Ladbrokes iGB Best Bingo Award 2014

[-Shay-]

...I am on my iPad right now but will try and post comments later when I am on my laptop...

Did your laptop get lost on the return flight from London, mate?

[alexpratt]

Did your laptop get lost on the return flight from London, mate?

SORRY!! My bad, forgot I was doing this... Too much in my head right now. Just mailing judges for permission to use what they said as its confidential and they may not want me pasting it so bare with me

[lowrisk]

The awards lost all credibility in my book last year when our site was shortlisted for best newcomer, and the winner, Gambling.com has existed since 1997.

Yeah, a 17 year old domain, very much a newcomer to the industry.

Not that I'm bitter!

Also, anybody else notice Bet365 seem to win, a lot, year on year? Little dicky birds tell me they offer said dicky birds various goodies for votes year on year.

[lowrisk]

Also, why not create a new award for next year, no shortlists, no nominations or votes.

For Paddy Power,

For having no soul, and taking bets on a murder trial! Thumbs up to THAT

[justbookies]

Also, anybody else notice Bet365 seem to win, a lot, year on year?

That means there is some hope, because Bet365 should be winning a lot year on year. Awards should be going to the best year in year out, not shared around to give every operator a go (however bad their affiliate departments and terms may be).

[-Shay-]

SORRY!! My bad, forgot I was doing this... Too much in my head right now. Just mailing judges for permission to use what they said as its confidential and they may not want me pasting it so bare with me

Was that snail mail or email you were using?

[alexpratt]

Was that snail mail or email you were using?

Nope that would be emai - But several judges have said no to having their comments made public as they are concerned other operators will see and "judge" them - I still have two I am waiting on

[alexpratt]

The awards lost all credibility in my book last year when our site was shortlisted for best newcomer, and the winner, Gambling.com has existed since 1997.

This was answered at the time by Gambling.com - See below - I get why on the face of it you would say its not a newcomer but if you saw the backend then in terms of the state of the site, what it delivered etc. then you would see that genuinely it was a newcomer

I manage Gambling.com. Every positive thing you had to say about Gambling.com was achieved within the past year. The current site, by the way, was launched in January 2012. We only purchased the domain from its past owners- no players, no deals, nothing else but the domain. At the time of purchase the site was:

- doing on average 0 new players a month
- had recently been penalized by Google
- was predominantly worthless US traffic at a very small scale
- had negative brand equity with operators, thus making it quite hard to make deals

Based on your standards, only domains purchased/registered for the first time in 2012 are eligible for this award? I suspect that most sites in this category would be out of the running based on this logic.

In the past year we have grown Gambling.com into one of the top Casino and Gambling affiliates with second to none marketing and UI. All these items you mentioned- pagerank, number of google index results, etc have been achieved in the past year. Thus I think there is plenty of validity to saying that we are the best newcomer, being that we have seen such dramatic results in one year. We have done this through hard work, great execution and a smart strategy.

Nothing about this current site is related to whats previously been on that slice of internet real estate.

The fact that there is this much discussion of our inclusion being so unfair actually makes me feel great. I know we have done our job, because one year ago nobody would have complained or said anything. The best part is we are just getting started.

[justbookies]

several judges have said no to having their comments made public

I did not expect any judges to come out from under their rock as nothing can be said to justify one of those awards.
Maybe ask them to award on merit not whose turn they think it is.

[-Shay-]

Seriously? No, really - seriously?

I laughed for days when "Market Ace" won this award last year. But this... seriously?

Just when I thought the awards could not become a bigger joke - seriously? Really?

Makes me wonder who t.f. are actually voting for these clowns.

As a "seemingly unrelated story"... there's a local hospital who dubs themselves one of "the best heart hospitals in the country". Truth be told, they're horrible. However, they are one of a few hospitals who actually pay for inclusion in this specific survey.

I guess with that being said, I shouldn't be surprised, but LMFAO - Really? Seriously?

Who next year, Vista Gaming? The Bingo Affiliates? Mira Bingo? LMAO.

Note to the organizers - you may want to do some DD and scrub your short lists.

#justsayin

In that case, I defer to my original statement.