Money Plays: Rogue Affiliate Program

In 2011, CAP published a list of the 10 Worst Gambling Affiliate Programs to help our readers avoid some of the less-reliable partners. As a follow-up to that piece we’re taking a closer look at some of those programs, like Grand Prive, Red Hot Revenue and  Best Casino Partners, and why they were such a bad deal for affiliates in the hopes that our readers can avoid similar bad players in the future.
Ever wonder how rogue casinos stay in business year after year no matter what they do? When you look into the case of Money Plays Casino or MPcasino.com or any of the sites run by the Costa Rica based GoTo Entertainment, you can get a full tutorial on how to be a rogue.
Usual Suspects
As we’ve examined various rogue casinos, it’s been very clear that affiliate turnover is a big reason why these outfits get away with ripping off their affiliate partners forever. A shady operation like MP Casino runs dozens of sites that all funnel towards the same back end (www.goto.com). New affiliates can be forgiven for not knowing that www.pittsburghcasino.com is just one arm of scammy empire that’s ranked rogue by nearly every legitimate rating service on the Internet.
What’s really mind blowing about the GoTo family of site is just how little information is available about them. Reputable sites like Sportsbookreview.com give GoTo sites an F rating, but really don’t have much more to say. Virtually every review mentions GoTo doesn’t always pay players, and that they should be avoided and that’s about it. The most thorough report came from CasinoScamReport.com which lists a couple dozen of their sites, and not much else.
Holes In the System
Because so much of the gaming industry exists in a legal grey areas, finding legal help to combat scam artists isn’t always a possibility. To fill in that gap, sites like Casinomeister and CAP work with members of the gaming world in an attempt at self-policing and ferreting out scam artists. But the system isn’t perfect and dedicated crooks can circumvent it if they’re willing to put in some effort.
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Finally
Long time gaming insiders can sniff out a scam site pretty quickly, but newcomers aren’t quite as fortunate. The GoTo/Money Play story points out the need for due diligence every time a webmaster is thinking about entering into a new partnership. Yes it’s time consuming, but researching each affiliate partner takes a lot less time than converting players that you’ll never get paid for.
Have you had any dealing with Money Plays or the GoTo family of sites? Tell us about it on our Casino Affiliate Scams & Warnings Forum.