Sky Bet?!

[Triple7]

If someone is interested please contact me in private and we can discuss more as I am willing to help and work in a project like this but needs back up

I am interested, but also sceptical. This kind of things have been discussed more than once. Bottom line, many affiliates simply do not want to drop a rogue program or brand, because they're making twelve bucks a month with that program. That will result in some toothless organization.

Great affiliates have enough stakeholders, being investors. I guess they're not interested in an organization that decides who they should do business with. They have their own legal teams. I don't see Catena or GIG entering such an organization.

Also big chance that it will end up in some paid platinum recommended section or something.

[TheBoyMitchell]

I'm curious that noone from GPA has posted in this, and also offered to offer advice about a class acfion/solo action on this.

Seems most odd bearing in mind that they are apparently set up with the aim of promoting brands and protecting affiliates interests.

I think they should be making noises. If they had any teeth. And if they don't, then what's the point of the site?

[TinShed]

Anyone been promoting Super6 in the last month? They had a one million pound jackpot up for grabs and no doubt a few affiliates have pushed this hard in the first month of the football season. Well its very fishy that now they have closed affiliates down they are giving the one million away this weekend even if nobody gets all six scores right. They've planed this very well indeed.

[mickyfu]

Anyone been promoting Super6 in the last month? They had a one million pound jackpot up for grabs and no doubt a few affiliates have pushed this hard in the first month of the football season. Well its very fishy that now they have closed affiliates down they are giving the one million away this weekend even if nobody gets all six scores right. They've planed this very well indeed.

Best go and put the Super 6 on tomorrow then. See if I can win my losses back.

Do you really think a UK Blue Chip company would blow their affiliates off for a 1m jackpot?

You are aware of the kind of money Sky Vegas alone makes in one week?

[Triple7]

I'm curious that noone from GPA has posted in this, and also offered to offer advice about a class acfion/solo action on this.

Seems most odd bearing in mind that they are apparently set up with the aim of promoting brands and protecting affiliates interests.
NoptI think they should be making noises. If they had any teeth. And if they don't, then what's the point of the site?

Absolutely not meant disrespectful, but this is a commercial website generating revenue with sponsorship fees and sub-affiliate commission. Nothing more, nothing less.

[TinShed]

Best go and put the Super 6 on tomorrow then. See if I can win my losses back.

Do you really think a UK Blue Chip company would blow their affiliates off for a 1m jackpot?

You are aware of the kind of money Sky Vegas alone makes in one week?

Its not about the jackpot. I was just thinking it was a good play on their part to get a push from affiliates the month before they close down.

How many sign ups do you think affiliates sent because of this offer in August? How much will that make them in the coming months/years? If they had already planned to close then it was a sly way of getting one last push and probably thousands of new players.

[mickyfu]

Its not about the jackpot. I was just thinking it was a good play on their part to get a push from affiliates the month before they close down.

How many sign ups do you think affiliates sent because of this offer in August? How much will that make them in the coming months/years? If they had already planned to close then it was a sly way of getting one last push and probably thousands of new players.

Not too many. I used to out rank Sky for Super 6, and they made me remove my site. Wasn't the most fantastic thing for sign ups. However over years it brought me many good players. But on the actual Saturday with thousands of clicks, I'd have expected more.

My guess is closure of the affiliate program was in the pipes when they bummed the majority of their affiliates off with 5%.

[TinShed]

Not too many. I used to out rank Sky for Super 6, and they made me remove my site. Wasn't the most fantastic thing for sign ups. However over years it brought me many good players. But on the actual Saturday with thousands of clicks, I'd have expected more.

My guess is closure of the affiliate program was in the pipes when they bummed the majority of their affiliates off with 5%.

Nice, care to share any of those seo skills. I agree with you on when they probably started planning this through. Maybe the bad press has just given them the opportunity to pull it off and come out looking like the good guys to the public.

[mickyfu]

Nice, care to share any of those seo skills. I agree with you on when they probably started planning this through. Maybe the bad press has just given them the opportunity to pull it off and come out looking like the good guys to the public.

Ah all it took was an EMD a few 301s and some decent links. Their "SEO guy" started crying over the EMD even though Super 6 wasn't or isn't trademarked by them. It's when Super 6 first came out. They weren't happy because I slapped a load of other offers on the site, because out of 2000+ clicks on a Saturday, I was getting like 10 regs.

I couldn't really argue the toss with them as they would have just closed my account. I simply 301ed the original domain to a new domain, however it never out ranked Sky again.

[bettingspin]

I am interested, but also sceptical. This kind of things have been discussed more than once. Bottom line, many affiliates simply do not want to drop a rogue program or brand, because they're making twelve bucks a month with that program. That will result in some toothless organization.

Great affiliates have enough stakeholders, being investors. I guess they're not interested in an organization that decides who they should do business with. They have their own legal teams. I don't see Catena or GIG entering such an organization.

Also big chance that it will end up in some paid platinum recommended section or something.

I know is not easy to do and has been discussed in the past but in the wave of recent events and a change of regulation coming this might be an opportunity. If we don't do that it might well be that only the Catena or the GIG will stay as they are big enough to negotiate under the table and they will pay those deals with the money made from the customers we sent over the years...

[Triple7]

I know is not easy to do and has been discussed in the past but in the wave of recent events and a change of regulation coming this might be an opportunity. If we don't do that it might well be that only the Catena or the GIG will stay as they are big enough to negotiate under the table and they will play those deals with the money made from the customers we sent over the years...

Well, true, that's what will happen. No way paying 45% or even more is profitable on the long run in saturated markets. Like 45% + CPA on the long run can't be profitable for most brands, especially in combination with NNCO. Many affiliate accounts aren't profitable at all.

Sooner or later many brands have to cut costs. If you see how many go to marketing of every deposited euro at some casinos, that isn't sustainable at all. Also, I believe that some brands simply will have to leave some markets or close completely. Once the market is saturated and they are below the critical mass, they have to do something.

Moreover, grey markets are regulating and the UKGC is after revenues in grey markets. Now brand can pick everywhere some fruits with a Curacao or Malta, license. A bit in Sweden, a bit in Norway, a bit in Finland, a bit in the Netherlands, Germany. and before a bit in Czech, Poland, Australia, etc.

After regulation they will need to have a business case in each and every country. Most of them simply not have. After the big guys and some local heroes took their part of the cake, there isn't much left in many smaller markets.

Lifetime revenue share probably sounds like bullshit to whatever court. I think in a contract should be clear that it can be terminated for free just if the affiliate has been frauding or something. In case of closing the casino or leaving a market, they should pay some compensation fee. You've given them exposure to build a market share, exposure that you'd better gave to brands that stay at the market. That should be compensate. And 3rd scenario is that they want to terminate the account with whatever reason, that should also cost them a (higher) compensation fee.

I think that makes more sense than things like lifetime revenue share. An essential part of a contract is an agreement about how it could be broken.

Problems are:

- many brands will not sign something like this, as they know they can't quit for free anymore. Solution: don't promote them. But it could lead to quite some programs that you can't promote if you're acting like this alone. If you have a bookie site, 888, BWin, Unibet, Wh, Ladbrokes, PP, Bet365 etc are never ever going to sign things like this.

- many affiliates are not interested in things like this. Either they just want to pump their volume on the short term to sell their business to a super affiliate instead of being in for the long run, either they just prefer a 125CPA + 50% rev. share deal instead of security in the long term.

Also the commission calculation should be there, with parameters. I see now programs doubling their fees, which is de facto lowering the commission. Especially for smaller brands with long term plans it might be interesting. Now they can't compete with the guys that are taking big losses on deals.

[JamieG1981]

No doubt they knew they were planning to close down, makes it even worse they got affiliates to push them for th first few weeks of the season.

[Syndicate]

The film Runner Runner (Ben Affleck) gave a fair reflection of what the gaming industry thinks of affiliates ! And, while it's ridiculous to look down on people who bring business, the danger was always going to be slow down!!

Someone on linkedin picked up on Guy Harding's comment and asked for an explanation https://goo.gl/7ZT6Ss (here) - I can assure you that the Oddschecker boss saw this has he looked at my profile after i commented.

Anyone worried about Tipico doing something similar in the near future (same ownership)?.

Personally i only have involvement with ''agent'' bookmakers such has Pinnacle, SBO, ISN etc. However, i feel incensed that any business could do the dirty like this. It's simply disgusting and makes you wonder how these people sleep at night!

Having recently left the gambling affiliate sector (selling out to a bigger affiliate), I can't help but add my perspective from the 'outside'.

Firstly, while I hope the proposed law-suits are successful - individual or class - I have a contact who works for Sky Bet who says that the owners lawyers are very confident of their legal position. I hope they are wrong for your sakes.

I am beginning to think I 'got out' at the right time - especially when the death knell is being rung for the whole gaming affiliate industry in places:

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...rs-affiliation

As has been mentioned by others already, Sky Bet is currently in a unique position in terms of marketing / customer acquisition and Super 6 has become a great means of harvesting new customers. In fact, I found when promoting Sky Bet to social media groups where I knew some members that a large percentage of new 'referrals' were told they already had a Sky Bet account when they swore that was not the case. In fact they had signed up for Super 6 or perhaps other such competitions under the same group umbrella and thus could not open a 'new' affiliated account.

Most certainly the business is being ripened for a sale and this move, assuming it isn't successfully challenged, makes it a more appealing investment. Clearly it is underhand, immoral and deceitful - but what do you expect from a bookmaker or private equity firm?

It is also perhaps worth sitting back and reflecting upon how bookmakers themselves consider affiliates. Sure they all go to conferences and build ever bigger stands, with affiliate manager lapdogs selling their companies and cutting deals. But I know of one prominent operator where the head of gaming regularly referred (internally) to affiliates as 'leeches' - clearly not seeing the irony of that coming from a bookmaker.

Don't trust any of them is my advice - and good luck defending or being compensated in this instance.

[frogthegambler]

Reading that Guardian article two things strike me:

1. Bookmakers themselves have tips on their own websites. For instance SkyBet today has a Sportinglife Tip on every page. For instance, in the 16:50 from Salisbury it says:
'However, the useful hurdler SLEEP EASY could make this tough going for them given his proven stamina and after a recent sighter, he is a sporting suggestion.'
This is a 12/1 outsider.

2. If Skybet are shutting the programme due to worries about tipsters and new regulation it does not stop them paying out on all current deals. They could just stop new sign ups.

[golfbettingsystem]

Reading that Guardian article two things strike me:

1. Bookmakers themselves have tips on their own websites. For instance SkyBet today has a Sportinglife Tip on every page. For instance, in the 16:50 from Salisbury it says:
'However, the useful hurdler SLEEP EASY could make this tough going for them given his proven stamina and after a recent sighter, he is a sporting suggestion.'
This is a 12/1 outsider.

Very valid point that. The Guardian article bangs on about affiliates taking a % commission, what about a bookmaker taking 100% because they've thrown a tip to their eager audience that doesn't win?

[colin3005]

If Sky continue working with certain affiliates, which certainly seems to be the case, it wouldn't help them in any legal action, considering the email clearly states the program is closing.
If any of those affiliates can be proven to have previously breached advertising guidelines, then that would look even worse.

[frogthegambler]

Another point is if a tipster is actually successful how long would Skybet (or any other bookmaker) carry on taking the bets for?

If the whole industry comes under the microscope it will not a good outcome for the bookmakers.

[alicasino]

I have 46 referrals on my account some contribute nothing to my bottom line, some make a few quid, there is 1 out there who made a huge difference for me on the SkY account ,, don't know who you are but thank you for the last 12 months, hope I get that lucky again in this lifetime

[reyomedia]

Hi,
We were affected by this and are looking into our options. Would love to connect via Skype.

[reyomedia]

We were affected by this as well, since we can't DM i have contacted you on Skype.