Microgaming White Label Issue

[Pinababy69]

Originally Posted by Mario

The casinos advertised on Golden Internet.com belongs to our partners, "the Casinos" is our White label Brands which PlayShare is offers a Generic Program enabling Partners and affiliates to Market their own Brands, this would account for the common phone numbers and downloads as we will do all the support and most of the back office stuff.

Yes these casinos do still fall part of the PlayShare group but the brands have requested to be their own entity and thus no mentioning or any branding of Playshare.

Mario, thank you for at least taking the time to post, and I am certainly not going to take out my disgust at this whole situation on you. You are just doing your job, as you are paid to do.

So Microgaming IS in the business of white label casinos now? Absolutely unbelievable, at least to me, that they have to resort to this level of marketing.

Who pays the players who sign up at these White Label brands? If they are their own entity, then who actually owns them? Affiliates? Who handles all the finances?

I'm beyond disgusted, and pretty much done with this thing called online gaming. What's next? Clones of 32Red packaged in a cheesy, cheap looking skin?

[NASHVEGAS]

Originally Posted by Mario

Hi all,

Hope eveyone is well.

The casinos advertised on Golden Internet.com belongs to our partners, "the Casinos" is our White label Brands which PlayShare is offers a Generic Program enabling Partners and affiliates to Market their own Brands, this would account for the common phone numbers and downloads as we will do all the support and most of the back office stuff.

Yes these casinos do still fall part of the PlayShare group but the brands have requested to be their own entity and thus no mentioning or any branding of Playshare.

We will be investigating in full what has been said in these post with all the relevant parties to find some sort of common ground.

Guys do note that what you have come to expect with the PlayShare Group and the service and gameplay this is what you will get with these Generic or white label brands.

Don't hesitate to contact me with any issues and I'll gladly see what I can do for You.

Best regards
Mario
PlayShare Group Represntative

Could someone explain what Mario is saying in laymens terms as I am not sure I understand and for once I am not being a smartass. Thanks in advance.

[Pinababy69]

Basically Nash, what will happen is this...someone gets an email offer in their inbox or sees a link on some website for let's say...LuckyAmericanCasino. They d/l and deposit and play. All fine and dandy. The following week they get another email or find what they "think" is a new casino called 365VegasCasino. They go to d/l and play and if the software is working correctly (fingers crossed), they'll be denied opening a new account. Why? Because they already have one at LuckyAmerican, which is really this "The Casino", which is administered by Playshare. The following week, they get another new offer from some affiliate with another new casino, or so they think because the name is different. But guess what? Yep, it all leads back to this "The Casino". Remind you of Virtual Casino and their hundreds of clone sites/skins? It sure does me.

And dependent on how many "partners/affiliates" are allowed to use this marketing technique, it could get ugly very quickly, multiplying like rabbits. Hope that helps somewhat?

[Pinababy69]

I wonder if anyone can answer now who was REALLY behind that spam campaign fondly known to us all as Mint Las Vegas? How many other reputable MG groups are doing this exact same thing? And all this time we blamed those emails on a scummy affiliate. Ha ha ha..this is rich.

[NASHVEGAS]

Originally Posted by Pinababy69

Basically Nash, what will happen is this...someone gets an email offer in their inbox or sees a link on some website for let's say...LuckyAmericanCasino. They d/l and deposit and play. All fine and dandy. The following week they get another email or find what they "think" is a new casino called 365VegasCasino. They go to d/l and play and if the software is working correctly (fingers crossed), they'll be denied opening a new account. Why? Because they already have one at LuckyAmerican, which is really this "The Casino", which is administered by Playshare. The following week, they get another new offer from some affiliate with another new casino, or so they think because the name is different. But guess what? Yep, it all leads back to this "The Casino". Remind you of Virtual Casino and their hundreds of clone sites/skins? It sure does me.

And dependent on how many "partners/affiliates" are allowed to use this marketing technique, it could get ugly very quickly, multiplying like rabbits. Hope that helps somewhat?

Thanks as was struggling to understand,imagine that, but you have made it crystal clear........deceptive if nothing else. Thanks again

[jetset]

This white label concept can be a minefield for players, software providers and licensees alike, and if not strictly controlled at (software provider) level can lead to serious damage to player trust and company reputations, in my view.

Cheapass clones can, as Pina has already pointed out, confuse players, create marketing spam and in extreme cases like the Virtual group lead to deceptive "multiple bonusing" disqualifications.

And who supports the players if the white label operator is insufficiently funded or inexpert enough to go under owing players money?

If the white label system is not strictly policed, unprofessional and cheap looking sites using the software provider's games can make the provider look bad and cheap, too.

If the white label operator is not sufficiently supervised or experienced, he or she may do things to players that lack integrity and will prejudice the players and therefore adversely impact the business of the software provider and the licensee behind the white label.

The way I see it, the only way a legitimate white label scheme can work properly is if the software provider and licensee wishing to get into white labeling are upfront about their scheme and accept equal responsibility for the careful selection, vetting and probity checking on the applicants.... then develop strict monitoring and system controls, together with clear guidelines on what is acceptable in terms of player respect, player protection, player privacy and general marketing.

And if these guidelines are infringed, then there has to be provision to "pull" the white label's plug. To do otherwise is to invite anarchy imo, with "casinos" using solid and reputable software but run by inexperienced clowns running riot with questionable marketing and management techniques.

Unless white labeling is carefully controlled it can become a monster that devours player trust and does the industry no favours either.

[Pinababy69]

Jetset, thank you so much for that post. It was unbiased and spot on!! And so much more level-headed than anything I have to say.

If this person Goldeninternetcasino is the person responsible for "paying" the players, and balancing the books of his "clones"....I shudder at the thought. The man can't find his way home from vacation. I'm not trying to be rude, just stating the obvious.

There needs to be some transparency here as to who is looking after what, how it will be regulated, and I wouldn't mind hearing eCOGRA's views as well. Playshare's "own" brands ie. Grand Monaco may carry the eCOGRA seal (I'm not even sure, just an example). Does this extend to ALL of Playshare's clones?

Anyone not clear on the concept of this whole thing...go back and read Jetset's post, more than once if you have to. It sums it all up perfectly!!

[mrracetrack]

Jetset... although we have had our differences over the years... your post on this troubling situation with Microgaming is honest... accurate... and most informative.

You get a big from me for this.

Pinababy gets one, too... for bringing this issue to everyones attention.

Microgaming is making a HUGE mistake, in my opinion, by allowing this "sleazy" type of marketing of their casinos and software.

I also feel that e-Cogra should provide some explanation of this.

[jetset]

Originally Posted by mrracetrack

Jetset... although we have had our differences over the years... your post on this troubling situation with Microgaming is honest... accurate... and most informative.

You get a big from me for this.

Pinababy gets one, too... for bringing this issue to everyones attention.

Microgaming is making a HUGE mistake, in my opinion, by allowing this "sleazy" type of marketing of their casinos and software.

I also feel that e-Cogra should provide some explanation of this.

Thanks for that Racetrack - I try not to let the past influence my present or future, and differences between posters with opposing but equally strongly felt opinions are inevitable - but that's years back and water under the bridge afaiac.

Without more detail (and that falls under the "transparency" heading for me) we can't be sure of the full story here, and it certainly needs public clarification by those companies that are involved, especially in regard to what control and safeguards have been imposed.

[Mario]

Originally Posted by jetset

This white label concept can be a minefield for players, software providers and licensees alike, and if not strictly controlled at (software provider) level can lead to serious damage to player trust and company reputations, in my view.

Cheapass clones can, as Pina has already pointed out, confuse players, create marketing spam and in extreme cases like the Virtual group lead to deceptive "multiple bonusing" disqualifications.

And who supports the players if the white label operator is insufficiently funded or inexpert enough to go under owing players money?

If the white label system is not strictly policed, unprofessional and cheap looking sites using the software provider's games can make the provider look bad and cheap, too.

If the white label operator is not sufficiently supervised or experienced, he or she may do things to players that lack integrity and will prejudice the players and therefore adversely impact the business of the software provider and the licensee behind the white label.

The way I see it, the only way a legitimate white label scheme can work properly is if the software provider and licensee wishing to get into white labeling are upfront about their scheme and accept equal responsibility for the careful selection, vetting and probity checking on the applicants.... then develop strict monitoring and system controls, together with clear guidelines on what is acceptable in terms of player respect, player protection, player privacy and general marketing.

And if these guidelines are infringed, then there has to be provision to "pull" the white label's plug. To do otherwise is to invite anarchy imo, with "casinos" using solid and reputable software but run by inexperienced clowns running riot with questionable marketing and management techniques.

Unless white labeling is carefully controlled it can become a monster that devours player trust and does the industry no favours either.

Hi All,

Hope everyone is well.

So the cat is out of the bag and we would like to thank everyone’s participation on these posts.

Without your feedback and concerns we will surely be at a disadvantage for ensuring a program like this runs AND is maintained in a sensible and proper manner as what you would come to expect from an industry leading gaming provider and casinos.

We do strongly agree that a WL program like this can and could become a big mess and thus we will ensure that the following is addressed and managed.

We agree with the statements that WL's needs to have clear guidelines put in place and be monitored to ensure that the software provider, the licensee AND the player are not compromised in anyway.

We do vet our partners and the program is strictly monitored at all times.

If a partner is seen to be overstepping the line we scrutinize and take appropriate actions against the guilty parties.

We manage the player relationship as there is no doubt that the player comes first at all times and as such we ensure the player experience will not be compromised at all.

PlayShare assume full responsibility for all payouts to players.

We are transparent in our Terms and Conditions as to whom we are partnered with in the WL program.

Buy saying this we would like to make you aware that we will not prohibit anyone from opening up more than on WL account but we do make it quite clear on the terms and conditions that you would only get on sign-up offer on the WL program. (This does excludes CasinoShare and Grand Monaco)

Hope that this does clear out some of your concerns as we come to suspect that a program such like this could make or break ones reputation easily for all parties involved and the players are our first priority at all times.

I do request that if there is any other concerns which has not been addressed in this post please do not hesitate to keep on posting so that we can assure that we succeed where other have failed.

Best Regards
Mario
PlayShare Group Representative