Jackpot Factory's Inspirational Stories

[Pinababy69]

I've been pointed this thread today by someone who visited one of my websites. Maybe it was a member of the forum.

I'd bet it was the wonderful lady who offered to help me yesterday in getting the word out. She knows who she is.....thanks!!!

And Maxfalcon, thanks for the feedback. Glad to see another person who finds this as disgusting as alot of us do.

 

[vinylweatherman]

Still Going strong

Where do you keep finding this stuff? Bigflashcasino.com, casino--gambling.us, online--keno.com are either offline or give a MySQL server error.

Still going strong. seems they hid this so damn well they can't get rid of it!
Even when they do, it will hang around in caches and archives for ages, if not for ever. Searches on Google are now reflecting the BAD articles as well as the SEO they put up, depends on the search terms. The main damage has been done because of the official press release from eCogra, it ranks highly because it is on news sites and is propagating beyond the narrow confines of veteran online gamblers.
I think they are now "easy prey" for a well run casino company to make a bid, especially as they have a toehold in the mobile phone gaming market. This is big business, the motto is "kick 'em while they are down" - one they seem quite happy with themselves!

 

[rowmare]

Too Little, Too Late.

I noticed the lame seo on their casino pages a long time ago - but back then it consisted of lame little benign articles with a lot of key phrases and interlinking. I figured that, hey, If they want to make their sites look unprofessional - like spammy google adsense sites - then that's their problem. However, the nature of the articles are no longer benign. They are disgusting, tasteless and possibly harmful to a select group of individuals.

It's unfortunate that a reputable group of casinos has ruined their image by resorting to moronic and immoral SEO campaigns.

Whether or not the offending articles reflect the morals and ethics of the casino management, it is the casino management's responsibility to know what is published on the website at all times. The fact that the SEO work was alegedly outsourced does not diminish the Casino's responsibility for the content on their sites.

If the management was not aware of the slimey content of these pages, the fact that all the offending material was not taken down immediately once they were aware of it is very disturbing.


---

I've been following this thread, desperately trying to find some redeeming scrap of information in the Jackpot Group's favour. An honest confession combined with the immediate removal of the material would have been a nice start. The reason I wanted this group to somehow solve this problem: I like Lloyd and Brightshare (the Affiliate Program associated with the Jackpot Group), and I really didn't like to see them suffer due to the actions of individuals they have no control over. Lloyd took the high road at the CAP forum, meeting the problem head on by taking all the blame (even though Brightshare is not to blame), and not making any excuses for the error the casino committed. For that I deeply respect him.

Unfortunately, although the Casino Group has feigned attempts to step up to the plate, you could say they forgot the bat. Strike 3 and you're out. It's simply not acceptable that it's taken so long to remove the material and it's not acceptable that it was there in the first place.

---

I will be watching to see what eCOGRA's resolution in regards to this issue will be.

 

[greedygirl]

The reason I wanted this group to somehow solve this problem: I like Lloyd and Brightshare (the Affiliate Program associated with the Jackpot Group), and I really didn't like to see them suffer due to the actions of individuals they have no control over. Lloyd took the high road at the CAP forum, meeting the problem head on by taking all the blame (even though Brightshare is not to blame), and not making any excuses for the error the casino committed. For that I deeply respect him.

Are you kidding??? I can think of 100 reasons why I want this resolved, none of which involve Lloyd. Reasons such as this is absolutely unethical and reprehensible...it preys upon the weakest and most vulnerable...it is incredibly damaging to the industry (for so many reasons).

Don't get me wrong--Lloyd is one of the good guys and I consider him to be a friend. I can't think of anyone who knows him who doesn't feel similarly. While I absolutely empathize with his situation, you need to remember, dealing with this sort of crap is part and parcel of his position. Being an aff manager is part P.R. and part relationship building, and it takes the personality and brains to manage things effectively. Lloyd does this incredibly well, and he has more than proven his value in dealing with affiliates in this particular matter.

Sadly, it is not Lloyd who ultimately has control over this situation--it's Spiral. It is beyond comprehension why they are dragging their feet on this. There is a certain arrogance displayed by JF, by their seeming refusal to actively remove this content. I don't like to see Lloyd "suffer" as a result of all this, either, but if I am coming up with a list of reasons why this needs to be resolved, Lloyd does not even come up on my radar.

 

[rowmare]

Are you kidding??? I can think of 100 reasons why I want this resolved, none of which involve Lloyd. Reasons such as this is absolutely unethical and reprehensible...it preys upon the weakest and most vulnerable...it is incredibly damaging to the industry (for so many reasons).

No, I'm not kidding you.....greedygirl....no need to be unecessarily abrasive.

The other reasons this issue is deplorable has been said over and over again in this thread. By not repeating those '100' reasons, I was certainly not saying that the ONLY thing wrong was how it affected an affiliate manager and his company negatively.

 

[Pinababy69]

I really don't get it either. After reading CAP, the only feedback seems to be everyone praising Lloyd. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it, he does. He's the ONLY one I've seen with enough balls to come and actually admit wrongdoing and accept responsibility, even though he had nothing to do with this. But what role does Lloyd play beyond that? This is not his mess, and the whole situation relates to Jackpot Factory, NOT Brightshare. If people want to continue to promote the casinos, that's their choice. But don't say it's because of Lloyd, the casinos are scummy with or without Lloyd.

 

[rowmare]

I guess my post wasn't clear at all!

My point was that the casino management is responsible for all that is published on the casino websites. That was the focus - whether or not the SEO content was outsourced, I hold the casino responsible for the content.

Whether or not the offending articles reflect the morals and ethics of the casino management, it is the casino management's responsibility to know what is published on the website at all times. The fact that the SEO work was alegedly outsourced does not diminish the Casino's responsibility for the content on their sites.

If the management was not aware of the slimey content of these pages, the fact that all the offending material was not taken down immediately once they were aware of it is very disturbing.

My secondary point was that, although Lloyd and Brightshare are a fine group to do business with and this whole fiasco is not their fault, and I am sorry to see them taking a fall for this, the casino has not stepped up to the plate appropriately over this issue, and deserve to be rogued.

...Lloyd took the high road at the CAP forum, meeting the problem head on by taking all the blame (even though Brightshare is not to blame), and not making any excuses for the error the casino committed. For that I deeply respect him.

Unfortunately, although the Casino Group has feigned attempts to step up to the plate, you could say they forgot the bat. Strike 3 and you're out...

Retrack your claws!

Emotions are running so high on this thread that any positive mention about anything or anyone who has any dealings with this casino group are going to be attacked?

 

[greedygirl]

No, I'm not kidding you.....greedygirl....no need to be unecessarily abrasive.

The other reasons this issue is deplorable has been said over and over again in this thread. By not repeating those '100' reasons, I was certainly not saying that the ONLY thing wrong was how it affected an affiliate manager and his company negatively.

The reason I wanted this group to somehow solve this problem: I like Lloyd and Brightshare (the Affiliate Program associated with the Jackpot Group), and I really didn't like to see them suffer due to the actions of individuals they have no control over.

I've read and re-read what you wrote about a dozen times, now. I wanted to make certain I'd been fair in what I'd written. The more I re-read that quote, the more convinced I am that I was probably understated in my reply.

On the one hand, I certainly understand that Lloyd is caught up in one hell of a mess. He has no fault in this.

You're statement, however, includes Brightshare, the aff program which is absolutely in the grips of Spiral/JF. It runs all within the same company and is all part of the Spiral/JF marketing machine. The fact that you like Brightshare, IMO, only serves to mean this program has been profitable for you. Were this program not profitable for you, I'm guessing you never would have made the above statement.

If you find my comments or point of view "unnecessarily abrasive," we clearly won't see eye to eye on this. I'm not however, about to apologize for what I've said.

And let's be clear about one thing...

Were it not for the Spiral/JF marketing machine, there would be no claws to "retrack." Don't expect anyone angered by this mess to stop sharpening them.

 

[rowmare]

I've read and re-read what you wrote about a dozen times, now. I wanted to make certain I'd been fair in what I'd written. The more I re-read that quote, the more convinced I am that I was probably understated in my reply.

On the one hand, I certainly understand that Lloyd is caught up in one hell of a mess. He has no fault in this.

You're statement, however, includes Brightshare, the aff program which is absolutely in the grips of Spiral/JF. It runs all within the same company and is all part of the Spiral/JF marketing machine. The fact that you like Brightshare, IMO, only serves to mean this program has been profitable for you. Were this program not profitable for you, I'm guessing you never would have made the above statement.

If you find my comments or point of view "unnecessarily abrasive," we clearly won't see eye to eye on this. I'm not however, about to apologize for what I've said.

And let's be clear about one thing...

Were it not for the Spiral/JF marketing machine, there would be no claws to "retrack." Don't expect anyone angered by this mess to stop sharpening them.

So the one thing I said that you took issue with was giving both Lloyd and Brightshare kudos, because Brightshare is "in the grips of" Spiral Solutions?

I'm not buying that crap.

If Brightshare is in the grips of Spiral Solutions and therefore owns some of the blame in this, then we should take it one logical step further and blame Lloyd, as he represents Brightshare. Why stop at Brightshare - Is it an attempt defend your baseless, abrasive comments?

 

[casinocrush]

You gotta be kidding

Hi all,

Not sure if this is my first public post here but either way, Hi and thanks to PNWgirl who emailed me about this topic. Having been offline a bit lately I was really shocked to read all of this (took me about 3 hours to read too!).

This is a real shame as I've always found JF group casinos to be well respected by players and affiliates alike - their customer support has been good for the most part, Lloyd @ Brightshare has (and I hope still will be) great on the affiliate side of things.

I don't want to get into any arguments or long and drawn out battles on here as it's not what I'm about, but I will keep an eye out on here. I'm sure a lot of this maybe repeating by my feelings on this are:-

The type of advertising/SEO activity that went on here was wrong - no doubt about it. However, I do side with those that they casino management maybe weren't aware (the way it often is in big companies) , however there is also no doubt that they SHOULD HAVE KNOWN AND STOPPED IT.

Now they are aware (and have been for 2 weeks now?) - I see that many of the pages have been removed (showing 404/not found), OR re-directed but this is not happening quickly enough.

I can understand that perhaps it's not as simple as 'pages of HTML' (maybe there is something a bit more 'technical' about how these pages are generated which perhaps is adding to their problems of taking it down). Perhaps database driven/apache mod re-writes etc? If "someone else" implemented all this with free reign and didn't pass on that information (which those employing them should have of course demanded) then I imagine it will take longer to 'unpick'.

I'm not impressed with JF's casino management responses on this subject. Of course I don't expect them to spend their life here (hopefully they are spending their time trying to resolve this!). However, they must admit they have either been misinformed, or they lied, (or are just very ignorant) - I would hope it was 'misinformed' because the group seemed to be very well liked by players and for 'one bad egg' (possibly managed by a couple of other bad eggs lol) to ruin the great work that many of their staff have achieved with providing a great player environment, it would just be in the very least a big shame.

I have written to Lloyd today pleading with him to 'do something' (if of course her can) because we can't let this group ruin it for the many good people and good places, just for the sake of not being able to admit their mistakes, apologise and get on with taking the crap down.

I see a few other 'webmasters' sites shown here are still showing banners for the group at the moment, but my 'warning' is with Lloyd (poor guy!) - if something is not done VERY soon (by the end of this week) then there will be no alternative but to remove them from all sites.

Come on JF Management - pull your finger out and tell us what you are doing, that you are aware of all the scummy ads out there remaining AND that you ARE getting rid of it (albeit slowly).. I was going to say 'before it's too late' but from what I can see here for many it seems that time may have passed.

Thanks everyone for all your informative posts - I have enjoyed reading many of them (and been shocked at many too - mainly all the stories they have).

Sorry for my babble and/or repeating of stuff already said.

Best regards to you all and I look forward to seeing what happens next!

Cheers,
Geno, CC

 

[jetset]

xxhttp://mb.winneronline.com/showthread.html?p=122613#post122613

It seems that at least one poster over at WOL does not think this issue merits further attention....how many others share this view?

 

[Pinababy69]

Yes Jetset, I read that post yesterday. There are a few others who feel that way as well. Go and read the thread at CAP. I think it's all of three pages, with the general consensus being that Lloyd is such a great guy, the material has all been removed, our players have never had any problems, etc. Very little, if any, outrage over the depravity of the whole thing. Now mention 888 condoning theft, and that's a different story. Both are unacceptable, don't get me wrong. But one causes an uproar because it affects income, the other is swept under the rug because to take a stand would affect income.

To answer your question, it definitely merits further attention. This issue is going to have my attention for quite a while yet. I may not post everyday on it, but I'm still sending emails, and I'm still searching, and I haven't forgotten, nor will I. I intend to be a thorn in JF's side for as long as I can.

 

[elscrabinda]

At the risk of turning this players vs affiliates (credit goes to those affiliates on here who have removed JF from their sites) reading the CAP forum makes my blood boil. As long as they get their healthy commissions most of them couldn't care less where it came from. Two posters even said this whole episode had encouraged them to promote JF!

I guess cancer sufferers and depressed people contemplating suicide make profitable customers

 

[jetset]

....Lloyd is such a great guy, the material has all been removed, our players have never had any problems, etc.QUOTE]

But it has clearly not been removed. My own feeling is that this junk is still appearing, and that the issue should not be allowed to 'just move on' until it stops doing so. To act otherwise may encourage others to pull this sort of stunt.

And the eCOGRA investigation has yet to run its course in determining how this occurred and how to stop it occurring again...at least at any operation bearing the Play It Safe seal. I for one await eCOGRA's further report on that aspect.

 

[Pinababy69]

Two posters even said this whole episode had encouraged them to promote JF!

Doesn't that just make you wanna hurl?

 

[Pinababy69]

My own feeling is that this junk is still appearing, and that the issue should not be allowed to 'just move on' until it stops doing so. To act otherwise may encourage others to pull this sort of stunt.

I absolutely agree Jetset. A message needs to be sent IMO. And you've all seen Boaz's attitude on here. What's to stop him or someone just as despicable as him from doing the same thing with another group? If there are no repercussions, then essentially JF got away with it. All the apologies in the world don't make up for what they did. And let's not forget that either. They tried to placate everyone by saying that this had been "outsourced" to a third party. Bullshit. This was from within their own company, but they didn't "come clean" about that aspect of it, did they? If some on here hadn't done some digging, we'd all still be thinking that some other company was responsible for it. And I have this sickening feeling in my gut that the upper echelons at JF have the exact same attitude as that toad Boaz, and that in fact are probably sitting back laughing at those of us who are disgusted. So what if they lost a few players? They have a substantial number of affiliates who don't give a shit to bring in ten more for each one lost.

I still want to see a large donation, and I mean large, made to one or more charities directly targeted by this slime.

 

[Chatmaster]

Well I just made a post there to pressent my opinion about the issue. I will probably get flamed. But it is clear they haven't read the latest few posts here.

 

[Pinababy69]

Well I just made a post there to pressent my opinion about the issue. I will probably get flamed. But it is clear they haven't read the latest few posts here.

Chatmaster, you are a brave soul indeed. I'd say you'll probably be burned alive at the stake, nevermind flamed, lol.

One point I would like clarified, and that I did post about in the Affiliates thread here...is why so many websites are still advertising all the JF casinos as eCOGRA certified? If they want to continue promoting them, that's their business, but surely it couldn't be that hard to go in and edit one or two lines of text to properly reflect JF's standing with eCOGRA? Their seals have been suspended for a week and a half now, more than sufficient time to revise their "reviews" of these gems.

 

[derelict]

It seems that at least one poster over at WOL does not think this issue merits further attention....how many others share this view?

I don't have a problem with additional review, but I do have a problem with the ongoing misrepresentation of the issue. Here are some quite valid criticisms:

- Problem gamblers were targeted with search engine manipulation.

- Middle to upper management likely was aware of or turned a blind eye to unethical seo practices.

- Problem gamblers may have believed the textual fodder.

- Jackpot Factory properties ranked artificially high in searches where they didn't belong.

- The group was slow to take action when the problems were presented.

Here are some invalid ones:

- There was a campaign to mislead players into thinking that gambling would improve their lives.

- Management knows everything going on in the organization, and therefore they must have approved of the content.

There are no absolutes in this industry. Problem gamblers are the life blood of even the most responsible of casinos. And likewise, even the rogues are not without some redeeming factors. (and eCOGRA is not entirely useless ) Everyone needs to form their own opinion. Mine is that this issue is serious, but less serious than what some others are walking away from with not much more than a slap on the wrist. Clearly in these parts, my view is in the minority.

If that hasn't made me unpopular enough, I might add that I believe the culture on this forum of self congratulation is leading to some irrational judgement. One of the strengths of a forum is that while everyone doesn't agree, at least one can hammer out a sort of consensus from reading the thread. In my opinion, far too much emphasis is being placed on personalities and not enough on facts -- this actually applies to some other threads more than this one, but I see some of that here too.

 

[dominique]

Well I just made a post there to pressent my opinion about the issue. I will probably get flamed. But it is clear they haven't read the latest few posts here.

Chatmaster, I moderate over there.

There will be no flaming, we don't even allow flaming.

Any flames are put into the freeforall section, and if they still don't go out, they are removed to the attic.

You are most welcome to speak your mind, and, personally, I welcome it.

 

[Chatmaster]

Hi dominique

Thanks for the kind words. My last intention was to create a internal forum debate. I love CAP and it is most definately the market leader in affiliate forums for our industry. The amount of support I saw for JF though made me think there is a high probability of me getting flamed.

 

[rowmare]

Off Topic, but I have to say this:

Cool Avatar, Dominique!

 

[greedygirl]

Im posting this at both Casinomeister and CAP, just to set the record straight.

I want to be perfectly clear: What has occurred with JF has NOTHING to do with Lloyd and I think we all agree, Lloyd has done an exemplary job in how hes handled this situation. Further, I think its fair to say that Lloyd has moved mountains in turning things around for Brightshare and without question, JF/Spiral should thank their lucky stars that they hired Lloyd.

But this situation is not about Lloyd. Its about Spiral and Jackpot Factory, which just so happens to have Lloyd and Brightshare under its umbrella.

To be honest, Im saddened by whats happened. JF has always been great when it comes to looking after the players. But this isnt about support or payments. This is about being caught out using some truly deplorable and offensive marketing tactics.

While some may think that some of us are out for blood, I can only speak for myself in saying this is simply not the case. My feeling is that the pages should have been removed IMMEDIATELY, followed by a statement via JF vowing to use solely ethical marketing practices. A sizeable donation to GamCare and/or Gamblers Anonymous would speak volumes, as well. I think most of us who feel strongly on this issue would have a completely different attitude about JF, were they to take these basic, simple measures.

Unfortunately, this has not happened and as such, the frustration is only growing stronger.

It was promised that these pages would be removed in a timely fashion and this has not been the case. There has been word scuttled about that this is not necessarily simply page removals. What does this mean, exactly?

Companies such as Spiral and JF are not start-ups. These are companies with deep pockets and nearly limitless resources. Its difficult to comprehend why, with all the resources available to Spiral/JF that the fix to this situation would be so slow in action.

Wrapping things up, lets be realistic

Go back to the days B.L. (before Lloyd). Had this come to light then, Id imagine many affiliates would be looking at this issue differently. It is a testament to Lloyds effectiveness that so many are willing to allow for as much slack as they are. For that, Spiral and JF should worship the ground Lloyd walks on.

 

[dominique]

Off Topic, but I have to say this:

Cool Avatar, Dominique!

Feel free to copy it and use it for anything you like.

I am making it public domain, freeware.

 

[jetset]

QUOTE: But this situation is not about Lloyd. Its about Spiral and Jackpot Factory, which just so happens to have Lloyd and Brightshare under its umbrella.

To be honest, Im saddened by whats happened. JF has always been great when it comes to looking after the players. But this isnt about support or payments. This is about being caught out using some truly deplorable and offensive marketing tactics.UNQUOTE

Right on, GG!