In my opinion, the eCogra initiative to audit online gaming sites over the last several years has been a very positive step in terms of self-regulation within the online gaming industry. Personally, I've very much respected Andrew Beveridge, the Executive Director of eCogra, and have worked with and supported eCogra in a variety of ways over the years.
I also very much believe applying the same principles to the affiliate program side of the industry is a very positive development, and one that has my strong personal support. I commend the efforts of eCogra and their work involved in the eCogra certification of the Fortune Affiliates and Roxy Affiliates programs, and I believe that effort complements the type of work that can be done by organizations like the GPWA and other affiliate forum alliance members.
But I've also warned eCogra that the politics of managing affiliate program and gaming site operations as unrelated matters is very complex from a webmaster perspective because webmasters feel these factors are intertwined, and that a seal relating to trust that ignores trust issues in one area when evaluating the other may tarnish the eCogra brand in the eye of some number of webmasters.
Perhaps the best example in the area is the recent renewal of the eCogra certification for Bella Vegas, a casino whose affiliate program is linked with Grand Prive, as disclosed on Gambling 911 in the article http://www.gambling911.com/gambling-...up-060209.html discussed in the GPWA forum thread https://www.gpwa.org/forum/ecogra-pr...se-181379.html.
How serious of an issue do you view this situation? Does it impact your view of eCogra and the value of the eCogra seal for operators and affiliate programs? Besides answering this week's poll question, I encourage you to post your more detailed thoughts on the matter in this thread.
Michael