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  1. #1
    Romboud Casino is offline Public Member
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    Default Introducing audits in the casino affiliate industry

    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?

  2. #2
    Romboud Casino is offline Public Member
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    Default

    Just heard about Netrefer... How many times do we need be scammed before this option is taken seriously? Would love to hear your thoughts. GPWA would be an ideal company to further structure and organize this.

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    PROFRBcom is offline Private Member
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    What about using blockchain technology to track referrals?
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  4. #4
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    casaffiliate is offline Public Member
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    Short answer: Yes, I believe the industry needs audits. But ...

    You need to get much deeper than just tracking signups and deposits. The main problem that affiliates are facing is that affiliate programs are a complete black box. The thread about showing deposit data in NetRefer is a good first step but I feel it is a bit of a witch-hunt. NetRefer is just processing the data it gets from the operators. If an operator wants to cheat it can simply send false/altered data and NetRefer has no way of verifying the correctness. NetRefer is displaying what it receives from the operator. Simple as that.

    Affiliates need to know that the calculation of commissions is based on real revenue figures. Doing a few signups and data checks with a partner like PWC won't solve that problem (but it would be a good start).

    Stealing of players often happens in later stages. I just recently had a case with an affiliate program where a high roller just disappeared. This guy played like clockwork and suddenly he completely stopped playing. My gut feeling tells me that the program thought they had paid me enough commission for this guy and from now on it's their player. Can I prove it? No. Can I kick this program from the site? Sure. But the damage has been done.

    A real auditing service would therefore need to monitor programs continuously and this means to get access to their raw data. How many operators are willing to give a third party full access (when there is no legal obligation to do so)? My guess is 0. Ultimately only a regulatory body like the MGA or the UKGC can make that happen.

    Don't get me wrong. I totally support your idea and actually it is unbelievable that after all these years affiliates are still forced to do business with a black box.

    If you can build an auditing service that covers all of the following, then you will have created a great and rock solid business:

    + Tracking of signups across multiple devices
    + Continuous monitoring of players that are tagged to an affiliate account
    + Auditing of bonus calculations (I'm sure you are aware of this thread: Affiliate Bonuses Deductions and hidden fee's The Legit Shaving?). Many affiliates suspect that bonuses are deducted although those bonuses were never played through / cleared by the player. That's another form of shaving / stealing. And don't even get me started on those ominous management fees.
    + Making sure that cross promotions carry the proper btag

    I'm sure there is more that needs to be considered but those are the first thoughts that came to my mind.

    Maybe it would be best to bring your idea to the attention of the UKGC or some other regulatory body. If they are supportive of the idea then you have a winner.

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