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APCW AUDIT REPORT:
VIP PROFITS (with related Audit of 9am.com)
INTRODUCTION:
=============On approximately February 27th, 2006, the Association of Professional Casino Webmasters began an audit on the VIP Partners Group. As this group has recently become related to the 9am.com family, we elected to audit this group at the same time to compare customer service, cross-marketing, and tracking.
AUDIT ONE:
=========Audit One- Info:
On approximately February 27th, 2006, the APCW visited VIPSports.com and opened an account. We made a modest deposit, wagered and lost.
Audit One – Issues:
The process was smooth and without any issues.
All tracking was correct.
Audit One – Conclusions:
We have monitored this account for predatory cross-marketing and, as of this date, have not discovered any. We will continue to monitor this account and report any issues that occur in the future.
AUDIT TWO:
=========Audit Two- Info:
On approximately March 12th, 2006, the APCW visited Nine.com and opened an account. We made another deposit, wagered and lost.
Audit Two – Issues:
Everything tracked correctly. Thirty days after initial deposit, customer service called to make sure everything was fine with the experience. They provided a toll free number to call them any time if you needed help in any way. They asked if there was anything they could to better serve the customer and even offered a reload bonus.
The process was smooth and without any issues.
All tracking was correct.
Audit Two – Conclusions:
In our auditing experiences to date, Nine.com has been the only program that has done a follow up to players with a personal phone call. Color us impressed!
There has been no predatory cross marketing.
We will continue to monitor this account and report any issues in the future.
All tracking was correct.
AUDIT THREE:
===========Audit Three – Info:
On approximately April 10th, 2006, the APCW visited VIPCasinos.com to test the affiliate tracking on cross-over players (from sports book to casino).
Audit Three – Issues:
The casino account was opened and a deposit was made. Our auditor noticed that the same login information was being used from the sports book to the casino, which not only makes a better player experience, but we guess helps simplify the tracking of players assigned to webmasters.
Our auditor found it a bit confusing at first, because the deposited money was placed into the original account and needed to be manually transferred to the casino account. We understand this is probably done to ensure correct tracking with all the original account information, but perhaps an email needs to be send as some players may not figure out where there casino deposits have been placed (or vice versa with casino-to-sportsbook cross over).
There was one issue which we believe players will find disturbing, and casino operators and webmasters absolutely should find disturbing. Our auditor’s AOL Spyware Protection detected an adware/spyware element bundled within the VIP Casino download (SEE ITEM BELOW).
This spyware (listed as Riviera Gold Casino) seems to assist in player tracking, as when we removed it VIP Casino did not recognize our auditor as a returning player. Once it was restored, the auditor was recognized as having an account.
Audit Three – Conclusions:
At this point, we have no reason to believe this Spyware is malicious. However, whether it’s malicious or not will be irrelevant to players. Any player who has Spyware detection software installed will view this in a negative way and may even remove all VIP software (or all RTG Software) once they are aware of this… not to mention the negative consequences to the webmaster’s reputation as well.
CONCLUSION:
===========The APCW believes that these audits were positive from a casino operator point of view. We have no issues with player tracking, cross-marketing, or customer service. The Spyware issue, however, is naturally a huge concern. While we are optimistic that there is a logical explanation and that the issue will be addressed and resolved, it will not matter to players what the reasons are.
It is also worth noting that AOL is the largest ISP in the United States with over 20 million subscribers. As such, there is an enormous potential for a very negative player experience to occur on a wide scale. Once a player with AOL Spyware Blocker attempts to install software with this registry key in it, there is no debate that they will see it flagged as “Spyware” upon installation. At that point, the reputation of that casino, the reputation of the software, and the credibility of the webmaster are ruined.
It is not going to matter to most players what this item is used for or how “innocent” it is. All the players will see is the glaring word “Spyware”, and if they take the time to research the name “Riviera Gold Casino” they will uncover tons of incredibly negative publicity associated with this casino.
Not only does this long abandoned casino (Now operated as Royal Circus) have a negative image, but there are many pages available on the Adware/Spyware of the same name, and most of the information on the web about this item reads as follows:
Riviera Gold Casino is “…related to Adware… a parasite, is designed to flood users with pop-up or toolbar ads”. They will read that it collects “…private information about a person…transferring it to Remote Administration Tool…” and that it, “…can perform additional malicious actions, such as browser hijacking or tracking user activity on the Internet.”
So, no matter what it is, where it came from, or who’s software it’s downloaded with, it needs to go…. and right now.
> > > > > PLEASE SEE VIP PROFITS STATEMENT BELOW AS WELL < < < < <
WE HAVE OPENED SEPARATE AUDIT FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE OF INVESTIGATING THE ADWARE/SPYWARE ISSUE WITHIN REALTIME GAMING.
PLEASE REFER TO : APCW Audit Report ~ RealTime Gaming
John Olsen
Casino & Poker Product ManagerMay 2, 2006: VIP is proud to hear that the Association of Professional Casino Webmasters (APCW) recently conducted a successful audit on VIPcasinos. APCW performs a valuable service to the industry through these audits and we’re thrilled that our efforts in improving customer experience have been corroborated by this process.
Unfortunately, however, APCW also discovered some Spyware within our casino download. This is certainly not an intentional inclusion and while we are disappointed that our internal testing procedures had not identified this issue, we are pleased to have it brought to our attention, which simply highlights the importance of APCW’s efforts.
We wish to assure you that we are in the process of thoroughly investigating the issue with Real Time Gaming (RTG), our casino software provider. Early indications are that the Spyware is not thought to be malicious, nonetheless, we are looking into its origins, effects and removal, most importantly the reason why it appeared to APCW that, upon removal, sign-up information was apparently lost.
VIPcasinos values its affiliates and customers and we want to assure you that we are working hard towards a swift and satisfactory resolution to this issue. We will be in touch shortly with details on the resolution.
Good report and a good professional response from VIP too.
