But over the years they started charging a fee for the Casino Affiliate Programs to receive a so called “Safety Seal’ which is “CAP’s” seal of approval that says in general that the casinos affiliate program is a good one and a safe one. But in reality when the programs have to in fact purchase this “Seal” then the validity of the seal becomes skewed in my opinion. As any online casino program with enough money can then simply purchase this seal certification in order to appear legit and reputable.
In my opinion, the “CAP Certification Program” is, and has always been a total farce in my eyes and also a lot of others in this industry. It's nothing more than a cloaked attempt to fool the intellect of a lot of folks in this industry into believing that the casino program carrying this seal is above board so to speak. It has recently come to our attention that this is not always the case here as in the recent issues regarding the “CardSpike” program and their continued failure to pay their affiliates the money that is rightfully owed to them.
Like I have said before, I have been here at the online casinos since day one, approximately thirteen years now, and I have seen a lot of online casinos come and go, both good and bad for multitudes of various reasons.
Why the casinos ever even considered that they would appear to be a more reputable or legitimate organization because of a seal badge or a meaningless piece of paper stating that they were a so called “certified program” for affiliates is just beyond me. And the more important part of this equation is the fact that the so-called “Seal of Approval” comes from no more that a website owner(s), not from a jurisdictional regulating body.
I still to this day question why so many online Casino Affiliate Programs and also Casino Affiliates too fall for this farce certification seal approval. It is beyond my comprehension, other than the fact that the affiliates themselves did not know anything at all about the online casinos and this online gaming business in general at the time they chose to enter it.
It could also be due to the fact that “CAP” are also really good at creative marketing and I can see how the farce of the "CAP Certification” could have seemed appealing to them. In my opinion the certification program reminds me of the old past when the Mafioso strong arm style of the families would get together and offer you, the local shopkeeper, which is now the "Affiliate" the opportunity to partner with and join their program if you wanted protection for what was rightfully yours in the first place.
For all of those affiliates out there that would feel a need to respond that "CAP" has done a lot of great things over the years for both affiliates and affiliate programs then I would simply say to you, that it was all a mirage of cloak and dagger type effects and theatrics. If the affiliate programs were not legit in the first place then it would have only been a simple matter of time before they failed or were brought down on their own merits and in the fall they would have also brought the casino down with them.
No matter whether or not they would have ever been a so-called "certified program"...it's really that simple. If the online casinos had chose to have not paid their affiliates for promoting said casino then all the affiliates would have had to of done is just simply STOP promoting said casino and the ramifications of that action would have spoken for itself as it does in any business in the free trade market.
I often step back and ask myself this question, as I am sure others have also done. Has "CAP" or the "CAP Certification Program" helped to bring any type of legalized regulation to this industry over the years? I think the answer to that question is clear and the answer is NO! In my opinion all "CAP" has done for the online casino industry over the years is simply milk hundreds of thousands of dollars out of the online casinos unnecessarily by promoting a product (Farce Certification Seal) that the online casinos could have eventually figured out on their own.
The Online Casinos could also have gone on to further implement their own self-regulating body or program similar to what a lot of the land based Indian or Tribal Casinos adhere to today regarding self-regulation.
Furthermore, anyone that still wants to associate with the "CAP Program" after all the alleged evidence that has been revealed of late regarding their non transparent association with "CardSpike" (the online poker room) which is hosted by the “Cake Poker Network”, along with other revelations that just recently came to surface is only condoning a type of behavior and mindset that can only add to the fuel of the US Politicians that are hell bent on totally abolishing this industry. They, the US Politicians will see incidences like this and establish in their minds that they were right all along about this industry being set up to be a money laundering business from the get go!
This type of behavior cannot exist in this industry if this industry ever wants to be truly considered legit. The type of behavior I am speaking of can be further referenced here at the news article published by Gambling911 on Jan. 1st, 09 and also all of the investigative reporting that J. Todd has offered up here at the APCW and further in his videos here.
The Gambling Guru
1 comments:
I think most established programs and affiliates know that the CAP Certification is a bit of a scam.
Labelling the seal as 'CAP Listed' instead of 'CAP Certified' would clear up any confusion.
But the casino programs are happy to play along. It works to their benefit too.
New affiliates see the Logo and assume it is something credible.
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