NEWS
Yes, we have no affiliates... but we do get all the money
How one online gaming firm is bucking the trend by keeping things in-house
You might consider it an Emperor's New Clothes moment. Or a replay of the “if you build it, they will come” error made by so many early dotcoms.
Either way, newly-launched online gaming site
Trystbingo.com is challenging the accepted wisdom by recruiting no affiliates and handling all its own promotion. “Starting a business whereby you give away lifetime player revenue is not in the interests of the company. We intend to re-invest our revenue not give it to affiliates,” said Barry Smead of Trystbingo's owner Fat Bronze. “[Our] mission is to provide online gamers with the best choice of games and player experience and this can only come from continued investment.”
He and his colleagues are hoping that the site – based on software from 888's Dragonfish unit and a Cashcade skin – will attract players through pay-per-click advertising and search- engine optimisation. Those will be complemented by a PR campaign and presence on Facebook and Twitter. Affiliate programmes have gained favour
across the Internet not just in gaming but in fields as diverse as bookselling and adult content. In effect, the affiliate Website acts as a marketing and sales agent for the main site, taking a cut of proceeds: in the case of gaming, player revenue.
The benefit for the online service at the
centre of a network of affiliates is that it can show different faces to disparate customer groups, with each affiliate concentrating on a distinct market segment. The downside, of course, is not just the sharing of revenue, but the overshadowing of the main brand by its affiliates. Trystbingo's fortunes will show which outweighs the other.
Beating the bad guys
Co-operation among the world’s regulators may be the best way to stop crooks using online gaming sites
Could Bingo fund bomb-making? The online gaming sector may seem far removed from the global threat of terrorism, but the Remote Gambling Association – a London-based industry body – is sufficiently worried about the spectre of Internet gaming being used for money-laundering that it's issued a set of practical guidelines aimed at operators. The 22-page document covers issues like
reporting of suspicious transactions, record- keeping, and employee training and screening. Much of it is aimed particularly at operators in the EU, but the RGA believes it will be applicable worldwide. And “we also hope that [the guidelines] might be useful to other stakeholders, such as newer regulators, who need to know what might reasonably be expected of the companies they regulate,” said RGA Chief Executive Clive Hawkswood. Just informing the sector about what it can do to combat dubious transactions may not be
enough, however. The guidelines come in the wake of a report prepared last year for the organisation by financial-crime specialist MHA Consulting on two distinct threats faced by the online gaming sector: money-laundering in general, and the financing of terrorism in particular.
And MHA cautioned in its report that although
“there appears to be a strong commitment across the industry to prevent and detect money-laundering and terrorist financing”, it was also true that “application of industry standards and regulations that had been designed primarily for the heavily regulated and significantly vulnerable financial sector has provided a significant challenge”. Besides, it said, although most online operators already monitored customers and transactions to prevent under-age gaming, problem gambling and fraud, there was wriggle room for those that sought it. “As the regulations start to bite, this could
provide a temptation for some less scrupulous operators outside of the EU to locate themselves in the least-well-regulated centres,” warned MHA.
The possible solution: common standards
from the International Association of Gaming Regulators to plug those loopholes.
INDUSTRYPEOPLE
GREAT FOUNDATION John Greenway has retired as President of The Great Foundation... OPENBET Karim Peer has been appointed Managing Director of OpenBet Retail, the new division formed after the acquisition of Alphameric Solutions... AGI ARGENTINA Novomatic's AGI Argentina has named Javier Battistin as Technical Manager... BALLY TECHNOLOGIES Jean Venneman is now VP of product marketing and licensing for Bally Technologies. Robert J. Parente becomes VP of corporate accounts and Neil P. Davidson Senior VP, CFO and Corporate Treasurer; Robert C. Caller has retired from the CFO role. In Australia, Michael McNee becomes Managing Director and Ron Jeffrey is the new Sales Manager... FUTURELOGIC Barry Cook is the new Technical Sales Manager for FutureLogic in Asia Pacific, and Candy Tong is Office Administrator... GLI David Elmore has joined the development team at GLI as Supplier Development Representative... NYX INTERACTIVE David Flynn replaces Staffan Lindgren as CEO of Nyx Interactive; Lindgren is now on the company's board... TALARIS Tim Robinson, previously CEO of Xafinity, now holds the same role at Talaris... AMERICAN GAMING SYSTEMS Robert L. Miodunski, a former CEO of Alliance Gaming, has joined American Gaming Systems and Chairman and Interim President and CEO... GALA CORAL Four new Non-Executive Directors have joined the board at Gala Coral Group: Charles (Chuck) Attwood, Don Kornstein, Barry Hardy and Wilf Walsh... IGT International Game Technology has added Vincent L. Sadusky to its board... 888 David Zerah takes over from Gabi Campos as Managing Director of 888's B2B division Dragonfish... UNIBET Peter Nylander has resigned as CEO of Unibet Group... GAMETECH Bill Fasig is the new President and CEO at GameTech International. His predecessor, Floyd "Bud" Glisson, remains on the board... RITZ CLUB Paul Bates has joined the Ritz Club Casino in London as Customer Relations Consultant, while Cameron Marvin moves from Gaming Manager to Director of Customer Relations. Andrew Love, the Ritz Club's Executive Chairman, is also to chair the judging panel at the 2011 International Gaming Awards... GLI Gaming Laboratories International has named Andrew Choi as Development Representative in Macau. In Europe, Filippo Ferri becomes Director of iGaming Development... SANDS CHINA Edward M. Tracy has been appointed President and CEO of Sands China, replacing Steven Jacobs, while David R. Sisk becomes Executive VP and Chief Casino Officer... THE GLOBAL DRAW The Global Draw has recruited Gareth Phillips, formerly CTO with Aristocrat Technologies, as Managing Director of international business, and Mark Wilkinson as Operations Director for international markets... CADILLAC JACK Linda Champion is now VP of human resources at Cadillac Jack... BARONA Nick Dillon has been promoted to Executive VP and Assistant General Manager at Barona Resort & Casino... INTERBRAND John Malin has set up his own consultancy firm, Interbrand Gaming, after 25 years in the sector during which he has worked with companies including Ace Coin, Maygay, CMS and more recently Heber and Innocore... MOUNT AIRY John Culetsu is now Executive VP and General Manager of Mount Airy Casino Resort... CASINOS AUSTRIA Christian Richter of Casinos Austria won a trip to Monte Carlo in the annual customer-survey raffle organised by Atronic.
8 SEPTEMBER 2010
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54