What is so odd about all this is we have NEVER seen a Microgaming Operator behave like this. Couple that withe fact that for years Grand Prive has been a great program to work with and they have been great supporters of the community and you can understand why we are slightly shell shocked by all this. Had this not been the case we would have acted sooner as we were giving them the full benefit of the doubt and I was fairly confident this was just a case of poor communication.
Based on many of the private communications I have received over the last few days this does not appear to be the case and it appears we are looking at a very serious scandal that WILL destroy the reputation of a formerly good copmpany. Unfortunately it COULD also shake affiliate and player faith in the Microgaming Platform.
Obviously thats something we all would like to avoid at all costs.
CAP will take an active role from here on out and get things sorted as best we can. That’s what we have always done together as a community and nothing has changed that core value.
Here’s the game plan
Our official requests are straight forward
1. Affiliates MUST be paid for the life of ALL their existing players (US and World) at all casino brands. We STRONGLY urge that affiliates continue to receive the commissions due them from the Grand Prive casinos via the “new” Villa Fortuna program to make this an easy process. If an alternate process can be implemented faster that is fine also.
2. Player tracking and reporting for all existing players be accessible in real time to all affiliates.
3. Grand Prive/Villa Fortuna shall maintain a prompt payment schedule for affiliates and players as they have done in the past.
4. It is our suggestion/request that Irwin be retained as the primary affiliate program manager. We feel he knows our accounts and needs better than any potential replacement. Our community members are all comfortable working with him. While we cant presume to dictate staffing at Villa Fortuna we would ask that this request be honored.
5. We require a written and public response to these requests within 3 business days, if we don’t recieve an official response during that period we will move forward with severe punitive actions which may include the following:
a) A formal complaint will be lodged with Microgaming with the request that the licensee be held accountable for the affiliate agreements made by the Grand Prive/Villa Fortuna Group.
b) A formal complaint and request for moderation will be filed with eCogra.
c) A formal complaint will be filed with the appropriate licensing authorities for the Grand Prive/Villa Fortuna casinos.
d) Press releases along with affiliate and player warnings will be issued to ensure everyone is aware of the now illegal and predatory practices of Grand Prive/Villa Fortuna.
e) Villa Fortuna will be banned from certification at CAP, appearances or entry at all CAP Events will be prohibitted. Advertising within CAP Magazine will be prohibitted.
f) We include full articles in CAP Magazine and complete reports of this incident on CAP TV and CAP and PAP Radio.
As stated previously, we sincerely hope that all this can be avoided and that Villa Fortuna/Grand Prive do the fair and honorable thing and respect the hard work and dedicatioon of their affiliate partners.
Danesh there is time to stop this ticking time bomb, lets do it now please.