Bwin’s New Terms Do Not Sit Well with Affiliates
“GPWA suspends the program after they refuse to supply affiliates with previous terms and conditions.”
December 4th, 2010 – Publicly traded gambling company, Bwin (Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG), recently made changes to their poker and casino affiliate terms and conditions. Many long-term affiliates considered the terms unfair and complained to the Gambling Portal Webmaster’s Association, which in turn asked the managers at Bwin for a copy of the old terms to compare with the new. Bwin refused, stating, “after discussing internally we will not give the old T&C to your community.” The GPWA considers this a breach of their code of conduct and has therefore suspended Bwin as a sponsor program. Many other affiliate community websites have followed suite and marked Bwin as predatory or rogue.
The new terms went into effect October 1st, 2010. Affiliates were given about two-weeks notice of the new terms, and the choices were to accept the new terms or be terminated as an affiliate of Bwin. They coined the new affiliate partners program “Bewinners” and promised faster payments, better affiliate software, and high quality marketing tools.
All of these “benefits” are considered standard for most reputable gambling affiliate programs. Instead, savvy partners saw the predatory terms that Bwin introduced with the Bewinners program. Specifically, the Bewinners program changed terms retroactively, meaning that long-standing partners would now be paid less for players that they had previously referred to Bwin.
One of the more egregious terms included is that referral commissions will be reduced to 5% three years after the referral. This is an example of a change that was applied retroactively, meaning that with two weeks notice, some referral payments would drop by as much as 85%.
When asked for details of why Bewinners will drop referral payments after three years, the reason given was that the average lifetime of a player was 1 year. This statement does not give a very satisfactory reason for adding this predatory term however.
Also, players who do not deposit on the Bwin site within 90 days of signing up will revert to Bewinners, meaning the affiliate loses tracking of the player, even if he should deposit at a later date. Another change is that affiliates must create an invoice in order to be paid. Failure to create an invoice after 12 months will result in forfeiture of any earnings.
The new Bewinners affiliate terms also state that if the partner fails to provide a “Paying Active” over three consecutive months then the affiliate contract may be terminated. A “Paying Active” is someone who deposits and plays on the site for real money within 90 days. Even if one sends traffic to the site, failure to get a “Paying Active” account within just three months will terminate the “partnership”. On top of that, if the affiliate has a balance in his account when the partnership is terminated then they forfeit any earnings.
There are other terms that are in question by affiliates as well. The fact that the changes were made retroactively make it difficult for any long-standing affiliate to trust the Bewinners program. Also consider the language in the new terms that states that they may change referral percentages and terms at any time without any notice, and it is easy to see why reputable poker and casino affiliate communities are placing the “predatory” tag on the new Bewinners program.
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For more information on the Bwin poker affiliate program, Bewinners , please visit www.belosers.com.