closing I would like to reiterate that Star Partner values our affiliates enormously and we strive to be a cut above all the other affiliate programs.
We will go to any distance to ensure that our affiliates are satisfied with the integrity, quality and support of our program.

Thanks

Regards,

Antoinette Pillay

 

[bonustreak]

I don't trust this place in the least bit.

 

[Aussie-Dave]

Unethical cross marketing and many other imaginative ways casinos/aff programs use to shaft affiliates and steal their rightful income is well on the rise.

Since the UIGEA came into force its hobbled casinos and such more than they've admitted. That lose of income has to come from somewhere. When push comes to shove and times are obviously tight, more and more places are going to come up with more and more ways to leech affiliates earnings.

Read the player forums...And you'll see complaint after complaint that slots across many software platforms are not delivering the game play they once did. The slots are tight and have been weighted to extract as much money from players as possible whilst given far less RTP as they once did.

Players are getting screwed and affiliates are too!

Lets face reality here people...How many aff programs are there that give affiliates the ability to drill down every players deposits and; wins and; bets and; games played and; their loses and wins...etc...etc.

Non that I know of.

Instead we have to trust the programs 100%.

Not having access to all this important data is the way affiliate programs and gaming venues can screw us. Add creative number crunching and dubious marketing to players and the formula to easily screw affiliates is there.

I have no doubt more and more programs are going to be caught with their pants down over the next year or two.

Buckle up people cause it's only going to get worse!


Cheers



Dave

 

[Aussie-Dave]

Looks like at least the cross-marketing is going to be fixed. I have to commend them on this move.

Why? They would not have done this if they'd not been busted

IMHO they are criminals (they stole players from affiliates), they should be treated as such (thieves).


Cheers



Dave

 

[Aussie-Dave]

JMO but the catalyst for all this screwing of affiliates is solely because affiliates connected to the Grand Prive` theft did not act when they should have!

By not taking legal action (class action) that sent a clear message to aff programs, affiliates will not only bend over and cop it sweet but will unbuckle their own pants as well.

Sorry if that's harsh but seriously it's pretty close to the mark.

Two years of talk until enough pressure was placed onto eCOGRA and MGS to address the problem - even then it was a balls up.

Two long years GP had to figure out what it was going to do. In their case develop their own software, which finally came to them doing a midnight flit from MGS over a weekend.

Given that, I'm not in the least surprised that affiliate programs are trying all this BS on now. Why cause they know they can and the likelihood is they'll get away with it, even if they get blacklisted - which I don't think worries them these days. If anything it probably improves their overall SEO.


Cheers



Dave

 

[Guard Dog]

That is certainly an overly pessimistic attitude. What gives?

 

[Aussie-Dave]

That is certainly an overly pessimistic attitude. What gives?

What are you referring to as being pessimistic?


Cheers



Dave

 

[Guard Dog]

What are you referring to as being pessimistic?


Cheers



Dave

Not the Cheers and the smiley Nah - I just read several of your posts via email and there seemed to be a pessimistic tone to them. This is why I posted, but didn't check which one I clicked to via email.

 

[Engineer]

I don't trust this place in the least bit.

Same here. Their response is lip service, nothing more. This group has been pulling stunts for years, and in a few months, I'm sure we will be having another discussion about their latest antics.

Maybe they'll implement yet another new affiliate system that doesn't work, or maybe they'll phase out a few casinos for no apparent reason, or maybe they'll try to retroactively lower commissions like they did in 2005.

Why affiliates keep giving this group chance after chance is beyond me. Wake up, people -- this group is NOT one you should be working with. The industry would be better off if they went out of business, IMO.

My 2 cents....

 

[Perc]

I don't know much of the history, I just thought it seemed like a pretty big move going back and retroactively adding tags to players. They could have just said they won't cross-market anymore and left it there.

I started my website with the idea of promoting Maple Casino because it was the first online casino I played at and was always treated very well. I also did quite well there and was up a couple grand after a month playing there. You don't see many complaints at all about the VPL group casinos.

Now I have so much stuff mentioning Maple, I would have to do a major re-write of much of the site, and how does a site promoting Canadian online casinos not promote Maple casino when it is a good place for players?

I also trust what you guys have to say, as you've been in this industry for years and have seen it all. So I'm really quite confused as to what I should do. Do I continue to promote the casino since it is a good place to play, or do I drop them and lose the only Canadian themed casino due to the affiliate program history?

???

 

[TheGamblingGuru]

I don't know much of the history, I just though it seemed like a pretty big move going back and retroactively adding tags to players. They could have just said they won't cross-market anymore and left it there.

I started my website with the idea of promoting Maple Casino because it was the first online casino I played at and was always treated very well. I also did quite well there and was up a couple grand after a month playing there. You don't see many complaints at all about the VPL group casinos.

Now I have so much stuff mentioning Maple, I would have to do a major re-write of much of the site, and how does a site promoting Canadian online casinos not promote Maple casino when it is a good place for players?

I also trust what you guys have to say, as you've been in this industry for years and have seen it all. So I'm really quite confused as to what I should do. Do I continue to promote the casino since it is a good place to play, or do I drop them and lose the only Canadian themed casino due to the affiliate program history?

???

What you do is simply put the concerns of your players first.

Is this group trustworthy of paying players on time and not dicking them around? The answer to that question is YES!

Does this group have a long track record of paying players on time WITHOUT dicking them around? The answer to that question is also an astounding YES!
____
____

 

[Pokerkeep]

Just an FYI
Yesterday, I added Star Partners to the GAU boycott list after our members voted 100% in favor of roguing and boycotting the program.

 

[Eugene]

what is going on in this world??
who is the next

 

[inspiration]

posted here Star Partner GPWA Sponsorship Suspension - Page 3 - Gambling Portal Webmasters Association

I got a new promotion send to my player test account and it is tagged with an _unknown affiliated ID_ : w25869 _which certainly is not mine_ and I NEVER played anywhere else at VPL casinos so the player promo mail should have been with my affiliate tag.........or have you created new accounts at Starpartner in order to tag these mails for your own benefit ?

At this moment you have been put to the test and failed (again).

I urge everybody to check their player emails !

BTW I do not understand MC response ....an aff ID is mine/yours not a promo tag.....

???

 

[inspiration]

Same here. Their response is lip service, nothing more. This group has been pulling stunts for years, and in a few months, I'm sure we will be having another discussion about their latest antics.

Maybe they'll implement yet another new affiliate system that doesn't work, or maybe they'll phase out a few casinos for no apparent reason, or maybe they'll try to retroactively lower commissions like they did in 2005.

Why affiliates keep giving this group chance after chance is beyond me. Wake up, people -- this group is NOT one you should be working with. The industry would be better off if they went out of business, IMO.

My 2 cents....

as of today they are cross promoting again ?


e.g. visit crazyvegas casino with your aff. link and click on :

1. vegaspartnerlounge/starpartner image on the main page woooops there is no btag tracking anymore..........!

2. promotions page click on loyalty program goes to vegasloyaltylounge.com (y)our btag is not tracking anymore.

???

 

[Darren]

Hi guys,

As you all know, we have recently rebranded our Crazyvegas.com site and in the process, we have encountered a few small errors.

It is important to note that it is not our policy to cross-market without an affiliates tag.

This issue has since been corrected and also tested to ensure that it is now working correctly.

Regards

Darren
Head Of Star Partner
Star Partner
CONTACT NUMBER:+27 11 2539624
SKYPE: darren.pilz
EMAIL: darren.p@starpartner.com
WEBSITE: Join the Best Casino Affiliate Program Online Today!