Hey CodeName!
This is indeed close to what is most likely to happen.
Events are moving extremely fast and again, the most important thing here is to secure the US faced businesses and yes, this is most likely to happen through going private again.
Here is the latest news on that:
http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-10-11T111419Z_01_L11751225_RTRIDST_0_LEISURE-LEISURE-GAMING-UPDATE-1.XML&rpc=66&type=qcna
For affiliates, not much will change.
All will continue to get credit for players they send and the activity of those on their current list.