GPWA Times Magaine - Issue 23 - February 2013

Nevada could pool online poker players with other states By Aaron Todd A draft bill submitted to the Nevada Legislature by the Nevada Gaming Control Board could give the state’s online poker players the ability to play real- money games against players from other states. The bill would give the governor the ability to negotiate agreements to combine player pools with other states, similar to the interstate agreements that lottery games such as Powerball and Mega Millions currently enjoy. “The need to make clear the governor’s ability, should he choose to negotiate such agreements, was paramount,” Control Board Chairman A.G. Burnett told the Las Vegas Review-Journal . “I don’t know if there are specific negotiations right now.” Burnett, who joined the board two years ago, was promoted to the chair- man’s role when Mark Lipparelli left the board in November 2012. He could have a tremendous impact on the emerging online poker market in Nevada, and if the draft bill passes, in the United States. “What I would like to see is federal acceptance of an industry that is valid,” Burnett told the Review- Journal . “If the feds give the O.K. for interstate poker to go live, it will be a significant increase in workload for the state, especially if Nevada becomes the hub. We’ll have licensing matters and taxation matters to deal with, but the state will benefit. We’re ready for intrastate (Nevada only) poker.” Roxy Affiliates relaunches program R oxy Affiliates relaunched its af- filiate package in October 2012. The new Roxy Affiliates scheme will give affiliates the opportunity to earn commissions of up to 45 per- cent revenue share. In addition, RoxyAffiliates.com will offer bespoke packages for affiliates with particularly high traffic levels and a proven ability to supply high- quality players. The Roxy Affiliates system allows gaming affiliates to earn commis- sions on the players they attract to Roxy Palace Online Casino and Casino Splendido. The new system offers increased flexibility for affiliates and is suf- ficiently flexible to allow different deals to be applied to different mar- kets or campaigns. The site, which works alongside thousands of affiliates, has provid- ed competitive affiliate rates since 2002. However, they believe the new packages on offer are a step up from previous agreements. Magdalena Lindquist, senior affiliate manager at RoxyAffiliates.com, says she expects a substantial increase in the number of affiliates working with the site. “For nearly a decade we have been running a successful affiliate pro- gram but we believe our latest im- provements will really see things rocket,” said Lindquist. “The new system offers lucrative deals for suc- cessful affiliates and we are willing to discuss flexible terms with those able to provide high levels of traffic to the site. Flexibility is key to our new of- fering and we can tailor deals to ap- ply specifically to different markets or even campaigns, giving a greater range of options to potential part- ners. Considerable revisions have also been made to our reporting sys- tem which now provides substantial detail on an individual player level.” Roxy Affiliates has the eCOGRA seal of approval, which requires the highest levels of integrity and fair- ness, with no negative carryovers and dedicated affiliate account managers to assist affiliates. The new system doesn’t alter the deals of existing affiliates unless on the explicit agreement of the affiliate. 888 to launch real-money gaming on Facebook 888 Holdings has entered into an agreement with Facebook to launch real-money products over the world’s most popular social network. The agreement will see 888 offer its real-money bingo, casino and slot games through the Facebook plat- form in the U.K. Utilizing 888’s existing social facing operation, the first app to launch will be bingo, with a casino offering including slots and other popular games to follow shortly. “888 has long recognized the po- tential for social gaming,” said Itai Frieberger, COO Our Facebook freemium (play for fun) offerings have found a significant audience, and we are very excited by the op- portunity that real-money gaming on Facebook provides. “Facebook is a great platform for playing games with your friends and we are really pleased to be working with 888, who have a strong reputa- tion on both the quality and safety of their games,” said Julien Codorniou, head of games partnerships for Facebook in Europe. 5 Webmaster News