GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 11 - January 2010

WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE? They’repartial topretty parrots,DoctorWho,Mad Poltergeist andMonica Bellucci.They’rehungry for steak,scampi and mushrooms,preferably doneup Italian-style.Their cinematicpredilections run thegamut fromMafiamovies to JimCarreyflicks.Andwhen it’s time to let theirhairdown they takeoff for Jamaica, Bali, theGreek Islandsand theAlps.Professionally they have lotsof sageadvice for affiliateseverywhere–and all of it comes from their in- the-trenches,baptism-by-fire experiences. Sowhoare they?They’re fourof our favoriteGPWA memberwebmasters.Read their stories–chancesare they’ll become favoritesof yours, too! *Due tospaceconstraints,wecouldnotprint the interviews in theirentirety.Thecomplete textwillbepostedatgpwa.org. GPWAAFFILIATE INTERVIEW SERIES Itall started witha Commodore64 You launched Casino-Crush about 10 years ago. How has the site changed, and how have your players changed, over thepast decade? Wow, has it been that long?Well,whenI firststarted itwas withafriendononeofthosefreedomains (I cringe nowwhen I think back!). I re- alized the limitations of these free sites and being a geek (had a Commodore 64 computer when I was 8 and learned ba- sic programming from that) I wanted a more interactive site. Itwas sixyearsago when I first got a “proper” hostingpack- age/server. I foundPHP/MySQLandgot to learning and trying things, spending all my evenings trying things out and slowlygetting the site together. I wrote my first “casino bonus data- base,” which was searchable by a few basic criteria (software type, bonus type), and have continually improved this withmanymore now. When I first started Casino-Crush forum, I knew I wanted it to be “different” but mainly asked members to challenge me with what they would like, and this has kept me busy ever sincewithmany great ad- ditions and lots of great members and staff– love it! Over theyearsI’veseenagrowingmixof playersand I thinkmost ofushavegone through various frustrations –whether it’s not being able toplay due to legisla- tion, taking weeks to get a cash-out or (my pet hate) bad customer service. I believe players are getting more selec- tive about where they play (and so they should) and being a keen playermyself I amalways intrigued to learnand share experiences with our community. I think the social networking and forums have made players increasingly more sociable and vocal about their online gaming experiences – something I am verypleased to see. Howdid youget involved in the online gaming industry?What did you do be- fore becoming involved? Are you still an IT consultant at a major UK bank? Well, going back far enough I guess it startedwithmyplaying fruitmachinesat arcades– it’s somethingabout the flash- ing lights, I think. Lateron Ihadmy first online casino experience at Ladbrokes and slowly learned that there were oth- erswith thesamegames, differentbonus options, etc. The first affiliate program I stumbled upon was Referback but I can’t remember how. I read about it and I thought, “No – that sounds too easy, too good to be true.” However, I always Age: 36 and just over a half Hometown: Fleet, Hampshire (U.K.) Currently residing in: same Favorite food: Steak! Giveme steak! One book everyonemust read: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, byMark Haddon Sites: casino-crush.com poker-crush.com bingo-crush.com onlineslotstourneys.com blogaming.com GeneHastings | casinocrush