SB Affiliates – Change a lot

Terms spidered on August 15th, 2011 08:28 AM

SUMMARY: SB Affiliates make predatory changes, no big surprise. Read on..

Net Revenue Calculation
”Net Revenue” means the following: in relation to sports betting, the figure resulting from the calculation of the betting revenues generated by New Customers actually received by us less the winnings, less any credits, bonus or promotional amounts given to New Customers, administration percentage fees, processing charges, chargebacks or any uncollectible revenue attributable to the New Customers; in relation to poker, the sum total of all New Customers’ contributions to ”rakes” and tournament fees while playing at Our Website, less any credits, bonus or promotional amounts given to New Customers, administration percentage fees, processing charges, chargebacks or any uncollectable revenue attributable to the New Customers. A New Customer’s contribution to a ”rake” shall be determined for any hand where the New Customer was dealt cards by dividing the amount the New Customer contributed in the hand by the total bet in the hand and multiplying this by the total “rake” of the hand in question. For example, if the New Customer’s contribution to the hand is 5 units of currency and the total bet in the hand is 20 units of currency and the “rake” in the hand is 1 unit of currency then the new Customer’s contribution to the “rake” shall be 5 divided by 20 multiplied by 1 which is 0.25 units of currency; and in relation to casino and games, the sum total of all New Customers’ gross bets less payouts (as calculated by Our Website), less any credits, bonus or promotional amounts given to New Customers, administration percentage fees, processing charges, chargebacks or any uncollectible revenue attributable to the New Customers.

Definition – Sportingbet Group
”Sportingbet Group” means Sportingbet Plc and all of the subsidiary undertakings of Sportingbet plc, Joint Ventures and White Labels;

Targetting of Minors
3.1Solely at your own cost and expense, you shall market to and refer potential Members to Our Website and you shall also promote the brand or brands of the Sportingbet Group on Your Website, promotions and marketing campaigns. You shall consistently provide us each month during the term of this Agreement with a number of Funded Sign-Up’s, to be determined by us, acting reasonably. You will be solely responsible for the content and manner of your marketing activities. You will not actively target your marketing to minors, including any persons who are less than 18 years of age in the U.K., Europe, Russia, South America and 19 years in Canada, regardless of the age of majority in the location you are marketing.

Marketing Restrictions
You will only use the Banners Links and any other marketing materials that have been provided by us and/or pre-approved by us (collectively the ”Marketing Materials”). In addition, you will only use the bonus code provided to all Customers at any time, unless you have received written permission to use something else.

Marketing Activity and Restrictions
3.6Marketing Activities and Responsibilities, Pay Per Click, Search Engine Optimisation, and Other Affiliate Obligations. When employing a Pay Per Click strategy with Google AdWords, DoubleClick or the like, Search Engine Optimisation strategy for any search engine you shall adhere to the following obligations: (a)You shall NOT bid on the termsbrand or brands of the Sportingbet Group such as: SportingBetSportingbet.com; sportingbet.co.ukMiapuesta.com; http://www.sportingbet.comParadisepoker.com; http://www.sportingbet.co.ukSuperbahis.com; Vistabet.com; and Any of the above including www as a prefix; and All mis-spellings and variations of any of the above. Any variations in country code top level domains (i.e. .pl .cz .bg .no) of any of the above. (b) You MAY bid on the term ”sporting bet” (space). But you MAY NOT appear above Sportingbet’s own PPC advert. (c) If bidding on ”sporting bet” and linking to the site you must NOT use keyword insertion for the brand to appear as the adtitle. (d) You must NOT display the brand or brands name SportingBet of the Sportingbet Group in your display URL. (e) You must NOT use the URL sportingbet.com brand or brands name of the Sportingbet Group, or claim to be the official site of, in your meta information on any page of your site. (f) You must NOT use the brand or brands name or misspelling or variation of the Sportingbet Group sites in your display URL. (f) g) You must NOT use the creative messaging from sporting bet’s the brand or brands name of the Sportingbet Group own pay per click activity. (g) h) You must NOT claim to be the official SportingBet Sportingbet Group site, or frame or replicate any of the Sportingbet Group sites. (h) i) You MAY use ‘‘SportingBet” ‘Sportingbet” or the brand or brands name of the Sportingbet Group within their ad copy but NOT within your ad title. (i) j) If wishing to bid on generic terms you must NOT directly link to the site and must have your own landing page or website. (j) k) You MAY include ‘‘SportingBet” ‘Sportingbet” or brands name of the Sportingbet Group in the sub domain of the display URL’s within Search Engine Adverts e.g. http://www.affiliatesite.sportingbet.com http://www.sportingbet.affiliatesite.com (k) l) You MAY include ‘‘SportingBet” ‘Sportingbet” or brands name of the Sportingbet Group in the sub folders of the display URL’s in your Search Engine Adverts e.g. http://www.affiliatesite.com/sportingbet. (m) You MAY NOT use meta refreshes to redirect traffic from your PPC advert (n) You MUST use no follows on all links taking customers from your site to Sportingbet’s or to the brands name of the Sportingbet Group. (o) You MAY NOT copy and/or replicate any Sportingbet code or content on any other website

Territory Restrictions
3.8 You will not actively promote Sportingbet in Italy, France and the French Overseas Departments, Norway, The Netherlands, Israel, or U.S. or target New Customers based in Italy, France and the French Overseas Departments, Norway, The Netherlands, Israel, or U.S. In the event that we find this to be the case, we have the right to terminate your participation in the programme and withhold all earnings with immediate effect.

Code of Conduct
3.9Affiliate Code of Practice The Group wishes to conduct its business lawfully. It requires its affiliate operators to do the same and as a consequence the Group will not ask any affiliates to conduct any activity which may be construed as unlawful or which may put the affiliate at immediate risk. Obligations on an affiliate The Group will require all of its affiliates: (a)To source all databases legitimately. (b)To communicate with all data subjects lawfully. (d)To comply with the privacy statement of the Group as set out on the Group’s website (xxx.sportingbet.com). (e)To ensure that content is not unlawful and/or that it will not expose any entity disseminating it to legal action. Affiliate marketing content must not contain or include text or images that may be reasonably considered to be: Obscene. Racially provocative. Defamatory. Religiously insensitive. Have specific appeal to minors or other categories of vulnerable persons; Link participation to luck, fate or similar; Create any superstitions or religious connection with participating in gambling; Make any association with sexual prowess or similar; Is not unreasonably or unnecessarily provocative or offensive, either generally having regard to local practices, customs or sensitivities; and Does not portray gambling as taking precedence over normal life. (f)Not to publish content that may depend upon consents or approvals of third parties, or the payment of a royalty or copyright fee for use of data or images unless it has obtained such obtained consents or approvals, or it has paid the relevant fees. (g)To regularly cross refer databases to remove any self excluded end users. (h)To verify in so far as possible that data subjects are over 18. (i)To verify that sites or distribution environments are not targeted where there is clear appeal to under 18’s.

Sub-Affiliate Commissions
4.7Sub-Affiliates. We do not offer sub affiliate commission as a default setting but sub-affiliate commissioncan be setup on an ad-hoc basis at our discretion and shall in all cases be previously agreed with your Affiliate manager.

4.10Customer Tracking. You understand and agree that potential New Customers must link through a Tracking URL in order for you (and, if applicable, Sub-Affiliates) to receive Affiliate Fees in relation to such New Customers. In no event are we liable for your failure to use the right Trackers. Further, you understand and agree that you will not receive credit for Sub-Affiliates unless you expressly register them under you.

{NOTE: Section 3.1 listed above}

4.13 If you in any way breach any of your obligations to us regarding the provision to us of Funded Sign-Up’s under clause 3.1, to be determined in each case by us, acting reasonably, then we shall be entitled to warn you that we are placing this Agreement under review with a reviewto potential future , or give notice of closure of your account in accordance with clause 5.2.

Termination Clause Update
{NOTE: Section 3.9 listed above}

5. TERM AND TERMINATION 5.1Term and Termination. This Agreement will take effect when you (or your Sub-Affiliates) complete the Affiliate Sign-up Form, and will continue until terminated by either Party. 5.2Either Party may terminate this Agreement at any time, with our without cause, by giving the other Party 20 days’ written notice of termination, where such notice may be served via fax or e-mail. 5.3 We may additionally terminate this Agreement immediately upon notice to you if: (i) you in any way breach any of your obligations to us regarding the provision to us of Funded Sign-Up’s under clause 3.1, to be determined in each case by us, acting reasonably, or (ii) you in any way breach any of your other obligations to us under clause 3.1, to be determined in each case by us, acting reasonably, or (iii) you in any way breach any of your obligations under clause 3.6, to be determined by us, acting reasonably, or (iv) in our reasonable opinion you are in breach of the terms of any applicable advertising code of practice under clause 3.9, or (v) you breach any other term of this Agreement which, in the case of a breach capable of remedy, to be determined by us, acting reasonably, has not been remedied within 48 hours of a notice from us specifying the breach and requiring its remedy. 5.4 We reserve the right to withhold your final payment for a reasonable time to ensure that the correct amount is paid. 5.5 Upon the termination of this Agreement for any reason, you will immediately remove from Your Website all Links and Marketing Materials and any marks, logos or other Intellectual Property Rights associated with Our Website. All Intellectual Property Rights in the Links and Marketing Materials belong to us. 5.6 Following the termination of this Agreement and, subject to the terms of this Agreement, our payment to you of all commissions due at such time of termination, we shall have no obligation to make any further payments of commissions to you.

Assignment
8.5 Assignment. This Agreement and the rights and obligations hereunder may not be assigned by you without our express written consent. We may assign this agreement to any other wholly owned subsidiary of Sportingbet plc, to any website owned, operated or powered by a member of the Sportingbet Group.
SUMMARY: This is quite the list of changes Sportingbet have made both good and bad changes here. The Net Revenue calculation is the most alarming – they now allow themselves to charge affiliates for their own administrative costs (ridiculous). This is an affiliate program that should NOT be promoted anyway – so if you read their terms and STILL sign up… shame on you.