Bet365 Marked Predatory

[Guard Dog]

Bet365 is marked predatory for the following terms:

<div style="background-color:#FFC; margin-bottom:10px;border: solid #333 2px;"><div style="background-color:#FF0; font-weight:bold; "><span style="font-size:18;">Dated:2011-07-19 - Commissions - Bundling</span></div><b>3.2 Payable Commission Calculations</b><br>

Affiliates are eligible for payment on the balance of their sports, casino, poker, games or bingo earnings. Negative commission balances in either sports, casino, poker, games or bingo will be deducted from available commissions.

</div><br /><div style="background-color:#9F9; margin-bottom:10px;border: solid #333 2px;"><div style="background-color:#0F0; font-weight:bold; "><span style="font-size:18;">Dated:2011-07-19 - Commissions - Minimum Payment</span></div>The minimum payout request for earned Referral Commission per month depends upon the currency denomination of your affiliate account as shown below. There is no maximum limit.
<br><br>
<table class="border1 mb10" align="center" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr class="hdg2"><td>CURRENCY</td><td>MINIMUM PAYOUT REQUEST</td></tr><tr><td>Australian Dollars</td><td>100 AUD</td></tr><tr><td>Canadian Dollars</td><td>100 CAD</td></tr><tr><td>Chinese Renminbi</td><td>750 RMB</td></tr><tr><td>Danish Kroner</td><td>500 DKK</td></tr><tr><td>Euros</td><td>60 EUR</td></tr><tr><td>UK Pounds</td><td>50 GBP</td></tr><tr><td>Hong Kong Dollars</td><td>750 HKD</td></tr><tr><td>Icelandic Kroner</td><td>8,000 ISK</td></tr><tr><td>Japenese Yen</td><td>10,000 JPY</td></tr><tr><td>Malaysian Ringgits</td><td>300 MYR</td></tr><tr><td>Norwegian Kroner</td><td>500 NOK</td></tr><tr><td>Swedish Kronor</td><td>600 SEK</td></tr><tr><td>Singapore Dollars</td><td>150 SGD</td></tr><tr><td>Thai Baht</td><td>3,500 THB</td></tr><tr><td>United States Dollars</td><td>100 USD</td></tr></tbody></table>


<br><br>
An active referred Customer is defined as a visitor to your site(s) who has clicked through to a bet365 website via your click-thru link, has registered as a customer, deposited funds to their customer account and conducted betting or playing activity in one or more bet365 products - Sports at bet365, Casino at bet365, Poker at bet365, Games at bet365 and/or Bingo at bet365.
<br>
</div><br /><div style="background-color:#FAA; margin-bottom:10px;border: solid #333 2px;"><div style="background-color:#F00; font-weight:bold; "><span style="font-size:18;">Dated:2011-07-19 - Commissions - Payment Date</span></div><b>4.1 Referral Fee Payout Requests</b> <br>Your bet365affiliate account must have a minimum of 5 active referred Customers before you will be eligible for Referral Commission payment. Subject to <a href="#bkmrk5254">clause 6,</a> you are entitled to one payout per month, providing you have fulfilled the above Customer requirement at the end of the preceding month.
<br><br>
Payout requests for any calendar month%u2019s Referral Commissions may be made anytime from the start of the second day (UK time) of the following calendar month.
</div><br /><div style="background-color:#9F9; margin-bottom:10px;border: solid #333 2px;"><div style="background-color:#0F0; font-weight:bold; "><span style="font-size:18;">Dated:2011-07-19 - Commissions Calculation</span></div><b>3.1 The Referral Commission</b><br>
Subject to <a href="#bkmrk5254">clause 6,</a> you will earn Referral Commission of 30% based on the net profit of your referred Customers. Net profit is defined as:<br><br>
<ul>
- on sports activities, all gross monies received by us in respect of all settled bets made by Customers after deducting; (i) monies paid out to Customers as winnings; (ii) monies paid in the form of betting duties or taxes (or reasonable provisions in respect thereof) (iii) bad debts; (iv) fraud; (v) returned stakes; (vi) transactions which are reversed by instruction from the card-holder's bank (commonly referred to as charge-backs); and (vii) voids and (viii) bet/deposit bonuses.
- on casino activities, the value of opening balance with the addition of funds transferred in less (i) funds transferred out (ii) closing balance (iii) credits made to users (iv) licensing fees (v) charge-backs (vi) bad debts and (vii) fraud.
- on poker activity, the gross rake less (i) licensing fees, (ii) poker chips bonus, (iii) charge-backs, (iv) bad debts and (v) fraud.
- on games activity, the gross stake, less (i) voids, (ii) returns, (iii) licensing fees, (iv) credits made to users, (v) bonuses (vi) charge-backs, (vii) bad debts and (viii) fraud.
- on bingo activity, the gross stake, less (i) voids, (ii) returns, (iii) licensing fees, (iv) credits made to users, (v) bonuses (vi) charge-backs, (vii) bad debts and (viii) fraud.
</ul>

We retain the right to change the Referral Commission percentage and method of calculation of Referral Commission as we wish in accordance with <a href="#bkmrk5229">clause 1.4.</a><br></div><br /><div style="background-color:#9F9; margin-bottom:10px;border: solid #333 2px;"><div style="background-color:#0F0; font-weight:bold; "><span style="font-size:18;">Dated:2011-07-19 - Marketing - Competitive Marketing</span></div><b>2.5 Bidding on Brand Terms</b><br>

You may not purchase or register keywords, search terms or other identifiers for use in any search engine, portal, sponsored advertising service or other search or referral service and which are identical or similar to any of bet365's trade marks or otherwise include the word "bet365", %u201Cbet365poker%u201D, %u201Cbet365casino%u201D or variations thereof, or include metatag keywords on the Partner Site which are identical or similar to any of bet365%u2019s trade marks.</div><br /><div style="background-color:#9F9; margin-bottom:10px;border: solid #333 2px;"><div style="background-color:#0F0; font-weight:bold; "><span style="font-size:18;">Dated:2011-07-19 - Marketing - Derivative Domain Names</span></div><b>2.4 Registering of Domain Names</b><br>
You shall also refrain from registering (or applying to register) any domain name similar to any domain name used by or registered in the name of any member of the bet365 Group, or any other name that could be understood to designate the bet365 Group.</div><br /><div style="background-color:#FAA; margin-bottom:10px;border: solid #333 2px;"><div style="background-color:#F00; font-weight:bold; "><span style="font-size:18;">Dated:2011-07-19 - Marketing - Maintaining Links</span></div><b>2.1 Linking to our Websites</b><br>
By agreeing to participate in this Affiliate programme, you are agreeing to create and maintain unique links from your site to the bet365 Group Limited websites (bet365 - Sports Betting, Casino, Poker, Games, Bingo). You may link to us with any of our banners, e-mails, articles or with a text link. This is the only method by which you may advertise on our behalf.<br /><br />

<div class="hdg1" style="margin: 0px;" xmlns:cpc="http://www.bet365.co.uk/ns/help"><b>6. Continued Promotion<a class="ir" href="#" name="bkmrk5254" id="bkmrk5254"></a></b></div>

<div id="sbtxt" class="p5 lft" style="padding-left: 10px;" xmlns:cpc="http://www.bet365.co.uk/ns/help"><div><bodytext>You shall incorporate and prominently and continually display the most up-to-date links provided by us on all pages of your website in a manner and location agreed by us and you shall not alter the form, location or operation of the links without our prior written consent. You are eligible for Referral Commissions based upon your continued promotion of <a href="http://www.bet365.com" target="_blank">Sports at bet365,</a> <a href="http://www.bet365casino.com" target="_blank">Casino at bet365,</a> <a href="http://www.bet365poker.com" target="_blank">Poker at bet365,</a> <a href="http://www.bet365games.com" target="_blank">Games at bet365</a> or <a href="http://www.bet365bingo.com" target="_blank">Bingo at bet365.</a> We reserve the right to reduce Referral Commission percentages if you reduce your efforts to recruit new Customers. Your reduced or suspended promotion of our sites will be deemed to represent your termination of this Agreement.</bodytext></div></div></div><br /><div style="background-color:#FAA; margin-bottom:10px;border: solid #333 2px;"><div style="background-color:#F00; font-weight:bold; "><span style="font-size:18;">Dated:2011-07-19 - Minimum Player Rule</span></div><b>2.2 Minimum Referral Requirement</b><br>
All bet365 affiliates are required to refer a minimum of 5 active Customers within a three month period of joining the program. Should an affiliate not reach this requirement the affiliate account may be closed, but you will have the option to open a new affiliate account. <br></div><br /><div style="background-color:#9F9; margin-bottom:10px;border: solid #333 2px;"><div style="background-color:#0F0; font-weight:bold; "><span style="font-size:18;">Dated:2011-07-19 - Spam</span></div><b>2.3 Spamming</b><br>
We will terminate this Agreement immediately without recourse for you if there is any form of spamming or if you advertise our services in any other way. You shall not make any claims or representations, or give any warranties, in connection with us and you shall have no authority to, and shall not, bind us to any obligations.<br></div><br /><div style="background-color:#9F9; margin-bottom:10px;border: solid #333 2px;"><div style="background-color:#0F0; font-weight:bold; "><span style="font-size:18;">Dated:2011-07-19 - Termination</span></div><div class="hdg1" style="margin: 0px;" xmlns:cpc="http://www.bet365.co.uk/ns/help"><b>5. Term and Termination, Consequences and Unsuitable Sites<a class="ir" href="#" name="bkmrk5253" id="bkmrk5253"></a></b></div><div id="sbtxt" class="p5 lft" style="padding-left: 10px;" xmlns:cpc="http://www.bet365.co.uk/ns/help"><div><bodytext><b>5.1 Term and Termination</b><br>
The term of this Agreement will begin when you are approved as an affiliate and will be continuous unless and until either party notifies the other in writing that it wishes to terminate the Agreement, in which case this Agreement will be terminated immediately. Termination is at will, with or without reason, by either party. For purposes of notification of termination, delivery via e-mail is considered a written and immediate form of notification.<br><br> <b>5.2 Consequence</b><br>
Upon termination you must remove all of our banners/icons from your site and disable all links from your site to ours. All rights and licenses given to you in this Agreement shall immediately terminate. You will return to us any confidential information, and all copies of it in your possession, custody and control and will cease all uses of our Marks.<br><br> <b>5.3 Unsuitable Sites</b><br>
We may terminate this Agreement if we determine (in our sole discretion) that your site is unsuitable. Unsuitable sites include, but are not limited to, those that: are aimed at children, display pornography or other illegal sexual acts, promote violence, promote discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation, or age, promote illegal activities or violate intellectual property rights.<br><br> <b>5.4 Duplicate Accounts and Self Referrals</b><br>

You shall not open more than one affiliate account without our prior written consent nor will you earn commission on your own or related person's bet365 sports, casino, poker, games or bingo account. The programme is intended for professional website publishers.</bodytext></div><div style="text-align: right;"></div></div></div>

<br /><br /><br /><div style="background-color:#6CF; padding-top: 5px; padding-bottom: 5px;border: solid #333 2px;"> Terms URL: http://help.bet365affiliates.com/home/mainpage.asp?popmembers=5001</div>

 

[grem]

I suppose my account is now eligible for closing?

 

[Vladi]

!! They are (were) one of the very few decent and trustworthy Playtech casinos worth promoting!

 

[sipka]

2.2 is closing out new affiliates entirely...

I remember i needed more than 3 months for getting 5 depositing customers... (the 5 customers is not new, but the timeframe attachment is...)

And what does this exactly mean? -> "We reserve the right to reduce Referral Commission percentages if you reduce your efforts to recruit new Customers", What is reduced effort? Why should I be responsible for their non-conversion?

Sad to see such great program is following some idiot tactics...

 

[Christoff]

bet365 are regarded as the best UK facing operation by many.

Their T&Cs are not ideal but as far as I'm aware, they haven't terminated any accounts with this rule.

 

[preditor]

"We reserve the right to reduce Referral Commission percentages if you reduce your efforts to recruit new Customers."

So pushing Bet365 at a hotspot (like on the top 3 casinos of the month list) during a month might not be a good idea incase they want to continue to have that spot, otherwise they might drop the comissions %....Omg! Lol!

 

[Simmo!]

bet365 are regarded as the best UK facing operation by many.

Their T&Cs are not ideal but as far as I'm aware, they haven't terminated any accounts with this rule.

Agreed. But the worrying thing is the future. Personally, I don't worry while James is there but everyone moves on and if some new affiliate manager comes in and the pressure is on to reduce affiliate expenditure....:-/ For an existing Bet365 affiliate, item 6 is potentially the most worrying.

I'm a big fan of Bet365 but nonetheless, this type of thing serves as a good reminder that an affiliate should try and spread players around different brands to spread the risk as much as possible and not become financially dependent on one or two affiliate programs.

 

[tryme1]

One of the problems with the combination of terms they currently have are these:

1) They have negative carryover
2) The new 'if you reduce exposure, we can reduce commission' clause.

For me, these are mutually contradictory. Right now, I'm in a £4k minus commission situation with Bet365 - so, obviously, I have reduced their exposure on my sites, as it will take me months to get back into positive numbers. Clearly, it's in my interests to push other sites until that point.

Now, it seems that I could be penalised for making a simple business decision that I only made because of Bet365s own policies.

I still think they are by far the best UK facing online sports betting option for both players and affiliates, but I'm very uncomfortable with this right now.

 

[KasinoKing]

One of the problems with the combination of terms they currently have are these:

1) They have negative carryover
2) The new 'if you reduce exposure, we can reduce commission' clause.

For me, these are mutually contradictory. Right now, I'm in a £4k minus commission situation with Bet365 - so, obviously, I have reduced their exposure on my sites, as it will take me months to get back into positive numbers. Clearly, it's in my interests to push other sites until that point.

Now, it seems that I could be penalised for making a simple business decision that I only made because of Bet365s own policies.

I still think they are by far the best UK facing online sports betting option for both players and affiliates, but I'm very uncomfortable with this right now.

I'm in the same boat.
I was negative with them for 2 years and 7 months.
I finally got back into the black just last month, and was already feeling a little uncomfortable about continuing to promote them...
The NCO on it's own is a huge worry for a small affiliate like myself, now with all those other predatory terms added too, I have to wonder if it's really worth the risk...?
Shame, cos they are a great operation otherwise, like everyone says.

KK

 

[tryme1]

Agreed, KK.

I've got one player who is betting and winning big on an almost daily basis. I've let this drift for 3 months but I'm going to have to contact B365 to see if they'll remove the guy from my stats. Either that or I'll have to ask them to give me his or her number so I can follow their picks

 

[Simmo!]

I agree that NCO is a PITA and I avoid it mostly although a few programs - like Bet365/CWC - I can bear it because they have proved themselves on retention.

I also think it's worth remembering that affiliate "partnerships" must cut two ways to remain viable. Where stats are zeroed each month, an affiliate is likely to be earning a fair bit more than the advertised/agreed revshare percentage on a player over his or her lifetime as we are insured against losses once every 30 days or so. A casino doesn't have that luxury.

That's why 40%+ deals make me nervous. I simply can't believe that most operators can afford that.

Like everything in life I guess it's about finding the right balance.

 

[xecutable]

Ask any sports betting affiliate, which is their best performing operator. I bet 90% would reply bet365.

Come on this place is becoming a joke, on recommendations what to and not to promote. Even with these terms if you ask, and there was a time when I did ask for a payment despite the fact I did not meet any of their standards and they have sent it.

Not to mention that they convert, pay promptly and as far as I am concerned do not deserve to be in the predatory section.

 

[KasinoKing]

Ask any sports betting affiliate, which is their best performing operator. I bet 90% would reply bet365.

Come on this place is becoming a joke, on recommendations what to and not to promote. Even with these terms if you ask, and there was a time when I did ask for a payment despite the fact I did not meet any of their standards and they have sent it.

Not to mention that they convert, pay promptly and as far as I am concerned do not deserve to be in the predatory section.

Yes, but not all affiliates work in the Sports Book area.
They may well be fine for people working in that sector, but they are VERY bad for the smaller affiliates working in Casino or other sectors (see my previous post in this thread).
Therefore I agree that they SHOULD be marked predatory.

KK

 

[Guard Dog]

Ask any sports betting affiliate, which is their best performing operator. I bet 90% would reply bet365.

Come on this place is becoming a joke, on recommendations what to and not to promote. Even with these terms if you ask, and there was a time when I did ask for a payment despite the fact I did not meet any of their standards and they have sent it.

Not to mention that they convert, pay promptly and as far as I am concerned do not deserve to be in the predatory section.

They may convert... they may be honest That's great. But they have a minimum player rule and if they chose to enforce their terms, they can easily NOT PAY unless you have 5 players in a given month. That is predatory. If they remove it, I would be GLAD to mark them friendly

 

[xecutable]

Actually Andy, I am pretty sure it's 5 depositors overall not from the previous or current month. From what I have been told, it's a term to ensure nobody will pull scams with registering via their own affiliate links making money off poker rake for example and etc.

"All bet365 affiliates are required to refer a minimum of 5 active Customers within a three month period of joining the program. Should an affiliate not reach this requirement the affiliate account may be closed, but you will have the option to open a new affiliate account."

I was actually worried once I signed up, but I was inactive for over a year and was never kicked out. While I do understand that those of you who are into casino might not experience what we do in sports, I strongly disagree that this particular brand is out there after your earnings!

 

[bonustreak]

Dated:2011-07-19 - Marketing - Maintaining Links
6. Continued Promotion
You shall incorporate and prominently and continually display the most up-to-date links provided by us on all pages of your website in a manner and location agreed by us and you shall not alter the form, location or operation of the links without our prior written consent. You are eligible for Referral Commissions based upon your continued promotion of Sports at bet365, Casino at bet365, Poker at bet365, Games at bet365 or Bingo at bet365. We reserve the right to reduce Referral Commission percentages if you reduce your efforts to recruit new Customers. Your reduced or suspended promotion of our sites will be deemed to represent your termination of this Agreement.

Dated:2011-07-19 - Minimum Player Rule
2.2 Minimum Referral Requirement

All bet365 affiliates are required to refer a minimum of 5 active Customers within a three month period of joining the program. Should an affiliate not reach this requirement the affiliate account may be closed, but you will have the option to open a new affiliate account.

I'm sorry you think this place is a joke to be honest I am confused on how much more clear this needs to be for you to consider these terms predatory! Yes the team at 365 are awesome, they are one of the best group of people I have met in a long time but come on these terms are horrible!

We promote them on our sites, we decided to take the risk if James or another affiliate manager we work close with leaves, who is to stop the new guy from enforcing these terms? Just something we will have to live with, it was our decision to work with them even after AGD warned me about the terms..

So therefore this site is not a joke! It is a warning tool, you did not have to sit and read these terms for hrs, you do not have to monitor these terms for sneaky changes, all you had to do was be a member here for free and your notified of changes, predatory terms etc... I think you get my point

Actually Andy, I am pretty sure it's 5 depositors overall not from the previous or current month. From what I have been told, it's a term to ensure nobody will pull scams with registering via their own affiliate links making money off poker rake for example and etc.

da

All bet365 affiliates are required to refer a minimum of 5 active Customers within a three month period of joining the program.

We reserve the right to reduce Referral Commission percentages if you reduce your efforts to recruit new Customers. Your reduced or suspended promotion of our sites will be deemed to represent your termination of this Agreement.

This is wide open statement it could mean anything in the favor of the company, they could call you out for not referring a new player every days or every 90 days... predatory without a doubt and they say this more then once in the terms.

 

[xecutable]

If, if , if. When any of these are enforced upon anyone, then I will consider them as predatory. To do it otherwise will mean (for me) disrespect to what James, Adam and the rest are doing over there.

And for the sake of this thread I am not trying to create an argument whether these terms are good or bad. I am just speaking from personal EXPERIENCE, that when these terms could have been applied to me, not only I did not get kicked out or got my commission reduced, I actually got a good faith payment.

 

[Guard Dog]

If, if , if. When any of these are enforced upon anyone, then I will consider them as predatory. To do it otherwise will mean (for me) disrespect to what James, Adam and the rest are doing over there.

And for the sake of this thread I am not trying to create an argument whether these terms are good or bad. I am just speaking from personal EXPERIENCE, that when these terms could have been applied to me, not only I did not get kicked out or got my commission reduced, I actually got a good faith payment.

I respect your decision there Just remember that we do not go off of what we think they will do. If they say they never enforce those terms.... then remove them

We have had way too many affiliates promote programs with these types of terms under the 'guarantee' that they will never be applied ONLY to find out later, after an AM change, that they were. It can really hurt to have that happen after a year or more of heavy promotion.

My argument always to the program is this: 'If you aren't going to use the term, remove it'. They never have an answer... because it is there for a reason.

 

[sports betting expert]

I think that this program will make the same moves as bwin party. They are waiting for you to develop a base of players and after this they will give you masive negative revenue so that you will no longer advetise them. The end!

 

[admin]

A reminder is sent to all affiliate managers.