Thanks for the feedback Andy. I know thats how you feel and we do our best to ensure that we dont certify rogue programs. When a program gets to be unresponsive or is just clearly headed in the wrong direction with players or affiliates we do de-certify it.
That being said its important to remember this and its something we dont hide. CAP is a business not a charity or non profit association. We DO charge the programs for access to the community. I make no appologies for that.
The reality is it costs a lot of money to keep CAP going. We have a rather large staff and we all have families to feed. It also takes money to produce events and magazines and provide them for no cost to all our affiliate members. I know everyone assumes everything we do is a cash cow, but its not. We have spent tens of thousands of dollars getting Affiliate SpeedPay set up and running, yes we hope to recoup those costs somewhere down the road, but for now it was a major cash outlay to get rolling.
Because of the legal enviroment CAP Spring Break cost us over $90,000 this year. In the past we had more program support and even though 2006 Spring Break had over 400 attendees the net costs to CAP were under $20,000. We dont have to spend that money, but we do it as a thank you to the affiliates and programs that support us the rest of the year.
We make money and we give back. I think thats what responsible corporate citizens do. And again nothing is done to obscure that.
The fact is if we ONLY brought on Affiliate Programs that everyone was 100% on board with we would have less then half of what we do now and that equals 50% operating funds. That wont work and wont allow us to do the things we need and want to do.
Look at it this way, when you go a restaurant you are NOT going to like everything on the menu. You dont storm out because Liver and Onions makes the diner seem like they will sell anything and it cheapens their integrity. You order what you do like.
Remember we are all business owners and we have a right to do what we want with our sites. I dont examine each and every casino you work with. I dont presume to decide whats right for your business and I DONT JUDGE you based on your choices. I can guarantee if you or I went to everyones site we would find at least one casino or poker room we DIDNT like. And we might ask ourselves “What the hell are they thinking?” but that wouldnt be right would it? Would you want someone else to scrutinize everything you do with Affiliate Guard Dog and hold it up against some sort of yardstick or say your business model is a joke?
I have news for you if you get enough traction in the market and sign up enough members that WILL happen. And when it does you will have a better appreciation of what CAP or GPWA faces when these issues crop up and how it makes you as a person feel when a friend says something like that.
My ten cents.