GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 34 - February 2016

O nce in a while, you hear a sto- ry from the online gambling industry that confirms your worst fears. Such was the case in late fall 2015, when we learned that Christiaan Alexander Van Dalen, an affiliate manager for Betsson, was accused of fraud and money laundering. According to court documents, Van Dalen is accused of retagging players at the online sportsbook, casino and poker room under his own affiliate tag so that he could earn commissions from their play. The total amount stolen? €153,000, or enough to buy property in the Philippines. Affiliates have always been con- cerned that there is little (beyond, you know, business ethics) af- filiate programs do to prevent this type of theft. How many times have webmasters been assured that something like this was sim- ply not possible? Clearly, based on what we’re hearing out of Malta, it is — or at least was on the Affiliate Lounge platform. According to a post in the GPWA forums, Betsson informed at least one affiliate that no affiliates were affected by the theft, though that strains  credulity. Our industry depends on trust — trust between the operator and the player, trust between the op- erator and its affiliates, and trust between the affiliates and the players. Clearly, that trust has been broken. Something like this should not have even been possible, but it ap- pears it really wasn’t that difficult to pull off. Van Dalen worked for Betsson for less than a year, and he managed to swindle more than six figures in commissions. What if he hadn’t been so greedy, and instead had only €10,000 in com- missions? Would that have been enough to be noticed? We do give Betsson some credit for prosecuting this lying, cheat- ing thief. Thankfully, the courts in Malta have frozen his assets, and we do hope that he pays dearly for his crimes. Perhaps this prosecu- tion will discourage others from trying something like this in the future. But the questions remain: Howmuchmore of this really goes on? And what if a less-than-ethical program actually condones it? So congratulations, Christiaan. You’ve landed right where you belong — on the APCW’s Wall of Shame. Thanks for showing us that what we always worried was happening is in fact possible. Let’s just hope you’re an isolated case, and not an endemic one. W all of S hame 74 APCW Wall of Shame