Six days ahead of its relaunch, Full Tilt Poker seems dead set on alienating its former affiliate partners. In the latest twist on this story, PokerStrategy.com is claiming that FTP won’t be tracking the nearly half million players they’ve sent to the site.
Not only will these players not be earning money for PokerStrategy, they won’t be earning other premiums negotiated between the companies before FTP’s sale to PokerStars.
This move is consistent with PokerStars/FTP’s decision to exclude affiliates from their half billion dollar settlement with the Department of Justice. It’s also a move that’s left big time affiliates, Pokerstrategy, wondering why the new company would be shutting the very partners and players responsible for their success in the first place.
In a press release, PokerStrategy representatives had this to say about the situation:
We are shocked that Full Tilt Poker, being under new management, would make a decision that will, in our opinion, directly harm the player base…We are now genuinely concerned that this might just be the first step in a process towards making online poker less attractive for players, in particular for those that take poker seriously.
According to a published report in EGR, PokerStrategy offered FTP a, “drastic reduction in our commissions,” to continue tracking players, but was rebuffed.
FTP’s treatment of its former affiliate partners is not exactly good publicity for their new affiliate program, which is set to launch some time in 2013.
What do you think of FTP’s treatment of their former affiliate partners? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.