GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 33 - October 2015

Five percent. Wait, hang on — 5%? Is this a joke? That question was asked by several af- filiates when Mojo Affiliates announced it was retroactively changing the GR88 af- filiate program’s commission structure as of June 1, 2015. Under the program’s new terms, referred players who generate net revenue of $0 to $500 on GR88.com will net an affiliate commission of just 5%. Now, we all know how much affiliates love it when programs make retroactive chang- es to their affiliate terms and conditions. PokerStars pulled a similar trick in May 2015, when it killed lifetime rev share and spun the move as a way to free up resourc- es to “promote poker to new audiences.” That sure was fun. And if the PokerStars announcement was a tragedy for affiliates, this move by GR88. com can only be considered a comedy. A dark comedy, sure. But one with lots of laughs. The kicker here is that the e-mail to web- masters about GR88 began by saying that Mojo Affiliates no longer represents GR88. Mojo Affiliates then went on to explain that, “as part of our ongoing de- velopment of the GR88 affiliate business and in order to comply with new Network Affiliate Rules, we have made the follow- ing changes . . .” We think “xecutable” summed it up best in a post on the GPWA forums in the af- termath of the announcement: “On the scale of 1 to 10 for lame excuses this ranks like 15. What are the Network Affiliate Rules lol?” At least PokerStars had the common de- cency to make up an excuse that sounded like a legitimate business reason. They were somehow able to turn “Screw af- filiates, who needs ‘em?” into something more like “Trust us, this will actually ben- efit all of us in the long run!” Mojo Affiliates, on the other hand, com- pletely pulled its rationale out of thin air. It would theoretically set the “Network Affiliate Rules,” so saying it needs to “com- ply” with them just means it’s attempting to shift the blame to some nonexistent en- tity. That is truly mind-blowing. And then there’s the matter of 5% com- mission, which is downright laughable. After the 5% level, GR88’s new tiered rev share structure will pay affiliates 7.5% commission for players who generate $501 to $1,000 of net revenue, 10% for $1,001 to $1,500 and 12.5% for $1,501 to $2,500, all the way up to 30% commission for $5,500 net revenue and above. Mojo Affiliates must have realized it was going to turn off most rational small affili- ates, who know it’s not worth getting out of bed to promote a brand that will pay them pennies on the dollar compared to the rest of the industry. And it’s not like GR88 has such dominance in the market — like PokerStars has in the online poker sector — that it can afford to dismiss small affili- ates. And if GR88 thinks its revenue won’t take a dip by turning away a large portion of the affiliate industry, it is dead wrong. The 5% figure, quite frankly, is offensive. It is not a joke — even if your first instinct is to shake your head and laugh. So take a bow, GR88 and Mojo Affiliates. You’ve made us laugh. You’ve made us cry. We “applaud” your “generous” affiliate commission plan. Welcome to the APCW Wall of Shame. W all of S hame 74 APCW Wall of Shame