Grand Prive Ditches Affiliates
Grand Prive is an online casino operator that runs online casinos powered by Microgaming. When Microgaming withdrew from the American market towards the end of 2008, many of its operators stopped accepting new U.S. players but allowed the existing players to wager at their casinos. Grand Prive was one such online casino operator and till then the practice was above board.
Where Grand Prive went wrong was in the way it treated its affiliates. It is the customary practice that affiliates are paid on the life long wagering of the players they refer. Grand Prive however said that it would stop payments to the affiliates who had referred the existing American customers that were being allowed to wager at its casinos. Fortunately for the affiliates they had a forum that would represent them. This is the Casino Affiliate Programs (CAP), which acts like a watchdog for affiliates. The CAP’s response was on two fronts. It directly approached Grand Prive and told them that their decision was unacceptable. It also put out the message on all Internet forum boards detailing the unfair actions taken by Grand Prive.
Apparently Grand Prive has realized that they cannot simply turn a blind eye to the situation they find themselves in. According to the President of CAP, Lou Fabiano, the Grand Prive management has shown willingness to negotiate. In fact Fabiano has described his communications with Grand Prive as productive and making some headway. A meeting between Fabiano and the Grand Prive management has been scheduled at the Casino Affiliate Programs Euro conference in London later this month.
Fabiano is hopeful of a final resolution of this problem during that meeting. Meanwhile the Grand Prive management has sent a message to the concerned affiliates through CAP. Grand Prive has indicated that it will neither negotiate with individual affiliates or other representatives because they do not want “a circus atmosphere during discussions”. They will negotiate only with the CAP, which they assume is acting on behalf of the affiliates. They have also requested Fabiano not to make public their discussions until a final resolution is reached.
Fabiano has asked all affiliates to contact the CAP with their concerns so that he could take them into account during his discussions with Grand Prive. CAP is an industry leader in affiliate resources and has earned a reputation for ensuring that the affiliates get their due. Therefore most affiliates are hopeful of an amicable settlement before the end of the month. Fabiano has praised the actions of the affiliates who were active in raising the issue over various forums so that Grand Prive was forced to realize that the matter would not die down and were forced to come to the negotiating table.
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