Something to think about if youre on MGR

[hoursurfing]

I guess most people think legalization of online poker in the US is eventually going to happen.

If this happens we'll likely see quite a few buyouts correct? So, this leads me to believe that if you're on MGR at let's say....888 or Party Poker, one of the few likely to get bought out, there is a good chance to get the royal F U treatment if bought by a major US casino.

Eventually it's going to happen, I think whether it be 1 year or 10+ years, how many of you think sites would actually compensate affiliates. I think none would so being on MGR would seem like risky business at any of the potential poker rooms. Anyone else starting to think about this? This would seem like an especially important issue to those whom have a lot of foreign players at the potential buy-out candidates.

[TheDonk]

Very good points hoursurfing. There are plenty of issues to think about regarding this issue, especially right now. This is something IMO that requires some forward thinking, and also some 'wait and see' patience.

First, if it does get taxed and regulated, taxes and most likely other new fee's will also be taking a cut of our profits from MGR. We've already seen how losing Neteller affected player fee's at Full Tilt to a point of ridiculous. Absolute (although to a lesser extent than FTP) recently started making deductions for similar fee's. More fee's = less commissions on MGR. Looking forward MGR is looking less attractive IMO.

However, in the more immediate future, the UIGEA looms over us. IF Gonzalez figures out a way to regulate the act, we'll have to consider the types of players who will still be making deposits. Most likely, the vast majority of players will not jump through hoops to make a deposit. I consider myself a pretty hardcore player, not casual by any means, yet it took me 3 months before I opened an ePassporte account. I dreaded spending the time that I thought it would take to get the account set up. So, most of our new player signups will likely be the exact players we want on MGR, hardcore players. Quality players = better commissions on MGR. Looking forward on this issue, we have to wait and see.

Finally, we have to consider each room independently. For example, looking forward I cannot see FTP getting any better for MGR affiliates. For myself, I've seen my commissions stay pretty much the same over the last 6-8 months, even though my real money player signups have gone up 2-3 times. Player fee's are now the most important stat at FTP for me. No longer is it about quality players. A quality player may make so many deposits, which cause such high player fee's, that the 'quality' of the player himself is almost meaningless. I personally am signing up for the FTP CPA deal here at PAW. It makes so much more sense in any situation.

Anyway, that's my take.

TheDonk

Poker bonuses, in an SEO challenged environment.

[Darko]

yes, while I agree with your point about this and agree that we would get stiffed, it doesn't mean that mgr is the wrong option to take.

If I do keep my mgr players for 10 years and then do get stiffed big time, I would still of been miles better off having MGR as my player value would prob be in the very late hundreds or even in the $1000's - so if I switched today and say accepted a $150 or $200 cpa I would have lost out in the long run anyway.

I know its unlikely we will have our players for 10 years at some places or all, but just having them for an average life time of 1 year would imo produce much better mgr then cpa anyways - so even if they did get taken away overnight, I would still have earned more then cpa - so just because at some point my players could disappear overnight, doesn't mean its def the wrong option to take.

for example, my average player age at AP is 4 months old (I have promoted them for about 9.5 months - but more rmp's now then when I started, hence ave player age of 4 months and not 4.75 months)

but my average net commission per player is already $124 - so even if I got stiffed tomorrow, and even with only a 4 month player average age I would still be better off then taking a $100 cpa.

So I guess you still have to take into account each site separately for example, I would def switch from FT mgr to CPA as my ave per player is not even slightly close to $124, so my player life would have to be much higher, prob in the 2 year mark to break even with cpa - so mgr at FT is more risky.

[losercore]

We've already seen how losing Neteller affected player fee's at Full Tilt to a point of ridiculous.

I just love that line. You really could say just being alive affected fees at Full Tilt.

Anyway, nice point.

[Catfish]

What about the legal side of it ? If some corp buys the poker room, to me it would seem logical from a legal point of view that they would have to honour the contracts made with the affiliates. Unless, of course the affiliate department is an independent company, as is the case with Party afaik.
If it weren't like that, don't you think that someone would have already come up with scheme like 'let's sell the company to someone acting in escrow just to get rid of our affiliate payments' .
Also I think the buyer would have a hard time finding affiliates to market that poker room if they do not compensate the old ones.

[TheDonk]

Originally Posted by Catfish

What about the legal side of it ? If some corp buys the poker room, to me it would seem logical from a legal point of view that they would have to honour the contracts made with the affiliates..

We don't have "contracts" with the sites we market. What we have is "rules and regulations to abide by". If you read through each of your Affiliate Agreements, most all of them state very clearly that they can change anything in them, at any point in which they choose.

There's more to this topic I could say, but I'm not going to right now. I'd rather see what others have to say without my "blah, blah" in front of them, lol.

[hoursurfing]

I agree that player value is through the roof right now at US accepted rooms. They can't bounce around and basically most of the "addicts" stayed and non-casual players are the ones making the rev. share so high.

Absolute poker has all the deposit options right now...plus blackjack so their player value is crazy, from what I've seen and it seems like you're seeing too Darko.

But the companies I'm referring to are the publicly traded, non US accepted sites. From what little players I bring in to a few sites, the player value is still the same if not weak. Those are the sites I'm a little concerned about.

Quote:

We've already seen how losing Neteller affected player fee's at Full Tilt to a point of ridiculous.

I choose not too look at the fees anymore so I don't go postal.

[corpfan1]

My opinion is:

Use MGR from sites that are "well known" and CPA from sites that are smaller/not so well trusted.

You MUST mix it up though...so you don't get killed if these sites change their terms/pull out of the US or other markets.

I think MGR for:

Full Tilt
Absolute/UB
Poker.com
Party

CPA for the rest.

[JBlixt]

I have bad experience of something happening for a few years ago. It was one of the sites on the iPoker-network (I am not sure which one, maybe noble?) that changed owners. I had struggled to get people in and had them on MGR. The affiliate business was seperate and the only thing they could say about the players that I lost was sorry to bad for you...

But on the other hand. MGR are so much better than CPA for me so if I will end up loosing some players eventually here and there I still must choose MGR.

The point is good and it can happen again. So if someone are scared go with CPA.

And like said above. Go MGR with big trusted sites where your players will stay and play. Go CPA with the other ones.