IRVINE, CA – October 1, 2008 – CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com (CAP), a leading online marketing resource and community website for Internet casino affiliates, has issued the following statement regarding the postponement of this year’s Affiliate Series of Poker (ASOP) tournament.
Administered in conjunction with CAP’s sister company, PokerAffiliatePrograms.com (PAP), the ASOP was originally scheduled to take place during CAP Euro Barcelona, one of the company’s annual trade shows that was held over the weekend of September 25 through 28 in Barcelona, Spain.
On the afternoon of Saturday, September 27, undercover Spanish police arrived at the ASOP event being held in Barcelona’s Hotel Princesa Sofia. The police proceeded to terminate the event due to legality issues regarding the game’s prize fund. Roughly 40 players had been participating in the tournament at the time.
According to representatives, the company, which had made every effort to abide by all applicable local laws, was caught off guard by the action. CAP legal representatives had cleared all legal issues prior to the event, making it clear to the appropriate authorities that the tournament was a private, “free roll” style event and not open to the public.
“We don't put these tournaments on without permission, which is exactly why we have a specific registration system and a number of checks that affiliates have to go through to gain the password. This is on top of a number of other components to ensure we run an event that is completely legal,” stated Alex Pratt, an organizer for CAP Euro. “We obviously checked on Catalan and Spanish law prior to this event. The issue at this point seems to have arisen from a little-publicized change in Catalan law that occurred within the past year.”
No arrests were made, and fines levied by Spanish authorities are very minimal, according to company representatives.
The company will resume this year’s ASOP tournament in an online format, with additional compensation and rewards being offered to players to make up for the inconvenience. Further details will soon be released by the company.
“This unfortunate event does nothing to detract from the prestige of the ASOP tournament,” added Mr. Pratt. “We will ensure that all participants can resume their games in an online format, and as a gesture of goodwill, we are also increasing the prize pool for the online event.”
In response to these events, the company also plans to increase the size of the next ASOP tournament scheduled for January 2009, as part of CAP Euro London, its yearly London-based trade show that also includes the prestigious CAP Awards ceremony.
About CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com
Founded in 1999, CasinoAffiliatePrograms.com (CAP) is the largest and longest-running online gaming affiliate resource, featuring an active community forum, chat rooms, marketing tools, industry news/articles, scam alerts, and many more industry-specific tools and services for affiliate marketers. The company offers its signature CAP Certification Process as a means to protect players, affiliates marketers, and the integrity of the online gaming industry as a whole. For more information, please visit http://www.casinoaffiliateprograms.com.
About PokerAffiliatePrograms.com
The world's largest poker affiliate community and resource website, PokerAffiliatePrograms.com was established to provide webmasters interested in promoting online poker a place to research, discuss, and gain insight into the business. The company's mission is to provide the best community forum of its kind online, as well as a list of quality affiliate programs and a comprehensive collection of articles, resources, tips, and program alerts to help assist affiliate marketing webmasters. For more information, please visit http://www.pokeraffiliateprograms.com.
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