WARNING Affiliates Who Target Problem Gamblers

[dunover]

From a quick look, casinos still live on casinomir and/or choice casino, who's reps have read this thread so are fully aware of it are

ComeOn, PlayOjo, Rizk, Guts, ABC, Casumo, NoBonusCasino, LuckyNiki, Yako, Slotsmagic,

Energy bet is still listed on choice but the link doesn't work, so well done to them

haven't looked yet at the other sites either owned by the same sites (maxfreebets for example) or done the same (fruityslots for example)

Yes, sounds bad but three of those are the same licensee (Playojo, Luckyniki, Slotsmagic) as are Guts and Rizk, ABC/Yako/NoBonus also share. So that's just 5 licensees which suggests robust action may have been taken already by many others which looks promising. I would hazard a guess that the licensee is exposed to punishment far more than the individual aff programmes, so the ass-kicking would emanate from them.

As for your other question, I will be resolving the issue of promoting those programmes by the 31 August, 11 days. I will start September off without those programmes if I am aware (and I will be checking, on here and elsewhere) that live links are still held by those main offenders for any of those remaining sites that have not either terminated those affiliates' accounts or forced them to remove their copy, hopefully in every case the latter.

 

[colinsunderland]

Yes, sounds bad but three of those are the same licensee (Playojo, Luckyniki, Slotsmagic) as are Guts and Rizk, ABC/Yako/NoBonus also share. So that's just 5 licensees which suggests robust action may have been taken already by many others which looks promising.

Not really as I'm only going from the reps who have viewed this thread, and are still listed. When I first looked at the site properly, there weren't that many 'decent' casinos listed anyway, by decent I mean accredited and with reps. Still what, 80+ casinos listed on most of them.
Having said that I know sometimes these things can take more than 5 minutes, which is why I won't do anything for a week, thats around 10 days since the thread was started and more than enough time for an affiliate program to terminate an agreement.

 

[dunover]

Not really as I'm only going from the reps who have viewed this thread, and are still listed. When I first looked at the site properly, there weren't that many 'decent' casinos listed anyway, by decent I mean accredited and with reps. Still what, 80+ casinos listed on most of them.
Having said that I know sometimes these things can take more than 5 minutes, which is why I won't do anything for a week, thats around 10 days since the thread was started and more than enough time for an affiliate program to terminate an agreement.

Yes, that's why I said above I'm waiting until end of business this month to review my front pages, given it's peak holiday period and people aren't on the ball although with something like this they should be, and fast. This thread is thus very important as I will be checking and establishing the status of those hopefully few programmes who are unwise enough to still be allowing placement on those sites. It would be good if we have a public resource here, pool our knowledge and definitively list those programmes which are indisputably using them.

 

[EkJR]

Is this the same as the streamer Fruity Slots by the way? If so, he is also promoting such bastions of the industry as TheyWhoShaltNotBeNamed...Vegas

 

[ThePOGG]

Looking at the sites highlighted in this thread:

maxfreebets dot co dot uk and mobilecasinokings dot com are as other users have confirmed part of the choicecasinos dot com network - so are equally involved whether or not the content was specifically hosted on these sites.

pokerplayernewspaper dot com/casinos-not-on-gamstop/ - this is a page put up to try and help nongamstopcasinos dot co dot uk rank as it links directly to it and uses the same aff code. The operators on these sites are all GTG operators that no-one here should be working with anyway.

TP

 

[Matti]

Maxfreebets has just been bought by a listed Swedish company, NetGaming. Here is the press release(in Swedish).

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

 

[dunover]

First, let me start out with a big KUDOS! to all the affiliate managers taking action so quickly. And to Bryan and the POGG making everyone informed. It is also great to see so many members here have high ethical and moral standards!! Being in the USA I can't play at most of these places, but one thing I do know about it addiction.

For these morons trying to lure a gambling addict to gamble is honestly to me, a crime that should be equivalent to murder. I lost friends that took their own lives because they lost everything due to gambling.

With the UKGC laws, are these morons in violation of that? Can they step in and do something to them? Just curious of what is the worst thing that can happen to people pulling this crap. Does anyone know?

LH

Whilst there is no specific rule against using the GamStop bypass keywords, the casinos are held responsible for actions of their affiliates under threat of license removal and/or huge financial penalties if they are proven to be breaching advertising standards and strict responsible gambling checks. Obviously this is about as big a violation of RG and advertising as a casino's affiliate could make, so it's more than covered.

All the affiliate programmes have terms allowing arbitrary closure and non-payment of earnings to anyone using false, misleading or non-approved advertising or not applying the required RG logos and links.

You aren't even supposed to use bonus wording, even if the compliant standards are met with crucial terms and T&C links, if it implies a sense of urgency i.e. 'Sign up and get 100% NOW!!!' - it should really be understated like '100% Bonus to 200 available to new players' so purely factual. More than one exclamation mark and you're overdoing it.

So most definitely, these morons are in severe violation of advertising and RG standards. Now common-sense would tell me if I were an aff. manager that these bastards have just handed me a great reason to not pay them this month nor ever again in the future for lifetime rev share earnings, although that shouldn't be the primary factor, more the concern about the problem gambling encouragement.

Alas as you may have seen, many of the non-UKGC sites listed by these scumbags don't give a toss as they are part of criminal networks and are outside the reach of European courts and regulators anyway so can basically act with impunity.

It will also be a feather in the cap of the regulated casinos' hats that they were seen to act immediately and decisively when they became aware of those affiliates participating in this filth, when the UKGC or MGA get to hear about it which they already should have, thus avoiding fines or other sanctions and demonstrably having acted according to the standards laid down in the regulations.

This is why a speedy cessation of any relationship with the scumbags is the best and only option in my view, for everyone. Then these creatures will be left crawling in the slime with just a few shithole casinos left to promote, by then totally castigated on the web anyway.

 

[sufferinsilence]

Is this the same as the streamer Fruity Slots by the way? If so, he is also promoting such bastions of the industry as TheyWhoShaltNotBeNamed...Vegas

Yes that's them.

 

[FruitySlots]

Hi all, first time posting in the forum. I had been aware of this thread but i am currently away on holiday and had to prioritise some other things before being able to post here.

This thread, or something very similar but specifically aimed at us has been posted in another forum but I don’t think its right for me to direct users there. I have spent quite a bit of time on that forum so don’t want to overly repeat myself but do want to make a few points here.

I think its unfair and ultimately not right to view us in the same manner as some other culprits for a few reasons.

1. I wont blame our SEO contractor because as owners of the site we are still accountable. That said the content for the page he ordered was removed well before this thread started when we became aware of the page.
2. Unlike other culprits who were/are affiliating with these non gam stop casinos to make financial gains we had absolutely no links on that page because we have never affiliated or even been in contact with those brands. The page was purely content (yes completely awfull) and removed when discovered.
3. Further evidence of the lack of knowledge shown by our SEO contractor about specific topics that are being written about has become clearer on review of further pages listed on our 'casino guides' (where said page was originally listed ). One page listing USA casinos but going on to mention UK brands with no license in the U.S. We are off course responsible for our site but like any business mistakes can and do happen and its normally how you react and what measures you put in place that should define you. Based on the overriding fact that no affiliation was remotely targeted on this page through the list of casinos named i do strongly believe its unfair to put us in the same category as these other affiliates who are actually earning of there strategy.

It was a monumental mistake and total lack of oversight that the page every got published. But we are a tiny operation with no full-time staff and our SEO contractor did have full admin rights and ownership of the whole 'casino guides' section of our website. Given what occurred and further evidence on review of his work wont be continuing to work with him, not solely based on this one article but it was clear that he does not have the experience or knowledge needed for our type of business, especially as streamers who are much 'closer' to gamblers than most faceless affiliate sites.

I would still argue that i don’t think its inconceivable to believe that someone who does SEO does not know about the seriousness of gamstop like we do or you guys do who are members of this community. Someone who does SEO may not even be a gambler themselves and wouldn’t even know about reputable casinos or rouge casinos like we do but that’s a separate conversation/debate altogether and not one I’m here to get into.

Finally to reiterate, we absolutely agree that the content on the page was terrible and inexcusable and we took swift action upon finding out about it to remove it because the last thing we ever want to do is suggest any ways for problems gamblers who have opted into GamStop to continue gambling.

As streamers we take problem gambling very seriously. I give out my personal number to strangers who contact us about their addictions and gave helped countless individuals. I have gone as far as covering people debts and losses on occasions where I have felt a sense of duty or influence.

I really don’t believe putting us in the same boat as these other affiliates is the same at all. Obviously, I would say that to defend ourselves but for me there are too many differences in what happened and what others have done or are doing vs what we did to warrant being judged the same.

It’s a very strong move to contact our partners with the view of damaging our business and one that I think is very extreme and over board given the circumstances. To actively go out of your way to impact our business without reaching out to us first or getting in touch with us is not something I agree with at all.

I am happy to share my contact details with whoever wants to discuss this in a more private matter.

We do sincerely apologise that this ever came to light and take full accountability that it was published on the site. As soon as this article got removed, we set in place a procedure that all content needs to be approved/checked by myself before publishing to ensure we don’t encounter something as terrible as this again. I have a lot of work to do when I return from my holidays to ‘tidy up’ the site even further.

I’m sorry I won’t be able to respond much but i thought it was important to come into this thread given the seriousness nature of it and at least offer our response to the situation.

 

[FruitySlots]

@JGslots we will email everyone registered to the giveaway to let them know the site was taking down but will still go ahead with the giveaway for those that entered at the time of taking it down.

Taking that particular site down was something of a slightly different subject/issue because as @Casinomeister has alluded to, listing a site not on gamstop vs targetting gamstop players or casinos targetting these players is something very different altogether. Im sure lots of affiliate list sites not on gamstop. However given what else had occured it seemed fitting and the most sensible thing to remove them and stop promoting them.

 

[Harry_BKK]

@ThePOGG

And one more with the meanwhile famous SEO hit slogan, all regular Tier 1 casinos promoted as well.

zamsino (dot) com/uk/casinos-not-on-gamstop/

 

[colinsunderland]

Whilst there is no specific rule against using the GamStop bypass keywords

16.1 of the CAP code would cover it.

 

[colinsunderland]

And one more with the meanwhile famous SEO hit slogan, all regular Tier 1 casinos promoted as well.

zamsino (dot) com/uk/casinos-not-on-gamstop/

I saw that the other day and then forgot about it
Also, none of their advertising is CAP compliant, no significant terms listed, seeing a bit of a pattern in the casinos allowing breaches recently, seems to be the same names getting mentioned regularly, despite the ever threatening emails we all got a year ago, certain affiliates seem to be immune from following the rules.

@L&L-Jan @CasumoAffiliates @Krystal_EGO @Team.Videoslots @Katy-Cherry @Guts @Mark_32Red @UnibetDavid @Sebastian - Rizk just some of the reps who have their casino listed on that site without a single term listed on the page apart from '18+ T&C's apply' which isn't sufficient to satisfy the CAP code. Considering its a website and isn't space limited it could be argued full T&C's should be listed, not just significant ones.

In case the page suddenly disappears regarding non gamstop casinos



And to show the non compliant adverts

 

[Nicola]

Maxfreebets has just been bought by a listed Swedish company, NetGaming. Here is the press release(in Swedish).

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

Lots of affiliate sites being sold recently

 

[dunover]

Hi all, first time posting in the forum. I had been aware of this thread but i am currently away on holiday and had to prioritise some other things before being able to post here.

This thread, or something very similar but specifically aimed at us has been posted in another forum but I don’t think its right for me to direct users there. I have spent quite a bit of time on that forum so don’t want to overly repeat myself but do want to make a few points here.

I think its unfair and ultimately not right to view us in the same manner as some other culprits for a few reasons.

1. I wont blame our SEO contractor because as owners of the site we are still accountable. That said the content for the page he ordered was removed well before this thread started when we became aware of the page.
2. Unlike other culprits who were/are affiliating with these non gam stop casinos to make financial gains we had absolutely no links on that page because we have never affiliated or even been in contact with those brands. The page was purely content (yes completely awfull) and removed when discovered.
3. Further evidence of the lack of knowledge shown by our SEO contractor about specific topics that are being written about has become clearer on review of further pages listed on our 'casino guides' (where said page was originally listed ). One page listing USA casinos but going on to mention UK brands with no license in the U.S. We are off course responsible for our site but like any business mistakes can and do happen and its normally how you react and what measures you put in place that should define you. Based on the overriding fact that no affiliation was remotely targeted on this page through the list of casinos named i do strongly believe its unfair to put us in the same category as these other affiliates who are actually earning of there strategy.

It was a monumental mistake and total lack of oversight that the page every got published. But we are a tiny operation with no full-time staff and our SEO contractor did have full admin rights and ownership of the whole 'casino guides' section of our website. Given what occurred and further evidence on review of his work wont be continuing to work with him, not solely based on this one article but it was clear that he does not have the experience or knowledge needed for our type of business, especially as streamers who are much 'closer' to gamblers than most faceless affiliate sites.

I would still argue that i don’t think its inconceivable to believe that someone who does SEO does not know about the seriousness of gamstop like we do or you guys do who are members of this community. Someone who does SEO may not even be a gambler themselves and wouldn’t even know about reputable casinos or rouge casinos like we do but that’s a separate conversation/debate altogether and not one I’m here to get into.

Finally to reiterate, we absolutely agree that the content on the page was terrible and inexcusable and we took swift action upon finding out about it to remove it because the last thing we ever want to do is suggest any ways for problems gamblers who have opted into GamStop to continue gambling.

As streamers we take problem gambling very seriously. I give out my personal number to strangers who contact us about their addictions and gave helped countless individuals. I have gone as far as covering people debts and losses on occasions where I have felt a sense of duty or influence.

I really don’t believe putting us in the same boat as these other affiliates is the same at all. Obviously, I would say that to defend ourselves but for me there are too many differences in what happened and what others have done or are doing vs what we did to warrant being judged the same.

It’s a very strong move to contact our partners with the view of damaging our business and one that I think is very extreme and over board given the circumstances. To actively go out of your way to impact our business without reaching out to us first or getting in touch with us is not something I agree with at all.

I am happy to share my contact details with whoever wants to discuss this in a more private matter.

We do sincerely apologise that this ever came to light and take full accountability that it was published on the site. As soon as this article got removed, we set in place a procedure that all content needs to be approved/checked by myself before publishing to ensure we don’t encounter something as terrible as this again. I have a lot of work to do when I return from my holidays to ‘tidy up’ the site even further.

I’m sorry I won’t be able to respond much but i thought it was important to come into this thread given the seriousness nature of it and at least offer our response to the situation.

I saw that the other day and then forgot about it
Also, none of their advertising is CAP compliant, no significant terms listed, seeing a bit of a pattern in the casinos allowing breaches recently, seems to be the same names getting mentioned regularly, despite the ever threatening emails we all got a year ago, certain affiliates seem to be immune from following the rules.

@L&L-Jan @CasumoAffiliates @Krystal_EGO @Team.Videoslots @Katy-Cherry @Guts @Mark_32Red @UnibetDavid @Sebastian - Rizk just some of the reps who have their casino listed on that site without a single term listed on the page apart from '18+ T&C's apply' which isn't sufficient to satisfy the CAP code. Considering its a website and isn't space limited it could be argued full T&C's should be listed, not just significant ones.

In case the page suddenly disappears regarding non gamstop casinos

View attachment 113034

And to show the non compliant adverts

View attachment 113035

Outdated URL (Invalid)
Yep, nice to see criminal sites being placed next to heavyweights like Rizk, Dunder…...

 

[Katy-Cherry]

@L&L-Jan @CasumoAffiliates @Krystal_EGO @Team.Videoslots @Katy-Cherry @Guts @Mark_32Red @UnibetDavid @Sebastian - Rizk just some of the reps who have their casino listed on that site without a single term listed on the page apart from '18+ T&C's apply' which isn't sufficient to satisfy the CAP code. Considering its a website and isn't space limited it could be argued full T&C's should be listed, not just significant ones.

Hi Colin,

We have already taken action with this affiliate, the account has been closed from our end and we will chase again to have our brand content removed.

Thanks

Katy

 

[ThePOGG]

Hi all, first time posting in the forum. I had been aware of this thread but i am currently away on holiday and had to prioritise some other things before being able to post here.

This thread, or something very similar but specifically aimed at us has been posted in another forum but I don’t think its right for me to direct users there. I have spent quite a bit of time on that forum so don’t want to overly repeat myself but do want to make a few points here.

I think its unfair and ultimately not right to view us in the same manner as some other culprits for a few reasons.

1. I wont blame our SEO contractor because as owners of the site we are still accountable. That said the content for the page he ordered was removed well before this thread started when we became aware of the page.
2. Unlike other culprits who were/are affiliating with these non gam stop casinos to make financial gains we had absolutely no links on that page because we have never affiliated or even been in contact with those brands. The page was purely content (yes completely awfull) and removed when discovered.
3. Further evidence of the lack of knowledge shown by our SEO contractor about specific topics that are being written about has become clearer on review of further pages listed on our 'casino guides' (where said page was originally listed ). One page listing USA casinos but going on to mention UK brands with no license in the U.S. We are off course responsible for our site but like any business mistakes can and do happen and its normally how you react and what measures you put in place that should define you. Based on the overriding fact that no affiliation was remotely targeted on this page through the list of casinos named i do strongly believe its unfair to put us in the same category as these other affiliates who are actually earning of there strategy.

It was a monumental mistake and total lack of oversight that the page every got published. But we are a tiny operation with no full-time staff and our SEO contractor did have full admin rights and ownership of the whole 'casino guides' section of our website. Given what occurred and further evidence on review of his work wont be continuing to work with him, not solely based on this one article but it was clear that he does not have the experience or knowledge needed for our type of business, especially as streamers who are much 'closer' to gamblers than most faceless affiliate sites.

I would still argue that i don’t think its inconceivable to believe that someone who does SEO does not know about the seriousness of gamstop like we do or you guys do who are members of this community. Someone who does SEO may not even be a gambler themselves and wouldn’t even know about reputable casinos or rouge casinos like we do but that’s a separate conversation/debate altogether and not one I’m here to get into.

Finally to reiterate, we absolutely agree that the content on the page was terrible and inexcusable and we took swift action upon finding out about it to remove it because the last thing we ever want to do is suggest any ways for problems gamblers who have opted into GamStop to continue gambling.

As streamers we take problem gambling very seriously. I give out my personal number to strangers who contact us about their addictions and gave helped countless individuals. I have gone as far as covering people debts and losses on occasions where I have felt a sense of duty or influence.

I really don’t believe putting us in the same boat as these other affiliates is the same at all. Obviously, I would say that to defend ourselves but for me there are too many differences in what happened and what others have done or are doing vs what we did to warrant being judged the same.

It’s a very strong move to contact our partners with the view of damaging our business and one that I think is very extreme and over board given the circumstances. To actively go out of your way to impact our business without reaching out to us first or getting in touch with us is not something I agree with at all.

I am happy to share my contact details with whoever wants to discuss this in a more private matter.

We do sincerely apologise that this ever came to light and take full accountability that it was published on the site. As soon as this article got removed, we set in place a procedure that all content needs to be approved/checked by myself before publishing to ensure we don’t encounter something as terrible as this again. I have a lot of work to do when I return from my holidays to ‘tidy up’ the site even further.

I’m sorry I won’t be able to respond much but i thought it was important to come into this thread given the seriousness nature of it and at least offer our response to the situation.

Here are some basic facts.

You state that:

Unlike other culprits who were/are affiliating with these non gam stop casinos to make financial gains we had absolutely no links on that page because we have never affiliated or even been in contact with those brands. The page was purely content (yes completely awfull) and removed when discovered.

However, a quick look at the web archieve shows this:

and this

and this

Con******* are one of the few operators left with a UK license that are not participating in the GamStop scheme. So your claim is that an SEO in your employ has put a page up that is specifically intended to drive traffic related to bypassing GamStop and it just so happens that you've also selected to give one of the few remaining operators not participating in GamStop 2 out of 3 top positions on your homepage and by far the greatest click exposure of any operator on your homepage.

For the sake of clarity, I will also highlight that this is at a time when the offending page can be confirmed to have been present on your site:

I could have posted links to Wayback Machine but it is note worthy that someone has had the archieve page for the 'Casinos not on GamStop' page removed from the archieve. This may have been an attempt to clean up this mess, but it also stops verification of what was actually on the page prior to takedown.

Whether or not you had advertisements on that particularly page, your SEO strategy was clearly intended to bring traffic to your site from search terms related to bypassing GamStop. Saying that you have not financially benefitted from this traffic because their were no advertisements on that page is to ask everyone to naively believe that all of the traffic only visited that page and left.

Personally I find it a little difficult to believe that not only has an SEO been given entirely unsupervised access to post whatever they like, but that your selection of premium partner just so happened to be one that could take advantage of the vulnerable traffic your SEO was specifically tapping into. I note that this brand appears to have been removed as well, so it seems likely you are aware that they weren't participating with GamStop.

Moving on you also state:

I wont blame our SEO contractor because as owners of the site we are still accountable.

If you are genuine in your position of being held accountable for this issue you'll understand that you have brought in vulnerable traffic looking to bypass GamStop, then presented them with your '#1 pick', an operator that doesn't participate in GamStop. Other than taking down the content, what are you intending to do to set right the damage that has been done by your business?

You also understand that there's a good possibility that operators found to have been involved with affiliates engaging these practices could face regulatory sanction? Are you prepared to take responsibility for any subsequent negative consequences for your partners that come from your actions?

TP

 

[Mining Might]

 

[dunover]

Hi all, first time posting in the forum. I had been aware of this thread but i am currently away on holiday and had to prioritise some other things before being able to post here.

This thread, or something very similar but specifically aimed at us has been posted in another forum but I don’t think its right for me to direct users there. I have spent quite a bit of time on that forum so don’t want to overly repeat myself but do want to make a few points here.

I think its unfair and ultimately not right to view us in the same manner as some other culprits for a few reasons.

1. I wont blame our SEO contractor because as owners of the site we are still accountable. That said the content for the page he ordered was removed well before this thread started when we became aware of the page.
2. Unlike other culprits who were/are affiliating with these non gam stop casinos to make financial gains we had absolutely no links on that page because we have never affiliated or even been in contact with those brands. The page was purely content (yes completely awfull) and removed when discovered.
3. Further evidence of the lack of knowledge shown by our SEO contractor about specific topics that are being written about has become clearer on review of further pages listed on our 'casino guides' (where said page was originally listed ). One page listing USA casinos but going on to mention UK brands with no license in the U.S. We are off course responsible for our site but like any business mistakes can and do happen and its normally how you react and what measures you put in place that should define you. Based on the overriding fact that no affiliation was remotely targeted on this page through the list of casinos named i do strongly believe its unfair to put us in the same category as these other affiliates who are actually earning of there strategy.

It was a monumental mistake and total lack of oversight that the page every got published. But we are a tiny operation with no full-time staff and our SEO contractor did have full admin rights and ownership of the whole 'casino guides' section of our website. Given what occurred and further evidence on review of his work wont be continuing to work with him, not solely based on this one article but it was clear that he does not have the experience or knowledge needed for our type of business, especially as streamers who are much 'closer' to gamblers than most faceless affiliate sites.

I would still argue that i don’t think its inconceivable to believe that someone who does SEO does not know about the seriousness of gamstop like we do or you guys do who are members of this community. Someone who does SEO may not even be a gambler themselves and wouldn’t even know about reputable casinos or rouge casinos like we do but that’s a separate conversation/debate altogether and not one I’m here to get into.

Finally to reiterate, we absolutely agree that the content on the page was terrible and inexcusable and we took swift action upon finding out about it to remove it because the last thing we ever want to do is suggest any ways for problems gamblers who have opted into GamStop to continue gambling.

As streamers we take problem gambling very seriously. I give out my personal number to strangers who contact us about their addictions and gave helped countless individuals. I have gone as far as covering people debts and losses on occasions where I have felt a sense of duty or influence.

I really don’t believe putting us in the same boat as these other affiliates is the same at all. Obviously, I would say that to defend ourselves but for me there are too many differences in what happened and what others have done or are doing vs what we did to warrant being judged the same.

It’s a very strong move to contact our partners with the view of damaging our business and one that I think is very extreme and over board given the circumstances. To actively go out of your way to impact our business without reaching out to us first or getting in touch with us is not something I agree with at all.

I am happy to share my contact details with whoever wants to discuss this in a more private matter.

We do sincerely apologise that this ever came to light and take full accountability that it was published on the site. As soon as this article got removed, we set in place a procedure that all content needs to be approved/checked by myself before publishing to ensure we don’t encounter something as terrible as this again. I have a lot of work to do when I return from my holidays to ‘tidy up’ the site even further.

I’m sorry I won’t be able to respond much but i thought it was important to come into this thread given the seriousness nature of it and at least offer our response to the situation.

OK, so this 'SEO guy' has been given carte blanche to operate your website, without industry knowledge and the fact that any errors can prove costly for both you and the good casinos promoted?

2.Unlike other culprits who were/are affiliating with these non gam stop casinos to make financial gains we had absolutely no links on that page because we have never affiliated or even been in contact with those brands. The page was purely content (yes completely awfull) and removed when discovered.

So this image, which shows one of the prime non-Gamstop sites mentioned and who are number one on your list plus having the large tile ad on the page, was placed there and you NEVER had an affiliate account with them?? You could never earn from them? Pull the other one.



Look, greed overtook ethics, you won't be the first or last. As you say, ultimately YOU bear responsibility and I suspect many reader here will be highly sceptical that a SEO contractor who, if as you say, isn't an industry expect had a brainstorm and suddenly took it upon himself to quite professionally open an affiliate account with a non-GamStop outfit knowing it would monetize those search terms and then pay commission to you.

You're talking to numerous other affiliates on this forum as well as seasoned players, YT viewers and industry professionals and I find this denial insults our intelligence to be frank. It seems to me simply a case of "well, others are doing it so it why should I miss out?"

Yes, being an affiliate can be complicated and there's an ongoing learning process and we all make mistakes along the way - that we can all accept. I can't see any unlicensed shithole casino sites that others have advertised so at least that's one good thing unless I've missed something.

Alas in today's climate you won't find much sympathy or understanding for utilizing problem gambler-targeting keywords and those who have are now learning a very costly and harsh lesson about the potential regulatory consequences for the reputable casinos that they have accounts with, as well as their own income and reputation.

P.S. - It's a bit late to pull the 'WayBack' page, don't you think? You can't un-ring a bell.

 

[Mining Might]

 

[colinsunderland]

OK, so this 'SEO guy' has been given carte blanche to operate your website, without industry knowledge and the fact that any errors can prove costly for both you and the good casinos promoted?



So this image, which shows one of the prime non-Gamstop sites mentioned and who are number one on your list plus having the large tile ad on the page, was placed there and you NEVER had an affiliate account with them?? You could never earn from them? Pull the other one.

View attachment 113039

Look, greed overtook ethics, you won't be the first or last. As you say, ultimately YOU bear responsibility and I suspect many reader here will be highly sceptical that a SEO contractor who, if as you say, isn't an industry expect had a brainstorm and suddenly took it upon himself to quite professionally open an affiliate account with a non-GamStop outfit knowing it would monetize those search terms and then pay commission to you.

You're talking to numerous other affiliates on this forum as well as seasoned players, YT viewers and industry professionals and I find this denial insults our intelligence to be frank. It seems to me simply a case of "well, others are doing it so it why should I miss out?"

Yes, being an affiliate can be complicated and there's an ongoing learning process and we all make mistakes along the way - that we can all accept. I can't see any unlicensed shithole casino sites that others have advertised so at least that's one good thing unless I've missed something.

Alas in today's climate you won't find much sympathy or understanding for utilizing problem gambler-targeting keywords and those who have are now learning a very costly and harsh lesson about the potential regulatory consequences for the reputable casinos that they have accounts with, as well as their own income and reputation.

P.S. - It's a bit late to pull the 'WayBack' page, don't you think? You can't un-ring a bell.

From what they said on the other forum, they got paid for the con traffic CPA, but didn't have affiliate links to the other casinos.

They are another large affiliate who seem to not have to comply with the CAP code though. Funny that, isn't it?

 

[Harry_BKK]

The plot thickens!

My pitchfork is on standby!

 

[Harry_BKK]

It was a monumental mistake and total lack of oversight that the page every got published. But we are a tiny operation with no full-time staff and our SEO contractor did have full admin rights and ownership of the whole 'casino guides' section of our website. Given what occurred and further evidence on review of his work wont be continuing to work with him, not solely based on this one article but it was clear that he does not have the experience or knowledge needed for our type of business, especially as streamers who are much 'closer' to gamblers than most faceless affiliate sites.

I would still argue that i don’t think its inconceivable to believe that someone who does SEO does not know about the seriousness of gamstop like we do or you guys do who are members of this community. Someone who does SEO may not even be a gambler themselves and wouldn’t even know about reputable casinos or rouge casinos like we do but that’s a separate conversation/debate altogether and not one I’m here to get into.

Sorry but it sounds rather unbelievable that you would "trust" a contractor who has no clue about gambling with publishing gambling content. General articles for SEO purposes, yes, I can see but not such specific pieces. I have written for dozens of sites, small and large, and never ever have I encountered either such a level of negligence/lack of care nor non-guidance of the content people as to what should be published.

That is unless, of course, you or your partner directed the SEO guy what to do.

Plus, I assume you are using Wordpress (but it applies to any other software). This is copied from the WP website. Applying even just the smallest/tiniest amount of due diligence an affiliate is expected to, you could have easily set up push-messages to be informed about what has been published, especially when the SEO guy is such a "know-nothing" as you are trying to paint him.

 

[FruitySlots]

I not going to be able to respond much and just wanted to post that 1 thread.

But giving the points raised about Conquestador which i find completely off topic i will respond with the following.

Conquestador casino who were not mentioned or promoted on said page. The page which has now been shared via screenshots on this forum had no affiliation on them at all and we are not affiliated to any of these casino. There is evidence of this.

We did have an affiliate relationship with Conquestador and like @Casinomeister has rightly pointed us this thread is about affiliates targetting gamstop players with non gamstop casinos. Not which casinos do or dont have Gamstop. Im pretty sure Bitstarz is listed on here, do they have gamstop?

Conquestador is currently not listed on Gam Stop but we didn’t know this when we signed up with them. Yes this may be very naive and people may not believe us but we generally did not think of ever checking or looking because to our knowledge no UK license we work with is now not on gam stop and we simply believed it was a fundamental pre requisite for any UK license casino to have so it was not something we would ever think of asking or checking. Another lesson learnt.

As soon as we found out they were not on gam stop we asked them immediately if it was intentional or whether they had plans to join and we were told unequivocally that they have applied to be listed but due to technical integrations it doesn’t happen overnight. When we more recently followed up on this (last week) we were told that testing has now taking place and all being well they will be added by sept latest. For us that was enough to know, and we were satisfied with that answer. WE NEVER once promoted the fact that they were not on Gam Stop. We believe there was no malice behind the fact that a fairly new casino had not got listed on gam stop immediately although on reflection given what has occurred and our expectations and duty as streamers to promote safe and responsible gambling it can certainly be seen as a big error of judgement. For those reasons we removed them from the site yesterday because the matter of being partnered with them and being number 1 on our site was far to close to association with the other issue.

As a new streaming partner of ours Conquestador were giving 2 months of top positions on our site. This for me is completely seperate to what this thread is about but for us a very unfortunate connection because Conquestador happens to not be on gamstop.

I dont want to ruin my holiday by getting involved with what appears a witch hunt now. But i did want to share our version of events and get our opinion/points across.

For me i dont see any point in going back and forth about our negligence for allowing the article to get listed on the site. Like i said it was removed well before this thread started. We are a far from perfect business and lack major resource. Thats not an excuse just the way it is. The site needs a lot of work and there is plenty of content on that 'casino guides' section that is a little baffling. I dont want to remain in this forum being told how bad we are and how irresponcible it was the give a free reign to an seo consultant. I appreciate the magnitude of the error but i dont believe for one minuate every web master here runs a perfect opertion in a very morally questionable industry as it stands.

Enough said from me. There is too much trolling for my liking because certain people on here are only here to bash others.

 

[FruitySlots]

Look, greed overtook ethics, you won't be the first or last. As you say, ultimately YOU bear responsibility and I suspect many reader here will be highly sceptical that a SEO contractor who, if as you say, isn't an industry expect had a brainstorm and suddenly took it upon himself to quite professionally open an affiliate account with a non-GamStop outfit knowing it would monetize those search terms and then pay commission to you.

your completely mis interpretating what we responded and what happend. The seo guy was responcible for publishing the 'non gam stop' listed on our 'casino guides' page which listed a bunch of casinos we had zero affiliation with and no links on the page.

This was the page that was removed and what this thread is about.

It just so happens we were also working with conquestador at the time, and before thie page was published. This affiliate deal was done by myself and was a streaming deal where we streamed on thier site and started working with them before we even know they were on gamstop.

The Conquestador deal and our seo shortfalls are seperate matters but connected by the same theme of Gamstop.

Promoting a non gam stop casino is certainly no criminal offense in my opinion, especially if you were unaware of it. It just transpires that after reading this thread said casino has picked up a bad name, but this was not common knowledge when we started with them as they were a fairly new casino. We didnt have one bad experience with them and neither did our audience so some accusations dont stand true for everyone.