BigWin Affiliates - Commission Issue, untracked?

Ruling

Found for the Affiliate Program - White Hat Gaming have investigated and no player matching the given details can be located.

A side note to this complaint is that BigWin Affiliates are closing affiliate accounts based on a small sample size of players being non-profitable. While they are continuing to pay for the player's that have been referred, the referral numbers are too small to draw any valid conclusions about the value of an affiliate's traffic and as such this is effectively luck as to whether a small affiliate or mid-sized affiliate not providing premium positions will have their account closed.

Read our BigWin Affiliate Program Review.

Player's Complaint

OK, my chain of events here is as follows:

I received an e-mail out of the blue on Saturday 09 February via my website.

This was from a player who stated they had joined Dream Jackpot casino (BigWin affiliates link) via my site back in November. Being a very large depositor the player stated that in December a SOW request was enacted by DJ casino and during this their account was suspended, then reopened a few days later after successfully passing the checks.

The player continued playing a losing there until Thursday the 7th. February when they were locked out of their account. DJ cited the rule 13.2 which is "We reserve the right to close your account at any time for any reason." and gave the person no further information.

I responded to the player on Saturday 09 February stating that I have had no such player tracked to my affiliate account - I would have certainly noticed a 6-figure losing player! The player confirmed he had used my site, and cemented the fact by describing my landing page which he remembered was very unusual because I sent them via my link to my tracked UK Terms and Conditions page instead of a promotional page where they observed that all other websites tend to send their click throughs. That is indeed true; I do use bonus terms pages where I can.

I asked if they were sure and then they replied with another e-mail saying that my DJ site link was now 404'd. I thought this odd so logged in to my BigWin aff. account to extract some different tracked links to update my site with. They all went 404 too. My aff. links have therefore been terminated, with no explanation nor communication. This is for both BigWin propeties, DJ and 666Casino. This occurred at approximately the same time they summarily closed the player's account, so clearly they think something is off.

I do not know this person, have never heard of them until I saw their e-mail Saturday 9th. So my issue is that BigWin have clearly acknowledged the player came through my account by the fact they shut us both down at the same time. Yet they haven't tagged them to me, costing me a substantial commission. If the player had been refunded for AML or RG reasons then fair enough. The player hasn't been though so I am requesting answers as to why BigWin sees fit to retain the player's losses, and also my due contractual commission.

If there is going to be a delay for safety due to the amounts involved, for example against claim-backs again I accept that as long as there is some kind of communication. I feel though that the casino is intending to keep both the profits from the player concerned and also my share due.

Thanks D

Read the casino review

6 Responses

ThePOGG

February 14, 2019

Hi dunover - welcome back!

As this issue will require us to discuss the player's information as well, I need you to get the player in question to email us providing permission to discuss their account details with Dream Jackpot Casino, White Hat Gaming and BigWin Affiliates. They can reach us at [email protected].

Thanks,

ThePOGG

dunover

February 14, 2019

I have already requested this, as yet have not heard back. Regardless, I still need to know why my links were killed without notification or explanation. Thanks D

ThePOGG

March 18, 2019

Hi dunover,

I'm now speaking to WHG to confirm that they conducted an investigation into the account activity you described to the operator and that they could not find a matching player.

In the mean time, can you tell me how many NDPs you sent to BigWin Affiliates before they notified you they were closing your account?

Thanks,

ThePOGG

dunover

March 18, 2019

I opened the account in July 2017 - August 2017. Between then and end of 2017 got [EDIT] NDP's. In whole of 2018 [EDIT] NDP's. This year so far [EDIT] NDP but obviously they killed my links a month or so ago. As for the player we've researched, have to assume it was a hoax e-mail I received. With the possible funds at stake I had no choice but to investigate it. Thanks D

ThePOGG

March 18, 2019

Hi dunover,

That would have to be the assumption if WHG confirm, but this is a question that absolutely should have been asked.

As to the NDPs - effectively the program are claiming that your players won so they're opting to terminate. The point I've made is that with a low number of NDPs this is nothing more than luck. The sample size is far too small to draw any mathematically sound conclusions. In fact, if we were to take the same approach to assessing the value of our partners, we would have dropped BigWin Affiliates by this point as they've delivered significantly below our site wide Average Player Value - https://thepogg.com/affiliate-program-value-report-2017-18/. The sample sizes are comparable.

While I would not suggest that this is equivalent to a Minimum Activity Quota as they are leaving the account open to earn on the players you have already delivered, this action does make the program a questionable choice for any small affiliates or bigger affiliates that do not intend to immediately give them priority placement. The time and resources invested developing content to promote these brands may end up not returning on the investment due to the programs policy of terminating based on the results of mathematically insignificant sample sizes.

ThePOGG

ThePOGG

March 22, 2019

Hi dunover,

WHG have confirmed that they investigated the information you provided and could not locate a player account matching the details provided.

Thanks,

ThePOGG