AUDIT: Rewards Affiliates 2009

[Integrity]

APCW Audits: Rewards Affiliates


Introduction: Over the past sixty days, the APCW conducted two (2) audits on the Rewards Affiliates tracking software. These audits focused on a new casino brand integrated into the system, and two older brands which were previously audited. Additionally, we used old account to retest these sites and gage the long term accuracy of the statistical interface. Rewards Affiliates is an APCW Gold Member.


Audits: The audit began when the auditor cleaned his machine by running Spyware Doctor, cleaning his cache of all cookies and files, and searching his registry to ensure there were no previous items in place that could affect or override or interfere with the Rewards Affiliates tracking. APCW Auditors revisited the Strike it Lucky and Yukon Gold casinos via dormant accounts used during previous audits from two and three years ago, respectively. Auditors openned new player account in order to test Casino Action.


Audit One: During the past sixty (60) days, an APCW Auditor visited two old player accounts. The first was at Strike it Lucky casino where an audit was conducted two years ago and which had a $15 balance remained in the account. The auditor played through the $15 and the revenue tracked to the correct affiliate account. We also had an old Auditor account that was opened three years ago at Yukon Gold Casino. There, the auditor played through the balance of approximately $20 in the account, and this also tracked correctly to the affiliate stats.

Audit One Issues: There were no issues identified with this audit.



Audit Two: After confirmation that both old accounts tracked, during the past thirty (30) days we create another audit account at the newest Rewards Affiliates property, Casino Action. We had been told by Rewards Affiliates that, in the event of a potential customer encountering multiple cookies from the same property prior to visiting, then the most recent tracking cookie encountered took priority. We decided to focus our test with that statement in mind. We entered Casino Action through an affiliate link, then left the site and went to Casino Action via another affiliate link. The hits and download attempt did track correctly to the last affiliate tracking link used to enter the site. Casino Action is offering a free $40 instant bonus or a one hour free play promotion. The auditor opted for the $40 free. Bonus was added immediately after deposit. A Player's bonus account cannot be cashed in, but can be used to place wagers.

Audit Two Issues: When the auditor downloaded the software a window popped up saying the software was 100% virus free casino software. However, immediately after our computer's virus protection (McAfee) stopped the download and classified the software are potentially harmful. We had the auditor select other Rewards Affiliate Casinos to see if this same issue could be duplicated, which it was, for other Rewards Affiliates brands. After disabling the virus protection the download proceeded with out incident. (See screen shot links below)



IMAGE ONE

IMAGE TWO



Conclusion: The APCW is very happy to see that old accounts on the Rewards Affiliates system still track correctly after two and three years. We are
also pleased to see that bonuses are awarded quickly, and that the current affiliate tracking is working properly and as described.

We are concerned about the McAffee software stopping the download as something "potentially harmful". This is certainly not because we believe there is actually anything damaging within it, but because players may accept the McAffee warning at face value. This would naturally damage the conversion rate of referred players, hurting both the webmaster and the affiliate program. Additionally, it has a potentially damaging affect on the industry as a whole. We are looking at this "virus" issue further.

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Auditor Questionnaire:

WAS THE DOWNLOAD AND INSTALLATION PROCESS EASY AND QUICK?: No.

WERE THERE ANY PROBLEMS WITH THE DEPOSIT?: None

HOW FAST WAS THE DEPOSIT PROCESSED?: Immediately

DID YOU ENJOY THE GAMES?: Yes. Black Jack was fun

WERE THERE ANY TECHNICAL ISSUES?: Virus protection stopping the download

DID YOU CONTACT CUSTOMER SUPPORT FOR ANY REASON?: No
IF SO, WERE THEY HELPFUL?: N/A

WERE ANY BONUSES OR COMPS AWARDED TO YOU?: Yes

DID YOU GET THE BONUSES OR COMPS YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO?: Yes

HOW FAST DID IT TAKE TO GET YOU BONUS?: Received upon deposit

WHAT WAS YOUR OVERALL OPINION OF THIS CASINO'S ATMOSPHERE?: Easy to use
WOULD YOU PLAY HERE AGAIN?: Yes

WOULD YOU RECOMMEND THIS SITE TO YOUR FRIENDS?: Yes

ANY ADDITIONAL COMMENTS OR OBSERVATIONS?: None.



Factual Notations:

CASINO(S) VISITED: Casino Action

DOWNLOAD OR FLASH: Download

WEB CONNECTION: Cable

DOWNLOAD SPEED: Unable to download (McAffee) / 8 seconds (McAffee disabled)



Notes: Certain criteria have been kept confidential to preserve the anonymity of our auditing process. Audits are conducted randomly throughout the year and may come at any time and do not necessarily correlate to when we report our findings. Audit results are made available to APCW Member programs prior to the posting of our results if and when they are the subject of our investigations.


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[pdjoe]

Thanks J and Co.

A job well done once again for the industry.

Congrats to Rewards for being the great program you are for both players and affiliates!

[Renee]

Thanks J

I had no doubt that we would pass with flying colours!

Now I do have a few things to comment about the McAfee..

This is due to the McAfee Site Advisor website. I believe that all MGS downloads used to be named Ruby Fortune for some reason and this is what is triggering the unsafe download in the anti-virus.

There are a few affiliates who have alerted this to me in the past, but McAfee seem unwilling to revisit our sites and see that there is nothing harmful about our software.

I have emailed them myself, and I believe MGS is currently trying to get talks under way with McAfee about this too.. Unfortunately there isn't anything we can do immediately to affect this positively, however the best thing you guys can do is go to siteadvisor.com, search for our properties (and your own sites) and leave positive feedback there (and possibly give the people who left us bad feedback a thumbs down in their rating, hopefully getting them penalised).

Obviously the more emails to McAfee about it to complain, the better too

If there are any questions about this, please let me know.

Thanks again J, Anthony and the rest of the team at APCW

[Anthony]

That is a gread idea Renee.

McAffee will look at it if enough people leave feedback.

[pgaming]

Sure do the easy audits first lol. Keep up the good work CR.

greek39

[Integrity]

Hi Renee,

I cannot locate the audit now, but I am 100% certain that this "VIRUS" issue has occurred before. I think it was with an RTG site, tho... maybe VIP Casino? I cannt recall the specifics... or what ste... or the software... or even the anti-virus used.

It was several years ago, and my memory is getting pretty bad in my old age! LOL!

[GCG]

I am glad RA passed the test, but after good advice from BB1web who has been with them for years it should not be a surprise !


Happy players, affiliates, affiliate managers, especially Renee you rock girl

Thanks J. Todd / Anthony and other GPWA members for making these audits possible.

[sipka]

Thank you APCW for the audit! Good to hear that Rewards Affs are OK Thumbs up to Renee and the team there

Off topic
Regarding virus checkers: All Playtech casinos are flagged as being harmful by NOD32, I have read about it on several forums for years now, Playtech knows about it, NOD32 knows about it, they just don't do anything. Other anti-virus programs could flag Playtech casinos as well.
(Just in case someone is wondering about his conversion rate (or lack of) at Playtech casinos)

[Integrity]

Thank you all so much for the support and feedback!

It's my understanding that there are many more audits which have been conducted and are ready to be rolled out any day now. I look forward to being able to bring these all to you, and to continue getting quality work done for the industry!

[Engineer]

I knew Rewards was one of the good guys -- this audit confirms what I believed. Great job, APCW! (And Rewards too.)

[casinobonusguy]

I just wanted to add some feedback to this thread.I think to have audits have more validity there should be a forum where other webmasters can post their own 'audit results'This probably should be made private for affiliates only.

Personally we never bother to audit microgaming as i think they are all honest in that regard with exception to the one or two who change the tracking codes every 2-3 months and have so much down time .

I would like to see more focus on PLAYTECH as i know many of us have voiced our issues there.We have one playtech group we sent 5 test players to in march ,including one of my affiliate managers(gpwa member)-ZERO of five tracked.
Can we vote on the programs we feel really NEED TO BE AUDITED?I think we all know who they are



Judy

[Anthony]

Send me a PM is there is a particular program you feel needs to be audited.
I think is it a good idea to have a private area where we can talk about audits.

[Integrity]

I think to have audits have more validity there should be a forum where other webmasters can post their own 'audit results'This probably should be made private for affiliates only...Can we vote on the programs we feel really NEED TO BE AUDITED?I think we all know who they are

Great ideas, Judy!

I think we should put them into application as soon as we can... perhaps Michael or Steven can set up a new area in the Private Section here where you guys can make suggestions and post independent findings. God knows we can use all the help we can get!

[CityGuard]

I just wanted to add some feedback to this thread.I think to have audits have more validity there should be a forum where other webmasters can post their own 'audit results'This probably should be made private for affiliates only.

I think is it a good idea to have a private area where we can talk about audits.

...perhaps Michael or Steven can set up a new area in the Private Section here where you guys can make suggestions and post independent findings. God knows we can use all the help we can get!

This one is easy! I'm glad to say that the forum has an Affiliate Tracking Audits section already available in the private area, where it is accessible exclusively to affiliates. This has been there for as long as I've been involved in GPWA, but it will be especially nice to see more activity and sharing on that topic.

[Integrity]

AWESOME, Steven...

Now everyone else, get to it! Let's hear them ideas!

[Renee]

Hi Renee,

I cannot locate the audit now, but I am 100% certain that this "VIRUS" issue has occurred before. I think it was with an RTG site, tho... maybe VIP Casino? I cannt recall the specifics... or what ste... or the software... or even the anti-virus used.

It was several years ago, and my memory is getting pretty bad in my old age! LOL!

That wouldn't surprise me at all mate.. McAfee is one of the worst ones for online casinos... and they don't care if they are wrong.. grrrr

[JeterForHOF]

Very nice audit results! Kudos!

[bb1web]

Hi all,

in regards to your question Int, about if this virus situation had come up before ... as far as I know the MGS casinos have shown up as a negative entity on many virus-type scan programs.

This stretches back as far as I remember/go back which is 10 years.

.....

Mcaffee does suck! Last time i had a problem (thanks for being there Rick), I had McA to start and Rick suggested Avasti, the difference?

McA wanted me to go into Doss to fix the problem (trust me you don't want me any where near Doss )... and Avasti? I just loaded it and it fixed the problem (least that's how i remember it, it might have been more to it but compared to McA ... it was like going from horse and buggy to a jet plane.


* Tip for those who don't know much about virus situations: you may have McA on your PC now for whatever reason but if you ever really need help with a tough virus .... well you don't want your anti-virus people telling you to go into Doss to follow a bunch instructions that might be doable ... but so is a 10,000 piece puzzle of a field of grass ... but who wants to have to f#tch with it when on the other hand Avasti didn't ask me to do anything, let alone have to enter an operating system I'd never seen before.

and I'm not sure (Rick could prob tell us) but I think the Avasti was smaller sized too.