affiliate managers

LETTER FROM
THE DIRECTOR
N
ext stop, Amsterdam! This issue
of the GPWA Times magazine,
number eight, will launch March
30-31 at CAC Amsterdam. As I write,
I’m hoping you’ve already registered
to attend, because if you’re reading
this and you’re not in Amsterdam, it
means the events are over and you
didn’t come!
GPWA
Executive Director: Michael Corfman
Marketing Director: Andrea Mullaney
Program Manager: Steven Corfman
Program Coordinator: Nancy Troy
Senior Account Manager: Rebecca Liggero
Account Manager: Eric Almquist
GPWA Times Magazine
Managing Editor: Vin Narayanan
Senior Editor:
Gary Trask
Associate Editor:
Dan Igo
Copy Chief: Bill Riley
Designer: George Choi
Advertising
To advertise in the
GPWA Times, please e-mail: sales@gpwa.org
Subscriptions
To subscribe to the
GPWA Times, simply
register at gpwa.org
and provide your mailing address.
It’s FREE!
In this issue’s cover story, Gary Trask
gives us a behind-the-scenes look at
the latest developments in 3D gaming,
which isn’t just for poker anymore. He
shows how LeCroupier and Buzzluck
are applying the PKR formula to the
rest of the casino. Lifelike graphics and
astute marketing are attracting more
and more players to try something
dramatically different.
We also continue our popular
interview series, this time with four
affiliates and three affiliate managers.
And be sure to see Nicky Senyard’s
discussion on the pros and cons of
AdWords, Connie Burstin’s thoughts
on the competitive value of crossculture operations, and Jeremy Enke’s
observations on how poker affiliates
can benefit from blogging.
And you’ll definitely want to take
a look at a recent Income Access
affiliate marketing survey, comments
from attendees at the GPWA
January conference in Las Vegas,
and Joseph Kelly’s article examining
the UIGEA’s exemption from U.S.
federal prosecution for fantasy sports.
In addition, our “Departments”
sections are chock-full of news, gossip,
facts, and figures — and the latest
installment of our cartoon caption
contest; enter to win!
Before signing off, I want to tell
everyone how delighted I was to see
in this issue that Rebecca Liggero
has included me among her “favorite
affiliate friends.” While it’s true that I
meet her basic requirements (I take lots
of pictures and I’m an internationally
notorious party animal), it was
especially gratifying to read what she
had to say about the bash at my place
last summer: “It was rockin’!” Rebecca
has done some great work for this
publication, but in my opinion this
piece is her finest effort yet.
Sincerely,
ISSN 1941-9872
Michael A. Corfman
GPWA Executive Director
GPWA Times | Table of Contents
12
Rebecca’s Favorite Affiliate
Friends
30
Cover Story: 3D Casinos —
Online Gaming’s Nifty New Deal
44
Affiliate Interview Series
58
Affiliate Manager Interviews
64
The Benefits of Blogging for
Poker Affiliates
They may be famous or infamous. You may hate them
or love them. But if they’ve got cameras and can party
all night, chances are you’ll find them in the ranks of
Rebecca Liggero’s friends for life.
Gary Trask takes us behind the front lines at
Buzzluck, PKR, and LeCroupier, where designers
and marketers are banking on a 3D online casino
revolution.
Chalkie, casinoranking, robertmedl, and shaz let us
into their lives as affiliates, telling us how they got
there, where they came from, and — in one case at
least — what the future has in store.
Three seasoned industry pros share their perspective
and open their hearts in wide-ranging, revealing
interviews.
Having a blog associated with your site can be very
beneficial to your overall business. Jeremy Enke
explains how blogging has gone mainstream in the
poker affiliate market.
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
22
24
26
40
66
68
70
72
Income Access Survey results
GPWA Conference in Las Vegas
Expanding your reach internationally
Affiliate Guard Dog on choosing
affiliate programs
J. Todd’s Wall of Shame
PPC strategies for affiliates
A legal opinion on fantasy sports
Is the UIGEA here to stay?
DEPARTMENTS
6 8 10
18 20 52 56 Webmaster News
By the Numbers
Cartoon Caption Contest
Event Calendar
From the Forums
GPWA Sponsors
GPWA Seal of Approval Program
10
CAPTION CONTEST | What’s the punch line?
The scenario on the right is
something that many of you have
endured at least once during your
iGaming career. On the left we see
an unnamed member of the GPWA
staff enjoying one of the many
parties that tend to break out during
our industry conferences. But just a
few hours later, as seen on the right,
this same GPWA employee is doing
what he’s actually at the conference
to do: working the booth at the
trade show.
What is going through the mind
of this severely hung-over young
man? That’s where you come in. Go
to the GPWA Forums at gpwa.org
and submit your caption for this
cartoon. We’ll decide which of the
entries is the most entertaining and
the winner will receive a free copy
of the iGaming Business Directory.
The winner will be announced in our
next issue.
Drawings by Ben Riley, www.themidlands.net
LAST ISSUE’S CARTOON
In the last issue, we asked you for captions for the
cartoon pictured on the left. Here are some of the best
responses:
The winner goes to...
“What?!?!............I don’t rank high
enough in the search engines for even the
Postman to find me?!?” — Holland87
Congratulations to Holland87 who won a free iGaming
Business Directory
And the runners-up...
“Aaargh, someone must have hacked my account and
changed the postal address!” — HenrikGr
“Great. Now I’ll never be able to convince my wife that
this is work...” — vinism
“That’s OK…I’m waiting for FedEx.” — matted
“Damn, I needed this money for more beer. Mailman
can you loan me 10?” — Captain
GPWA Times | Caption Contest
12
11
GPWA Times |
13
4HROUGHOUTMYFOURYEARSINTHEONLINEGAMBLINGAFFILIATEMARKETING
INDUSTRY)HAVESPENTALOTOFTIMEWITHMYFELLOWAFFILIATESATCONFERENCES
ONAFFILIATEAPPRECIATIONTRIPSWHENVISITINGONLINEGAMINGFRIENDS
THROUGHOUTTHEWORLDANDTHROUGHTHEWONDERFULWORLDOFTHE'07!
)WOULDLIKETOTAKEAMOMENTANDSHAREWITHYOUWHOMYVERYFAVORITE
AFFILIATEFRIENDSAREANDGIVEYOUAGLIMPSEINTOTHE6)0LIVESTHEYLEAD
7ANTTOBEINCLUDEDINMYNEXTROUNDOFFAVORITEAFFILIATES4HATS
SIMPLExTAKESOMEPICTURESWITHMEATACONFERENCEJOINMEATA6)0TABLE
OFFERMEAPLACETOSTAYWHEN)VISITYOURHOMELANDORTRYAPPLYINGFORTHE
HONORABLE'07!SEALOFAPPROVAL3EE%ASY%NJOY
| GPWA Times
Rebecca’s Favorite Affiliate Friends | GPWA Times
14
22
And the survey says…
The results from the Income Access Affiliate Survey illustrate that it’s no coincidence that
most successful affiliates share common marketing strategies and business philosophies
PERCENTAGE OF AFFILIATE SAMPLE BY
KEY CHARACTERISTICS
I
n July 2008 Income Access conducted an
affiliate marketing survey to identify fundamental needs and preferences of affiliates and to target the resources that allow them
to succeed. With an overwhelmingly positive
72.3% response rate, Income Access was able
to collect data on communication preferences,
knowledge and use of key industry resources,
favored reporting tools, and general marketing
practices across several gaming verticals.
Comparing the experiences of a wide selection
of affiliates from different vertical promotional
focuses (casino, bingo, etc.) against demographic information, we were able to identify trends
and ways in which affiliates could improve their
business models.
Years as an Affiliate
Less than a year
18.4%
7.9%
22.8%
Industry resources
As for key industry events, significant positive correlations were found between attendance at the
top-level events and increasing revenues. Affiliates
who attend key events are better able to network,
establish strategic partnerships, and access new
marketing resources.
GPWA Times | And the survey says
3-4 years
4-5 years
11.6%
5-6 years
18.4%
More than 6 years
Age
7%
10.7%
18 to 25 years
26 to 35 years
14%
36 to 45 years
46 to 55 years
41.3%
Supporting Income Access’s philosophy of
working with these long-tail affiliates, the survey showed that there are currently many affiliates who are building their strategic experience
in the sector – perhaps poised to become the
next super affiliates. These results from vertical
promotions suggested that there are niche opportunities for such potential future super affiliates in market verticals – including sportsbetting and mobile.
1-2 years
2-3 years
3.7%
Vertical promotion
In terms of possible emerging trends, casino
and sportsbook were the only verticals with significant correlations with years of affiliate experience. More experienced affiliates were more
likely to report strong promotion of the casino
vertical, whereas new affiliates were more likely
to promote the sportsbook vertical.
17.2%
26.9%
Over 56 years
Gender
Male
17%
Female
83%
Online casinos like
PKR, LeCroupier and
Buzzluck are taking
a cue from Steve
Wynn and putting
more into their
gaming experience
than just gaming
By Gary Trask
T
he motto at Buzzluck.com is
“Never Bored,” and when you visit
the newly created online casino
you realize rather quickly it’s a credo the
Web site’s development team takes quite
literally.
Sure, your primary goal for coming to
Buzzluck may be to gamble. And you
can do just that with the extra benefit
of some dazzling 3D effects. But there’s
much, much more to Buzzluck than just
slot machines and table games, which is
a relatively new concept in the online casino genre.
“Let’s face it. We’re not the most innovative of industries,” says Alex Czajkowski,
CEO of eGaming 2.0, the Malta-based
company that developed Buzzluck. “This
industry has been primarily focused on
delivering a fix. The attitude has always
been to just get out of the players’ way
and give them what they want. But we’re
trying to change that.”
To that end, a visit to Buzzluck is a far
different experience than what most online gamblers are used to. The Buzzluck.
com casino is full of real-life characters
that interact with you as you maneuver
around the lobby. Alluring hostesses who
appeal to the U.K.-targeted demographic
for more than just their sexy British accents greet you as you enter the front
door. Inside the casino lobby you can
hear the ringing of slot machines as you
walk by the casino doors and the sound
of construction work is palpable as you
stroll past the soon-to-be completed Buzzluck Bingo Hall.
Banking hard on 3D Casinos | GPWA Times
32
You’ll run into everything from a drunken
man lying to his wife on his cell phone saying he’s “working late again” to a grumpy,
yet striking, coatcheck girl whose just-asbusty and blonde twin sister works at the
check-in desk across the hall. And don’t
be surprised if you encounter an Elvis
impersonator or Tom Cruise lookalike
screaming, “Show me the money!” It’s all
part of the act.
There’s also a live lounge you can enter
to watch live-stream video entertainment
acts (the Irish stand-up comedian is a
hoot) if you want to kill time in between
sessions at the Flash-based, instant-play
casino games and slots. In addition to
the bingo hall, a sportsbook is also in the
works at Buzzluck, as are private suites
for gamblers, which they will be able to
decorate themselves and install their favorite slot machine.
“We wanted to create a Web 2.0-driven,
broadband experience that you can’t get
anywhere else,” says the affable 48-yearold Czajkowski, whose site began beta
testing in February and officially launched
in March. “A visit to Buzzluck is constantly full of surprises. We give you plenty of
reasons to keep coming back, and no two
visits are ever alike.”
Czajkowski is passionate about his belief
that online gamblers want more from their
gaming experience than simply gaming,
even though it’s a philosophy that isn’t
shared by everyone in the industry.
“Plenty of our competitors think that
what we’re doing is a distraction to the
player and will just get them away from
doing what makes the casino money and
that’s gambling,” he says. “But that’s what
everyone told Steve Wynn in Las Vegas.
And they were dead wrong.”
Czajkowski is, of course, referring to the
man who revolutionized the way people
thought of Sin City. For decades, Las Vegas was considered a place to just go and
gamble. But that all changed when the intrepid Wynn opened The Mirage on the
Strip in 1989 for the price of $630 million, which at the time was the most expensive hotel-casino ever built. The new
resort helped usher in a new era in Las
Vegas with its headliner acts and neverseen-before attractions outside the gaming area.
“The other casinos and the people in
downtown (Las Vegas) said, ‘What the
fuck are you doing with a volcano exploding out in front of your casino? People
are going to get up and leave the tables,’”
Czajkowski says fervently. “And Wynn
just said, ‘So what! We’ll save their seat
for them and when they come back they’ll
be entertained. And they’ll still be sitting
in my casino.’
“That’s exactly the model we’re trying to
follow at Buzzluck. What all of these other
[online casinos] don’t understand is that
people can go to their site and gamble, but
as soon as they leave the table, they leave
the brand. At Buzzluck we’re providing
a casino-branded entertainment experience. It’s larger than the casino games
themselves.”
While Czajkowski is at the forefront of
what he hopes will be a 3D online casino
revolution, he’s certainly not alone. The
use of 3D software in the online world
has been tried and tested before, but with
varied success. The folks at PKR.com,
however, appear to have found the right
formula for a poker-room version.
Despite launching just a few months before the dreaded Unlawful Internet Gam-
“A visit to Buzzluck
is constantly full of
surprises. We give you
plenty of reasons to
keep coming back, and
no two visits are ever
alike.”
— Alex Czajkowski, CEO, eGaming 2.0
ing Enforcement Act came into play, PKR
saw its membership rise to almost 2 million members within two years – making
it the fastest growing online poker room
that does not accept U.S. players, according to PokerScout.com. By 2009, PKR was
up to 2.4 million users and in January it
broke its record for concurrent players,
reaching 15,000 simultaneous users for
the first time.
In addition to Buzzluck’s emergence on
the scene in March, renowned French
casino giant Lucien Barriere Hotels and
Casinos got itself into the online game
and did it with 3D graphics. The striking
scenery that you see on your computer
once you log into LeCroupier.com may
look familiar if you’ve ever visited Casino
Barriere de Deauville in France, which
served as the inspiration for the new
site. LeCroupier players are encouraged
to create their own personal avatar and
40
TOP
10
Things to
look for in
an affiliate
program
here are 10 attributes to look for. If the
program you’re thinking of doing business with is lacking in any of these 10 elements, proceed with caution.
1
Adequate payment
methods
I am sure most will agree with me when
I say that we market casino properties
in order to make money. The first thing
I look for is a way that I can get paid
by the affiliate program. As an affiliate located in the United States, I prefer
QuickTender or wire payment. Checks
were an option, but the sheer number
of bounced checks has jaded me from
that specific payment method. If a program has no way to pay me, there is no
reason I should promote its properties.
2
Trusted casino
properties
The official watchdog of the gambling
affiliate community provides 10 essentials
you need to look for the next time you go
affiliate program shopping
There are so many online casinos today
that are worthy of promotion, there’s no
reason to get caught up promoting an unethical, shady property. Do your homework before you sign up for an affiliate
program. Google, Yahoo, and Casinomeister are excellent resources. Find out what
players are saying and, whenever possible,
sign up and play at the casino yourself.
By Andrew Mueller (Affiliate Guard Dog)
By signing up and actually playing at a
casino you can see what it’s like to be a
player. That way you will know:
The variety and breadth of affiliate programs in the gambling industry are truly
astounding.
There are programs with barely enough
banners to make an adequate selection
and programs with so many banners that
you spend hours finding the right one. We
have programs with simplistic stats views
and programs with more detail than you
ever thought you wanted. There are affiliate managers who take a “hands-off”
approach and those who hound you incessantly until you finally give them that
coveted spot on your home page.
From the minimalistic to the overdetailed,
affiliate programs differ not only in their
marketing offerings, but, more importantly, in their approach to the industry.
With so much to look at, it is surprising
that affiliates ever find the right program
and gaming properties to promote.
There are some features of affiliate programs that I truly want to see when I sign
up for an affiliate program. So before you
sign on with your next affiliate program,
• If a casino is willing to treat its players
poorly and leave them unpaid, it will
do the same to you.
• If a casino lies to its players, it will lie
to you.
• If a casino cheats players out of money,
it will scrape players from your affiliate
account.
• If a casino recruits spammers, it is
stealing from you and other affiliates.
• If a casino allows spammers to persist
without repercussions, it is stealing
your players.
Again, I stress: Do not promote rogue/
shady casinos.
3
Timely affiliate
communications
When I finally decide to sign up for an affiliate
program, after doing my due diligence mentioned above, I contact the affiliate manager.
What I find is that an affiliate manager who
responds to the e-mail within 24-48 hours is
the type of AM that will always respond in a
timely manner. If the affiliate manager does
GPWA Times | Top 10 things to look for in an affiliate program
not respond at all, the program will not get
my attention.
While we as affiliates do not need to be coddled, we do need a modicum of attention in
order to start promotion. We need details
and we might need guidance. A good affiliate manager will provide both, and this is a
requirement if I am to work with a program.
4
Minimum payment
under $150
The minimum payment is the amount of
commission that an affiliate must accrue
prior to being paid. For example, if you
run Google AdWords campaigns, Google
requires you to have made $100 USD
before it cuts you a paycheck. The same
goes for affiliate programs.
One of my early struggles was promoting
too many properties and, as a result, not
being paid for a long period of time. Had
I promoted five or less properties (instead
of 20 or more), I would have received a
small paycheck within my first couple
of months. Any affiliate program with a
minimum payment over $150 USD is also
one I will typically not promote.
5
Affiliate program terms
and conditions
Terms and Conditions are your contract
with the affiliate program. This is the document that outlines both the responsibilities
of the affiliate program and the affiliate in
relation to the promotion of its gaming properties. Before you check the box “agreeing”
to the Terms and Conditions, check out the
T&C Analysis at AffiliateGuardDog.com. If
Affiliate Guard Dog does not have the program listed, contact us and allow us to read
through the contract and give you an analysis. There are plenty of affiliate programs out
there that have terms in their contracts that
will STOP payment if you do not send them
enough traffic or players. There are those
who have termination clauses that allow
them to terminate your contract and keep
your commissions. An affiliate program
MUST have “affiliate friendly” terms and
conditions or I will not promote it.
6
Timely affiliate
payments
Not all affiliate programs are created equal.
Affiliate programs should have a history of
paying their affiliates on time. It’s another
easily researched fact. Search the GPWA
forums for affiliate payments, check the Affiliate Guard Dog home page to see which
affiliate programs have paid recently, and
GPWA AFFILIATE
INTERVIEW
SERIES
What’s English
for smörgåsbord?
If our latest group of featured
affiliates were organizing a dinner
party and you were invited,
you’d be in for a scrumptilicious
experience. The spread would
include lasagna and other pasta
dishes, chimichangas, sushi,
Chicken Marsala, steak, faggots
and peas, and would finish with a
big wedge of apple pie (many, of
course, would find that second-tolast dish to be an acquired taste).
But food isn’t the only thing these
four webmasters – two from
the States, and one apiece from
Canada and the U.K. – have been
thinking about lately. As some of
our most active forum participants,
they’ve shared countless bits of
candid, invaluable information
and advice with the entire GPWA
community, and in their interviews
they open up even more. Read on!*
*Due to space constraints, we cannot print the interviews in
their entirety. We will post the complete text at gpwa.org.
GPWA Times | GPWA Affiliate Interview Series
INTERVIEW WITH
Robert Medl | robertmedl
He’s a longtime computer whiz
– and a pinball wizard, too!
The URL is somewhat self-explanatory, but what distinguishes the
onlinecasinogamblingdirectory.com
from other gaming sites? I feel
that The Online Casino Gambling
Directory is different from other
gaming sites in its simplicity. From
the beginning, I have tried to make
The Online Casino Gambling Directory as easy-to-use as possible,
using a clean interface design as
well as a search and search results
paradigm with which users are familiar.
You’ve been operating your site for
almost five years now. How long
did it take until you started making money? Is maintaining the site
a full-time pursuit, or do you also
work at something else? I didn’t
make a cent in 2004, and only
made enough to pay for hosting
fees and maybe a nice dinner each
month for 2005. Things started
picking up in 2006, and then the
best thing that ever happened for
me in this industry came along
– the Unlawful Internet Gambling
Enforcement Act of 2006. The
UIGEA resulted in an incredible
churn in the market, and I was
fortunate enough to pick up many
new players as they were forced to
find new online gambling sites; all
the hard work of the past years had
paid off.
gaming business by accident. I
started as a player, and was simply
trying to keep track of all the online
gaming sites where I had accounts.
Then, sometime in early 2004, I
read that online search engines
were no longer accepting ads for
online gaming.
Looking back, I guess this was an
“ah-ha” moment for me – I reasoned that potential players would
have a more difficult time finding places to play since the major
search engines were no longer going to take ads, and that creating a
single directory of all online gaming
sites could somehow make money.
I didn’t know how it was going to
make money until I stumbled upon
an affiliate link on one of the online
gaming sites that I was cataloging
for the directory. Once I read what
an affiliate program was all about,
it was clear to me how to monetize
the directory that I was creating.
There is no question that my fulltime jobs as a usability engineer
helped prepare me for this career.
While at IBM in San Jose, CA from
1994-2000, I learned about usercentered design and how critical
it is for a product to be easy-to-use
in order for it to be successful in
the marketplace. I also learned all
about databases, SQL, HTML, and
some programming.
I saw that my revenue was steady
for a few months after the UIGEA,
and I began to toy with the idea of
quitting my full-time job as a usability engineer for Microsoft in
Redmond, Washington. In April
2007, I decided to go for it – I
quit my job and now work only for
myself operating and maintaining
The Online Casino Gambling Directory.
While at eGain in Sunnyvale, CA
from 2000-2005, I learned about
programming Web pages, how
to access and render information
contained in databases and other
sources, and how to write a basic
search algorithm. I would not be
successful today had I not worked
in the computer industry for so
many years.
In your GPWA profile, you describe
yourself as a “jack-of-all-onlinetrades.” Tell us a little about how
you got into the online gaming
business. I got into the online
What prompted you to join the
GPWA, and has being a member
helped make work easier for you? I wanted something to differentiate
my site from the hundreds of oth-
45
ers out there in terms of trust. I applied for
and was approved as an eCOGRA Reputable
Gaming Portal in October 2006. I viewed the
GPWA Seal of Approval as another way that
I could demonstrate the trustworthiness of
The Online Casino Gambling Directory. I’ve
had the GPWA Seal of Approval since March
2007.
Being a GPWA member has certainly been a
part of my success. I recently attended G2E
2008 where the GPWA brought in an SEO expert and a lawyer to talk about recent events
in online gaming legislation. The SEO expert
provided a checklist of things to improve Web
site rankings, most of which I tried – and
they worked. The lawyer provided peace-ofmind by explaining that affiliate marketing
of online gaming is simply not a priority for
most states.
What traits do you look for in affiliate programs when choosing which ones to work
with? As some of my mea-culpa posts on
the GPWA site will attest, I originally had
no criteria at all. I signed up for all of them,
since my goal was to create a comprehen-
sive directory of all online gaming sites.
Over time, I read about and saw for myself
that some affiliate programs and the sites
that they represent are simply scammers.
I’ve learned from my mistakes, and now
look for recommendations and feedback
from my peers at GPWA before I decide to
add an affiliate program’s gaming sites to
The Online Casino Gambling Directory.
As part of my self-imposed penance for my
sin of adding rogue affiliate programs to my
site in its early years, I now regularly make
an effort to provide feedback about affiliate programs on the GPWA site. Hopefully,
this will reduce the probability that new affiliates will make the same mistakes that I
did.
What advice would you give to someone
just starting out in the industry? Be patient.
Keep meticulous records. Set revenue goals
and measure against those goals. Work only
with reputable affiliate programs. Learn
from those who have gone before you by
reading forums.
Age: 39
Hometown: Cincinnati, OH
Currently residing in:
Covington, KY
Favorite food: Steak, sushi, apple pie
One book everyone must read: The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
GPWA accredited:
The Online Casino Gambling Directory
(theonlinecasinogamblingdirectory.com)
Not accredited:
Free Slots 360 (freeslots360.com)
Free Bets 360 (freebets360.com)
56
GPWA SEAL OF APPROVAL PROGRAM
GPWA Seal assures integrity in 10 languages
R
ecognizing the importance of trust across
diverse national markets, the
GPWA has added five new
languages to the popular Seal
of Approval program.
“We’ve always held a strong
belief that in order to build a
strong player base and strong
business partnerships, you
need to demonstrate that
people can rely on you. Expanding the seal service to additional languages has played
an important role in helping
more webmasters do just
that,” said GPWA Program
Manager Steven Corfman.
The new languages include
Croatian, Dutch, French, Greek,
and Japanese, complementing
the previously available services
in English, German, Italian,
Russian, and Spanish. The
GPWA Seal of Approval has
been awarded to 628 Web sites,
with recipients located throughout 46 countries.
To communicate the high review standards to site visitors,
each seal links to a customized
verification page that includes
an explanation of the criteria,
the name of the recipient,
profiles of GPWA members
associated with the site and
details for reporting violations
to the monitoring team.
The seal technology detects
the default browser language of each portal visitor,
returning both the award
and verification page in the
visitor’s chosen language.
The service also verifies the
approval status of the portal,
ensuring its display only on
approved sites.
To apply for the Seal of
Approval, visit gpwa.org
or email your list of sites
to fairness@gpwa.org.
GPWA Times | GPWA Seal Program
1bingoportal.com
1casinoguide.co.uk
1casinoportal.com
1pokerportal.com
3dpokerpkr.com
777-online-gambling.net
8exclamationscasinoonline.com
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57
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GPWA Seal Program | GPWA Times
58
MEET THE
AFFILIATE
MANAGERS
What do Pitbull Partners, 3Aff, and BestPay have in common? Three very resourceful affiliate managers. These
battle-tested industry denizens work hard, play harder,
and always take plenty of fluids – orange juice, Ballantine, and tequila, to be precise. We caught them between
rounds, and they had plenty to say about gaming, making money, and life in general. Read on!*
*Due to space constraints, we could not print the interviews in
their entirety. The complete text is posted at gpwa.org.
DINA COHEN | 3Aff
What separates Luck3 from other
online casinos? When I came to
my job interview I was told the
story of how Luck3 Online Casino
was created and I loved it. The
main idea was first to consider all
the advantages and disadvantages
of different online casinos, taken
from the personal experience of
the creators of Luck3, and then
to create a better casino, one that
would be much more friendly.
And now I can see that it’s really
the main issue here,
at Luck3 – to do everything possible to
be more customer
friendly and to keep
improving
casino
services. Right now
customers can play at
Luck3 Casino without
registering; they can
play for free; they can
use the most popular
and secure payment
systems – and those
are just the basics.
Luck3 keeps adding
more payment systems, more languages
(Chinese,
German,
and Spanish versions
are coming soon), more games:
poker, sportsbook, skilled games,
and much more – all part of doing everything possible to be more
friendly for its customers. I think
the main reason why I’d say Luck3
is different from other online casinos is that Luck3 isn’t afraid to be
innovative and creative.
“We put a lot of
effort into building
trust with our
partners and will
continue doing
everything possible
to make sure that
trust, respect,
and transparency
are built into our
relationship.”
Luck3 has many unique games,
including virtual horse and grey-
GPWA Times | Affiliate Manager Interview Series
hound racing. Why did you include
those games in your casino? There
are actually 12 games similar to virtual horse and greyhound racing
that were included in Luck3 Casino.
There is only one reason why it was
done: to try to please all types and
kinds of customers. We realize that
people have different interests and
preferences and we do the best we
can to be able to offer more.
Most of the affiliate managers
we talk to say building trust with
their affiliates is critical to success.
How do you go about building
trust with your affiliates? Well,
we definitely agree with this point
of view. We put a lot of effort into
building trust with our partners
and will continue doing everything possible to make sure that
trust, respect, and transparency
are built into our relationship.
We do give the best support: we
dedicate a personal affiliate manager to each and every partner;
we work on special campaigns
together with our partners, considering special conditions; and
we’re always happy to hear innovative and nonstandard ideas
from our partners. This is our way
to build trust.
We do realize that our partners’
success is our success; therefore
we think of interesting ways of
improving the results of our partnership and common revenue.
One of these “interesting ways” is
our Spring Affiliate Contest – “Affiliate Rush” – which will start
very soon. We invite each and every one to participate.
Besides trust, what are the keys to
building successful relationships
between affiliates and affiliate
programs? First of all, it’s a reputation that is extremely important.
Second, it’s very important to be
active all the time, to keep moving
on: keep improving, keep adding
new features. Strive to be innovative; don’t be afraid to change or
try something new.
Third, affiliate programs are created in order to get revenue. It is
the main and common aim of the
casino and its partners. Therefore,
from our side we are interested
in and responsible for providing
good quality products and services in order to convert a maximum
percent of players into our and
our partners’ revenue.
Luck3 prides itself on converting players. What are the keys to
Luck3’s ability to convert players? The Luck3 team pays serious
attention to development of new
promotions and bonuses, and organizes new and interesting tournaments and contests all the time.
Some of these are meant to entertain and attract customers, but
some are specially created to encourage customers to return or to
remain at the Luck3 online casino.
For example, all our customers get
birthday bonuses. Each holiday, we
create appropriate bonuses; our last
one was a St. Valentine’s bonus.
64
THE BENEFITS OF
BLOGGING FOR POKER AFFILIATES
By Jeremy Enke
O
ver the past couple of years,
blogging has become mainstream in the poker affiliate
market. Almost every large poker
site has a blog of some sort. In fact
many poker affiliates are using a
blogging platform such as WordPress for their main content management systems.
Having a stand-alone blog – or
incorporating a blog into your Web
site – can be very beneficial to your
overall business. A blog is a great
place to establish authority in whatever niche you are promoting. Plus
if you’re running a blog alongside
your main site, you can leverage it
to feed link juice and drive traffic
to areas or pages deep within your
site. This is very beneficial when
trying to rank for certain long-tail
phrases.
Search engines love blogs because
the content is always fresh and
constantly being updated. In fact,
the search-engine benefits of having
a blog cannot be overstated. When
you are a blogger or have a blog on
your site, getting links and doing
link exchanges also becomes much
easier. Remember, almost all bloggers link and exchange links with
other bloggers.
Here are a few practical tips for
poker affiliates thinking about utilizing a blog in their marketing efforts:
GPWA Times | The Benefits of Blogging
1. Have useful and unique content
Of course we are all in the poker affiliate business
to make money, but nothing is worse than seeing a
blog that contains 100% marketing posts pushing
offers or bonus codes. When making new blog posts,
always think about your readers first. People come
to blogs seeking information or entertainment, not to
be sold something. The goal should be to get people
to bookmark or link to your blog because they see
value in it, or because you provide great information,
knowledge, or entertainment. If you get enough
readers or stickiness, you can then incorporate more
subtle calls to action or promotions to encourage
click-throughs or sign-ups through your affiliate links.
2. Use blogs to build your brand
One of the most powerful aspects of having a blog
is that you can use it to build either your Web site’s
brand or your personal brand. Either way you want
to be known and remembered for something. The
beauty of having a popular blog is that many readers
will subscribe to your RSS feeds. This means that
every time you make a new post, you will be in front
of your audience via their RSS readers, even if they
do not visit your site.
For this reason, it is critical that your message or
personality remain consistent. As mentioned previously, you can link to other areas of your Web site
from your blog posts. Aside from the SEO benefits,
this is also a way to build the brand of your overall
Web site.
WA L L O F
T
he APCW’s Wall of Shame just
keeps growing. In the last issue,
we nailed the Grand Prive Casino
Group, Russ Hamilton, Steve Beshear, and Spencer Bachus to the wall for their
extraordinary efforts to bring down the industry that we work in and love. In this issue, we
visit Europe to tack up two new hides to the
wall. So as you read through, remember that
the fight to preserve online gambling is global,
and it’s ongoing. Enemies of the industry can
and will pop up in the places we least expect
them. So we have to be prepared to defend our
industry, and carry the fight to all comers.
Christel Schaldemose
Charlie McCreevy, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market and Services,
has been a true hero to the online gambling
community. McCreevy has led the charge to
end government monopolies of the gambling
industry and allow online gambling firms
to offer their
services throughout the EU. But
in one fell swoop,
Christel Schaldemose might have
undermined all of
those efforts.
Schaldemose is
a member of the
European Parliament. She is a
Danish national
and sits with the
Socialist Group
in the European Parliament.
Unfortunately,
she’s the type
of socialist that
gives socialism a bad name.
Schaldemose issued a report that would block
the formation of a single market for online
gambling in the EU. Although the report is
nonbinding, it passed 544-36 and clearly
reflects the view that most European nations
do not want to open up their markets to the
online gambling industry.
“Member States have an interest and right to
regulate and control their gambling markets in accordance with their traditions and
cultures in order to protect consumers against
GPWA Times | APCW’s Wall of Shame
by J. Todd,
Executive Director, APCW
SHAME
addiction, fraud,
money-laundering
and match-fixing in
sports, as well as to
protect the culturally-built funding structures
which finance sports activities,” the report
reads.
As troubling as the vote is, the rampant hypocrisy in the report is even worse. Cloaked in
the veil of protecting consumers and preventing gambling addiction, this measure is about
one thing and one thing only – protecting the
sports betting monopolies that most countries
enjoy, and the revenue they generate.
Peruse the text of the bill and you’ll find evidence of that everywhere. Here are a couple
of gems:
“Whereas the revenue generated by government and government-authorised gambling
activities is by far the most important source
of income for sports organisations in many
Member States…”
“Notes that criminal activities, such as moneylaundering, and black economies can be associated with gambling activities and impact
on the integrity of sports events; considers
that the threat to the integrity of sport and
sporting competitions impacts heavily on
grassroots participation, a key contributor
to public health and social integration; is of
the opinion that, if a sport is perceived as the
subject of manipulation for the financial gain
of players, officials or third parties rather than
played according to its values, rules and for
the enjoyment of its fans, this could result in a
loss of public trust…”
Yep. They can bet on sports at Danske Spil because THAT doesn’t affect the integrity of the
game. But place a bet online and ‘Whoa, this
match has been fixed.’ That’s just ridiculous.
And that’s why Schaldemose is on the Wall of
Shame.
Church of England
Hypocrisy is the reason the Church of England
has earned a spot on our Wall of Shame.
Earlier this year the Church of England, along
with 40 MPs, called on Google to stop running
online gambling advertisements in the U.K. And
to a certain degree, it’s understandable why the
Church of England would take this stance.
The Church of England says it opposes
gambling, online or otherwise, because of “the
social damage caused by gambling abuse and
misuse, which has tragic consequences for
many families.” So in theory, supporting a ban
on online gambling advertising makes sense.
But while the Church is formally against gambling, it allows individual churches to accept
money from bingo and lottery events.
“Gambling is a legitimate leisure activity for
many people,” says the Church in an ethics
document on their Web site. “The Church
distinguishes between the decisions made
by individuals or individual churches on
one hand who choose to accept monies from
lotteries and bingo events, and judgements
made by the Church as a whole in avoiding
taking income from, or providing capital to,
companies wholly or mainly involved in the
gambling industry.”
And that, my friends, is hypocrisy. It’s O.K.
for churches to hold and profit from gambling
events, but it’s not O.K. for people to gamble.
And that’s why the Church of England is on
the Wall of Shame.