Betting Partners forcing affiliates into Bitcoin

Casinomeister · May 2, 2016

Anybody see something wrong with this picture?

We wanted to inform you in advance that, effective June 1, 2016, we will be moving all Betting Partners affiliate payments over to Bitcoin. Bitcoin will be the only payment method available moving forward, no other payment methods will be supported as of June 1st 2016 - Including Player Account Transfer.

This change won't affect your April commission earnings. They will be paid out in May with the payment method you currently have registered in your Betting Partners account (if you are interested in receiving your April earnings paid via Bitcoin please contact btcsupport@bettingpartners.com). Please note, if you have earnings that are accrued or have not been triggered for payment by May 1, 2016, they will fall under the new policy and be paid out via Bitcoin in subsequent payment periods.

Although this payment method may be new to you, rest assured, it's very easy to use and we ask that you start getting to know the product so that May's commissions are paid in full by June 10, 2016. As we approach the cut-off date, you'll receive all the relevant information, including visual step-by-steps instructions and a video tutorial.

Here are some of the advantages of using Bitcoin:

It's really easy to use:
– Visit Blockchain Info and click on the 'Wallet' tab at the top of the page to set up your first wallet address - this takes only a few minutes and you can generate new wallet addresses as required at the click of a button.
– Next, you will be able to transfer your earnings from Blockchain.info to any number of different Bitcoin Exchange services such as Kraken to exchange your Bitcoin into Fiat Currency, or you can also hold your Bitcoin in your wallet and spend it at your convenience.
– We strongly suggest that you do not transfer your earnings directly to an exchange service but, first, to a Bitcoin wallet (Blockchain.info). Then you can move your earnings from your wallet to your exchange service as you see fit.

Ease is not the only advantage to using Bitcoin:
– Receive your commission payments after they have been processed in under an hour.
– No restrictions on the amount you can receive. We can process up to $40,000 per Bitcoin Address. If your earnings are above $40,000, you will be required to provide multiple addresses. However, they will all be processed at the same time, which means no delay in receiving your entire payment.
– No fees to receive Bitcoin payments to your wallets.
– No personal information required to receive payments.
– No risk of payments being delayed by third parties.
– The minimum payment threshold will be lowered to only $10 USD, which is great news for partners who do not hit the current minimum payment thresholds.
– Bitcoin wallet security is our top priority. Affiliates will be required to provide new Bitcoin addresses each month in order to receive their payment. For your protection and ours, we will not be able to process multiple payments to the same Bitcoin address. This process is very easy and a new address can be generated within seconds from any Bitcoin wallet.

If your monthly earnings are significantly larger, we strongly suggest looking into Bitcoin Armory. They provide a secure, offline storage solution for holding Bitcoin. Use this to hold the majority of your Bitcoin balance offline, while using other online or mobile wallet applications for regular day to day spending. They also offer Tutorials should you need to use their services..

We've created a special email address for all Bitcoin-related inquiries. If you have any other questions at this time, please let us know at btcsupport@bettingpartners.com

*Please note that this isn't the last of our correspondences regarding using Bitcoin so if you have any further questions, our next email might provide the answers you seek.

For all inquiries that aren't related to your affiliate payments or Bitcoin, please continue to use support@bettingpartners.com

Best Regards,

The Betting Partners Team
support@bettingpartners.com

dionysus · May 2, 2016

I would if say, my employer tried to pull something like that, deciding to compensate me in something other than dollars that my bank, and the world, recognizes, and making me do the work for conversion
Essentially, you could change 'bitcoin' to 'birdseed' in the above as it amounts to the same - 'we're giving you a cash substitute - now go figure out how to sell it and hopefully make the correct cash equivalent to equal the work you've put in'

Casinomeister · May 2, 2016

I don't trust Bitcoin. I really don't care how much it gets touted by the press and people who have invested in it - it is not the way to pay for advertising. It's the vendor who should dictate how he or she is to be paid, not vice versa. If you can't pay your advertisers properly using conventional means, then you should not be doing business with them.

dunover · May 2, 2016

There is also a total lack of accountability for legal, tax and VAT matters.

dionysus · May 2, 2016

Casinomeister said:
I don't trust Bitcoin. I really don't care how much it gets touted by the press and people who have invested in it - it is not the way to pay for advertising. It's the vendor who should dictate how he or she is to be paid, not vice versa. If you can't pay your advertisers properly using conventional means, then you should not be doing business with them.

To be clear, I say 'I would...' to your question 'Anybody see something wrong with this picture?' As in, I would see a problem. Not That I would accept Bitcoin.

PaaskeDenmark · May 3, 2016

dionysus said:
To be clear, I say 'I would...' to your question 'Anybody see something wrong with this picture?' As in, I would see a problem. Not That I would accept Bitcoin.

I can't see any picture only lot of text?

Just kidding

I totally agree in this Bitcoin is no good I am really scared of this virtual money thing. I feel it is crap and changing their payment to only be bitcoin is a absolute scam :mad:

vinylweatherman · May 3, 2016

dunover said:
There is also a total lack of accountability for legal, tax and VAT matters.

This is a BIG problem, and one that could land bigger affiliates in serious trouble (assuming they are declaring their earnings). All of a sudden, their earnings vanish from their regular monthly appearance in the bank, yet the affiliate carries on living the same "lifestyle". HMRC are likely to start asking questions, and possibly placing one under formal investigation. The nature of Bitcoin would make it hard for anyone to correctly file their tax return in any case because Bitcoin fluctuates widely in value against fiat currency, and the legality of exchanging Bitcoin to fiat currency is a "grey area". This can also bring the unwelcome attention of a money laundering investigation as well as a tax investigation.

It presents quite a legal minefield, yet affiliates have been given barely a month's notice for a change that probably requires legal advice in order to steer clear of unwelcome attention from the authorities for the higher earners.

I expect Betting Partners are doing this to steer clear of fiat currency and all the problems this entails, especially when some banks don't like gambling transactions, and some countries consider it illegal. Ducking and diving to keep the fiat currency flowing can be expensive for the operator.

Of course, what about KYC, Bitcoin is automatically associated with crime and money laundering as by design it allows anonymous possession and transfer. It's like a casino accepting just your email address as your ID documents, and you are then good to go to receive withdrawals.

When it eventually comes to cashing in your Bitcoin, you then have a volume of fiat currency coming in "from nowhere" that you might be asked to explain for tax purposes, but you will have no paperwork to back up your version of events. You might then find your money confiscated by the bank at the request of the state because you can't satisfy them it has come from a legitimate source.

Bitcoin might be OK for small affiliates who really only earn "pocket money", but for those "in business" as affiliates it would be toxic.

Webzcas · May 3, 2016

This is as bad as some affiliate programs still insisting on making commission payments into 'Casino' Player Accounts. I still have one such program that does this, something I am currently in the process of trying to rectify.

Casinomeister · May 3, 2016

Webzcas said:
This is as bad as some affiliate programs still insisting on making commission payments into 'Casino' Player Accounts. I still have one such program that does this, something I am currently in the process of trying to rectify.

Ditto on that. That's such bullshit. I hate that.

Imagine having a large company office, and you have new locks installed on all the doors, and you tell the locksmith you'll pay him with Bitcoins?? :what:

I wonder how far that would go. :rolleyes:

Again, like countless times before, affiliates are treated like the red-headed stepchild of the online community. Betting "Partners" - there is no partnership here. You don't dictate to partners, you come to agreements with them.

tomgalanis · May 3, 2016

It's a bizarre move. You've got to wonder why an affiliate program operating apparently successfully in grey/black markets would feel the need to enforce this change on affiliates.

Asset freezing of the ownership perhaps? Bitcoin the one thing that can escape this?

Casinomeister · May 3, 2016

tomgalanis said:
It's a bizarre move. You've got to wonder why an affiliate program operating apparently successfully in grey/black markets would feel the need to enforce this change on affiliates.

Asset freezing of the ownership perhaps? Bitcoin the one thing that can escape this?

This is one reason why it pays to do business in non-grey markets. Still, Bitcoins should be given as an option, not as an obligation. I'm sure many affiliates would welcome that.

tomgalanis · May 3, 2016

Interesting timing on a Bitcoin love-in piece on CalvinAyre.com today too....

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Casinomeister · May 3, 2016

tomgalanis said:
Interesting timing on a Bitcoin love-in piece on CalvinAyre.com today too....
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LOL

Makes ya go hmmmmm.... :rolleyes:

Elgoog · May 3, 2016

Bitcoins should be given as an option, not as an obligation

Of course, i was also very asthoinished when i read their email

All of a sudden, their earnings vanish from their regular monthly appearance in the bank, yet the affiliate carries on living the same "lifestyle"

But if you really had to accept these bitcoins, you could every time you receive a payment in bitcoins, change them for money at an exchange and tie the payment to the specific month/payout of the casino, just like we do now

Redbush54 · May 3, 2016

Couldn't resist........

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More info on the creator of bitcoin....

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vinylweatherman · May 3, 2016

Elgoog said:
Of course, i was also very asthoinished when i read their email

But if you really had to accept these bitcoins, you could every time you receive a payment in bitcoins, change them for money at an exchange and tie the payment to the specific month/payout of the casino, just like we do now

This can actually be a problem. Many of these exchanges have been shut down by authorities as they are "laundering" untraceable Bitcoin payments into fiat currency without any checks or audit trail to demonstrate that the original Bitcoins came from legitimate activities.

One major exchange got shut down by the US authorities, and many people who had lodged their Bitcoins with the exchange lost them. These exchanges are themselves "grey market", and are not seen as fully respected and legal exchanges in the same way that Wall Street or the London stock market are.

Even where you do declare the income for tax after exchanging the Bitcoin payments, you don't have the same audit trail, and thus it will be harder to prove to the satisfaction that the income you are declaring for tax purposes has come from a legitimate source or activity, nor that it represents the total income you received.

Quite a few tax dodgers will pay tax on some of their income so that the tax authorities are less likely to get suspicious because absolutely no tax is being paid, despite a relatively affluent lifestyle.

Elgoog · May 3, 2016

i am not saying bettingpartners is doing the right thing, nor that accepting bitcoin is good.
Only tried to explain it's not that much different from other payment solutions,

Trustworthy exchanges do exist imo , in the Netherlands even is one .
(by the way, you do not need to exchange the bitcoins to a "normal" cuurrency, you can fill them up on your tax form as an asset (differs from country to country))

About the audit trail; do you think it is much different as from accepting payments through Worldpay, Skrill, Neteller?
(must say i avoid getting paid through Neteller also)

while writing this, i think you could compare bitcoin to Neteller as payment method

btw, not going into detail, but bicoin transactions are traceable, although not easy, it is not anonym at all, at the end

Webzcas · May 5, 2016

tomgalanis said:
Interesting timing on a Bitcoin love-in piece on CalvinAyre.com today too....
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Bodog are one of Betting Partner's clients. :rolleyes:

Anyhow, good subject for the latest video blog which I am now currently editing.

GourdFollower · May 6, 2016

Here's a fascinating article that explains everything you ever wanted to know about Bitcoin. The introduction starts at the logical beginning by asking and answering the question "What is money?". (I love the story about the Yap islanders and their limestone currency!) Enjoy!

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kahntrutahn · May 11, 2016

vinylweatherman said:
The nature of Bitcoin would make it hard for anyone to correctly file their tax return in any case because Bitcoin fluctuates widely in value against fiat currency,

It's not nearly as volatile as it once was. The more time that goes by, and the more people that adopt it, the more stable the price becomes. As the size of the market grows relative to fiat currencies, bitcoin prices become harder to move, be it by legitimate large buys or sells, or through outright manipulation by traders, governments, news, etc. I'm not saying it's on par with USD, or Euro, etc but it's not chump change any longer. Bitcoin is now a 7 billion dollar market, and growing.

vinylweatherman said:
It presents quite a legal minefield, yet affiliates have been given barely a month's notice for a change that probably requires legal advice in order to steer clear of unwelcome attention from the authorities for the higher earners.

I agree, that is horse hockey and they should have handled it differently.

vinylweatherman said:
I expect Betting Partners are doing this to steer clear of fiat currency and all the problems this entails, especially when some banks don't like gambling transactions, and some countries consider it illegal. Ducking and diving to keep the fiat currency flowing can be expensive for the operator

Absolultely! I posted this on another forum, but it's worth a copy/paste here I think:

kahntrutahn said:
My own opinion here is that the swap to full bitcoin is a multi-pronged approach to:

1) Improve profits (it's cheaper to process)
2) Hide their transactions (I'm sure they're using tumblers to obfuscate the source of the bitcoins)
3) Free up other processing channels for customers (imagine how much they free up their ecommerce processing solutions by taking all the affiliate payments out of those systems and using it strictly for the players!)

I think their margins just went up quite a few percentage points and they're loving it. Smart business move really.

vinylweatherman said:
Bitcoin might be OK for small affiliates who really only earn "pocket money", but for those "in business" as affiliates it would be toxic.

I agree. It is going to present challenges to larger affiliates. Especially those with no knowledge or background in dealing with bitcoin prior to this change. However, I predict that more things like this will follow. Money has been becoming digitized for decades now. Paper bills are the exception to the rule, not the reality of money. This is just the next evolution and I think it behooves us all to get in while it's still in the early adoption phase.

Adapt or die I think. (and yea, I'm still learning all this stuff myself, but my disposition towards it is more cheerful than many on the aff forums heh)

tomgalanis said:
It's a bizarre move. You've got to wonder why an affiliate program operating apparently successfully in grey/black markets would feel the need to enforce this change on affiliates.

Asset freezing of the ownership perhaps? Bitcoin the one thing that can escape this?

You know, at least with regards to online poker, in the US markets, I saw A LOT of payment hiccups and changes recently. Seemingly around the time the "Panama Papers" were leaked. Coincidence? Perhaps...

Casinomeister · May 27, 2016

So it looks like it's either Bitcoins or it's nothing. :rolleyes:

Betting Partners are being dropped from Casinomeister by the end of the month.

shewoff · May 27, 2016

Not being an affiliate I would feel like they are taking my money out of my hand's and into someone whom I never met?I'm having a heck of a problem with bitcoin being my only method to be paid winning's from accredited site's?
I swear it seem's like they have no idea ,How to pay me in bitcoin's? I give them generated code and they give me denial's stating that the code is not a crypto-address?
I have tried 3 times now and wasted 144 hour's just to find out that they don't seem to understand the bitcoin code?I have sent copies of chat from my Circle CS and in it they state that the code's are valid and that there is no reason for denial? This is not easy as i can not let the cat out of the bag as to where the fund's are coming from?

And now a long week-end and nothing, back into the pending business day's for review? They have reviewed it 2 prior time's and said pay it and then nope it's not bitcoin code?

I will be honest I do not envy you guy's with 10's of thousand's to be paid?Good Luck! :thumbsup:

Peace Out! Out Of The Mist! shewoff

bonustreak · May 27, 2016

They were removed from all of our sites as well!

vinylweatherman · May 27, 2016

shewoff said:
Not being an affiliate I would feel like they are taking my money out of my hand's and into someone whom I never met?I'm having a heck of a problem with bitcoin being my only method to be paid winning's from accredited site's?
I swear it seem's like they have no idea ,How to pay me in bitcoin's? I give them generated code and they give me denial's stating that the code is not a crypto-address?
I have tried 3 times now and wasted 144 hour's just to find out that they don't seem to understand the bitcoin code?I have sent copies of chat from my Circle CS and in it they state that the code's are valid and that there is no reason for denial? This is not easy as i can not let the cat out of the bag as to where the fund's are coming from?

And now a long week-end and nothing, back into the pending business day's for review? They have reviewed it 2 prior time's and said pay it and then nope it's not bitcoin code?

I will be honest I do not envy you guy's with 10's of thousand's to be paid?Good Luck! Peace Out! Out Of The Mist! shewoff

What is the barrier to using Bitcoin direct, rather than going through this Circle account? One does not NEED a third party Bitcoin wallet, one can create one's own locally, although for security reasons it is suggested that it's kept on a Flash drive (and backed up), rather than left lying around on the hard drive of a PC connected to the internet.

secret2 · May 27, 2016

vinylweatherman said:
What is the barrier to using Bitcoin direct, rather than going through this Circle account? One does not NEED a third party Bitcoin wallet, one can create one's own locally, although for security reasons it is suggested that it's kept on a Flash drive (and backed up), rather than left lying around on the hard drive of a PC connected to the internet.

This is what I was wondering.

Why can't I just use Bitcoin? Why do I need another, such as Coinbase?

Betting Partners forcing affiliates into Bitcoin

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