Sky Bet?!

[olson1981]

Should give those looking to take them to court a good angle to work on.

We are no longer working with affiliates....... Apart from these ones as they are really big and make us a lot of money.

I think/hope there will be some disgruntled Sky Bet managers or employees who have lost there job due to the closure come on here and tell us what's gone on and going on.

There was only ever 2 staff who worked on the affiliate program so I doubt you'll get any disgruntled employees spreading the dirt, and they have no doubt been offered new jobs within the business (one as sports book acquisition manager ) which says to me they're still in the game but they're choosing who they want to promote the brand.

[allaboutthebets]

There was only ever 2 staff who worked on the affiliate program so I doubt you'll get any disgruntled employees spreading the dirt, and they have no doubt been offered new jobs within the business (one as sports book acquisition manager ) which says to me they're still in the game but they're choosing who they want to promote the brand.

A massive program like Sky bet only had 2 employees on the affiliate side? I know of Matt who used to post on here, there may be more but may only be 2.

[golfbettingsystem]

They 100% are still working with select 'top' partners. They even paid off these guys before shutting the program. There will be no rev share going forwards though, only CPA.

I'm no lawyer but isn't this pretty damning evidence?

'We're closing our program except we're not really because we'll keep a separate deal going for our favourites.' If it's a CPA deal only that's still an affiliate program in my view.

Plus 'we've paid some of our partners off to keep them sweet but not others' - whole thing stinks.

[JamieG1981]

As far as we could tell there was only 2, we have dealt with a guy called Shaun for a few years.

The service we received was awful, by far the worst from all the companies we deal with.

It got so far that we made a complaint requesting a change of affiliate manager and the response was you can't as there is only 1.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

[bettingspin]

I think as I said before if the programme completely shut down (as this is what the termination letter say) than it is their decision and might be hard to challenge in court. If however they are still running some sort of affiliate programme - ie. selecting affiliates and running CPA deals or even fix fee deals is running a performance affiliate programme, than this is a serious prove that:
1 - SkyBet is just running away with all the money and reinvest into the partnership that they believe will increase their margin and reduce impact. So fair enough if they keep Oddschecker and some of their own properties but I think the whole affiliate community should look really careful who is pushing them from 2nd October as this is the prove that they are basically lying in saying this is a regulatory change. It will be just an excuse to clear their house and pay for those new deals with money taken from the affilates.

[Triple7]

Betfair:

Our main points are as follows

• No SMS marketing
• No advertorial style marketing
• No Pop Unders
• No media buying unless a set domain list can be provided of exactly where we are appearing and you are using our provided creative, if you are buying through an ad-exchange programmatically this is type of activity is prohibited as part of the Affiliate Program.
• No email marketing to a database of users where the email looks like it is sent on behalf of Paddy Power Betfair. If as an affiliate you want to talk to your user base about an affiliate offer it must be very clear that email is not sent by us the operator.
• Any challenge\Tipping style pages must make clear that it is in fact a challenge and must not imply that success is guaranteed. Under absolutely no circumstance should results be lied about or media manipulated to suggest results were more favourable.
• Any promotion of a sign up offer must include the following: New Customer Offer, T&C’s Apply 18+. Ideally it would also include Please Gamble Responsibly
• If conducting paid social advertising this should be paid ads for the affiliate site and should be clear it is the affiliate site you are advertising. It should not be possible for a consumer to think you are promoting our brand directly. If in doubt please share the creative and user journey with us before going live.
• If promoting via a Twitter, Facebook or other social media the account must have 18+ in the page bio.
• Please only use creative found in our media library or Dropbox folders, these are compliant with marketing regulations. Please do not publish any homemade creative unless signed off by a member of the team first.

If at any time you have questions or think your current activity may not be compliant please contact us immediately to review. With recent announcements in the sector it is imperative that we hold ourselves and our partners to the highest standards and ensure that we are not conducting marketing practices that are prohibited by The Gambling Commission, The ASA or other regulatory bodies.

[TheBoyMitchell]

Has anyone noticed a massive revshare cut that seems to have happened yesterday but applied to the beginning of the month?

My revshare agreement seems to have been cut by about 50%.

[golfbettingsystem]

Has anyone noticed a massive revshare cut that seems to have happened yesterday but applied to the beginning of the month?

My revshare agreement seems to have been cut by about 50%.

Reporting error by the looks of it, only negatives showing for yesterday. Perhaps Matt Price will comment here with a solution?

[colin3005]

https://www.asa.org.uk/rulings/bonne...17-386853.html

As far as I'm aware they aren't affiliates but an ad agency employed directly by Skybet, I find it hard to believe SBG didn't approve the ad before it went live.

[FreeBetsPage]

I signed up end of 2012 - does anyone have a copy of old agreement they could send me to get the legal ball rolling

[damage83]

Has anyone noticed a massive revshare cut that seems to have happened yesterday but applied to the beginning of the month?

My revshare agreement seems to have been cut by about 50%.

Stats are all over the place. Last month has now also changed from a positive commission to a huge minus. Would not be surprised if they screw us again for that.

[LukeC]

Our business has also lost quite a bit of money on this with Skybet, so we would be happy to join any joint legal action on this one, together with any fellow UK companies in the same position.

CVC who own the majority stake in Skybet, also own the brand Tipico
On the same note The Sun Bets is another brand associated with/owned by Murdoch.

On this subject I thought its pertinent to mention this, so fellow affiliates know it might be a good idea to avoid Tipico and The Sun Bets also.

Happy to formally apologise to anyone at Tipico / The Sun Bets if you would like to contribute to this conversation on your brands behalf, and prove I am wrong on this point?

A bit late in responding to this, but I've been away on holiday. Given the accusation, I have to comment even at this later point. I head up the Sun Bets affiliate programme and have worked on it since its inception.

Sky Bet is operated by Bonne Terre Limited (Alderney) which to my (and generally all of our) knowledge is owned 80% by CVC Capital Partners and 20% by Sky plc. Affiliate contracts were with Bonne Terre Limited (Alderney). Thus CVC have the controlling stake - so I can't see how Murdoch can have influenced the decision to close their programme.

Sun Bets is operated by Tabcorp UK Limited (https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09815995). You can see in the various documents on the previous link that this is owned by Tabcorp Europe Holdings Ltd (Isle of Man) and ultimately it is owned by Tabcorp Holdings Limited (Australia) which is publicly traded. Whilst Sun Bets is a joint venture between Tabcorp & News UK (Murdoch) - you can see that the holder of the operating license is not owned by Murdoch. Affiliate contracts are with Tabcorp UK Limited.

I set out the key elements of the Sun Bets affiliate T&Cs (http://sunbetsaffiliates.com/terms-conditions/) and I would challenge you to find a more fair set of terms for any UK facing operator.

If you go back through my posts on here I hope you can get a sense of my ethos regarding affiliate marketing - which fortunately Tabcorp chose to support. There is an obvious gap in the UK affiliate market behind bet365 and that is what we want to fill with our programme.

That is not to mention that you are transacting with a UK company which means most affiliates have a relatively easy recourse through the courts if there is a breach of the terms - when Tabcorp could easily have hidden the programme behind an overseas company if they so wished. There is no catch all termination clause (like the one Sky has invoked, and like almost every operator has) - they are written to be genuinely fair (you will note we do not and never have promoted "lifetime revenue share" anywhere, as the terms clearly state that there are cases where we can terminate, and thus it would be misleading for us to do so). We feel that is in line with being "fair".

Further, we publicly share our gross to net deductions, have developed more robust affiliate tracking than any other operator & make more data available than any other operator for affiliates to view (plus hourly stats updates).

All of this is done with the aim of trying to get affiliates to trust in our programme (ignoring any distaste for the brand generally) and I've had a few conversations today where the misleading information in your post is doing the opposite.

Now to more a more helpful point...
Someone mentions during this thread that Bonne Terre Ltd is dissolved. As far as I can tell, this is not true. Sky Bet is operated by Bonne Terre Limited Alderney which is a completely unrelated company to the dissolved UK company Bonne Terre Ltd.

[colin3005]

A bit late in responding to this, but I've been away on holiday. Given the accusation, I have to comment even at this later point. I head up the Sun Bets affiliate programme and have worked on it since its inception.

Sky Bet is operated by Bonne Terre Limited (Alderney) which to my (and generally all of our) knowledge is owned 80% by CVC Capital Partners and 20% by Sky plc. Affiliate contracts were with Bonne Terre Limited (Alderney). Thus CVC have the controlling stake - so I can't see how Murdoch can have influenced the decision to close their programme.

Sun Bets is operated by Tabcorp UK Limited (https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09815995). You can see in the various documents on the previous link that this is owned by Tabcorp Europe Holdings Ltd (Isle of Man) and ultimately it is owned by Tabcorp Holdings Limited (Australia) which is publicly traded. Whilst Sun Bets is a joint venture between Tabcorp & News UK (Murdoch) - you can see that the holder of the operating license is not owned by Murdoch. Affiliate contracts are with Tabcorp UK Limited.

I set out the key elements of the Sun Bets affiliate T&Cs (http://sunbetsaffiliates.com/terms-conditions/) and I would challenge you to find a more fair set of terms for any UK facing operator.

If you go back through my posts on here I hope you can get a sense of my ethos regarding affiliate marketing - which fortunately Tabcorp chose to support. There is an obvious gap in the UK affiliate market behind bet365 and that is what we want to fill with our programme.

That is not to mention that you are transacting with a UK company which means most affiliates have a relatively easy recourse through the courts if there is a breach of the terms - when Tabcorp could easily have hidden the programme behind an overseas company if they so wished. There is no catch all termination clause (like the one Sky has invoked, and like almost every operator has) - they are written to be genuinely fair (you will note we do not and never have promoted "lifetime revenue share" anywhere, as the terms clearly state that there are cases where we can terminate, and thus it would be misleading for us to do so). We feel that is in line with being "fair".

Further, we publicly share our gross to net deductions, have developed more robust affiliate tracking than any other operator & make more data available than any other operator for affiliates to view (plus hourly stats updates).

All of this is done with the aim of trying to get affiliates to trust in our programme (ignoring any distaste for the brand generally) and I've had a few conversations today where the misleading information in your post is doing the opposite.

Now to more a more helpful point...
Someone mentions during this thread that Bonne Terre Ltd is dissolved. As far as I can tell, this is not true. Sky Bet is operated by Bonne Terre Limited Alderney which is a completely unrelated company to the dissolved UK company Bonne Terre Ltd.

Thanks for the post Luke.
The terms and conditions don't mention alderney on them anywhere, so in that case you would assume the one with that exact company name would be the one a new affiliate would (reasonably) expect the contract to be with.
I would also think it should have been the company that the contract was with that sent any termination notice, not SBG that is not a party to the contract.

I've hit the quota now so all my links are being changed to other casinos with a similar offer tomorrow

[sportyboy]

I think Sky Bet will regret this in the end. I wish the affiliates who pursue legal action the best of luck.

[LetsGoGo]

Here is a short interview with the CEO of Sky Bets from the Betting on Sports conference calvinayre.com/2017/09/14/conference/betting-sports-2017-day-1-recap-video/

In my opinion, an operator can shut down the affiliate program when ever they want. But that obv. includes that all exiting rev share deals continues for life.

Unibet has done something similar in Denmark a few months back (please monitor this very carefully if you work with Unibet / Maria Casino / Bingo.com in other markets).

But unlike Sky Bets, Unibet still pay the agreed rev share for life. But you can no longer get a rev share deal. All affiliates without exception is paid a €40 CPA (sports) €100 CPA (Poker) and a €150 CPA (Casino). And you will only get paid for one product.

[Madz]

A bit late in responding to this, but I've been away on holiday. Given the accusation, I have to comment even at this later point. I head up the Sun Bets affiliate programme and have worked on it since its inception.

Sky Bet is operated by Bonne Terre Limited (Alderney) which to my (and generally all of our) knowledge is owned 80% by CVC Capital Partners and 20% by Sky plc. Affiliate contracts were with Bonne Terre Limited (Alderney). Thus CVC have the controlling stake - so I can't see how Murdoch can have influenced the decision to close their programme.

Sun Bets is operated by Tabcorp UK Limited (https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09815995). You can see in the various documents on the previous link that this is owned by Tabcorp Europe Holdings Ltd (Isle of Man) and ultimately it is owned by Tabcorp Holdings Limited (Australia) which is publicly traded. Whilst Sun Bets is a joint venture between Tabcorp & News UK (Murdoch) - you can see that the holder of the operating license is not owned by Murdoch. Affiliate contracts are with Tabcorp UK Limited.

I set out the key elements of the Sun Bets affiliate T&Cs (http://sunbetsaffiliates.com/terms-conditions/) and I would challenge you to find a more fair set of terms for any UK facing operator.

If you go back through my posts on here I hope you can get a sense of my ethos regarding affiliate marketing - which fortunately Tabcorp chose to support. There is an obvious gap in the UK affiliate market behind bet365 and that is what we want to fill with our programme.

That is not to mention that you are transacting with a UK company which means most affiliates have a relatively easy recourse through the courts if there is a breach of the terms - when Tabcorp could easily have hidden the programme behind an overseas company if they so wished. There is no catch all termination clause (like the one Sky has invoked, and like almost every operator has) - they are written to be genuinely fair (you will note we do not and never have promoted "lifetime revenue share" anywhere, as the terms clearly state that there are cases where we can terminate, and thus it would be misleading for us to do so). We feel that is in line with being "fair".

Further, we publicly share our gross to net deductions, have developed more robust affiliate tracking than any other operator & make more data available than any other operator for affiliates to view (plus hourly stats updates).

All of this is done with the aim of trying to get affiliates to trust in our programme (ignoring any distaste for the brand generally) and I've had a few conversations today where the misleading information in your post is doing the opposite.

Now to more a more helpful point...
Someone mentions during this thread that Bonne Terre Ltd is dissolved. As far as I can tell, this is not true. Sky Bet is operated by Bonne Terre Limited Alderney which is a completely unrelated company to the dissolved UK company Bonne Terre Ltd.

I noticed on your Digital Fuel website you are still promoting the Sky brands. have you not been notified of the termination for affiliates? How is this going to effect you?

[LukeC]

I noticed on your Digital Fuel website you are still promoting the Sky brands. have you not been notified of the termination for affiliates? How is this going to effect you?

We have been notified of termination; our affiliate network is a CPA network so this is treated by our team in the same way as any other operator we work with giving us 30 days notice of termination, taking into account any agreements we have with the operator. It is obviously negative in terms of revenue to our business but we don't have any significant legacy rev share that we will be losing.

[Madz]

So at the end of the month all promotions to Sky products will cease?

[LukeC]

So at the end of the month all promotions to Sky products will cease?

Yes

[joeyl]

Shut down a huge database of affiliate payment deals rather than a few affiliates breaking gambling commission rules?

Dept of trading standards and your local mp's should be talking to the gambling commish on your behalf, otherwise they won't listen.

What have the gpwa said? Remote gaming assoc? ecogra? Todd and Affguard even.. All those "fairness" in gaming for players and affs group(s) staffers making a living from this stuff. Time to earn it before the gaming aff model goes out the window by the sounds of it..