I’d very much agree with the Professor that the Guidelines are about the advertising of online casinos. Although it would definitely be worth double-checking the legal standpoint if you’re an affiliate, I would imagine that it will be non-compliant merchants that the Commission will go after ahead of anyone else.
The difficulty with the Guidelines is that they are quite vague and each merchants’ lawyers seem to read them differently. The merchants Brand Conversions represent are primarily big UK centric operators and many (but not all) of them have already changed their graphic libraries to stock banners which comply with the regulations. Until further clarity is available, the grey area continues to be, is information about the number of players online, jackpots available, welcome bonuses etc. an enticement to gamble, or a simple fact about the online casino? Some operators are saying that they will be even more reliant than ever on affiliates to promote their casinos as the operators will have their hands tied on what they can and can’t say, whereas affiliates will have more liberty, but no one can say this for absolute certain.
Everyone is hoping that as we approach September there will be some further clarity on what is/is not acceptable, but at the moment it’s very much based on how the individual – be he/she an affiliate or a merchant – interprets the Guidelines.