Bewinners GPWA Sponsorship Suspended

[MichaelCorfman]

In the thread in the bewinners forum titled Get ready to go Yeah! with our improved affiliate program! a request was made to bewinners in post 87 made on October 27th to provide a copy of the prior terms and conditions so that affiliates could better understand the changes between the previous terms and conditions and the new terms and conditions.

In subsequent e-mail exchanges with the bewinners affiliate manager between October 29th and November 10th I made four additional requests that the GPWA be provided with a copy of those terms and conditions.

This morning I received an official reply to my requests. That reply included the following statement: "after discussing internally we will not give the old T&C to your community."

This reply was received in the context of a series of e-mail exchanges where I had previously indicated failure to provide the requested terms and conditions would be considered a violation of the GPWA code of conduct and that affiliates would not support our continuing to list them as GPWA sponsors in that event.

Therefore, consistent with our official communications with the affiliate manager of the bewinners affiliate program, we are officially suspending a variety of the benefits we normally provide to GPWA sponsor programs.

We will continue to maintain a forum for bewinners for the time being where affiliates can voice their opinions and issues to bewinners, and where bewinners can respond if they so choose.

We will also continue our dialogue with bewinners regarding their current terms and conditions with the objective of trying to facilitate improvements to those terms.

Michael

[GamTrak]

Thanks for supporting the affiliates on this Michael!

[graham]

Nice to see that you guys really stick up for the affiliates and aren't just out to make a buck like some of the other communities.

[mojo]

I know Michael and GPWA tried really hard to avoid this. Thanks for your efforts and holding programs accountable for their actions.

I hope this latest trend of program suspensions doesn't continue!

[RBS]

Thanks GPWA for supporting affiliates, BWIN certently deserved this suspension

[GFPC]

Wow! This is really interesting and disappointing. I am really surprised that BWIN in general would take this stance. It is clearly a defensive move from their end and goes to show you how much they are willing to hide.

From a company who stats they are transparent its actually laughable. Its not a joking matter when a big company such as Bwin totally becomes Predatory like they have and at the same time will in no way show any signs of becoming affiliate friendly.

With the closure of facebook we saw first hand how they wanted to silence the opposition to predatory terms and conditions. This of course can be conceived as censorship.

With them now denying the old terms and conditions it makes one wonder what they are hiding. It is the right of affiliates to have their old terms and conditions. We need to compare the differences and figure out how it affects our businesses and decisions moving forward. Bwin has now dramatically turned super aggressive in their attempt to stop all affiliate opposition to their new terms and conditions.

I guess being predatory was not enough. Now they are hiding very important business information from affiliates. This is bad for the industry as a whole.

Bewinners/Bwin being as big as they are have shown the whole gambling industry just how much they respect affiliates and players. After all we communicate with players on a daily basis. We are the front line workers who bring them players. If this is how they treat us how will they treat other sponsors and players going forward?

I hope CAP (Warren) will follow suit with the GPWA and revolks CAP membership as well since the same request was made their as well. I would also hope CasinoMeister would possibly consider as well.

I am also interested to know how this will affect Bwin being a sponsor of the LAC (London Affiliate Conference) and possibly DUBLIN as well. I will be interested to know if they will be allowed to participate being that they are PREDATORY and are Non Transparent and are in violation of some codes of conduct.

Hiding old terms and conditions from affiliates is a serious breach of business ethics as well and i am shocked at their unwillingness to show any respect for the community or themselves.

I feel ashamed for them!

[GamTrak]

I hope CAP (Warren) will follow suit with the GPWA and revolks CAP membership as well since the same request was made their as well. I would also hope CasinoMeister would possibly consider as well.

I am also interested to know how this will affect Bwin being a sponsor of the LAC (London Affiliate Conference) and possibly DUBLIN as well. I will be interested to know if they will be allowed to participate being that they are PREDATORY and are Non Transparent and are in violation of some codes of conduct.

I think someone needs to find out so can you do the honors and ask them Steve since you are a member there?

[GFPC]

I think someone needs to find out so can you do the honors and ask them Steve since you are a member there?

Of course!! I am on it! My pleasure. I will contact Warren and CAP today. Let you know of any findings i get.

Thanks Robin, I had planned to ask them already!

[MichaelCorfman]

I hope CAP (Warren) will follow suit with the GPWA and revolks CAP membership as well since the same request was made their as well.

Warren and I have plans to meet with each other next week in Las Vegas and Warren is also planning to attend the GPWA cocktail party Tuesday evening. Certainly I was planning to discuss this general topic of cooperation around rogue programs in my meeting with him, and others could certainly also talk to Warren in person as well at the GPWA cocktail party.

Michael

[GFPC]

Thanks Michael. Is Alex going to attend? And Casinomesiter?

Would be good to have a joint effort from all around and a common ground on not allowing predatory programs to participate in sponsorships. LAC is right around the corner - I would hope they are excluded.

In the meantime I am going to email as many affiliates as i can and continue my efforts on a larger scale.

Thanks GPWA

[mojo]

Of course!! I am on it! My pleasure. I will contact Warren and CAP today. Let you know of any findings i get.

Thanks Robin, I had planned to ask them already!

Steve you have done an excellent job staying on top of things. We need 1000 more of you!

[GFPC]

Thanks.. i only want fairness for everyone. Its just terrible what they are doing.

Wait and see what i am preparing today. This is going to be months of months of work to get all over the net!

I am drafting a letter right now for something - stay tuned

[alexpratt]

Hey Steve - From our side i.e. the events -

So background first to get context - As mentioned in the other thread I am this meeting is happening next week with all the forums, associations etc with the aim that there will be an agreement where everyone deicdes on almost a code of conduct and then if a program breaks this and we are all in agreement we all move on mass and on our part this means we will not let that company exhibit or sponsor at a show but will let them attend for a number of reasons i.e. meeting with people to sort the actual problem and its impossible to police. This as mentioned in the other thread makes it a lot more logical and easier for us as a business and means we can support the market

So Specifics - bwin already have a contract signed for London this was done yonks ago, however they do not have a stand booked for the Super Show in Dublin ...I think (I am on paternity and this isn't my job anymore) - Once this meeting occurs next week and there is a formal code of conduct and if the vote is that bwin is breaking it we wil of course honour what I promised and not allow them to exhibit or sponsor along with all the other forums.

[GFPC]

Thank you Alex. That makes allot of sense. I totally understand you honor your contracts. Its ironic isn't it? You have to honor you contract to a program that does not honor its contract with thousands of affiliates.

Thank you for sharing that info Alex - it makes complete sense to me. Its great to see all the forums come together next week. This is good sign of the affiliate community coming together. It will nice to use Bwin as an example! This will set clear boundaries to other programs not to follow the leader (or rather not follow the failure).

I understand they must still be able to attend. I am 95% certain of my attendance as well so its going to be interesting to stay the least.

Thanks Alex.

[Dino]

Finally a decent and constructive step by gpwa against bwin and bewinners. They have to be prevented in their actions at any cost.

Thank you!

[mojo]

Its great to see all the forums come together next week.

As far as I know, there is no meeting scheduled. Though I believe there may be some individual meetings. Even so, some of the forums coming together may have to be done online through emails etc. I just wanted to point out that it does not hinge specifically on a meeting next week.

[Dominique]

I am very sorry I dropped the ball on the forum get-together this time.

I have had to take care of some serious health issues of my husband's and we have been busy looking at various treatments.

We just got back Monday from travelling to a cancer center that seems to be the place to help. And wouldn't you know, I came down with food poisoning just an hour after we got home (so glad I made it in the door ok lol). Anyway, today is my first day where I am ok and available, and I did book a flight to Vegas for Monday today, but it is too late to arrange anything.

Several folks couldn't make it anyway, so I hope to reschedule this soon and have everyone be able to attend.

Sorry I dropped the ball on this, it is very close to my heart...

[Dominique]

Of course!! I am on it! My pleasure. I will contact Warren and CAP today. Let you know of any findings i get.

Thanks Robin, I had planned to ask them already!

Warren is travelling.... probably won't be around til Monday and then it's off to vegas already. I will talk to him there.

[GamTrak]

Sorry to hear about that Dom. I hope things get better soon and don't worry about dropping the ball as I'm sure it will be bouncing again in no time.

Having a face to face or not having one is no reason to not move forward so thanks to everyone involved.

[mojo]

I feel like I dropped the ball too as I can't go to Vegas at all now. But like GamTrak said, it is not required to be face to face. We can still work on it.

I hope things start looking up Dom.