iGaming Pros Blog

Another one bites the dust! Royal Apollo Affiliates sent email notices to affiliates today informing them that the program will be closing in the next few days.

This is just another in a long list of Rival Branded online casinos to close up shop and turn over the casino to Rival.

With the sudden rush of Rival Casino Brands ceasing operations this year it is making many affiliates in the online gambling industry scratching their heads on the future of the network of Rival powered casinos. It is rather frustrating to affiliates to put so much work in promotions only to lose what was assumed would be lifetime earning from players.

The official email received from Royal Apollo is as follows:

Dear affiliates,

Due to the ongoing issues we are having with processing and Rival management we will be closing down our site in the next few days. We are committed to providing top standards of gaming and support to both players and affiliates. This decision was not easy, but the ongoing issues are not allowing us to offer these standards. Please terminate all affiliate deals within the immediate , we hope (we can’t enforce this as its Rival that holds all fees), that Rival will respect and honor the current and future revenue that you are entitled to.

Thank your,

Michael and Emma, Royal Apollo Affiliates

At this time, no other information has come from Royal Apollo explaining what was meant by “ongoing issues with Rival Management” and eluding to Rival not allowing them to offer the high standards they had set.

Planet23 sent the following email to affiliates announcing the termination of all affiliate deals:

Dear affiliates,

This Sunday, the 27th of June, I was notified by the owners of Planet23 of the termination of my employment.
Sadly, my working at Planet23 has come to an end. Due to owners and investors policy, the company took a decision to terminate all affiliate deals within the immediate time until they solve management issues with RIVAL.

I (sadly but formally) ask you to take us off your domains and from any other activity until a further formal notice made by Planet23.
Any future communication with Planet23 should and will be made via this address: affiliates@planet23.com Planet23 management will be available for your questions at this address.

I wish you all the best,

A.

Earlier this year, the First Gaming Partners affiliate program released control of SlotPower and Vanguard Casino, both were Rival Powered casinos. This was then followed by Tradition Casino, operated by the iGaming.pro (not associated with iGamingPros.com) ceasing operations.

The future of Rival Gaming? Looks a bit unsteady with this mini-exodus of operators. It should be noted that the casinos aborted by programs are still operating. Could it be a ploy by Rival to gain player liquidity without needing to pay affiliate commissions? One can only wonder what is going on with Rival and the operators.

We have just received word that the Real Time Gaming (RTG) online casino “FreeSpin Casino” along with the affiliate program Revshare Partners will close their doors effective July 1, 2010. The online casino opened less than one year ago, officially opening on September 16, 2009.

It is unknown why the online casino and affiliate program has called it quits. But over the past nine months, the affiliate management changed hands (as is usual with the iGaming industry).

Operating an online casino in today’s market can be a very delicate operation, the competition is fierce as casinos jockey for their share of the player base. FreeSpin Casino did accept US and Canadian traffic as is the case with most all RTG casino brands.

Although there has been no official notice to affiliates via email, nor are there any postings on either the casino website or affiliate website, sources at the Gambling Portal Webmasters Association (GPWA) have passed the information along to members via the forum. RevShare Partners were Gold Sponsors with the GPWA, a common ground for gambling affiliates to hold discussions, track industry news and share thoughts, concerns and tips.

According to a post made by the GPWA Program Manager “CityGuard”:

Our contact at Rev Share Partners has indicated that FreeSpin.com will be closing on July 1st. Both the casino and the affiliate program will cease operations.

Our contact has indicated that they will be settling all account shortly. If you’re working with them I recommend checking to make sure your payment details are up to date .

As the program indicated that they would be settling up accounts, any affiliates promoting FreeSpin Casino should be aware of this closure and be certain to maintain correct information in the affiliate software.

Many of the affiliates we have spoken with have removed or will be removing the brand from their portals as there is less than two weeks before the doors at FreeSpin casino are permanently closed.

Without any player notification or communication to affiliates, the Luck3 Poker Room has been shut down except for play money tables.

There had been rumors and warnings posted about the possibility of the poker room closing as players were not being cashed out, support was non existent and email to the poker room and the 3Aff affiliate program went unanswered.

Luck3 also operates an online casino using the CTXM games software and continues to be in operation, accepting new players and deposits even though there are reports of the staff, affiliates and players not being paid as agreed.

Several affiliate portals have added Luck3 to their blacklists, warning players to avoid Luck3 at all costs. Websites listing Luck3 as blacklisted include the Poker Player US poker forum, PokerPlayerUS.com has also listed Luck3 as rogue on the main website’s poker blacklist page.

Other affiliate websites with warnings for players to avoid Luck3 include The Pokerkeep blog and there has been discussion of the program at the Affiliate Guard Dog forums.

The Gambling Portal Webmasters Association posted that the 3AFF affiliate program has been unresponsive to communications for some time.

We’ve already been in the process of contacting them. We haven’t gotten any replies to regular communication with them since the end of April and have been trying to get in touch with a representative there for several weeks.

We have notified them that continued non-responsiveness will be deemed a violation of the GPWA Code of Conduct, which will result in suspension of their sponsorship benefits and movement of their listing to the affiliate program warnings section.

The 3Aff affiliate programs remains in place as does the Luck3 Casino. Affiliates were never notified of the issues with the poker room and many poker players remain unpaid their cashout requests. The online casino continues to operate and accept deposits from players although it would be safe to assume that no cashouts are being honored in the casino either.

We highly recommend that affiliates should cease promoting the poker room as players are unable to play and casino affiliates should be honest with players and cease the promotion of Luck3 Casino in the interest of player protection.

Repeated attempts by iGamingPros to contact Luck3 and the 3Aff affiliate program have gone unanswered.

Both the Rockbet.com and ThisisVegas.com affiliate programs have admitted to shaving players and online casino affiliates are actually pleased to get the news! When you speak of “shaving” in affiliate terms it usually means an unethical program is taking away players from affiliates and the result is a loss of commissions due the affiliate. This is a bit different…

You see, Rockbet (Rockbet Partners) and ThisisVegas (400 Affiliates) have created an affiliate contest that is being called “The Reverse Shaving Contest 2009″. Rather than losing players, you actually gain players from non affiliated players (house accounts). The programs will award over 100 players to affiliates in the programs, each program will award affiliates entries into a draw where real money depositing players will be added to your account! The harder you work, the more entries you earn, you even get entries for simple tasks like adding the programs to your home page, publishing reviews, make landing pages, etc. Your task is to drive as many players to the casinos as you can.

Both casinos are Rival Gaming casinos, accept US players and offer both a download and a Mac friendly flash version. They convert very well and payment methods exist to make it easy for US based players. Both also offer a no deposit bonus to help you attract more customers and the welcome bonus is very attractive and realistic. Sign up to Rockbet Partners here and to 400 affiliates (for ThisisVegas) here.

Contest Rules

• Over 100 depositing non-affiliated players to be added
• Winning affiliates will be randomly chosen and assigned players
• Winners will be chosen at random with at least 25 depositing untracked players being awarded August 1st and the remaining to total 100 untracked players being awarded September 1st.
• Multiple affiliate accounts will NOT qualify.
• Winning affiliates will be notified by email and will need to confirm before and after when a player is added.
• In the event that there are not enough recent and active untracked players to be awarded they will be given out after September 1st as they become available.

Entry Rules

Each affiliate can earn 1 or multiple entries into the contest where each entry gives you a chance to win a depositing player. Multiple affiliate accounts does not mean multiple entries.

1 Entry Awarded for the following:

• If you have referred at least 1 depositing player to the casino prior to July 1st (you can still earn points if you have not yet promoted these casinos, this is a bonus entry for existing affiliates).
• or every new depositing player from July 1st to August 31st
• If you have a text/download link or banner on your homepage of your affiliate site for the duration of the contest
• If you create or already have a custom landing page or casino review page.
• If you want to gain extra entries and have other means to generate more exposure to both casinos email your affiliate managers for details

Example: If you have an affiliate website and have a text/download link for Rockbet (1) and This is Vegas (1) on your homepage plus have a custom review for Rockbet (1), and have referred 1 depositing player at Rockbet before July 1st (1) and referred 3 players to This is Vegas (3) after July 1st: you would have 7 total entries into the contest. The more entries you have the better your chances of winning a player to your account.

FAQ:

What type of players are available?
Most un-affiliated players will be very recent, active and have joined in the last 4 months. The players available will have at least 1 deposit in their account. Players with an average deposit of $250 or higher will not be available. The minimum amount of commissions generated from these added players will exceed $5000 with the potential for some players to be loyal players for years.
I don’t have a website but can I still qualify?
Yes, you can still qualify however your chances of winning increase with a website as more entries are awarded for adding links, banners and review pages.
Are you crazy?
Absolutely!

For more details please contact the respective affiliate managers:

Lina Jonsson
ThisisVegas.com Affiliate Manager
lina@velvet-vegas.com
400 Affiliates.com

John Wright
Rockbet.com Affiliate Manager
john@rockbetmarketing.com
Rockbet Affiliates

More information on these fine casino affiliate programs can be found at the Rockbet review page and the ThisisVegas program review.

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