‘Risk’ and ‘trust’ are two very important words in the iGaming affiliate business. And while the amount of risk taken is mainly up to the one who takes it, trust is that fragile structure that is built by and between all involved parties.
The success and profitability of an affiliate business strongly depends on the relationship between affiliates and affiliate programs. Unfortunately, multiple examples from recent years have shown that it has become rather difficult for affiliates (and not by their fault) to foster a good relationship with some of their affiliate programs. Sneaky contract clauses, misleading Terms and Conditions, unexpected changes in those, closures of programs with little advance warning – these are few of the instances to have contributed the most to the weakening trust within our trade.
Last week, a number of bingo affiliates, including some of the pioneers in the business, revealed in the GPWA (Gambling Portal Webmasters Association) forums that they had been informed the Cashcade affiliate program would no longer function from January 26.
Cashcade explained in emails to affiliates that they were moving on a new platform and a new affiliate program would be available soon. Affiliates were asked to remove all content related to Cashcade’s brands. Otherwise, formal action might be taken against them.
The sudden notification and the subsequent closure of the affiliate program resulted in affiliates that have been promoting the bingo brands for years, some of them even for more than a decade, losing multiple active players.
The Cashcade Ltd. online gaming network was incorporated in 1999. A decade later, it was purchased by online gambling operator bwin.party Digital Entertainment. Bwin.party has been part of the GVC Holdings gambling group as of February 2016. This means that Cashcade, too, is owned by the Isle of Man-headquartered gambling operator. The gaming network promotes a number of bingo websites, Foxy Bingo being the most popular one.
GPWA members have recollected that this was not the first time when a GVC-owned affiliate program was closed to be moved to a new platform with new T&Cs and with affiliates losing revenue on players they have referred. It was around a decade ago when the Sportingbet affiliate program stopped operations in a similar fashion, just to be brought back on a new platform.
Why Is This Wrong?
In the first place, affiliates noted that they had not been informed in due time and manner about the upcoming changes. They were literally given a day or two to remove all content related to Cashcade’s brands.
What is more important, with the affiliate program’s closure, affiliates with lifetime revenue sharing contracts had those terminated, within a very short notice. In other words, this was another instance of lifetime deals turning out not to be for life.
As already noted, cases of affiliates not being offered what they have signed up to have increased over the years. And it is rather questionable whether both smaller and bigger websites that have been promoting gambling brands and have been referring players to those brands should be treated in the manner they are treated sometimes. After all, the affiliate marketing business, as any other trade, should be built on trust and mutual respect. And when one of the parties purposefully neglects certain general principles, this logically affects the ways of the whole industry.
*Casino News Daily welcomes opinions and comments from all involved parties.
