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eCogra to investigate affiliates’ claims over Grand Privé payments
Online casino group Grand Privé has enlisted eCogra to investigate claims that it betrayed affiliates when it cancelled its affiliate-marketing programme in December 2008.
Internet forums have bubbled with resentment at Grand Privé apparently expressed by former affiliates, making claims such as “the casino group will continue to profit while tossing hundreds if not thousands of Webmasters into the cold”.
At the heart of the dispute are gamblers originally sent to Grand Privé’s online casinos by affiliates who have continued to play there after the affiliate programme ended.
Those complaining against the firm claim that affiliate agreements should cover the lifetime of the player, and that Grand Privé should therefore still be paying its former affiliates for providing those customers.
The firm says that it decided to close Grand Privé Affiliates in August 2008, notified affiliates, and paid them all money they were due, including “mutually agreeable compensation settlements with all affiliates who at that time had players considered to be reasonably active”.
It also points out that “management has not become aware of one single affiliate claim for compensation being submitted directly to Grand Privé, despite a rising noise level on the Internet”.
Grand Privé adds, however, that it is “prepared to concede that certain smaller and relatively inactive affiliate accounts may feel prejudiced by the closure”.
Now eCogra will investigate the matter and examine claims that were submitted by former affiliates before a 31 December deadline. All affiliates who had active players in the three months before the programme closed have been contacted.
Grand Privé’s brands are Bella Vegas, Casino Grand Bay, Jupiter Club, Lake Palace and Road House Reels.
