888 Online Casino Group - A Question Of Ethics

Published: Tuesday, May 09, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

888 ONLINE CASINO GROUP - A QUESTION OF ETHICS

888.com under fire from affiliates for alleged unethical marketing practices

A storm has been building in the affiliate marketing sector of the industry over claims that one of the largest online gambling groups in the business, and a publicly quoted company to boot is turning a blind eye to the allegedly unethical marketing activities of its independent affiliates.

888.com has been the focus of massive criticism from the affiliate world on this issue, but is reportedly disinclined to either agree with the views of the affiliate community or take action against its affiliates, who stand accused of unethical practices such as site-scraping (content theft) and spamming.

To better understand the issue, Online-Casinos.com & InfoPowa asked a principled and professional webmaster, Dave Sawyer of Online Casino Reviewer.com to explain what has been going on in lay terms, but before reading his interesting perspective it is perhaps necessary for clarity to outline broadly how the affiliate concept works.

Online gambling venues want to attract players to their sites to maintain and increase their revenues, and the operators budget substantial sums of marketing money to do this through a variety of media and channels.

One of those channels is the use of affiliates - totally independent individuals or (usually small) companies that recruit and refer players to the gambling sites. To do this, the affiliate most commonly builds a website or blog, the useful content of which attracts players when it is skillfully presented through media like the search engines, presence on other sites and so forth.

The operator will often pay for advertising "real estate" on the site, and/or will guarantee that for every player delivered there will be a monetary reward or "commission" for the affiliate calculated on a diversity of conditions and methods that are previously agreed between the two.

Larger gambling groups frequently have a division to handle the administration associated with vetting and accrediting affiliates, tracking players, paying the affiliates, providing promotional materials and briefing on new developments. Sometimes this is outsourced to specialised companies. Generally this organisation is positioned between operator and affiliate, and is commonly called a "program"

The affiliate marketing system is devoid of a widely accepted, formal controlling body and it is therefore open to abuse when it comes to ethical commitments, professional qualifications, discipline of practitioners and similar issues. There is no generally accepted independent affiliate regulatory body, although there are a number of websites where some affiliates gather to cooperate on issues, and exchange views and information.

That means that only the "Programs" have any sort of practical influence over their affiliates, because they control the purse strings and continued accreditation. Affiliates may work with several different programs, however so disciplinary action exacted by one program does not necessarily mean that an affiliate will go out of business.

Dave Sawyer provided Online-Casinos.com & InfoPowa with the following brief on the current controversy surrounding 888.com's affiliate activities:

"There has been an increasing furore over the last couple of months amongst Webmasters involved in the Online Gambling Industry, and it is allegedly caused by the online gambling behemoth 888 Holdings PLC, a prominent group behind household names such as 888.com and Pacific Poker.

"Serious allegations have been made that affiliates of the company are actively engaging in murky and underhand marketing activities, not befitting a Public Listed Company on the London Stock Exchange.

"According to 888 Holding's Website: '888's marketing is principally planned, sourced and executed through its in-house marketing arm which has accumulated significant creative and marketing experience focusing on achieving high return on its investment-driven campaigns.'

"So what exactly is all the concern about? Well over recent weeks, it has become clear to the members of Casino Affiliate Programs.com that 888 is allowing several of their online affiliate marketers to steal content from thousands of websites, which they then utilise as their own, in order to increase 888's exposure in the internet search engines such as Google and Yahoo.

"The result is that 888's exposure in the search engines is not just limited to requested gambling related searches; indeed 888 can be returned as a result for a multitude of terms which are definitely not gambling related.

"What is even more worrying is that there is evidence to suggest that affiliates of 888 Holdings PLC have been actively participating in the practice of Blog Spamming. Blog Spamming in layman terms is whereby webmasters try to increase the popularity of their websites by adding links to website forums or blogs (a form of online diary) regardless of their content.

"Not only is this extremely annoying for the owner of said forums or blogs, but this "shotgun" approach of broadly targeting any and all media and audiences can promote gambling to unreceptive or worse still undesirable audiences e.g. minors.

"This is a big concern, especially as anti online gambling lobbies and organisations are gaining support in the United States. The fact that 888 as a listed company is actively involved in this brings the whole online gambling industry into disrepute and further fuels the calls for online gambling to be banned in the US.

"888 has substantial marketing budgets and resources to call on. For example the company sponsored English Premiership Football Team Middlesbrough and the recent World Snooker Championships. This being the case, the question must be asked: "Why does the company have to resort to these underhand, unethical and potentially very damaging marketing techniques?"

Dave Sawyer as the webmaster of casino portal Online Casino Reviewer.com commented: "It is a serious concern that one of the leading online gambling companies is unable or unwilling to police its affiliate program. In my opinion, by allowing affiliates to do as they please in promoting 888 and its associated brands, 888.com not only tarnishes its own brands, but the entire industry.