For affiliates there’s a lack of information and a problem in trust. An affiliate program is a black box and he has to hope that this black box provides the truthful information. In the past affiliates have been scammed a lot (does anybody have an overview of scams?) and it’s still very easy to steal a player from an affiliate. Affiliate software is very well fit perform this kind of tasks. It would be great if an organization like GPWA or a united group of casino affiliates would finance audits and provide a special seal of trust to cooperating affiliate programs. Having this seal of trust and transparency would be very good for the affiliate program as well.
Personally I’ve asked around if affiliate programs would cooperate. Some were and some weren’t. So it definitely has potential. If one company has the seal another company want to have it as well. When the seal has enough credibility the audits can be paid for by the affiliate programs, cause they’re part of something very valuable for their business. Meanwhile it should be paid by affiliates or companies like GPWA. But it definitely has a business model too and it would be great for the industry. True trustworthiness is good for any industry!
A structural audit should be organized together with an external company like BDO or PWC perhaps. They organize making various players accounts on different ip’s via cooperating affiliate-links, deposit and check if the right data comes back structurally.
Do you think the industry needs structural audits? If so what would be a good way to audit affiliate programs structurally?