i-gami

PRESS RELEASE

iGAMI Advisory Board votes to place 888/Casino On Net on probation

December 14, 2005

The iGAMI Advisory Board has voted to place 888/Casino On Net on probation for a period of no less than three (3) months for having a lenient policy regarding unethical affiliates.

iGAMI has contacted 888 on several occasions dating back to September regarding unethical affiliates utilizing various unscrupulous practices including scraping techniques that steal the content of other affiliates. Unfortunately and quite disturbingly, 888 have chosen to ignore our request for action despite being provided with indisputable evidence of the wrongdoing(s).

Additionally, the Advisory Board is apprehensive about what appear to be predatory CPA terms and conditions. It appears that there are currently an abnormal number of affiliate accounts being closed as a result of promoting 888 CPA deal(s). We at iGAMI are both concerned about the frequency of these occurrences and the underlying cause of the closed accounts.

About iGAMI

The International Gaming Affiliate Marketing Initiative - iGAMI.org, a non-profit organization was created to provide guidance and protection to all affiliates and marketers promoting online gaming.

One of our primary guiding principles is that one partner must not be permitted to negatively affect another partner through the use of unethical practices. Each and every iGAMI-approved program has taken a pledge to continuously monitor their partner base to ensure that they are adhering to accepted Codes of Conduct.

Bethug

Thanks for the info.

colly

OK not a webmaster but had to comment on this one

-many of you will have read (and assisted with removal) of the highly aggressive spyware problem I had from an unethical affiliate a few weeks ago.

888 com was one of the casinos in this group. As a follow up I wrote to all the casinos and got a autoreply from 888 that they were looking into it- that of course is the first and last I ever heard from them and the promoter is STILL operating and still a 888 com affiliate.

So this prosecution comes as no surprise- as a further note the only other of the casinos in that grouping that replied was aspinals and it was also a "form" letter. All the other playtech casinos in the list didn't even make the effort to pretend any concern and reply.

David from traffic sales did reply in some deatils however despite a specific rrequest to advise if they took any action against the affiliate- yea you guessed it response was notforthcoming and no subsequent replies.

Perhaps iGAMI should look at prosecuting a few other casinos for the same offence.

i-gami

Sorry for the inconvenience you suffered at the hand of an affiliate. It’s a shame that some casino groups have no business morals and when it comes to choosing a buck over respect, responsibility and of course integrity they go for the buck.

Regarding 888, I assure you that our aggressiveness in handling the case will quickly escalate if they refuse to own up to their responsibilities in a timely manner.

i-gami

Update: 12.27.2005

We have received word from 888 - The cases which we had submitted to them "are" being addressed and we should have a resolution soon. They also responded with the following statement that we would like to share ...

"future complaints ... I can assure you that we will deal with them in the strictest manner. Please be advised that we do not have a lenient policy regarding unethical affiliates and unfair business practices ... "

We have given them until January 7th to respond/resolve the current complaints. I shall update you as soon as we know anything.

dominique

I think naming and shamimg these outfits who neither apologized to you nor attempted to right the problem or even acknowledged that they had at the least "inconvenienced" you is perfectly in order.

i-gami

Update 01.07.2006

iGAMI places 888 / Casino on Net onto Casino Blacklist after they failed to meet an imposed deadline for taking action against unethical affiliates.

After a two week extension on their time to take action it is apparent that 888 is not intent on addressing ethics within the ranks of their affiliate operations. The scraper/stolen material sites, which we had informed them about, are still in operation.

They have attempted to tell us that the questionable sites are within a network and it has taken longer to resolve as a result. Please note they were first contacted about these sites in September of 2005. We believe they have had more than enough adequate time to take action.

The last contact we had from them stated that the network had informed them that at least one of the sites had been taken down. A simple click on the link would have shown them it had not been taken down at all.

Regretfully their failure to address these unethical practices in a timely manner reinforces the previous reprimand for having a lenient policy regarding unethical affiliates.

Consequently 888 Casino On Net is now on our Casino Blacklist.

ian_go

There have been some very recent staff changes within the 888 affiliate team.
Lets hope they can also take a fresh look at some of these problems.

joeyl

Yeah Right.

You should be able to run this by Ecogra by rights..

It is ecogra's job to "regulate" fair play and responsible behaviour by "80%" of the online casinos? Funnily enough with money gleaned via 888.com.

Can't be arsed with saying this over and over in detail, so for today it will be kept simple ...

• About eCOGRA
  eCOGRA, the independent standards authority for the online gaming industry, is committed to protecting online casino and poker players around the world. The non-profit organization addresses the most important issues to players: fast payouts, fair gaming, responsive and efficient service and responsible operator conduct.

The deal is if 888 don't operate responsibly, they will lose the seal from the firm they pay to keep running.

Yeah Right.