Is gig shafting affiliates and stealing their commission?!

**affy** · 24 June 2019, 11:30 am

It seems GIG has stopped paying for players (who can continue to deposit and play!) to Dutch affiliates. Can anybody of GIG inform us to the how and why? If decision like this are the future what country is next?

As for the sponsor deal here on GPWA:
"AFFILIATE EARNINGS, BONUSES, WINNINGS, AND ACCOUNT BALANCESSponsor will pay affiliates in a timely manner and in accordance with Sponsor’s published terms and conditions and will honor all of Sponsor’s written agreements with affiliates."

**Triple7** · 24 June 2019, 11:59 am

This seems to be true unfortunately.

I received my payment being the commission to receive minus commission on NL players that were sent in the past and are still playing. I asked GIG about it and they confirmed it's a C-level decision to not pay anymore for both 'old traffic' (before 15.03.2019) and 'new traffic' (after 15.03.2019). I have a problem with not paying for traffic sent before 15.03.2019. And also with the tone of the communication from the affiliate manager.

I consider it plain stealing.

Btw, I see them breaching their own t&c with their own websites.

**GiG_Esko** · 25 June 2019, 2:32 am

Dear Affy and Triple7,

It is true that GiG has stopped paying for NL affiliate traffic as per March 18th as we stopped all acquisition activity in order to comply with the revised prioritisation criteria and fresh information communicated to us as part of the legislative process to establish a licencing system in the Netherlands. Any payments not received for past acquired customers is being looked into and we can re-assure you that payments will be made in the coming days and we will keep on honouring this in the future as well. We apologise for the delay.

Below an excerpt of the communications, sent via mail and posted on Income Access and Netrefer from the affiliate team on March 14th, as to the reason why this decision has been made.

Netherlands Update

As we are always striving to be compliant and fair to our customers we must ask our partners to do the same. Recent events have highlighted the need for a compliance reminder. As you should know, we do not permit any targeting of Dutch residents and we actively expect strict adherence to this rule.

GIG intends to deliver a NL licence application as soon as the application period opens. Dutch authorities have made it clear that all acquisition activity of Dutch customers must cease for us to be eligible.

It is crucial that the following are adhered to when promoting our brands, if these are not followed you will be at risk of having your account suspended:

You cannot target in any manner Dutch customers;

You cannot use or advertise, including through affiliates, on any .nl, or.be domains.

You cannot include Dutch themes;

Your website cannot be translated in Dutch;

You cannot use any Dutch keywords which would improve SEO;

There cannot be mention anywhere that payments from any Dutch payment or bank accounts are accepted, or that you process withdrawals to Dutch bank accounts;

We cannot be mentioned on any site where online casinos that accept Dutch customers are accepted;

THIS LIST IS NOT EXHAUSTIVE - please see the link below for further criteria.

Our terms and condition have been updated to reflect this move and strict adherence is necessary.

We are also required to cease any payments for any new Dutch customers.

GIG will be deploying GIG Comply to scrape the internet and check for offending content on sites that do not comply with our requirements.

We require that all necessary changes are made by the 18th of March or you risk having your account suspended, and further action taken.

I hope this answers your questions and if you still have any, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at [email protected]!

**ddm** · 25 June 2019, 10:07 am

Originally Posted by GiG_Esko

Your website cannot be translated in Dutch;

You cannot use any Dutch keywords which would improve SEO;

This is absurd. Reminder to self not to ever work with GIG.

**affy** · 25 June 2019, 10:27 am

Originally Posted by GiG_Esko

Dear Affy and Triple7,

It is true that GiG has stopped paying for NL affiliate traffic as per March 18th as we stopped all acquisition activity in order to comply with the revised prioritisation criteria and fresh information communicated to us as part of the legislative process to establish a licencing system in the Netherlands. Any payments not received for past acquired customers is being looked into and we can re-assure you that payments will be made in the coming days and we will keep on honouring this in the future as well. We apologise for the delay.

So basically you thought to get away with shafting affiliates over and not paying for traffic you have received "pre-lousy-legislation-excuse". My post was clear and had nothing to do with "legislation", "acquisition", "revised criteria" and or any other lousy excuses.

So let me put it in layman's terms:

- existing NL players keep playing and depositing on GIG brands -> stick to your deal and pay your affilates!
- NL players not able to register and deposit cause of excuse 1,2,3,4, and 5 -> you never paid for them (as nobody does) so what else is new?

**Triple7** · 25 June 2019, 12:21 pm

Besides the statement of Esko, I've heard a statement about a technical glitch, a statement blaming IA and a statement of miscommunication internally at GIG.

The most important is that GIG will keep paying for sent traffic, but very nice it didn't look.

GIG will be deploying GIG Comply to scrape the internet and check for offending content on sites that do not comply with our requirements.

It seems GIG Comply doesn't function 100%, because one of your own websites is breaching some of the rules in "Annex D".

**GiG_Esko** · 26 June 2019, 4:21 am

Hi everyone,

I understand the commotion all of this is creating. We have had an internal glitch in reporting meaning that payments for players from NL acquired before March 18th were excluded from payments in May. I want to stress the fact that this was due to a human error and that affiliates do not need to worry, you will be paid and there was no decision ever taken not to honour past obligations. Any payments not made are down to an oversight that is being resolved by the finance department.

**ddm** · 26 June 2019, 4:26 am

telling people that they cannot have any dutch content on their websites is overreaching and absurd. Your comments on this?
"We know what it’s like being an affiliate "
^ riiiight.

**GiG_Esko** · 26 June 2019, 5:07 am

Hey ddm,

Obviously we cannot dictate in what language the content is on your website. In regards however to the NL license application requirements, we cannot have any of our brands on such a website. Once again apologies for the mix up in payments, we're working hard to resolve it.

**GiG_Esko** · 28 June 2019, 2:41 am

Hi everyone,

our finance department has now fixed this and payments have been issued. (It might take a couple of days for funds to be transferred). If you still thing you've been paid incorrectly, do reach out to us at [email protected].

Best,

Esko

**ddm** · 28 June 2019, 3:42 am

Originally Posted by GiG_Esko

Hey ddm,

Obviously we cannot dictate in what language the content is on your website. In regards however to the NL license application requirements, we cannot have any of our brands on such a website. Once again apologies for the mix up in payments, we're working hard to resolve it.

well OBVIOUSLY affiliates can use geo-detection to not serve your brands on any dutch pages on their sites, or to any dutch users, rather than throwing the baby [rankings] out with the bath-water.

**affy** · 28 June 2019, 4:29 am

Originally Posted by GiG_Esko

... our finance department has now fixed this and payments have been issued. ...

Incredible how a, what I thought was a reputable, brand thinks they can get away with lousy excuses like "there was a bug in the system"... The old days when programs thought to get away with blaming 3rd party affiliate back-ends are well gone Esko...

"I asked GIG about it and they confirmed it's a C-level decision to not pay anymore for both 'old traffic' (before 15.03.2019) and 'new traffic' (after 15.03.2019)"

GIG brands should be blacklisted IMHO.

**GiG_Esko** · 28 June 2019, 4:52 am

Hey guys,

@ddm, we're following the requirements from the NL regulators. When we do get the license, all of this can be put behind us.

@affy, like I posted, this was not "a bug in the system", but human error from our side, which has now been rectified.

Once again apologies and we'll do our utmost not have issues like this rise up again.

A great weekend to all!

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