our affiliates to

Transcription

our affiliates to

LETTER FROM
THE DIRECTOR
W
ell, here we go – off and running in a brand-new year, with
January already down to its last few
days! This issue of the GPWA Times
magazine, the seventh, will debut in
London January 27th at the International Gaming Expo, which brings
together the ICE and ICEi exhibitions
under one new acronym – IGE. We’ll
be attending, and we hope to see you
there, too.
GPWA
Executive Director: Michael Corfman
Marketing Director: Andrea Mullaney
Program Manager: Steven Corfman
Program Coordinator: Teresa Adam
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
We think you’ll enjoy the “2008 Year
in Review” piece, especially because
it’s not just any old end-of-the-year
rehash, but Rebecca Liggero’s up-close
and personal “social review” of her
professional networking encounters
with online gambling’s movers and
shakers at some of the world’s most
sophisticated business venues, including the hallowed halls of Amsterdam’s
Casa del Rosa.
We also have in this issue interviews
with seven of the best affiliate managers in the business and the longest affiliate interview we’ve ever published.
To advertise in the
GPWA Times, please e-mail: [email protected]
Subscriptions
Our cover story takes an entertaining
look at the brilliant method behind the
off-the-wall madness at Paddy Power.
Their frequently controversial but
always astute branding and marketing
strategies have been responsible for
their rapid expansion, in author Gary
Trask’s words, “from street bookie to
major player in the world of Internet
gambling.” The Paddy Power story is
a classic example of what can happen
when you’re not afraid to take chances.
To subscribe to the
GPWA Times, simply
register at gpwa.org
and provide your mailing address.
It’s FREE!
ISSN 1941-9872
GPWA Times | Table of Contents
Finally, don’t miss the thought-provoking sample of GPWA forum posts.
They convey the agonized concerns
and raw emotions that so many of our
friends and colleagues are currently
experiencing as we all try to make
sense of the worldwide economic
turmoil and share strategies for coping
with the uncertainty. One thing I can
tell you for sure: Crises come and go,
but the GPWA is here to stay, and is
here for you.
Sincerely,
Michael A. Corfman
GPWA Executive Director
12
Rebecca’s Year in Review
Take a month-by-month ride with the GPWA’s
Rebecca Liggero as she crosses the globe and
recaps all of the big iGaming events and parties she
and her camera attended during 2008.
34
Inside the Mind of a Gambling
Affiliate
Steve Nickoloff explains how he got into the affiliate
marketing business and how he has made it a
permanent source of income.
38
Cover Story: Behind the Curtain
at Paddy Power
The Irish bookmaker has made a science out of
pushing the envelope when it comes to marketing its
brand and the result has made a lot of people laugh,
even more people angry and the company a lot of
money.
56
Affiliate Manager Interviews
Get up-close and personal with seven affiliate
managers who tell you how they got into the
business, reveal their industry secrets and tell you
things about themselves that nobody else knows.
70
Eight Mistakes Made by Poker
Affiliates
Renowned poker affiliate Jeremy Enke gives us
the most common pitfalls that curb the growth of
beginner entrepreneurs in the poker side of the
business.
72
J. Todd’s Wall of Shame
The outspoken APCW Executive Director unveils
the inaugural class of his Online Gaming Wall of
Shame, which is sure to include a name or two of
some people who drew your ire in the past year.
DEPARTMENTS
6
8
10
30 48 52 54 69 Webmaster News
By the Numbers
Cartoon Caption Contest
Event Calendar
GPWA Sponsors
GPWA Seal of Approval Program
From the Forums
Affiliate Guard Dog Hits & Misses
On NetEntertainment network!
Special commission deal for
promoting this brand!
Email us for more information.
os
r
u
E
7
7
7
o
t
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u
s
u
100% bon
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www.CasinoClubPoker.com
WEBMASTER NEWS
“I think it’s
extraordinary
that a
major global
company
should seek,
at this
time, to prom
ote
gambling on
its
Internet site.”
- Peter Kilfoyl
e, former U.K.
Labor
defense minist
er, after Goog
le
decided to allo
w gambling ad
s.
(Scotsman UK
)
Q
Norway passes its own version of the UIGEA
T
he Norwegian parliament passed a
proposal in December that mimics the
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement
Act that the U.S. adopted in 2006. The
Norwegian measure bans financial transactions between the
nation’s residents and
online gambling operators. It is unlikely the ban
will go into effect until
mid-2009 at the earliest
as regulatory drafting is
still required.
S
E
L
B
A
T
UO
“It would be
like
waving a re
d flag to
a bull.”
- Shadow Fina
nce Minister
Bob
Richards on w
hat it would be
doing to U.S.
like
authorities if
Bermuda
embraced Inter
net gambling.
Also like the
situation
in
the U.S., Norway’s Financial Services Association and other financial institutions are
questioning how the enforcement of the ban
will work.
But Rolf Sims, a legal adviser
to Norway’s Ministry of Culture, told Reuters in October
of 2007 that the reason was
because of the growing public backlash against gambling in Norway.
“The anti-gambling lobby has got the wind in
its sails,” Sims said. “It would be political suicide for any government minister to suggest
legalizing gambling.”
Banks given until Dec. 2009 to comply with UIGEA
T
he U.S. Department of Treasury and
Federal Reserve announced a joint rule
in November to implement and enforce the
Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement
Act. The rule relies on financial institutions
performing due diligence on corporate customers to ensure they’re not processing online gambling transactions.
American financial institutions have been
given until Dec. 1, 2009 to comply with the
regulations designed to block online gambling transactions, including those made
through credit cards, electronic funds
transfers, and checks. The rule went into
effect Jan. 19, 2009.
“For purposes of the
rule, unlawful Inter“One of the
net gambling generchallenges that has
ally would cover the
making of a bet or waplagued the casino
ger that involves use of
industry for a long
the Internet and that is
time is that we spend
unlawful under any apmoney like drunken
plicable federal or state
law in the jurisdiction
sailors.”
where the bet or wager
- Gary Loveman (above), chairman
is initiated, received, or
and chief executive of Harrah’s
otherwise made,” the
Entertainment Inc.
Treasury Department
said in a statement.
GPWA Times | Webmaster News
The amendment was first proposed back in
2007 and at that time it was reported the
reason for the proposal was not to protect
Norwegian problem gamblers, but to protect
government-owned Norske Tipping, the country’s land-based agent for
lottery, sports, and instagames.
According to
the final rule
published by
the Treasury
Department,
during
the
public comment period
of the proposed UIGEA
rule, “about 20 commenters, almost all of
them depository institutions, noted that notwithstanding the Agencies’ efforts to craft
a reasonable rule, the proposed regulation
would be unduly burdensome and would result in compliance costs greater than any offsetting societal benefits.
“Several of these commenters stated that the
rule would adversely affect the competitiveness of the U.S. payments system, and that the
Agencies should be cognizant of the potential
for the Act and similar laws to cumulatively
cause capital flight and erode the U.S. dollar’s
status as the world’s reserve currency.”
The Treasury Department says the comments
were taken into consideration, but says it believes “that flexible, risk-based due diligence
procedures at account opening, such as those
set out in the final rule, present the best option for balancing these two interests.”
Microgaming withdraws from U.S.
P
opular online gambling software provider Microgaming stopped accepting
new U.S. registrations in November. The decision to stop accepting U.S. players came in the wake of a ruling by a Kentucky judge that gave the software provider 30 days to block access to Kentucky residents or forfeit their domain to the
government of Kentucky.
Microgaming was one of the 141 online gambling sites that was subjected to a
seizure order approved by Judge Thomas Wingate. But Wingate’s ruling has
been blocked until a three-judge panel has ruled on an appeal filed by Internet
gaming firms and trade groups. The decision, which
was expected in January, had not been handed down
as of press time.
Kentucky first moved to seize the 141 online gambling
domains in late September. The list of sites targeted
was “developed by attorneys (conducting the investigation) and are sites where people from Kentucky,
using Kentucky addresses, were able to place bets,”
said Jennifer Brislin, communications director for
the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, which filed the
lawsuit on behalf of the government.
“We’re hopeful
that, in the
fullness of time,
the new [Obam
a]
administration w
ill
take steps to re
gulate
[Internet gambl
ing].”
- PartyGaming Ch
ief Executive Jim
Ryan after his com
pany reported a
15 percent fall in
poker revenues in
November.
“’There have been
projections circulated on
the Hill that it can raise
billions of dollars in new
federal revenue, so we
can expect that the whole
issue of Internet gambling
will be front and center
in the next Congress.”
- Frank Fahrenkopf (right), American
Gaming
Association president and CEO.
The targeted domains are held by a mix of domestic and international registrars, Brislin added.
Among the sites targeted by Kentucky are PokerStars, Full Tilt Poker, Absolute
Poker, Bodog, and Slotocash.
“Our end game is to stop that activity (gambling) within Kentucky,” Brislin
said. “We have no interest to shut it down elsewhere in the country or worldwide.”
In October, Wingate ruled in favor of Kentucky. In his ruling, he
said that if the 141 sites “reasonably established to the satisfaction of Kentucky’s
Justice and Safety Cabinet or this Court
that such geographical blocks are operaI spent it
tional (within 30 days), (they) shall be
“I blew it.
t things
relieved from the effects of the Seizure
on differen
different
order and from any further proceedings
— drugs,
in the instant civil forfeiture action.”
stuff.”
Visit GPWA.org for the latest developments
on the Kentucky domains case.
“The authors
and
supporters o
f the law
are happy w
ith this
definition, be
cause
it puts the fi
nancial
institutions in
the
position of w
anting to
throw up the
ir hands
and say this
isn’t worth
it.”
- iMEGA Chai
rman and CE
O Joe
Brennan Jr. af
ter the U.S. De
partment
of Treasury an
d Federal Rese
rve
announced its
final joint rule
implement an
to
d enforce the
UIGEA.
hen asked by
e Dennis w
0
- Jacquelin
the $27,00
ith
t she did w
est
W
in
e
police wha
m
ga
om a poker
she stole fr
Virginia.
Webmaster News | GPWA Times
BY THE NUMBERS
706%
The increase in poker
revenues for Asian Logic
during the first half of
2008 as compared to
2007.
8
The number of years
Hong Kong’s Tam Chi-wai
was sentenced in jail
for after being charged
with operating an online
gambling network. Chi-wai
was also fined $3 million.
9.3%
The percentage of 8,000
U.K. adults who said in
a survey that they had
participated in at least one
form of remote gambling
in the previous month.
This figure was 8.8% in
2007 and 7.2% in 2006.
9.5%
The percentage that the
European online poker
market is expected
to increase in 2008,
according to a study by
Marco Felice Baranzelli.
20.6%
The increase in gross
gaming revenues for
bwin during the first
nine months of 2008 as
compared to 2007.
25%
The percentage of bingo
players who said that they
would leave their partner
if they hit a jackpot of
more than €25,000,
according to a study by
Mecca Bingo.
$286,440
The amount Korean
baseball player-turnedTV show host Kang
Byung-kyu admitted to
losing while gambling
on an Internet site that
broadcast Baccarat
games live from the
Philippines.
51%
$164 million
The percentage of the
Asia-Pacific Internet
population that visited
gaming sites in August,
2008, according to
comSCORE.
The amount of money
Australians lost playing
gaming machines in
the month of October,
according to the Office
of Liquor, Gaming and
Racing.
13.2%
The percentage that the
U.S. online poker market
is expected to decline
in 2008, according to a
study by Marco Felice
Baranzelli.
16%
The predicted growth of
Internet advertising in the
next year, according to
the European Interactive
Advertising Association,
which noted 31 percent of
advertisers claim their use
of TV ads is decreasing.
GPWA Times | By the Numbers
$687,000
69%
The percentage of men
who said they could not
live without the Internet,
according to report by
Break Media
The amount of a poker
pot won by Phil Ivey at Full
Tilt in October. The poker
room claims this is the
largest online poker hand.
$120 million
The amount of gambling
revenues expected in
Poland by 2012.
| GPWA Times
10
CAPTION CONTEST | What’s the punch line?
This month’s Caption Contest
cartoon shows an anxious
affiliate waiting patiently
by his mailbox for his local
postal worker to deliver a
payment only to be left emptyhanded…again! What’s going
through the mind of this
suddenly sullen affiliate? We’re
leaving that up to you. Head to
the GPWA Forums and submit
your most creative and witty
caption for this cartoon. We’ll
see which one makes us laugh
the loudest and the winner will
receive an iGaming Business
Directory. To enter visit the
forum section at GPWA.org.
Drawing by Ben Riley, www.themidlands.net
GPWA Times | Caption Contest
12
GPWA Times | Rebecca’s 2008 Year in Review
13
Rebecca’s 2008 Year in Review | GPWA Times
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GPWA Times |
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GPWA Times |
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2009 Event Calendar (For full details, visit gpwa.org/conferences)
January 2009
March 2009
Jan 11-13
Mar 4 – 5
Affiliate Summit West 2009
Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada
affiliatesummit.com
Bet Markets
Messe Vienna
Vienna, Austria
bet-markets.com
Jan 14
Mar 30-31
GPWA Conference @ Affiliate Summit LasVegas
Stratosphere Las Vegas Casino Hotel & Tower
Las Vegas, Nevada
gpwaconference.com
CAC Amsterdam
NH Grand Krasnapolsky Hotel
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
casinoaffiliateconvention.com
Jan 26
Mar 30-31
International Casino Conference (ICC)
Earls Court Exhibition Center
London, United Kingdom
internationalcasinoconference.co.uk
GPWA Conference @ CAC Amsterdam
NH Grand Krasnapolsky Hotel
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
gpwaconference.com
Jan 26
October 2009
The Betting Show
National Exhibition Center, Hall 9
Birmingham, United Kingdom
bettingshow.com
November 2009
Nov 17-19
G2E 2009
Las Vegas Convention Center
Las Vegas, Nevada
globalgamingexpo.com
Nov 24-25
Affilicon Fall 2009
Israel
affilicon.com
June 2009
Combating Cybercrime in Betting and
Gaming 2009
combatingcybercrime.co.uk
Jan 27–29
International Gaming Expo (IGE)
(Incorporating ICE and ICEi)
ige-exhibition.com
Jan 29-Feb 1
CAP Euro London 2009
Novotel London West
capeuro.com
February 2009
Feb 24–26
Asian i-Gaming Congress and Expo (AiG)
Venetian Casino and Resort
Macau, China
aigcongress.com
GPWA Times | 2009 Event Calendar
June 1-2
Affilicon Conference & Exhibition
Avenue Convention Center
Airport City, Israel
affilicon.com
August 2009
Aug 9-11
Affiliate Summit East
New York, New York
affiliatesummit.com
September 2009
Sept 15-17
EiG 2009
Copenhagen, Denmark
CAC Moscow
Holiday Inn Lesnaya Moscow
Moscow, Russia
casinoaffiliateconvention.com
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CHECKING YOUR SEO RANKINGS
WE KNOW YOU
WE ARE YOU
CASINO AFFILIATE CONVENTION
MARCH 30 - APRIL 1, 2009
AMSTERDAM
WWW
.CAC2009. COM
Earls Court | London | 27th - 29th January
www.ige-exhibition.com
First Choice
For Gaming
When over 200 of the gaming industry's
most respected manufacturers launch in
excess of 2,000 products at the same
expo, you know that it’s an event which
means business.
Be part of the experience
2009 will see ICE and ICEi incorporated under
the International Gaming Expo umbrella brand
- the largest and most comprehensive gaming
exhibition in the world.
ADVERTISEMENT
Gaming giant cites IGE
as the ‘most important
exhibition of the year’
Novomatic takes top slot
AGI’s Novomatic brand – company philosophy ‘Novomatic leads,
others follow’ – sits at the top table of major industry players within IGE. The company has a hugely impressive 1,116 square metre
[12,009sq.ft] stand (the largest within the exhibition); space which
it intends to use to good effect. The company confirmed: “Details
are being kept under wraps until the show opens its doors but it is
certain that aficionados of multi-player games, operators and their
guests alike, will see a whole new arena of gaming possibilities from
Novomatic.”
ADVERTISEMENT
In addition to Novomatic, the 2009 ‘big league’ of exhibitors comprises IGT–Europe, Astra Games, TCS John Huxley, WMS Gaming,
Atronic International, Aristocrat Technologies, Amatic Industries and
APEX Gaming – all with stands in excess of 300sqm [3,228sq.ft]. Also
firmly on the radar of show visitors with stands of 200sqm [2,152sq.
ft] and above are Alfastreet, Casino Technology, Recreativos Franco,
Barcrest Group, XtalE, Merkur
Gaming, Bally Technologies,
Gold Club, Games Warehouse,
Inspired Gaming, Elektroncek,
Gaming Partners International
and Unidesa-Cirsa Group. These
are joined by a further 32 companies with 100sqm-plus [1,076sq.
ft+] displays.
First time
exhibitors
Earls Court, London, UK
Growing sectors
An important subset of the International Gaming Expo, the remote
gaming dedicated ICEi sector will include 90 exhibitors drawn from
25 sovereign jurisdictions, 35 of which are making their first ever appearance. ICEi floorspace has grown by more than 40 per cent yearon-year to over 2,750sqm [29,590sq.ft] and now constitutes around
14 per cent of the entire show.
Adding to the pre-existing casino (ICE) and remote gaming (ICEi)
components, the introduction of soft gaming, lottery, betting
and other gambling and wagering disciplines has formed the umbrella ‘International Gaming Expo’ which weighs in at a colossal
20,000sqm [215,200sq.ft] of net floor space.
Pre-registration spike for IGE
The response to IGE, which gives visitors access to the universe
of gaming equipment, systems
and platforms all in a single
location, has been highly encouraging with the level of preregistration up 34.1 per cent
compared with the same stage
12 months ago. The data confirms the value of creating what
is the most complete gaming
exhibition on the calendar.
‘The biggest and most important
exhibition that we attend each
year, a vital part of our commercial
strategy’ is how Jens Halle, managing director of Austrian Gaming
Industries GmbH, chose to preview
London’s forthcoming International
Gaming Expo (incorporating ICE
and ICEi) which will host more than
300 companies from 48 nations
across January 27th–29th at the
Earls Court Exhibition Centre.
IGE also serves as a vital market
place for small to medium size
enterprises (SME’s) which use
the exhibition as a platform to
launch their innovations to an
international audience of buyers.
Many of the SME’s are amongst
the 72 organisations that will
be making their debut appearance at the London show. Drawn
from a total of 27 countries, the
debutantes bring a fresh approach and perspective on the gaming
industry, helping to sustain the exhibition’s reputation for being a
dynamic and commercial market place to source new products of
which an estimated 2,000 are launched each year at show.
The list of IGE first-timers includes renowned industry names, as
well as those looking to make a big impression with their maiden appearance by taking significant stands. Those with 50sqm [538sq.ft]
or more include Alsart (Russia), Cryptologic (Canada), Intervision
Marketing (Cyprus), WorldMatch (Malta), Synot (Czech Republic),
Hydako (Korea), Intel Corporation (USA), Ivobank (UK) and Shock
Machine México.
Taiwan leads
international list
Outside of the host nation, the
United Kingdom, Taiwan is represented by the biggest number
of exhibitors (20), followed by
the USA (18), Malta (17) and
Italy (14). Austria has 12, whilst
Canada, Germany, Netherlands,
Spain and Slovenia all have 10
and Sweden nine. Korea has five,
Belgium, Latvia, Russia and Serbia each have four, Bulgaria, Cyprus,
Denmark, France, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Japan and Poland are
all on three and the Czech Republic, Romania, South Africa, Ukraine
and the Virgin Islands each have two exhibitors.
The remaining contingent, drawn from Alderney, Antigua, Argentina, Belarus, Costa Rica, Croatia, Estonia, Gibraltar, Hong Kong,
Hungary, Iceland, India, Jersey, Mexico, Portugal, Slovakia and the
United Arab Emirates, takes IGE’s tally of represented countries to
48 – the most international make-up in the history of the London
Show.
All details correct as at 5 December 2008 and subject to amends and
alterations made by show organisers, Clarion Gaming, in the lead-up
to the show. For up to date exhibitor lists, floor plans, the latest show
news, travel and accommodation and FREE entry badge registration, visit www.ige-exhibition.com.
34
INTERVIEW WITH
Steve Nickoloff | GFPC
WHAT MAKES
GFPC TICK?
Honesty, hard work, and
a lot of positive thinking
You bring in an interesting breadth of experience to your work as a poker affiliate.
One of the jobs that you’ve held is promoting live poker. What exactly did you
do? Good question. Originally my girlfriend
and I used to play poker in pubs/bars in the city
with a group known as the Red Hot Poker Tour.
We also played at a place called Hurricanes and
we developed some good friendships along the
way. During this time one of the guys who ran
some of the events at Hurricanes asked me if I
would like to get into business to run live games
for bars across the city. I agreed right away and
thought it was a terrific idea. We purchased all
kinds of poker chips, tables, and cards for these
events, as our goal was to do many throughout
the week. We successfully started out doing
them, and yes, we had a great time. We met
some new people and had a lot of fun. The bars
loved it, as it brought clients, and we learned
a lot. However it was a hard sell, and both my
partner and I had conflicting ideas, so we decided to sever our business relationship.
It was at this moment I decided to get into online affiliating, which I wanted to combine with
the live events we were doing.
How important are private freerolls for
your business? Freerolls are of huge importance, maybe not like three or four years ago,
but they help with conversions. Let’s face it:
freerolls are all over the net, and a player does
not need to deposit to play in one. But for us,
we like to have a close community of active
members who play frequently. Freerolls keep
them involved and playing. I have mostly done
freerolls with no add-ons, but I think the addons are better because they tend to attract more
quality-type players who are willing to invest a
little money. Players who deposit and pay a little
for a game play much better in my opinion.
*Due to space constraints, we could not print this
interview in its entirety. Read complete text at gpwa.org.
GPWA Times | GPWA Affiliate Interview
Can a poker affiliate survive
without offering rakeback?
Or has it become such an
industry standard that you
have to offer
it? Well, this is
a question that’s
hard for me to
answer. A lot of
people will say
rakeback is a
must. However
it takes a great deal of time to develop in that
niche. You need a large number of players who
are what they call “whales” in order to make
something from it.
We have players who asked for rakeback so we
decided to try it. We spend a great deal of time
listening to our players and will do everything we
can to keep them with us. Rakeback is just one
area, but we are still new to it, so time will tell.
What is the most important factor for you
in choosing a poker affiliate program to
work with? To answer this with one word,
“Honesty.” I want to work with affiliate sites
that are truthful and ethical and do what they
say they will do. Along the way I have had my
share of not getting paid for one reason or another. I am sure from my forum posts you will
all know when it happens to me. LOL. Seriously, when a site declares they will honor payment, that promise simply must be kept. Your
word is your honor. I always like to follow this
in my life. When I say I will do something I do
it. So it’s my hope always to deal with ethical
affiliate sites that are honest and pay their affiliates. I also like affiliate managers who can
communicate daily with me, and share ideas to
help our relationship grow. In all my dealings
it’s the affiliate managers I contact daily who
bring the most rewards. We can work together
easily and have better success. One of these affiliate managers will email me every day and
always is there day or night, willing to help at
any time. I appreciate this a lot. Timely payments and good stats are a must. I like to see
how my campaigns are going daily, so daily updates are crucial for me. Good marketing banners and reviews are also important.
How much time does it take to keep your
site updated? Do you use a content management system to manage your site?
Updating my site takes time. When I started I
didn’t even know how to cut and paste.
Literally. I read a post from a fellow affiliate I
think on one of the forums who said the same
thing, and I was like yes, that’s me! But now it
takes a few hours each day. I have to do security checks on players who sign up for no-deposit deals. Check ID, IP’s and cross reference
this. Plus send test quizzes and verify if they
are real players. And qualify for my promotions. Plus I update links, articles, and blog
now. Along with add/remove sites and adding
new content. So I would say a good 10 hours
a day on all aspects of this. Plus I now spend
a lot of time on forums learning and sharing
ideas, here at GPWA and PAL. I spend four to
six hours a day here and there. I love it.
I use Joomla right now because it gives me flexibility. It’s all right, and I have added many extensions and modules. I work around things. But
I do want to create my own CMS. This is why I
hired two programmers to develop a new Poker/
Casino CMS with auto updates. This will save on
time and effort. All that is needed is content, and
it would be so easy to add on many sites. They
have been working on this for months now.
For new affiliates Joomla is the way to go. Easy
to learn and free.
What do your friends and family think of
your work as an affiliate? Well, to be honest,
they have no clue how it works. My dad thinks
I am gambling all the time and I try to tell him,
“No, Dad, I am not a player, I am like the house.”
I explain how it works, but he refuses to understand. My siblings don’t really ask too much
about it. My friends all think it’s pretty interesting. I always help them out, since many are players themselves. But of course along the way some
friends were envious and thought I was making
tons of cash and not sharing it. I can say this: you
do know who your friends are when you get into
this industry. The ones who help out and show
interest are great, since I need a sounding board
a lot of the time. And my girlfriend does get sick
of hearing me every day say the same things over
and over. So I have a few friends who give ideas
and share opinions. Mostly positive so far. And I
have developed tons of online friends and associates now who are good influences. I will eventually get my dad to understand I am not gambling.
I hardly even play myself as I do not have time.
I must not forget my cats. I love my cats! I have
six with me at all times. They are like my kids in
some ways. Most of the time they are unhappy
when I am occupied with business and will do
anything to get my attention. And they’ll jump
on the computer keyboard and turn off the machine when I leave it for a few minutes. I have to
be careful -- LOL.
35
Steve, with his girlfriend Pia
What advice can you offer people who are
just starting up in the industry? Wow, a loaded
If you had to pick five keys to success as an
affiliate, what would they be and why?
question. So much to say on this. I guess the very
first thing that sticks out in my mind is do not
choose CPA. I know many new affiliates will think
of the money they can make fast, but don’t get
trapped like I did. Stick to rev share, and hybrid
deals. Have a plan to start with, whom you want to
cater to. Devise a strategy and target them. Along
the way be flexible to make changes when needed.
Not everything will work the first time; you need to
be open minded. Be honest. Don’t try and pass one
over another affiliate or affiliate manager. We have
heard it all. Be honest and always show respect in
your dealings. At times it can be frustrating, and if
it’s too much take time off. I did, when I dealt in a
live casino. I needed a break, and I came back with
more motivation and dedication. It also is good to
dream. I mean really dream of what you want, how
you want it, and never stop thinking about that
dream. If you don’t give up I do believe dreams
come true. Don’t set time limits on goals. Just let
them happen. These are only a few points, but ones
that are important to me.
Be Organized - It’s a big job to take on to be successful. So you must organize your time and set
priorities to get things done daily.
City currently residing in:
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Age: 38
Be Open Minded - I think it’s good to be open to
new ideas, as you may have to step out of your
comfort zone once in awhile. As you learn ways
to be a successful affiliate you may not be used to
certain ways of thinking. Just go with the flow.
Soak in all the information you can and use what
works.
Favorite food:
Rotties (my friend Ozzy makes
the best homemade ones)
Engage in Networking - It’s crucial to network and
build valuable relationships with your peers and
contacts, whether they be players, other affiliates,
or affiliate managers. You have to join discussion groups, attend conferences. You will then get
known and people will trust you more once they
get to know you and put a face to you. This will
take time, but it is an important goal to achieve.
Working with other successful affiliates who can
help you build your own network is the key here.
Site:
getfreepokercash.com
One book everyone must read:
The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
In progress:
getfreepokercash.net
raiseyourpokercareer.com
livefreerolls.ca
GPWA Affiliate Interview | GPWA Times
36
Be Goal Oriented - Similar to dreaming (see
above), I think you have to set goals, certain
places you want to be and things you want to
achieve. Again, no time limits need to be used,
but just thinking about your goals and working
on them every day will help you get there. Write
them down, think about them, and go over
them from time to time. Maybe they will slightly
change from time to time or you will have more
or less over time. It’s still important to work toward something. Think about it constantly.
What’s your favorite vacation spot? And
why? Well, I love Cuba. I have been there many
times. Such good times there. But in my heart I
will always love Uruguay. It’s a small Spanish
country underneath Brazil beside Argentina.
When I was younger I lived there for six months
and worked on a chicken farm with a host family.
Then I worked building a greenhouse. It was my
first travel experience, and I will never forget it. I
went back one more time a couple years later and
stayed one month.
I love Uruguay and I
dream about that country so much all the time.
The food, the people, the
dance, the music. Everything about it is me. I
felt so alive when I lived
there. I would seriously
love to buy a house there
and live there six months
of the year. I can’t wait to
go back. For me it’s more
of a perfect way of life
rather than just a vacation, so I would consider
it a permanent vacation
spot for me.
What is your favorite
movie? Easy!!! “Cool
If you were casting a movie (with yourself
in the starring role), who would play
your romantic interest? And why? Well,
another easy answer. Pia is my woman now!
I could not dream of having another romantic
interest, as she is everything a man could ask
for. She’s just simply perfect for me and I
doubt anyone could fill her role. She’s all mine
and I am all hers. Plus she is good at acting! I
mean acting out! When I spend too much time
on this affiliate business. I will leave it to your
imagination what she acts out about.
And finally, what are three things that
nobody knows about you? First thing
is Pia and I have a dream to get married on
10-10-10. That’s October 10th, 2010. And
our wedding will be revolved around a poker
theme. She’s actually doing all sorts of designs
for tables, making our own custom cards and
all sorts of things. We plan on having a poker
tournament for all the people in attendance.
After the big ceremony, that is, with live
dealers and hopefully a professional player
to be a guest speaker. This is how we met
the first time, and we want to tie the knot the
same way.
Second, at one point I had 16 cats. I had saved
the lives of two mother cats from the winter
cold, and they were pregnant. They were also
only kittens it seemed. During birth I had to
help them, by pulling the kittens out. One
of them was really sick. I spent days with no
sleep nursing them back to health. Then the
other one had kittens a month later.
Create Your Own Positive Energy - This is one
area where I am lacking, but I am working on
it. The idea is to constantly think of everything
and everyone around you as being positive.
Like a positive force. When you feel good about
yourself, and everyone around you, you attract
success. I see this all the time. People who are
positive and make positives out of just about
anything can really do well. Take all failures as
nonfailures; think of them as a signal to change
gears in your approach. Example: one month I
had no sign-ups. I decided to use positive energy as a tool, and changed some things. The
following month I had 50 sign-ups. I just constantly thought positive. I believe it works.
Hand Luke” with Paul Newman, a legend. I’ve
admired Paul Newman going back to when I
was a child. He had so much charisma and to
me was a real man. He had great personality,
and his acting was fabulous. Incidently this
movie was a favorite of my mother and my
brother as well. For some reason we all loved
this movie so much and watched it several
times. My mom and brother are no longer
with us and neither is Paul Newman, but I still
watch the movie, and I think of them and have
fond memories. I imagine them being with
Paul now!! Plus the movie had a wonderful
storyline for its time. A must see for anyone.
The dialogue is wonderful.
How long did it take for you to start earning money? For me it was fluctuating. I started
If you could have one “super power,” what
would it be? And why? For me this is inter-
Now I only have six cats, found homes for the
other kittens, kept four, and one of them died
outside from an unknown cause. I love cats so
much. They have been a part of my life since I
was a child. I just can’t live without a few cats
around. The six I have now are like my own
kids!!! I feed them better than I feed myself.
making money after two months. Then for several
months not that much. Then at six months again I
did well. And then for a few months back to almost
nothing. This is where I decided to take a break. I
worked as a dealer and got out and talked to people who are involved in this industry. I learned everything I could about live casino structures, and
how players view online gambling. One of the best
things I did. Now I have a renewed focus, and the
revenue is coming in again. I still have a long way
to go, but I have decided to branch out and build a
network of sites. I hope it pays off.
esting to answer. Not a typical reply, I gather.
But I would say “Complete Empathy.” I think
this would be such a super power and would
help many lives get better. The fact is too many
people are selfish and harmful and nonforgiving. Heck, I have been all those things at times,
but one thing I always had was empathy. I wish
I had complete empathy. I feel this would take me
to the next level of self-awareness and help me
grow more than even I realize as a human being. If
everyone was like this our world would be a truly
better place to live. If we could feel what everyone
was feeling and use this to help out one another
we could accomplish so much.
Third. This more or less revolves around
goals. I would like to become wealthy, and
very comfortable in life. For my own pleasure,
yes, I must admit, but also to be able to help
others. I would like to open a foundation of
some sort under maybe my family name in
honor of my mother and brother. I would
like to have this foundation help the neediest
of the neediest in the world. Similar to what
Barry Greenstein does in a way. But I would
like to travel to every country in the world,
or as many as possible, and help at least one
person who is in despair. A dream I have!!
GPWA Times | GPWA Affiliate Interview
Same problems more or less, but this was a
wild cat. I had to wear oven gloves. The eyes
of one of the kittens were not opening due to
some problem. So I used an old trick: a tea bag
placed on the eyes. And they finally opened.
39
CHEEKY
POWER
It doesn’t matter if you’re the Church, the
elderly or the President-elect. Anyone or
anything is fair game for Paddy Power, the
madcap Irish bookmaker that is reaping the
profits of its marketing philosophy of offering
odds on virtually anything under the sun.
By Gary Trask
Paddy Power meets the press in St. Peter’s Square.
All photos courtesy
| ofGPWA
Paddy Times
Power.
40
April Fool’s Day 2006: Paddy Power sponsors the world’s biggest Strip Poker Tournament.
N
obody knows when the
next risqué marketing
idea for bookmaking giant Paddy Power will take
place. We do, however,
have a pretty good idea as to where the
concept will be generated.
“Why, in the pub, of course,” laughs the
affable Mr. Paddy Power himself, the 34year-old head of communications for the
company he shares a name with. “That’s
where most of the good stuff comes from.
It’s where everyone is relaxed and no idea
is too silly. And I have always found that
from the silly ideas, the great ones grow.”
Now, we must caution that your definition of a “great idea” may differ greatly
from that of Paddy Power’s. For instance,
if you’re offended by the concept of organizing the world’s largest strip poker tournament, or find it appalling that a couple
of Irishmen would literally set up shop in
St. Peter’s Square to take wagers on who
GPWA Times | Cheeky Power
will be the successor to Pope John Paul II,
you’re simply not the demographic that
Paddy Power is focused on.
“The whole point of all the crazy stuff we
do is to make people laugh,” explains Mr.
Power, who has worked in his family’s
business since he was a young boy marking the boards inside the betting shops
spread around Ireland. “And usually when
someone is laughing there’s someone else
on the other side of the room that’s offended. That’s just the way of the world.
And quite simply, those that are offended
by our humor aren’t going to be our customers anyway.”
Entertainers, not bookies
Paddy Power has been both offending
people and making them laugh for the better part of two decades. The company was
founded in 1988 when three existing Irish
bookmakers merged. Since that time the
company has grown exponentially. There
are currently 119 betting shops located
across Ireland, Northern Ireland, and the
U.K. It employs 1,700 people – with more
than 160 of them working strictly on the
online side of the business (not including
IT support) – and in November it reported
to shareholders that it was on track to record operating profits of around €75 million in 2007, an increase from €45.5 million in 2006 and €30.1 million in 2005.
And from the very start Paddy Power took
on a brash, risk-taking personality.
“The philosophy has always been that we
don’t consider ourselves in the betting
game, we consider ourselves in the entertainment game,” adds Mr. Power, who
runs all the public relations and publicity for the company from a head office in
Dublin that employs 400 people. “And I
think that’s one of the reasons for our success. As far as we’re concerned, if they can
talk about it in the pub, they should be
able to bet on it.”
41
Over the years, Paddy Power has taken a
literal approach to that credo. Log on to
PaddyPower.com and within minutes you
can place your hard-earned cash on everything from the horses to the National
Football League playoffs to cricket to
whether or not God really exists.
That’s right, whether or not God exists.
The list of these
unique
“novelty
bets” – as they are
called – does not
stop there. Would
you like to bet on
the first band to
produce a music
video
featuring
two men French
kissing? If so,
Paddy Power is
your source and
Westlife is the
betting
favorite
at 3-to-1. Or how
about taking a stab
at who will play
Barack Obama in
a movie about his
life? The favorite
is Will Smith at
6-to-4, while you
can really take a
chance and bet on
O.J. Simpson at
100-to-1.
The point here is that Paddy Power likes
to have fun. It likes to make its clients
laugh and it never, ever takes itself too
seriously.
But do these wacky bets actually generate
a profit for Paddy Power? Some do. Some
don’t. Do they provide exposure to the
Paddy Power brand? You betcha.
bet that’s being offered, chances are that
they’re going to laugh and say, ‘It must be
Paddy Power.’”
Case in point: The Papal conclave of
2005. After the death of Pope John Paul
II, media from all over the world camped
out in Rome to await the announcement
of a successor. Seeing all of those people
milling
around
with nothing but
time on their
hands gave Mr.
Power an idea. He
and his colleague,
Ken Robertson,
hopped on an
airplane,
went
straight to St. Peter’s Square, and
set up a bookie
stand. They began
shouting out odds
and, lo and behold, people took
notice and started
placing bets.
Not only did the
stunt bring in a
profit of “a couple of hundred
grand,” according
to Mr. Power, but
European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy places a charity bet with Paddy Power’s Ken
it also got Paddy
Robertson on an Electoral turnout of above 68% in the election.
Power some major global face
time. Over the
Speaking of long shots, you can get 500“Other bookmakers have spent a lot of
course of three days, Mr. Power and Mr.
to-1 odds on Colin Farrell being named
money on their brands but they’re not as
Robertson were interviewed by as many
the next host of The Late Late Show,
strong as ours and a lot of that has to do
as 100 international TV crews.
or you could get a 1000-to-1 return on
with our marketing,” says Sinead Lamyour money if you select Paris Hilton as
bert, an affiliate manager at Paddy Power.
Said NBC’s Keith Miller at the time, “It
your choice to be the winner of the 2012
“We’ve got a brilliant brand and marketcosts £1,000 per second to advertise on
U.S. presidential election. Of course, she
ing team that does their job very well.
primetime NBC, [Paddy Power] got a 10would have to win.
When someone sees one of our advertiseminute interview. Go do the math!”
ments or they hear about an outrageous
Cheeky Power | GPWA Times
42
Clashing with higher
powers
This brazen approach has caused its
share of drawbacks, however. In 2001,
Paddy Power ranked in the Advertising Standards Authority’s Top-10 list of
advertisers that drew complaints. Since
September 2007, the ASA has received 30
complaints about 13 Paddy Power ads.
Only three of those 13 complaints have been
upheld. The latest came in December when
a Paddy Power print ad highlighted the fact
that it was taking odds on which airline
would go out of business next. The ad stated,
“Booked a flight? Don’t sweat, insure with
Paddy Power.” It then featured a list of 14
airlines and the odds on their
going bust, including 4-to-1
on Spanair, 33-to-1 on JetBlue, 25-to-1 on United Airlines, and 100-to-1 on British
Airways, EasyJet, Virgin Atlantic, and Ryanair.
over the world – including Forbes magazine in the U.S. – picked up the story.
In April of 2008 a Paddy Power Trader
print advertisement featured a short
man – or more specifically a dwarf – in
the back of a stretch limousine flanked by
two scantily clad women under the title:
“WHO SAYS YOU CAN’T MAKE MONEY
BEING SHORT? Financial Spread Betting lets you bet on falling (going short)
as well as rising share prices (going long),
allowing you to make the most out of volatile markets.”
The ASA questioned “whether the ad
breached the [Committee of Advertising Practice] Code by implying gambling
One of the most notorious run-ins with
the advertising police came in 2005
when a campaign featured billboards
with a take-off of the Last Supper painting (see above photo). In it Jesus has a
stack of chips in front of him while the
surrounding apostles are
playing roulette, blackjack,
and poker. A surveillance
camera is positioned in
the corner of the room and
it appears that Judas is in
the process of betraying his
fellow apostles by slipping
a card up his sleeve. The billboards were
emblazoned with the slogan, “There’s a
place for fun and games.”
“As far as we’re concerned, if
they can talk about it in the pub,
they should be able to bet on it.”
The ASA banned the ad because it “denigrated the airlines listed because it implied they might go into administration.”
Paddy Power spokesman Darren Haines
responded that the ad was “simply a barometer of public opinion. We are not expressing our opinion, just that of the public. It’s no different from a questionnaire.”
Either way, the ban helped Paddy Power
gain major exposure as media from all
could improve self-image or self-esteem
or was a way to gain control, superiority, recognition, or admiration.” Paddy
Power argued that the promotion targeted a “very specific” audience that would
“understand its whimsical nature.” But,
in the end the ad was deemed “irresponsible” and the ASA ordered Paddy Power
“not to repeat” the approach.
Predictably the billboard immediately
drew strenuous objections. In fact, the
ASA said at the time that it got “as many
complaints [about the billboard] as it
had about anything in the past.” But the
controversy also drew worldwide media
43
attention, especially after Paddy Power
decided to replace the billboard with one
that read, “There’s a place for fun and
games. Apparently this isn’t it.”
Mr. Power let out a hearty chuckle when
reminded of the Last Supper uproar.
“It’s all about trying not to do things just
because that’s they way they’ve always
been done in the past,” says Mr. Power.
“We’ll listen to ideas from anyone, from
the guy who sweeps the floor to the top executives in the company. It’s fun because
you never know where the next great idea
is going to come from.”
“That’s a classic case of what our marketing ideas can do,” he said.
“Hey, a lot of people can
have wacky ideas, but being able to put them into
practice is the real challenge. You have to have
balls to do something crazy
like [the Last Supper billboard]. You always want
people to laugh and say,
‘Where in the hell did they
come up with that idea?’”
“I remember one time we got a billboard
at a soccer game and we had it placed in
the stadium upside down, just to be different,” Mr. Power recalls. “A few weeks later
I had a lad come up to me and say that he
was at the game and he thought it was a really stupid idea to put the ad upside down.
I said, ‘OK, but let me ask you something.
Who else advertised at that game?’ And he
said, ‘I don’t remember.’
To which I replied, ‘Exactly my point, my friend.’
Ours was the only ad he
remembered. Isn’t that
the whole point?”
“A lot of people can have wacky
ideas, but being able to put them
into practice is the real challenge…You want people to laugh
and say, ‘Where in the hell did
they come up with that idea?’”
Mr. Power – who says
he has no formal degree in advertising
or marketing, just “common sense and
a sense of humor” – claims that there is
no magic formula to coming up with the
ideas. Except for the fact that he’s willing
to entertain any thought from any source
at any time.
Mr. Power said he is approached on a regular basis by people who have something
to say about their method of marketing.
Most of the time, he says, strangers will
tell him how much they like the approach,
but there are times when “someone with
no sense of humor” has his or her say.
‘Nasty’ times
While Mr. Power says he
has few regrets about any
of the company’s campaigns, there have been
times when Paddy Power’s reputation has got out in front of it
and caused some damage. After Barack
Obama was elected president of the U.S.
in November, Paddy Power posted a bevy
of odds about things that would or could
happen during the president-elect’s first
term; things like will he become a father
again (10-to-1), will he resign (28-to-1) or
be impeached (33-to-1).
| GPWA Times
46
sion of the company from street bookie to
major player in the world of Internet gambling. In addition to sports wagering, Paddy Power also offers poker, bingo, lottery,
games, and financial trading online.
“I think that by offering bets on basically
anything under the sun we have built a
brand so strong that when people think
of gambling, they think of Paddy Power,”
Mr. Power says. “Our philosophy is that
if people like to come to us to bet all the
quirky stuff, they’ll also come to us for the
serious stuff.”
But somehow along the way it was misread that Paddy Power was offering odds
on whether or not Obama would be assassinated. The concept of “It must be Paddy
Power” was used against the company
this time. Once again, media from all over
the world picked up on the story and reported that Paddy Power was indeed offering assassination odds and after many
complaints decided to take them down.
But the real story was that those odds
were never offered.
“That got a bit nasty because we were misrepresented,” Mr. Power said. “We’ve built
a reputation of being quirky and irreverent,
but we’re not that sick. We don’t even have
the odds of Osama bin Laden being killed,
so why would we post them on the most
popular man in the world?”
PADDY POWER
THROUGH THE YEARS
Ironically, Obama helped Paddy Power
gain global attention on two occasions during the election cycle. Well before both the
primary and general election were decided,
Paddy Power announced that it would pay
off any bets on Obama to win. In both cases,
Paddy Power proved to be correct in predicting an Obama win, and in the process it
gained more acknowledgment in the press.
“We do that from time to time,” explains
Mr. Power. “It’s a statement to our punters.
We’re saying, ‘Hey, you guys take a chance
every time you place a bet with us so we’re
going to take a chance too.’ I think our customers appreciate that kind of thinking.”
Brand loyalty
The zaniness of Paddy Power has helped it
gain more than just media attention or draw
complaints from those who are insulted. It
has also played a major role in the expan-
“Think about it,” adds Lambert. “When
you find a brand you like, don’t you tend to
stay loyal to it? The same goes for this industry. Our punters like our brand so they
are loyal to it no matter if they’re looking
to bet on something crazy, or if they want
to play poker or bingo or anything else.
They’re going to think of us first whenever
they want to place down a wager.”
And it is that kind of loyalty that has
helped Paddy Power not only survive the
current economic state of the world, but
continue to prosper.
“We look at [the economic crisis] as an
opportunity,” Mr. Power explains. “Every bookie has to fight tooth and nail to
get customers through the door or onto
their Web site because now the punters
have all the power. Value really matters
to the punters now and we really feel that
in this kind of environment we’ll only get
stronger. We figure this is as good a time
as any for us to take away customers from
47
our competitors because of the value
we provide.”
Paddy Power has also made a concerted effort to differentiate itself online.
In September, the company launched
a Ryder Cup spoof video that defined
effective viral marketing. Visitors to
the site could enter a friend’s name
and hometown and instantly have a
mock video-newscast produced that
announced the breaking news that
Ireland’s Padraig Harrington had
backed out of the event and would be
replaced by this certain person.
Also last year, Paddy Power launched
EggyCam.com. The site had live-stream
video available 24 hours a day of 10 eggs
in an incubator. People could log on and
bet which egg would hatch first. In addition to the video, the site had a live blog,
egg recipes, a “Getting Laid” section that
explained the origin of the eggs and, of
course, links to all of the other Paddy
Power brands. The world’s press picked
up the story and within one week it was
featured across the globe from Ireland to
Italy to India.
“People were literally glued to their computers watching to see which egg was going to hatch,” Lambert adds. “We actually
made a good bit of money on it and it was
something that was a lot of fun.”
Lambert says that having fun is also an
integral part of the affiliate side of the
business. For instance, instead of the usual electronic newsletter that most affiliate
“Usually when someone is laughing there’s
someone else on the
other side of the room
that’soffended…Quite
simply, those that are
offended by our humor
aren’t going to be our
customers anyway.”
brands send out each week to its affiliates,
Paddy Power utilizes a video.
“We know that our affiliates get loads of
newsletters and they probably don’t have
the time to read all of them,” Lambert explains. “But I think they look forward to
getting our video because it’s a change of
pace and, of course, we try to make them
laugh. It also allows us to a put a face to the
marketing team, which is very important.”
Lambert says that the “next great big thing”
in the industry is the growth of mobile betting, and she feels Paddy Power is “ahead
of the game” with those mobile products,
which isn’t exactly a surprise. Paddy Power was also a bit ahead of the curve when
it began offering punters the chance to use
the telephone to place wagers rather than
walking into a betting shop. Although as
Mr. Power remembers that idea didn’t get
off to the start he had hoped.
The first night Paddy Power was set
up for telephone wagering was in
1995 on the day of the Breeders’ Cup
horse races in the U.S. After running a
huge ad campaign for the new wagering option, Mr. Power was anticipating a busy and profitable evening of
answering the phones. But the phone
rang just two times the entire night.
“One was a wrong number and the
other was the pizza delivery man
looking for directions,” Mr. Power
says with a laugh. “It was an inauspicious start, to say the least.”
When asked if even a little part of him
thought that night that maybe the new idea
wasn’t so splendid, Mr. Power scoffed.
“No way!” he answers. “The only thing going through my mind was that I was mad
at myself for not betting Cigar [the horse
that won the Breeders’ Cup Classic race
that day]. That’s all I was thinking about.
“But seriously, I had every confidence in
the world that the idea was going to work
because it just made so much sense. Same
goes for the whole concept of betting on
the Internet. It’s the perfect vehicle for
the punters. We knew it and we pounced
on the idea.
“That’s the whole philosophy of our company. We’re not afraid to take chances
and we thrive on the new ideas. We’ve
been doing that ever since I can remember. And as long as I’m here we’re never
going to stop.”
Cheeky Power | GPWA Times
48
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bronze, the people behind these GPWA-sponsored programs are ready to provide you with the sophisticated tools and
expertise you need to maximize your conversions and your revenues. Visit the Affiliate Programs section of GPWA.org
for more information about each program.
Platinum Sponsors 32redaffiliates.com
[email protected]
7aff.com
[email protected]
bestpoker.com/affiliate
[email protected]
bet365affiliates.com
[email protected]
affiliates.betfair.com
[email protected]
brightshare.com
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c-planet.com
[email protected]
cashrake.com
[email protected]
casinoblasters.com
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commissionaccount.com
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cpays.com
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cwcaffiliates.com
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earnreal.com
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europartners.com
[email protected]
everestaffiliates.com
[email protected]
fortuneaffiliates.com
[email protected]
intertops.com/affiliate
[email protected]
affiliate.klub8.com
[email protected]
mainstreetaffiliates.com
[email protected]
paddypartners.com
[email protected]
affiliates.pkr.com
[email protected]
redreturns.com
[email protected]
referback.com
[email protected]
romepartners.com
[email protected]
affiliates.rulezpoker.com
[email protected]
smartlivecasino.com/affiliates
[email protected]
uffiliates.com
[email protected]
webrouteservices.co.uk
[email protected]
affiliates.yoypoker.com
[email protected]
GPWA Times | GPWA Sponsors
49
Gold Sponsors AFFILIATE
LOUNGE
.com
affiliateclub.com
[email protected]
affiliatelounge.com
[email protected]
partners.betus.com
[email protected]
commissionwarehouse.com
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gnuf.biz
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playshareaffiliates.com
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Hollywood Affiliates
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Pantasia Affiliates
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Share The Chili
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Sports Interaction Affiliates
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starpartner.com
Vegas Affiliates
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Virgin Games Affiliates
virgingames.com/affiliates
Wager Junction
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GPWA Sponsors | GPWA Times
50
GPWA Times |
51
| GPWA Times
52
GPWA SEAL OF APPROVAL PROGRAM
GPWA Seal Program reaches 609 sites, 43 countries
The GPWA Seal of Approval
is awarded to gambling portal
Web sites that meet our standards and are affiliated with
approved GPWA members
who abide by our code of conduct.
“To display the GPWA Seal on
your site proves to others that
you are legitimate and trustworthy all in one image,” says
Simon Jeacock, webmaster of
pokerprofileworld.com. “The
Seal lets people know they can
trust us and trust invariably
leads to referrals.”
Emmanuel Zerwes, webmaster of guide-casino.net, states,
“I can prove with the GPWA
Seal that my team runs a reputable Web site. This is a very
good thing, especially in this
industry.”
The GPWA Seal of Approval
has been awarded to 609 Web
sites, with recipients located
throughout 43 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 [email protected].
GPWA Times | GPWA Seal Program
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idealcasino.nu
•
•
•
•
•
•
Is managed independently of the online gambling Web sites it provides
information about or promotes.
Respects and upholds copyright standards.
Does not send spam e-mail.
Does not use malicious search engine optimization techniques such as
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Provides consumers with information extending beyond banner
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Acts professionally and respectfully in its business activities.
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GPWA Seal Program | GPWA Times
54
FROM THE
GPWA FORUMS
The GPWA forums are a vibrant community
where gambling portal webmasters come to
connect and share experiences, practices, advice and little bits of their lives, both personal
and professional. In this issue, GPWA members discuss how the current financial crisis
will impact the online gaming industry.
2
3
4
1
GPWA Times | From the GPWA Forums
5
55
6
9
10
7
8
11
From the GPWA Forums | GPWA Times
56
Meet the affiliate managers
This month we bring you not three, not four, but SEVEN interesting, informative, and often downright
riveting interviews with some of the most dedicated affiliate managers in the business. They’re based in
Australia, South Africa (2), Sweden, the U.K. (2), and Singapore by way of Australia and Fiji – and they’ve
got a world of experience and insight they want to share with you. Enjoy.
*Due to space constraints, we cannot print the interviews in their entirety. We will post the complete text at gpwa.org.
STEFFI KRATZ | ReferBack
Due to Microgaming’s decision to pull out of the
U.S., ReferBack recently stopped accepting U.S.
players, although you still are accepting U.S.based affiliates. How will ReferBack change to
better market to areas outside the U.S.? And
what tools is ReferBack providing to help its affiliates make the transition? Our local affiliates
are often the mediators between the different markets and us as the global operators and they usually
know what works best and what doesn’t to attract
their target audiences. Based on
the feedback we receive and our
own research, we provide localized marketing collateral (landing pages, banners, reviews in
the local languages), and gear
special promotions around local events (e.g., Oktoberfest in
Germany, Bastille Day in France,
etc.). When designing winning
advertisements we do consider
cultural differences with regards
to symbols, heroes, rituals, buzzwords, etc.
“Gut-feel and a creative
mind are great to
stimulate new ideas,
and you need to allow
yourself to think big,
but test small.”
From ReferBack’s side we provide our affiliates with
the right acquisition reports split into geographical areas for monitoring and planning purposes. They can
make use of our ad-trackers to monitor performance of
differently targeted marketing campaigns, and we offer
full support by our dedicated and international marketing team.
In addition to this, we are in the process of rolling out
even more multilingual landing pages for all our casinos and the Cool Hand Online Poker Room. Note that
our biggest casino brand, JackpotCity, is already available in 14 different languages! Affiliates who are keen to
provide targeted and localized content to their audience
should simply get in touch with us to explore the global
opportunities with ReferBack – there are plenty!
Earlier this year, ReferBack decided to delve
into the poker market with Cool Hand Poker.
Why did ReferBack decide to enter the poker
GPWA Times | Affiliate Manager Interview Series
market? What distinguishes Cool Hand Poker
from other sites? And what makes ReferBack’s
poker affiliate program unique? Poker globally
continues to grow at double-digit percentages every
quarter, and the volume of newbie players is growing
exponentially. Some of the top poker rooms are raking
in more than $1.3 million per day and new poker rooms
are launching all the time.
However, there’s still no online
poker environment catering
to the recreational player and
providing a “shark repellent,”
safe environment to play. This
is where we want to fill the gap
and create a lifestyle brand that
average poker players can build
an affinity towards.
Poker will be run independently to the casinos, with dedicated
poker resources, skills, metrics,
and thinking. We operate without the high-stake tables and
rather offer Cool Hand Poker
exclusive low buy-in tables in
order to increase the length of
play time (and hence the “rake
creation time” for our affiliates).
Our promotions are geared towards depositing players, and
by creating a lifestyle brand we
will drive loyalty, all of which
will translate back into delivering greater player value and
higher earnings for our affiliates.
You have a marketing background that includes both on- and off-line marketing.
What kind of off-line marketing did you do?
What lessons from off-line marketing translate well into online marketing? I worked as a
marketer in various industries ranging from fast
moving consumer goods (coffee, ketchup, beer,
57
and bubble bath) to industrial heating systems and e-mail marketing solutions in Germany, South Africa, and
the U.K.
Right from the start, I was keen to explore as many different communication channels as I could possibly find
to deliver my messages – from classic
PR and direct mailings, print advertising, exhibitions and seminars, catalogs,
POS-marketing, … over to email and
Web sites.
Addressing the right people in the right
manner at the right time and place is
the key – whether on- or off-line.
A lesson I learned and apply now to
both on- and off-line marketing is:
Gut-feel and a creative mind are great
to stimulate new ideas, and you need
to allow yourself to think big, but: test
small. Knowledge is power, so constantly learn about new ways to grow your
business and don’t be afraid of change.
Besides trust, what are the keys to
building successful relationships
between affiliates and affiliate programs? Relationships to me start with
being accessible and listening to new ideas
with an open mind. A relationship starts
when the interest is reciprocated. Working
together on finding solutions that work for
both parties ensures that these relationships can prevail over a long period of time.
To this end, communication is a key element and we do this via phone, MSN, Skype, email, forums, trade publications, and
of course face to face. Different methods
work for different people, and relationships
take time to build. ReferBack has been in
this space since 1999 and has a fantastic
reputation, which obviously helps!
In the forums, you mentioned you
were “German by right of succession, South African by choice.” What
does that mean? What it means is that
in Germany you acquire your citizenship if
a parent is a German citizen, irrespective of
place of birth. Well, I was born in Germany
to my German parents – which makes me
(you guessed it) German. However, my
own self-definition has moved beyond nationality: when I met my boyfriend in Cape
Town a few years back and started finding
new ‘cousins’ on this side of the world, this
motivated me to emigrate to be together
with them. My new social identity is now
based on an “extended family perception”
and I am proud to call myself a ”truly South
African Alien” whilst still remaining German at heart.
The metrics that only online marketing can
provide you with can give you deep insights
into customer behavior and will answer the
questions on what works and what does not.
So a very important lesson I’ve learned, especially in online marketing, is: If you can’t
measure it, don’t do it.
South Africa is an emerging consumer market with a vast diversity of people. It’s a
great place to be for anyone who embraces
change as I do. And last but not least: Cape
Town must be one of the most beautiful
places in the world – so the choice to move
here was easy.
You’ve mentioned that you like
painting pictures. What do you like
to paint? Could we see a sample? You
might not call my “art” very sophisticated
and I myself rather call it “spacefiller productions” but it’s out there primarily because I enjoy the process of using a brush
and mixing colors much more than the
actual results. Since I discovered photography as another hobby, I stay away from
trying to copy anything in a naturalistic
way. I enjoy bold colors and structures
– lately mixed up with a bit of 70s afro pop
art – and I usually try to get my friends involved in “filling out the patches”. This way,
I’m the proud owner of a whole collection
of diverse art pieces which grows year after
year, and one fine day I might open my own
“spacefiller productions gallery.”
What’s your favorite movie and why?
My favorite movie ever must be Drei Nüsse
für Aschenbrödel (Three Nuts for Cinderella) – or at least it’s the movie that I have
watched most times in my life. It’s a beauti-
ful Czechoslovakian-DDR movie production
based on a quite emancipated version of the
Cinderella story by the Brothers Grimm.
As a more current movie, I’d say Dr. Seuss’
Horton Hears a Who – I love this sort of
mind-boggling premise and the moral of “a
person is a person no matter how small.”
What was your favorite subject in
school? I think it was rhetoric (presentation techniques) because I could freely argue with anyone about any point – and I was
pretty good at it.
What are three things that no one knows
about you? I’m funny, actually. I own a big
mansion, two townhouses, and continuously develop more of my LEGO properties,
and lastly: I have three sisters, which equals
a black belt in psychological warfare.
Affiliate Manager Interview Series | GPWA Times
58
LINA ERIKSSON | Gnuf.biz
What distinguishes Gnuf from
other affiliate programs? Who
else has had a promo rolling
the world’s biggest dice down a
mountain? What more do I have
to say?! No, seriously, it’s a great
team behind the Gnuf partner
program with extensive experience from the gambling industry
– we don’t mind
saying that we’re
the top of the crop.
We’re very innovative, have lots of
great promotions,
and are always
open-minded for
new ideas. We’re
not afraid to try
out new things.
“We and the
affiliates are both
working toward the
same goal. It’s a twoway relationship,
and I expect them to
work as hard as we
do when we create a
special campaign
for them.”
Which markets do
most of your players come from?
Gnuf launched just
over two years ago,
and we’re based in
Scandinavia, also
with offices in Malta. So our main
market is mainly from the developed poker countries that try out
new brands, such as Scandinavia
and Germany. We’re very big in
those regions but we’re constantly
growing in mainland Europe. The
goal is of course to make Gnuf a
household brand, but still keep its
“Gnufness.”
One of your commercials on
the Internet was nominated
for an award this year. What
is the commercial about? And
how did Gnuf come up with
it? As mentioned earlier, it takes
a team that is not afraid of trying
new things to pull off a campaign
like that. It was a very cool promo,
and hey, we were not just nominated – we actually won! Have
you seen anything like that in online gaming advertising?
We rolled the world’s biggest dice
from the top of a mountain in
Greenland using a helicopter and
the players had to guess the dice
roll outcome. Being that the result
ended up as “snake eyes” just increased the hype around it. Those
affiliates that came to Barcelona
in 2007 could see the two massive
dice, which we brought along with
us. OK, we managed to wreck the
entrance of the hotel with them,
but it was worth it.
How did you get started in the
online gambling business?
Well, I moved to London back in
2004. I was looking around for a
job, and a Swedish customer support position in a gambling company came up. I thought I’d give
it a go and soon after I started,
a Swedish-speaking person was
required for the affiliate department, so I jumped at the opportunity – and the rest, as they say, is
history.
You recently left a position in
the affiliate marketing department of Gala Coral, which has
a strong land-based presence. How is it different working for
a company that is exclusively
online? Working for a company
such as Gala, which had a large
amount of land-based clubs, had
its benefits. The brand was already established and known and
the wealth of experience brought
by the land-based staff helped in
tuning online incentives, games,
and promotions.
On the other hand, working for a
company with no bricks and mortar and policies legacy is lighter and
more flexible. The online customer
base has a wider demography and
the industry is more vibrant and
dynamic and has fresh aspiration.
This triggers more challenges and
quicker response without having
to justify moves to the more heavy
structure and brand identity that
an established land-based operator may have. The online industry
requires a faster change of direction as and when necessary.
Working on the Internet is exciting and challenging and requires
a “thinking out of the box” approach without the fear of trying
many new concepts.
What’s the most difficult part
of your job? Not be too stressed
about the MSN flashing every
second… lol. There’s a lot going
on all the time, so it’s important
to be focused and be ahead of everything that’s going on. Then of
course, it’s the morning after the
affiliate events; that’s not an easy
part, either.
What’s the most exciting part
of your job? Each day is different from the previous one, plus
meeting new affiliates and building strong relationships is incredibly cool and rewarding. The work
also includes a lot of traveling
around the world to meet with
everyone. It is a social job, and it
is important for me to get a face
to the people I am working with,
and I know the affiliates like that
as well.
What’s the last book you read?
What did you like about it?
Last book I read was The Chamber, by John Grisham. You can’t
stop reading it, it’s intriguing.
What’s your favorite movie
and why? Crash – it’s a great
movie that touches a lot of emotions. I love films that have a twist
to them.
What’s the first concert you attended in person? Do I have to
tell you that? It was Roxette, I was
only about 10 years old… “It must
have been love.”
If you had to live your life over
again, what one thing would
you change? Nothing; you
shouldn’t have any regrets. Everything that happens, happens
for a reason.
60
GRANT COOK | Commission Warehouse
Commission Warehouse represents one brand – Players
Palace Casino – at the moment. What are the advantages to working with an affiliate
program that is focused on a
single brand? I think the most
important thing is, as you mentioned, focus. Our energy and
resources are not spread across
multiple brands and offers. This
allows us to give greater attention
to detail when it comes to marketing materials, Web site appearance and content, and exclusive
offers and creative materials that
our affiliates may require. We offer all of this in English, French,
German, and Italian so while it all
falls under Players
Palace Casino we
actually have four
brands under one.
That said, you can
rest assured that all
of our focus and efforts are where they
should be 24/7!
“Affiliates know
what works best
with their players,
and we are happy
to oblige with
exclusive offers,
creatives, and
promotions. We
believe that affiliates
are business
partners and treat
them as such.”
Players Palace Casino has gone a different route than
most other sites
when it comes to
sign-up bonuses.
The casino gives
players a “free”
$2,000
bankroll
for 60 minutes. And whatever
the winnings are (up to $200),
the casino will match it. Why
did Players Palace Casino settle
on this offer, rather than the
traditional no-deposit or deposit-matching sign-up bonus?
When deciding on our sign-up offer we put careful consideration
into what would work best for our
affiliates and give players the best
and most attractive introduction
to our casino. With the majority
of casinos offering the standard
100% match offer we thought it
was extremely important to differentiate ourselves. The reaction
to our $2,000 no-deposit offer
has been phenomenal. Players
get the opportunity to experience
our casino, and to maximize their
bonus before making a purchase.
Through this offer we get huge
numbers of registering players,
who get exposure to our casino.
Our custom-built, behavior-driven
conversion system then kicks in,
leading to far greater numbers of
purchasing players than you would
get with the standard offers.
What distinguishes Players
Palace Casino from other online casinos? Apart from our
fantastic product offering, being
a Microgaming casino with over
350 games, we put a huge amount
of effort and importance into our
customer entertainment and service. This is one area where, with
the correct approach and dedication, it is possible to distinguish
ourselves from all the other casinos out there. Apart from our
proactive retention efforts and
fantastic promotions, we make it
as simple as possible for players
to get in touch with us. We have
24/7 international toll-free numbers, live chat, and email support.
Every player is treated like a VIP,
and receives immediate and thorough responses. We even encourage players to get in touch with
us to let us know how they would
like to be rewarded for their play
in our casino, and tailor make our
rewards and loyalty program for
players on an individual basis.
What distinguishes Commission Warehouse from other
affiliate programs? We have a
fantastic affiliate team with years
of experience in the industry, but
most importantly, huge enthusiasm for what we do. We have
dedicated affiliate managers for
all our affiliates, and strive to
build not only great business relationships, but lasting friendships
with our marketing partners. Our
affiliates are never grouped by
performance, as we endeavor to
treat all of our partners according
to their particular needs, and provide them with the individualistic
support that they deserve. Affiliates know what works best with
their players, and we are happy
to oblige with exclusive offers,
creatives, and promotions. We
believe that affiliates are business
partners and treat them as such.
of your job? Monday mornings!
Every other obstacle pales into insignificance.
of your job? Meeting new affiliates and getting to know them. It
is unbelievably exciting starting new marketing partnerships
and watching the results from
our combined efforts. It’s great
watching affiliates’ commission
payments growing substantially
on a month-to-month basis as a
direct result of different things we
try.
Trust is often cited as one of
the critical components of successful relationships between
affiliates and affiliate programs. How do you go about
establishing trust with your
affiliates? Trust is something
that is earned with time and effort, but can be lost in the blink of
an eye! I think honest intentions
and truthful communication are
absolutely essential to build trust
in any environment, and particularly in our industry. My hope
from affiliates is that they will always be open and honest with me
in return. Poor communication
leads to misunderstandings that
99% of the time are completely
avoidable. A true and lasting relationship is not possible without
regular and honest communication.
Besides trust, what are the
keys to building successful
relationships between affiliates and affiliate programs?
Teamwork, dedication, and fast
61
payments. Accurate reporting, quick resolution of queries, and great marketing
materials. Exceptional conversion and retention rates, oh, and did I mention fast
payments?
How do you help affiliates position
themselves to maximize profitability?
As mentioned, we have an extremely advanced reporting system that greatly enhances campaign optimization. We have a
fantastic sign-up offer for attracting new
players, and put a huge amount of effort
into our conversion and retention strategies to maximize profit from players. I
think most importantly, though, we listen
to what our affiliates want and need.
How did you get started in this business? I come from a Corporate Sales and
Key Account Management background. A
good friend of mine was Head of Business
Development and Marketing at one of the
first Microgaming casino groups in the industry, and hounded me for months to join
them. I eventually agreed, and with the excitement and energy in the online gaming
community, haven’t looked back since.
What songs are currently on your
iPod? I change the music on my iPod
about as often as I change my socks (which
is every day, by the way)! Today I happen
to be listening to Jack Johnson.
What’s the last book you read? What
did you like about it? The World According to Garp. I enjoyed the way the
author has taken unbelievable characters
and situations, and made them completely believable.
one! If I have to be honest, it was Dolly
Parton and Kenny Rogers. My parents
took me along as a kid. I don’t remember Kenny Rogers too well, but for some
reason (at that impressionable age), my
memories of Dolly Parton have never left
me!
What’s your favorite board game? 30
Seconds.
If you had to live your life over again,
what one thing would you change? I
would have been born rich instead of good
looking….ha ha!
What are three things that no one
knows about you? I talk too much to
have any secrets about myself!
What’s the first concert you attended
in person? Oh man, you got me on this
62
RAKESH KARAN | Lion Slots Affiliates
You’ve had an interesting
journey through life. You were
born in Fiji, before migrating
to Australia. And now you live
in Singapore. Please walk us
through this journey. I left Fiji
In addition to traditional slots,
Lion Slots Casino features a
special category of games
called I-Slots. Can you explain
how they are different from
regular slots? I-Slots are fan-
when I was 10 years old. The coup
worried my folks, and I think they
wanted a more certain future for
their kids. Leaving Australia for
Singapore was purely motivated
by work reasons. I travel back
home every two months to see
the girl, the dog, the family, and
the friends.
tastic story-based slots games.
They have mini movie clips and
mini games. Players can choose
the path in which they want the
story to go. I-Slots has been a part
of the Rival Software lineup since
Day 1, and it still continues to be
one of the most popular slots on
Lion Slots.
“Affiliates know their
traffic better than
anyone else. All we
expect is exposure….
Once the players
come in, leave it to us
to convert them.”
What’s the best
thing about living in Singapore?
What about the
worst? The best
thing? Oh, that’s
easy, the food.
They really do
have it all here.
Your taste buds
get a good workout! The worst
thing about living in Singapore is
the insane rent; other than that I
am pretty adaptable!
The name of your brand, Lion
Slots Casino, indicates that
slots players make up the majority of your customers. Is
that true? Yes, it’s a touch over
97%.
What are the demographics
of your current players? And
what are the demographics of
the players you’re trying to attract? Demographics: slots players, plain and simple. Men and
women who enjoy slots are going
to enjoy Lion Slots. We tailor our
promotions around slots-play as
well. I think you’ll find more and
more online casinos come out targeting slots players over a general
attract-all brand.
How did you get started in the
online gambling business?
Back in the day when Party Poker
first started out, I worked with a
couple of guys running a Party
Gaming casino skin. I’m not sure
how serious they were about it,
but I saw the revenue potential,
and became an affiliate. Three to
four years later, a friend of mine
mentioned that Adriches was
looking for an affiliate manager.
I applied on the closing day, and
got the job the next day. The jump
to the operator side was an eye
opener and exposed me to another side of business logic. I haven’t
looked back since.
You’ve done some SEO work
before. What are three common mistakes that all affiliates
should avoid? Who have you been
talking to? Haha. Webmasters are
a lot more savvy these days, but I’d
say three common mistakes to avoid
are:
1. Don’t overextend yourself by trying to build 5+ sites at one time. Start
off with one, work on it, develop it,
grow it, push it, and then start on
the next site. Once you’re comfortable enough to handle developing a
couple of sites at once, go crazy.
2. Don’t just focus on your content,
get links to your Web sites. You’ll
hear this consistently from the big
affiliates.
3. Keep your ears open, read, and interact with other webmasters. Read,
persist, learn, and implement. Engines are forever changing, and
there are always new techniques,
ideas, and concepts to learn.
the critical components of
successful relationships between affiliates and affiliate
programs. How do you go
about establishing trust with
your affiliates? And what do
you expect out of your affiliates in return? Just like meeting
someone in the real world, introduce yourself, make yourself easily accessible, and keep in touch
with your advertisers. Be upfront
on what you can and can’t offer;
it is business, but it doesn’t have
to get in the way of what could
possibly be a great friendship in
a tight-knit industry. Affiliates
know their traffic better than anyone else. All we expect is exposure
to Lion Slots. Once the players
come in, leave it to us to convert
them. When everyone is making
money, everyone is happy!
What are some unique things
that you’ve seen work for
some affiliates that you would
like others to try? Increase the
professionalism of your Web
sites. Homepage-style Web sites
used to work well, but nowadays you see a new breed of sites
where the graphics are slick, with
web2.0 layouts and newsletter
systems. The owners of these sites
have great conversions, and make
themselves accessible to their
traffic. A great way to build trust,
and get return traffic.
What are three things that no
one knows about you? I am
an open book; everyone knows
something about me! But what
people might not know about me
is that:
1. I love peace and quiet.
2. I am a Trekkie.
3. I met Mr. T when I was a kid!
63
SHAUN O’NEILL | Wager Profits
Wager Profits started marketing
PayNoRake.com recently. What was
the thought process behind launching PayNoRake.com? What differentiates it from the other poker rooms
that Wager Profits markets? We
wanted to launch a unique product that
rewards the player and the affiliate like
no other poker site. We’ve seen rakeback
grow to unbelievable levels as players
have become more educated and understand they can play a game that they
enjoy and be rewarded at the same time.
So it seemed like a natural progression to
launch www.PayNoRake.com, the only
poker site in the gaming industry that is
solely dedicated to rakeback.
Actually, each of our sites has unique
selling points. TigerGaming is focused
on TeamTiger, which is a player league
based on ring games. ActionPoker has a
good mix of ring games but its main focus
is on tournaments. The major difference
between PayNoRake and the other
merchants that Wager Profits markets is that players can earn up to
100% rakeback and payments are
made directly to players’ accounts
on a daily basis. Consequently,
PayNoRake has a very strong focus
on ring games.
At that point, I was offered the role of
Sales Manager for the leading gambling
publication in Germany and Spain. This
proved to be my first real taste of the
gaming industry. Soon I was dealing
with most of the major operators in the
business. But, in all honesty, I really got
hooked when I started hearing about all
the trips to exotic countries and the wild
conferences and parties. But the biggest
lure had to be the money that I heard people got paid in the gambling industry.
After two years of working for the publication, I was offered a great opportunity
with Action Poker Network and I was then
swiftly moved to Wager Profits (the affiliate department of APN) as the Affiliate
Manager. Just prior to Barcelona, I was
promoted to Director of Affiliate Marketing for Wager Profits and…here we are!
What are your three keys to success
for an affiliate? A good knowledge of
who doesn’t own
an iPod or MP3
player. Actually, I
almost bought an
iPod a couple of
months ago, but
deciding which one
to buy was just too
strenuous - so I left.
What’s your favorite movie and why? I’m huge fan of
English gangster movies. I don’t really
have a favorite, but there are movies like
Snatch, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking
Barrels, Layer Cake, and Love, Honor
and Obey that I can just watch over and
over again - the reason being that they are
full of English humor which you just don’t
get in the big U.S. blockbusters.
What’s the first concert you attended
in person? Again you’ll never believe me,
but I’ve never actually been to a concert.
I’m starting to sound dull: no iPod,
no MP3, no concert… music is simply not a big part of my life. But if I
had the chance to see anybody live, I
guess it would have to be Jamie Callum.
“The most important factor is to
be transparent. When you have
nothing to hide, there is nothing
to be afraid of.”
Wager Profits was recently certified
by Affiliate Guard Dog. How important was that for Wager Profits? It was
extremely important, especially because
they didn’t ask us to modify any of our
Terms and Conditions. There’s nothing
more important than having places like
Affiliate Guard Dog give you their seal of
approval because, in this industry, being
transparent and honoring commitments
should be the basis of any affiliate relationship.
How did you get started in the online
gambling business? After working for
the same finance company for three years
in the U.K., I found myself running the
biggest and most successful team of brokers in company history. Realizing I had
peaked with the company, I started to get
bored. So I started looking for new challenges.
SEO is a major plus, followed up with
some unique offerings to really attract
players, and good communication with
the affiliate program that you work with.
You have a good Irish name. Yet you
live in Costa Rica. Are you a transplanted Irishman? And how did you
end up in Costa Rica? I have an Irish
father, an English mother, and a love
for the finest drink in the world - being a
good pint of Guinness, of course. Sadly, I
haven’t been able to find it in Costa Rica,
but I’m sure I’ll be drinking a fair few of
them in London in January.
I came to Costa Rica in January 2008,
and I was offered a great job with Wager
Profits. As they say, the rest is history.
iPod or MP3 player? Believe it or not,
What’s your favorite board
game? I played a lot of chess when
I was younger and I still love the game.
But I haven’t played for over 15 years
or so. Recently, I played a game of Monopoly which proved to be a huge amount
of fun, as we ended up consuming about
seven bottles of red wine. So I would have
to say currently my favorite board game
has to be Monopoly with vast amounts of
red wine.
If you had to live your life over again,
what one thing would you change?
To be honest, I wouldn’t change any part
of my life if had to live it again. I’m quite
a calculating person, so any real decisions
that I’ve made in my life had a fair bit of
thought behind them.
knows about you? If I told you that,
then everybody would know…
I must be the only person on this planet
64
NEIL MITCHELL | Webroute Services
CPays, Webroute Services,
and William Hill are merging
their affiliate programs. What
changes can affiliates expect
from the new program? This
is a really exciting venture. We
are combining the affiliate companies of Webroute, CPays, and
William Hill to form a super affiliate program. This will mean
more choice for our affiliates
and players, more products to
promote including casino, poker, sportsbook, bingo, and skill
games, and a brand new affiliate
software system which we believe will be the best anywhere
in the market.
“Be patient and
don’t expect
immediate results.
Learn and learn
and learn and learn
– learn about SEO,
learn about PPC –
even if you don’t use
it your competitors
may well do.”
What will the
impact be on
agreements for
existing players? The only im-
pact will be positive. Our players
will be able to play
more games, use
additional products, and using
one single wallet will be able to
move their money
between
products. William Hill
customers
will
also benefit significantly from the Playtech casino
games and the liquidity of iPoker.
Also, with William Hill now moving to the Orbis platform, our players will see significant improvements in the sportsbook as well.
There seem to be two general
models for affiliate programs.
One is a network that represents multiple brands and the
other is a focused program
that represents a few brands.
What are the strengths and
weaknesses of each model? I
think we will now be able to offer the best of both worlds, with
over 20 casino brands in 10 lan-
guages, three poker brands, and
a sportsbook brand, which is second to none. Our affiliates have a
wide choice as to what they want
to promote and what their players will like. However, our players
and affiliates also have the knowledge and confidence that all these
brands are owned by one company which is publically traded, licensed in the EU, and committed
to the values of honesty, integrity,
and trust. I think it is this combination which will make this the
first true super affiliate program.
What are your three keys to
success for an affiliate? Identify
your target market and build your
activities around that. Generate
traffic, this is key. No traffic means
no players. Be patient and don’t expect immediate results. Learn and
learn and learn and learn – learn
about SEO, learn about PPC – even
if you don’t use it your competitors may well do. Ask your affiliate manager questions, write your
own content, and write it in a way
that will make interesting reading
for a potential player – the stickier
your site is then the more chance
of conversion. Build a relationship
with your affiliate manager (it’s
amazing what they can do for you
sometimes). Read and contribute
to the forums, and don’t spend all
your earnings on fast cars – put
some aside for tax, and some aside
to reinvest into your site(s).
How did you get started in this
business? I have been in online
for seven years now, and before
that I worked in radio for another four or five – doing sponsorships and promotions, that kind
of thing. Online seemed a logical
career move for me, and I worked
in various agencies and Affiliate
Networks before I was recruited
to Webroute.
What songs are on your iPod?
Midnight Juggernauts, Nine Inch
Nails, Grandaddy, Beirut, Fightstar, Deftones, Goose, Arcade Fire
– all kinds. I used to be a musician, you know.
We heard that you and your
wife had your first child in
September. How has she
changed your outlook on life?
I am lucky that I have a wife who
is very relaxed about what I do. I
get up at 5.30 every day to get into
the office for 8.15, and get home
about 20:00, so I don’t get much
time with the wife or Daisy during
the week. To deal with that I got
rid of the laptop as I found that
all I did was sit in the front room
with them, logged on! It does get
tiring, especially at the moment
with it being our first, and what
with Daisy being so small and up
every few hours for a feed, but the
thing that surprised me most was
just how much time I must have
wasted by sleeping in when I was
younger!
If you were casting a movie
in which you played the lead
role, and you had your choice
of anyone in the world, who
would you pick to play your
romantic interest? Oooh. I don’t
really go for people solely based on
looks (don’t tell the wife) – I like
quirks and interesting eyes. Eyes
really tell you something about a
person. So with that criterion in
mind, probably Christina Ricci.
Our crack research team reports you’ve suffered several
injuries playing football. What
are the two worst injuries you
had? How did you get them?
And how long did it take for
you to recover? Heh – I have
had numerous bone fractures,
ruptured tendons, and the usual
battlescars from high studs, etc.,
but the worst injury I ever had was
the time when a player thought
I fouled him and he jumped up.
Instead of punching me, he just
straight finger-jabbed me in the
eye, detaching the retina and
65
making me blind. Dodgy enough, but I got
taken to a specialist eye hospital in London and after two days they operated.
Done under a local (!) the process involved
clamping my eye open and making three
incisions into the eyeball, one for a drain,
one for a camera and one for a “laser.”
They suck out all the jelly in the eye, laser
the retina back onto the back of the eye,
and then inflate it with air and stitch it up.
I was awake for all five hours of it.
replace the air, and in time replace the
jelly they sucked out so you can see again.
If you move about then you run the risk
of washing out the stitches and your eye
collapses.
Also football related – although I was
watching this time, not playing – was
the time I had been to watch England vs.
Greece a few years ago – the one where
Beckham scored in the last minute and
England got into the Euro Championships.
Having a series of injections in your eyeball is possibly the most painful thing I
have endured, and the smell of the laser
burning into your head is interesting to
say the least....
When we got to Earls Court tube station,
I was on the phone to a friend and picked
up another friend’s bag, threw it over my
shoulder, and....just went backwards.
Anyway, five hours later, my eye is reinflated and I have nine stitches in the eyeball. I then had to lie on my side for 20 out
of 24 hours a day for 10 days (!), as your
body produces tears which fill the eye and
I remember throwing my phone towards
the platform, and then waking up in a special room at the station with a bandage on
my head and the ambulance people saying that there was no way I should have
been alive. Apparently when I landed on
the track my body was face down and my
face was turned 180 degrees, facing up
at the platform with my eyes open. I was
bleeding from the back of my head. People
were apparently screaming and parents
were shielding their children’s eyes (it was
like, half 5 in the evening).The ambulance
people couldn’t work out how I hadn’t
been electrocuted or broken my neck in
the fall.
The only reason I wasn’t hit by a train is
that apparently four Australians saw what
happened and then jumped down and
lifted me out before the next train stopped,
which at Earls Court is every few minutes.
Apart from the cut on my head, concussion, and a bruise/burny type thing down
my back I was totally unharmed.
I never met the Australians.
66
KAYE | Klub8
Klub8 is offered in two languages – Chinese and English.
Clearly, part of your focus is on
the Chinese market. In terms
of marketing to a Chinese audience, what kinds of problems do search engine filters
provide for you? And what
tips can you
provide
affiliates
in
terms
of
“We encourage
handling these
our affiliates to issues? In spe-
share ideas and
give constructive
feedback. This is
how we will grow
and become the best
at what we do!”
cific reference to
the Chinese audience in China, yes,
there are challenges we face with
search engine filters. Many online
casino/gambling
terms are prohibited and many
sites are blocked
on a daily basis. This is an issue
that we are forever tackling. Ask
anyone who is dealing with SEO
for gaming sites in China and
they will tell you it’s a hard one to
crack.
It helps to use languages other
than Chinese and to use Chinese
euphemisms. There are many
different words we can use to describe a gambling establishment
besides the word “casino.” These
words may also carry other meanings and therefore the likelihood
of them being blocked is considerably lower than, let’s say, the
word “casino.”
SEO work for gambling sites in
China will always be an expensive
and challenging task. So, apart
from SEO, we have also invested
in other marketing strategies to
promote Klub8 Casino and Klub8
Poker in the region.
Is the English-language casino
and poker room you offer directed toward people in the
Chinese market who prefer to
play in English, or is it designed
for the general English-speaking audience? Our English-language casino and poker room are
targeted at both English-speaking
Chinese players and the general
English-speaking audience. Our
product caters to both markets.
Most (if not all) of your table
games feature “live” dealers.
Why did you choose to go this
route rather than stick with
pure electronic table games?
We actually offer live games as
well as RNG (random number
generator) games.
We understand that not one product will appeal to everyone, so we
try to offer our players a large
variety of slots, table games, and
Asian games as well as entertaining arcade games. However, live
games, featuring real-time live
dealers, are exceptionally popular, especially in Asian countries.
Live gaming adopts the very latest
in gaming software and technology.
I was involved in the very first live
gaming facility in Asia. I worked
with a specialist team of technicians and casino croupiers for a
period of two years in the Philippines. Up to now, I am still
amazed with what we can achieve
with modern-day technology.....
The great thing about live games
is that they bring us one big step
closer to the reality of playing in
a real casino. Players can play in
the comfort of their own home
but still experience the interaction with the dealer, see cards being drawn from the shoe, see the
ball being spun as they would in a
land-based casino. With our Live
VIP Baccarat, which is absolutely
phenomenal, players are able to
send specific instructions to the
dealer to make the experience
even more real. These instructions include squeezing the card,
rotating the card, and tossing the
card.
out!
You really have to try it
How did you get started in
the online gambling business? Completely by chance. I
started off in an administrative
role which was completely nongaming in nature and then slowly
progressed to the gaming areas
of the organization. I have since
worked in the Philippines, Macau
and now I am in Australia.
of your job? I love this job because it’s dynamic and I learn
something new every day.
I
wouldn’t use the word “difficult”
but I guess dealing with all the
different time zones can be challenging. We pretty much have to
work around the clock, don’t we?
Having said that, the many great
things about this job still heavily
outweigh the so-called difficulties.
of your job? Definitely being
able to meet and interact with
people from all over the world and
from all walks of life. The gaming
industry is just so dynamic. It is
forever growing and I learn something new every day. I am always
excited when I find new ways to
promote the business. I am grateful for all the wonderful people
that I have met so far.
the critical components of
successful relationships between affiliates and affiliate
programs. How do you go
about establishing trust with
your affiliates? And what do
you expect out of your affiliates in return? Our affiliates are
our business partners. We aim
to establish a strong and friendly
relationship with all our affiliates from day one. This requires
us to stand by our promises and
show our affiliates that we take
67
What are your three keys to success
for an affiliate?
1. Be quick to respond to questions and
requests.
2. Pay on time.
3. Be human and don’t sound like a robot
iPod (or MP3 player)? Wow, I have so
many songs, where do I start? Music is
such a huge part of my life. I cannot work
without music playing in the background
and I cannot get ready for a big night out
without the speakers pumping away. So,
I have a song for every mood and occasion. My song collection on my iPod ranges from Armin van Buuren to Barney &
Friends (sorry, did I mention that I have
a four-year-old daughter?).
What’s the last book you read? What
did you like about it? For the past two
weeks I have been reading secretly in my
room at night. Trying to keep a low profile and not let anyone know what I’ve
got in my hands and here you are, asking
me this question in public, LOL. The last
book I read was The Proper Care & Feeding of Husbands by Dr. Laura C. Schlessinger. It was a going-away gift given
to me last month. And no, not from my
husband, but from a girlfriend of mine in
Hong Kong, who obviously thinks I am
doing a lousy job. I have just finished it
and I am yet to analyze what I liked about
it…LOL!
What’s your favorite movie and why?
our business very seriously. We will pay
on time, address e-mails and questions
promptly, and operate our business with
integrity.
In return, we basically want our affiliates
to treat us as business partners. We encourage our affiliates to share ideas and
give constructive feedback. This is how
we will grow and become the best at what
we do!
In an industry where everyone’s inbox
is always overloaded, e-mail management and organization is a critical
skill. How do you manage your email? What tips can you share?
I follow four basic rules:
1. I set aside uninterrupted time to organize and process my e-mails. I usually do
this first thing in the morning. During
this time, I set myself to busy on IM and
make sure that my phone is on silent.
2. I do not let my inbox pile up. I sort it
every day as opposed to once a week.
3. I like to have everything come into my
inbox as opposed to setting rules where
e-mails are automatically sent to folders. This way, I know that everything that
I need to look at and deal with is in my
inbox. Yes, I know some people would
never ever open up their Outlook again
if they adopted my method, but it works
well for me.
4. And when things get stressful and I
seem helpless, I just take a big, big, big
breath and…start again.
It would have to be Sex and the City! I
love Sarah Jessica Parker and I love everything about her character in the show,
Carrie. I was so depressed when the movie came to an end!
What was your favorite subject in
school? And why was it your favorite
subject? Japanese was my favorite subject in school because it was the easiest. I
definitely had an advantage by knowing
Chinese. The Japanese language adopted
some Chinese characters into their language. These characters are known as
Kanji. I could always work out what the
sentence meant by just recognizing one
or two Kanji characters.
knows about you? I can’t even think of
one! I have nothing to hide.
69
THE BEST AND WORST FROM AFFILIATE GUARD DOG
Affiliate Guard Dog (GPWA screen name: kwblue) provides
a critical service for affiliates by monitoring the terms and
conditions of online gambling affiliate programs using a
special Terms Alert System. And when something changes,
he analyzes the differences and posts the changes and his
analysis on www.affiliateguarddog.com. Below is a list of
affiliate programs that Affiliate Guard Dog has certified as fair
to affiliates, and a list of programs that have been rogued.
Certified Casino Affiliates
400 Affiliates
Absolute Slots Affiliates
Affiliate Club
Affiliate Edge
Affilishare
BetFred
Brightshare
Casino Coins
Casino Rewards
Centrebet Affiliates
Commission Warehouse
C-Planet (Formerly Affibucks)
CWC Affiliates
Euro Partners
Fortune Affiliates
G3 Partner
GA Partners
Gambling Wages
Gaming Partners
Gnuf.biz
Goldenstar Network
Heroes Casino Affiliates
Hollywood Affiliates
Horse Profits
iGaming Profits
Intertops
Lionslots Affiliates
Pantasia Affiliates
Partner Nordica
Prime Partners
Purple Lounge Affiliates
Red Returns
Referback
Revenue Giants
Rich Clicks
Roxy Affiliates
Simon Says Affiliates
Slotocash Affiliates
Slots Of Fortune Affiliates
Superiorshare
Tila Cash Affiliate Program
Totesport Affiliates
Villento Affiliates
Virgin Affiliates
Wager Profits
Roguehouse
Grand Prive Affiliates
Red Hot Revenue
Villa Fortuna Affiliates
| GPWA Times
70
AVOIDING THE
8
Ready to break into
the poker market?
Don’t do any of
these things!
By Jeremy Enke
Throughout the last seven years, I have
had the unique opportunity to work closely with and mentor hundreds of new poker
affiliates. During this time I have had the
chance to see many affiliates go from doing poker affiliate marketing as a hobby,
to making it a full-time, six-figure career.
Any time you enter a new affiliate marketing vertical, there is a definite learning
curve. With online poker, this is especially
true. Promoting online poker is a completely different animal than promoting
online casinos. Nonetheless it is a market
that is consistently growing throughout
the world. And even more exciting, it is a
market where gaming affiliates can build
a great residual income. Inevitably, however, when starting out, most new poker
affiliates will make mistakes.
In this article, I will point out some of the
more common mistakes I have seen new
poker affiliates make through the years.
My hope is that by learning about these
common mistakes and pitfalls, GPWA
readers considering breaking into the
poker affiliate market will decrease their
learning curve. They are listed in no specific order.
COMMON POKER AFFILIATE
MISTAKES & PITFALLS
1
Expecting too much too soon
— Running a poker affiliate business is just that; you are running
a business. Although there is a
huge amount of money to be made in the
industry, it is not a get rich quick scheme.
As with any business, you are investing
time and energy for future earnings. You
should not expect to make any type of substantial income in your first six months.
Furthermore, you should be re-investing
a good portion of your initial poker affiliate earnings back into growing your business.
2
Playing poker with your affiliate revenue — I feel compelled to write this because I see
it happen all too often. Many
new poker affiliates started in the industry because they were poker players first.
This is fine, but if you want to become a
successful poker affiliate, it will be critical
that you separate your affiliate earnings
from your traditional poker bankroll. The
fact is that 90% of online poker players
are losing or break-even players. More
than likely you’re not a multi-millionaire
from playing online poker. If you were,
you probably wouldn’t be reading this affiliate article!
Just as important as separating your affiliate earnings from your bankroll is separating your work time from your poker playing time. Anyone who has played online
poker knows that it can be a black hole in
terms of eating away at your time. If you
want to be a successful poker affiliate, you
will have to focus on your business more
than your play. Sorry, that is just the reality of it. But trust me: getting five-figure
poker affiliate payments each month is
much more rewarding than winning an
occasional pot or tournament.
3
Not learning the fundamentals of SEO — Learning the
fundamentals of search engine
optimization is critical for your
success as a poker affiliate. You can still
make a decent income as a poker affiliate
GPWA Times | Avoiding the 8 Common Poker Affiliate Mistakes & Pitfalls
without utilizing SEO. However, if you
plan on having any type of Web site or
portal, embracing SEO will increase your
traffic and earnings exponentially. In fact,
99% of the affiliates who are earning six
figures per month are doing so because
they mastered SEO. There are still several
keywords and long-tail phrases in the online poker market that are profitable and
attainable for new affiliates.
4
Business ethics — It is not
hard to see the potential revenue
that can be made as a poker affiliate. Many new affiliates, however, get blinded by these numbers and
try “black hat” techniques or unethical
practices. If you are going to build a longterm business model, you have to be ethical and earn the trust and respect of the
affiliate programs, as well as your fellow
poker affiliates in the industry. Once you
establish your reputation as an unethical
affiliate, it is very difficult to do business
in the industry.
A few of the most common unethical
practices we see new affiliates partake in
are spamming, copying content and CPA
fraud. Smart affiliates realize that being
a poker affiliate can be a great long-term
career and do not want to risk their future
earning potential by making bad decisions
in the beginning.
5
Promoting too many Web
sites at once — Of course the
goal for any successful poker affiliate is to diversify and operate
multiple Web sites in various niches. It is
easy in the beginning, however, to lose focus and have too many eggs in too many
baskets. When starting out, it is best to
learn the core fundamentals while keeping your focus on either one or just a few
Internet properties. Doing this will also allow you to develop your “flagship” brand,
which can act as a catalyst for future projects or sites.
71
6
Failure to surround yourself with other successful
affiliates — The principle of surrounding yourself with successful
people is one that is taught in almost every
business book you read. I cannot overemphasize how beneficial it is as a poker affiliate to become friends with, and surround
yourself with, others who are successful in
the industry. The unique thing about the
poker affiliate industry is that although
many of us are essentially competitors, several of us are also friends.
When you run in the same circles as many of
the other successful affiliates, it will open up
doors for you that you may not have known
existed. Think about how valuable this
could be in respect to even links exchanges
and joint ventures. Not only this, but when
you surround yourself with other successful poker affiliates, it helps to elevate your
thinking to a higher level. The best thing
you can do is to find a good mentor who has
already became a success in this industry.
If nothing else, at least become an active
member in one of the forums endorsed at
AffiliateForumAlliance.com.
7
Not having a specific plan and
written goals — The importance
of having written goals and a specific daily, weekly, and monthly
plan cannot be overstated. Without setting
goals or having a plan of attack, it is very easy
to lose focus. In poker affiliate marketing,
there are so many different things you
can be doing every day to increase your
revenues. And if you don’t have a plan,
it is very easy to become unproductive and lose valuable time. The easiest way I have found to stay organized
and on task is by having a white board
in my office. I am constantly updating
the board, and it also keeps my most
important tasks and
goals in front
of me on
a daily
basis.
Having a written plan is simply the roadmap
that leads you to accomplishing the goals
you have written down.
8
If you’re not a Web designer,
outsource at first — One of the
biggest drains of time for a new
poker affiliate can be trying to figure out Web design. In time it is not hard
to learn html, CSS, php, and coding. In the
beginning, however, it can be a tremendously frustrating experience and actually
a reason many affiliates give up on affiliate
marketing. The price of Web design and
templates has come down quite a bit over
the past few years. However, from past
experience I can tell you that if you’re a
complete newbie to Web design, spend a
few dollars to have it done right or at the
very least buy a template.
Overall, poker affiliate marketing is one of
the most lucrative Internet businesses in
the world. Although it can
be difficult for a new
affiliate to break
into, once you
do, you will
never look
back.
Jeremy Enke is the
CEO of Jeremy Enke’s
Poker Affliate Listings
(PokerAffiliateListings.
com). Jeremy has
dedicated over six years
to the poker affiliate
market, with an overall
mission throughout this
time of helping affiliate
marketers reach their
full potential and become
more successful in this
terrific industry. Jeremy
has been involved in the
poker affiliate industry
since 2003. Founding
the world’s largest poker
affiliate community,
followed by the world’s
largest poker affiliate
network, Jeremy likes
to refer to himself as a
self-proclaimed Certified
Baller. Jeremy’s sense of
humor and entrepreneurial
spirit are second to none.
| GPWA Times
by J. Todd, Executive Director, APCW
The online gambling industry is under assault from people both outside the industry and inside the industry. And I’m not going to
take it anymore. I’m naming names and saying, “Shame on you. Shame on you for trying to outlaw online gambling. Shame on you
for trying to keep hard-working people from making a living. And shame on you for giving online gambling a bad name.” So in this
issue, I’m nailing four fresh hides to my Wall of Shame. These four specimens represent the worst of the worst from 2008. And they
need to know that we know who they are. And we’re not going to take it anymore.
Grand Prive
Casino Group
Talk about larceny. This group
deserves jeers after shutting
down its affiliate program and
eliminating affiliate commissions
late last year while keeping its
online casinos open for business.
Russ Hamilton
The former World Series of Poker Main Event champ allegedly
profited big time from the “superuser” scandal at UltimateBet.
That scandal, chronicled by the
TV newsmagazine “60 Minutes,”
allowed certain users to see the
hole cards of players at the table.
And it gave online poker a black
eye when it least needed one.
Steve Beshear
The governor of Kentucky decided
he could play moralist for the world
when he tried to seize 141 online
gambling domains because they
were “illegal gambling devices.”
Apparently, as long as his precious
Kentuckians were protected from
the “evils” of online gambling,
he didn’t care that the millions
of people out there who wanted
to enjoy a legal pastime without
interference might be unable to
access their accounts and games.
Spencer Bachus
The reflexively anti-online gambling
Congressman from Alabama said in
a hearing this year that “McGill University found that one-third of college
students who gamble on the Internet
ultimately attempted suicide.” Err,
one problem, Congressman. “This
assertion, which is reportedly based
upon our empirical research, is not
predicated upon any factual evidence,”
said McGill gambling and addiction
researcher Jeffrey L. Derevensky.
NEW
VER
SIO
N!

our affiliates to

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