Companies Retreat : Vegas Affiliate Convention
Published: Thursday, September 14, 2006 Online-Casinos.com
COMPANIES RETREAT FROM VEGAS AFFILIATE CONVENTION
And an astonishing outburst from the organiser....
Affiliates bent on attending the Casino Affiliates Convention starting next week at the Stardust in Las Vegas are following developments with interest as several programs pulled out of the conference following legal advice.
With the uncertain legal climate in the United States, several affiliate programs including Fortune Affiliates, Gaming Partners, Poker.com, Referback, Roxy Affiliates, WagerShare and Casino Partners have reportedly pulled out of this important affiliate marketing event and forfeited their deposits with the organisers.
Despite this, most affiliates seemed determined to attend.
The risk level in travelling to the States was discussed at some length on the popular affiliate-oriented site Casino Affiliate Programs this week, and prompted a surprising outburst from the CAC organiser, Marc Lesnick who clearly felt strongly about the last-minute pull-out of some programs.
Posting under the handle "Yorktown" but identifying himself by signature, Lesnick wrote:
"What I am seeing in the online gaming industry is a separation of the 'Men from the Boys.' Most of the delegates are still coming. We still have a lot of exhibitors at this event as well. The parties are still taking place. The dust is settling over the news. Meanwhile, the 'boys' continue [to] whine like sissies online across the internet.
"Maybe its for the better. This will be an event of entrepreneurs with GUTS, something I admire.
Marc Lesnick
Conference Organizer
Casino Affiliate Convention
Stardust in Vegas"
The posts which followed illustrated that Lesnick's comments were not appreciated, and one poster probably summed the situation up by writing:
"You're a businessman who makes your living off bringing people together. With this in mind, I cannot fathom statements as you've made, particularly the bit about "'boys' whining like sissies."
"Yes, there is an enormous amount of rumour running rampant, however, faulting someone for erring on the side of caution is offensive and insulting.
"My understanding is that the larger programs who've opted out have done so on advice by their corporate legal advisors. It is a corporate decision and those who are not attending as a result are terribly disappointed. Still want to call them "sissies?" I'm certain those not attending would not appreciate your assessment of them and will remember this with events to come.
"I've had several people contacting me asking my opinion whether to attend or not. In each case, I'm hesitant to outright say "yes." While I honestly believe there is nothing to worry about, heaven forbid something DID happen while entering the US or another scenario--I certainly would not want that resting on my conscience.
"Everyone needs to make their own decisions and IMO this should be respected without insults, name-calling and all that goes along with it. Things are stressful enough as it is."
As we went to press Lesnick had not yet taken the opportunity to reappear and make amends for what was surely a spur of the moment posting made out of frustration at the damage and disappointment caused by US law enforcers.
