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There are over 50 members in the Telegram group now - not one got the original e-mail, and yet somehow this reminder e-mail came through without a hitch...Quote:
Originally Posted by Sherlock
Bet365 have gone from one of the only companies to be trusted in this industry to unbelievably shady overnight. Something has changed.
So apparently “lifetime commissions” at Bet365 means until they feel like it.
Like many others, I found out my affiliate account was closed not from an official notice — but because my stats just stopped updating. After asking support, I got the usual corporate nonsense:
Nobody got that email. Not one person. Now they’re acting as if they’re doing us a favor by offering a “goodwill payment” for the last month. A "generous" thank-you after years of building traffic, content, and signups for them. Basically:Quote:
We sent you an email two months ago about closing the program.
They’re now sending "reminders" that the program is closing — as if we were the ones who missed something. No, we didn’t. You just never sent anything in the first place. To make it worse, nobody’s replying to emails. There’s a Telegram group with over 50 affiliates — all experiencing the same silence. Bet365 is giving everyone the silent treatment like we don’t exist. Is this really how people who spent years promoting their brand deserve to be treated?Quote:
Thanks for all the work, now you can f**k off.
I honestly believed Bet365 was one of the stable, trustworthy partners that would never pull something like this. Turns out I was wrong. Bet365 built its reputation on trust and reliability and I always recommended them in the past. Shame they couldn’t extend the same courtesy to the affiliates who helped build their player base. I knew this would end someday — just not in such an ugly, dishonest, and disrespectful way. At the very least, a few months’ notice should’ve been the bare minimum courtesy.
It may not have been intentional since we were not active the terms should not apply to the old ones..maybe it is due to the automatic software update..I asked for clarification on whether it was intentional or not...we'll see
Think that is wishful thinking.. no way were they going to change terms for actives whilst keeping the inactives at full commission.Quote:
Originally Posted by cxgiugn
no on telegram there is evidence of this
I have no idea what you are talking about. They called me 3 months ago that they stop paying me and everyone old&inactive as well. Looks like here is needed a psychiatrist inspite of a lawyer.Quote:
Originally Posted by cxgiugn
Me too, got the email for 3 accounts on Oct 16, and didn't get the "original" message. Interesting that 1 message on Oct 16 came to the aff backend, while 2 messages arrived by email.Quote:
Originally Posted by jarvi
If this will make you happier, here is the content of the letter you didn’t receive:Quote:
Originally Posted by Strider1973
That’s not the problem — we didn’t even decide to do this in accordance with such-and-such clause of our terms.Quote:
Dear Partner,
Following the historic termination of our affiliate marketing relationship with you, we are writing to inform you that we will be closing your bet365 Partners account(s) with effect from 16 December 2025.
You will continue to accrue revenue share payments for legacy customers previously referred by you (where applicable) as a continued gesture of goodwill until 30 September 2025.
Please ensure that you withdraw any available balance in your bet365 Partners Account(s) no later than 15 December 2025. Payouts shall be subject to applicable laws and regulations.
We thank you for your cooperation.
Yours sincerely
Just got that reminder message in my inbox. Never got the first one, but I was sure it was an oversight. If they are rushing to close the accounts, the sale we were told months ago is probably in progress.
Pretty sure this is the buyer's demand, as bet365 could have closed all accounts back in 2017 when Skybet, Betfair and almost everyone else canceled everyone. With that being said, it sucks as it sucked in 2017.
This concludes the end of the "lifetime commission" era, when it comes to sports betting.
Their issue is there is likely to be legal action dragging on relating to this. They didn't close the accounts back in 2017, and the final terms many affiliates agreed to were in the last e-mail they sent confirming lifetime revenue would be honoured.Quote:
Originally Posted by xecutable
Any buyer is going to be put off by pending, drawn out litigation too. I have a feeling this going to get a whole lot messier than the higher-ups at Bet365 could have anticipated.
I also didn’t receive the so-called ”original“ email from July. I’ve written to them, but so far there’s been no response.Quote:
Originally Posted by Strider1973
Some sued back in 2017 as well and all they received was the bill for the legal fees. And those were scum of the earth companies. Their parent company was even publicly traded with a stock and it didn’t matter. Bet365 were actually a decent partner.Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnsimons9749
I have always thought affiliates would win an action against completely scumbag companies like SkyBet. I started legal action against them and I thought my lawyer had their measure, but you need your own lawyer to have the stomach for it and all the time you are paying for them. You need to dig in for a long and expensive battle. I have taken on another company in another sphere, but it was not dissimilar because it involved a contract and hinged around terms of the contract. Lawyers have told me that it is legally laughable that affiliate companies change terms and conditions at will. That is not what contracts are made for - for one party to change a term or terms when it suits them. That's a joke and judges ought to view it as farcical - that is not my opinion but the opinion of historic advice I've received. It also makes sense. What is the point of there being any form of contract if one party can change it at will? Hence, legally changing the terms is a nonsense. The term stating they can change terms at any time is also a nonsense and a judge would ignore it entirely, I have been advised by more than one contract lawyer. Certainly in my case, in another sphere, the judge literally put a line through all ridiculous terms in the contract - and they were not as ridiculous as that one in affiliate contracts.Quote:
Originally Posted by xecutable
The problem here is the old thing of firepower and staying power. It is a bitter stress-related slog for an affiliate to battle through. The bills will mount and your lawyer needs to be on it, stubborn, believe 100% in your cause and have a backbone (most don't). I honestly believe nobody here (especially all the 'brand new' members, who can't possibly be separate individuals) could fight it all the way through the courts against financial superpowers like Bet365. Where the flying feck have these 'new members' been for the last couple of decades of this issue (like: skybet, bwin, coral, ladbrokes, william hill, betus and all the other endless rip-offs) to only appear now?
Addressing the issue of legalities delaying a sale, this is an informed comment and I know this can cause problems with the sale of companies. However I don't think any IPO or sale would give a damn if Bet365 was being fought by a determined but tiny ex-affiliate. It would need to be a serious class action thing. That is not going to happen - it didn't happen against SkyBet and that really was a far far worse situation with everyone cut off overnight by total and complete crooks. Bet365 have had a modicum of decency over this - paying non-active affiliates for a few years. They are the only ones to have done this. Everyone else goes the SkyBet route of a sudden mass theft of referrals or just kills you by a thousand cuts by reducing commissions down to negligible percentages.
I would love to be more positive, but history states nobody has the stomach, stamina and wherewithal to see this through to a successful conclusion. The best you can hope for is to put pressure on legally and hope for some compromise / one-off payment from them. I think there's only one person on this forum who might achieve that.
There's quite some action going on in the TG group. Too much for me to follow as the amount at stake isn't that big for me.
It would be good if the creator could update us here if there are any to-do's for us.
So far, the group is looking for a "no win, no fee" lawyer, which I think is an good approach.
Personally, having experienced dozens of account closures, retroactive terms changes and RS dropping from 40% to 0% etc, I considered Bet365 the fairest program out there, even paying us for 7+ years after account closure/promotion stop. You can only imagine if we win that case, then the case vs the rogue aff programs is even clearer...
Apart of being the nicest of the thieves to us, Bet365 - unlike other thieves - provided a good dataset since day 1. With all other affiliates I did not collect the data and there were no invoices like with Bet365.Quote:
Originally Posted by tufty
They lawyer must be determined as you say, which means he has to work for % and not just collect the fees.
Bet365 finally paid me btw for September.
All the affiliates stole from me already what they could. If some battle had to be fought for precedent it had to be done 15 years ago for bwin or when the UK affiliates started to steal e.g. what tufty tried it. This can be just a farewell party of revenueshare.Quote:
Originally Posted by Strider1973
As I said b4, 25% of RS was paid to me 2011-2017; 75% 2017-2025 when acct was closed. This is the theoretical power of RS at operator that does not steal. All the current RS deals are so much worse because 1) the programs will steal/close/shave in few years max 2) the external environment and regulations brings a stream of black swans 3) the customers changed. The future value of RS is peanuts.
Fair comment, but I disagree with a few points you have made.Quote:
Originally Posted by tufty
Firstly, some of us have been in touch with lawyers to gage whether they would be keen to pursue a no-win-no-fee situation, and some have already intimated that they would if we can organise a big enough group of people to get involved. The latter will not be an issue as there are already over 50 ready to go in the Telegram group.
I agree that many of the terms and the changes to them are entirely farcical, and Bet365 would have a very difficult time showing in court that they should be some sort of omniscient power that can just remove their affiliates and the promises made to them at will.
In terms of the 'brand new' members, many of us focused solely or predominantly on Bet365, and so never had a real issue before. If you think they are all made up, then have a look at the Telegram group which has over 50 active participants already. When there are no issues, people would hardly be aware of forums like this, but when issues crop up, it's not surprising that people would join en mass to see what is going on. I have no doubt forum administrators can see independent IPs, and you need to confirm your email address to be able to post here at all.
Finally, a group of 50, and rising, affiliates seeking a multi-million pound payout could absolutely put pressure on a sale. If that number gets to 100, which I am confident it will as more and more people realise what is going on, Bet365 will have no choice but to try to address it head on. Their tactic of largely ignoring affiliates, or pretending notice was indeed sent out to everyone, or just saying they can do what they want behind their terms and conditions certainly doesn't seem to be deterring many.
Well done. You have already got to a stronger position than any group of affiliates did, to my knowledge, with the SkyBet theft of referrals. I think if you get a committed lawyer who wont bail on you further down the line on a no-win no-fee basis, then that is certainly the ideal scenario. Tbh, I would join you if I was in your position but I am something like 3 months behind you as inevitably they will cut me off according to their new unilaterally fabricated terms of 15FTDs in 3 months. Please do keep us all informed of your progress on this forum - I think once you get a firm commitment from a lawyer you trust you may see another wave of affiliates joining your class action.Quote:
Originally Posted by Johnsimons9749
Yes, there is no doubt that various disputes will arise over this. Several partners have already contacted our law firm, and we are dealing with the matter extensively. However, they must have anticipated that. Still, as someone here already mentioned, given the spread of their operations, companies, and so on, this requires a very strong legal backend and experience with disputes across different jurisdictions. It’s no joke.
What you wrote is very true. We see this in practice with our own clients as well as those of other law firms, and not only in the affiliate field – people often come to us with their case, whatever it may be, thinking that we’ll file one lawsuit, have a hearing the following week, and they’ll get their money the week after.
It’s often not even a question of money (meaning the legal fees). We have clients — you could say the largest ones — where we don’t work in the traditional lawyer–client setup, but rather more as partners. We invest our own resources and experience, the client contributes their claims, and we agree on a share of the outcome. In my opinion, that creates a fairer arrangement. We have cases that have been ongoing for many years, have gone through all levels of the court system multiple times, with numerous hearings already held, and they’re still not over — but we fight for our clients’ rights not only out of conviction, but also because we’re working with the client for our shared success.
In my view, major cases simply can’t be handled any other way — clients inevitably lose motivation over time, lose the will to keep investing more and more money into litigation when the end is nowhere in sight.
This approach has proven very effective for us.
I originally came here to read the discussions, as several clients have already contacted us and we’ll be representing them in these disputes. However, each case is very different — it’s not at all as some people here think, that they’re all the same terms and the same situations. Quite the opposite — and that, of course, makes things much more complicated.