So in light of the Tweet I wrote (Tweet 102 – Affiliates) there has been a lot of chat on Twitter and questions asked about various things that came out of it. Nearly all of them relate to morals and the gambling industry. It feels best to try and answer some in a thread. As much as I like Twitter I simply don’t have time to respond to literally dozens and dozens of new threads and replies. To reiterate, my original tweet was simply about revenue sharing affiliate deals. Not the whole affiliate deal industry.
It will always vary but as a general rule you get a choice when you become an affiliate and that is whether you take a fixed amount of money per account opened or a revenue share deal. It is my belief and I have seen nothing to persuade me otherwise that the industry should move away from the latter type of offer ,as I have real questions as to some of the ethics relating to it and problem gambling. I understand that will upset some of those who rely on revenue sharing affiliate deals for their livelihood. However, it is just my opinion. It should all be a standard fixed amount per account.
If I see something that I think is wrong in the industry I will call it out. Whether it be revenue sharing affiliate deals, credit cards, affordability checks, account restrictions, media influence. It doesn’t matter. It will no doubt upset plenty of people along the way. Such is life. I dont have a company to answer to.
This then drew the ire of those who don’t believe that problem gambling is an issue. It was equated to shopping addictions and other issues such as fast food/obesity and alcohol addictions. I am well aware that the country has other issues than just problem gambling and it is the in vogue industry to target atm. I will leave it to others though to fight those other battles. None of them are good.
What I would say is that problem gambling does have one substantial difference to the others. It moves at a speed and with a level of destruction not seen by the others over a very short period of time. If someone wants to lose all their money over a longer period of time there is often very little that anyone can do to stop that. I am a big believer that we have to stop people having the ability to lose everything they have in their bank account in a single night of poor decision making. Its partly why things like banning credit card use are such an important move in the right direction.
I am told that I am fuelling the fire of the anti-gambling prohibitionists. I couldn’t disagree more. This industry has thrived for many years on some pretty disgusting behaviour from the bookmakers. Increasingly the practices that they have operated are coming to light. If calling out some of those behaviours and practices make me anti gambling you couldn’t be more wrong. I just believe that as a society we need to try and make sure that gambling is done in a much safer and fairer environment than it is currently. 99% of people will lose money gambling. Some small amounts. Some life changing amounts. People should have freedom to spend money on what they like. I just feel the operators should be forced to show some common sense with regard to it.
Things are slowly changing. We have deposit limits (hugely important) now. Other tools like timeouts. However, it was always telling that the bookies had to be dragged kicking and screaming to even put the most basic self prevention tools in place. They see no issue with it. Sometimes regulators need to step in and actually regulate the industry properly. The balance of power has to be shifted away from the bookies and all their shitty practices. Are affordability checks the answer?
Absolutely not. If for no other reason than the bookies have been shown time and time again to be completely untrustworthy with an individuals data. They will use it to ruthlessly maximise the profitability of an account. Yet cant use it to identify a potential problem gambler. GTFOH. I hear so many stories already of bookmakers using affordability checks as an excuse to not pay out accounts, close/restrict accounts etc. As always they keep showing that they cannot help themselves.
I am asked but are you not being hypocritical when you derive your income/profits from losing gamblers? Possibly problem gamblers? Undoubtedly yes. I have said on many occasions that we all set our moral compass where it suits us and justifies what we do and the decisions we make. As I get older I get less and less comfortable with this industry. It is an industry that is funded in its entirety by losing punters. So whether you are a bookmaker, pro punter, website that gets money from affiliate deals, media, tipster. It doesn’t matter. The money that pays for that job/hobby derives from losing punters. It is an uncomfortable truth for everyone. Some will care. Some wont.
As for the problem gambling side of it I have no idea, as I have no idea who I am placing bets against. If they are bets placed with a bookmaker I feel more comfortable that they are not directly against a problem gambler albeit I am conscious that a lot of a bookmakers profits may stem from PG. With the exchanges I will never know. Undoubtedly I will have benefitted at some stage. I have probably benefitted lots of times but very small chunks at a time. So I haven’t made £20k in a day because I am against a PG. I may have played over the years against 1000 PG though. Had thousands of bets against them. The difference in my mind is this. Lets imagine I have a 2% edge on the PG. If I have a £1000 bet against them over the long run that maybe worth £20 to me. If I don’t place that bet with them maybe I get a 1.5% edge against someone else. I have no idea though as I don’t know who I am against. I cannot keep just playing against that PG. In contrast to the bookies who can target PG and do so relentlessly. The casino may have a 5% edge over the PG. They may make £50 per bet placed. The difference is that the bookie keeps taking the £50 edge time and time again until the PG has lost it all. They know who they are betting against. So yes I have undoubtedly benefitted from PG but in my mind it is on a different scale to taking advantage of PG like a bookie. Does it justify it? No not really. Does it mean I shouldn’t call out other questionable practices? Not in my eyes.
Why not get out of the industry? Its much easier said than done. When your CV reads worked in the betting sector for 8+ years and then pro punter for 10+ years. Good luck. I do also enjoy the challenge. Trying to find new edges. I enjoy the flexibility. I love sports. Its not easy to just do something else.
These tweets are me trying to give a little bit back to the ordinary punter. How much value they have? I have no idea. I would much rather try though and not bury my head in the sand as to the type of industry this is. I want people to become better punters. Lose less money. That maybe pie in the sky but I will feel better for having tried.
This industry is at a cross roads and some important times lie ahead. Do we need draconian affordability checks done by imbeciles? Absolutely not. Is problem gambling a significant problem? Yes I think it is. Have the bookmakers shown they deserve to be involved with the process of tidying the industry up? Absolutely not. We need some common sense and a realisation that the industry really needs to tidy up both its behaviour and image going forward.
ProPunting 