Are affiliate networks regulated?

[onlinebingofinder]

Hi,

i'm new here so hello. I wanted to ask if there is some regulation with regards to gaming affiliate networks.

In the past i have heard small rumours of numbers being shaved. If this were to happen, who would know? Is this side of the affiliate industry still loosely regulated?

[TheGooner]

There is no special regulations or specific controlling body.

The affiliate / program relationship is determined by the contract or terms and conditions that you agree to abide by when you apply to be an affiliate for an affiliate program.

In nearly all cases the data, and access to the data is controlled by the affiliate program, so manipulation of the data would be hard to prove from outside the data server.

[onlinebingofinder]

But it is possible that it occurs

[TheGooner]

It's 100% likely that it occurs ... somewhere.

We have many experienced affiliates that say it has happened to them - although I've not seen a situation where the affiliate has been able to PROVE it - simply because affiliates cannot get independant access to the raw data.

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The likelihood of cheating or "shaving" will depend on things like :
- the quality of the organisation,
- the longevity of the organisation,
- the organisations reputation,
- the organisations staff and procedures.
- the quality of the software being licensed and used
- the fairness of the affiliate deals involved.

For instance ...

Take a small two-man sportsbook operation licensed somewhere in the Carribean or central America running their own proprietary software that starts up this month targetting the NFL and offering 200% player bonuses and 50% affiliate shares
...
These guys would be targeting US sports players, breaching US UIGEA rules, and are likely to run into a cash-crunch at some stage. It's therefore probably that some sort of dis-honesty is likely to be undertaken to prevent complete failure.

Shaving likelihood 25-50% ???

Or Take a European licensed multi-channel program offering Sports, Casino, Poker, that has been around to 10-15 years, has 20-50 staff, is running standard income access backend and offers 25-30% affiliate share.

Their setup has been tried and tested - it has safeguards in place - usually seperates money payment systesm from customer and/or affiliate management and and it is unlikely that some sort of systematic fraud is being run by the company as a long-term business practice. It's possible that a rogue employee might be able to "shave", but there are likely to be other systems in place that will detect it

Shaving likelihood less than 1% ?

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OK, those are two extreme examples, but you can see that by considering the quality and longevity factors in your potential partners you can minimise the risk.

At least that's my opinion - others may disagree,

[mizzm001]

Decent casino, sportsbook and poker networks will never even think of this, reputation is on the line, and in this business reputation is everything.

[universal4]

I have to disagree with you Mizzm,

Years ago I think that statement was more true than it is today since the past few years we have seen so many groups that we all thought WERE decent and would never do anything to tarnish their reputation do some pretty crazy things.

Overall though, the statement still does hold some truth to it and is the main reason affiliates (especially smaller newer affiliates) should be careful with who they choose to work with.

Rick
Universal4

[FictionNet]

Two fairly recent tests (fresh sign ups and deposits) both failed to show up in my stats. One was for Roxy Palace and I´ve actually forgotten the other right now but I won´t be promoting either of them in the future.