Gambling Affiliates Union Is Live

[Jeremy]

Congratulations go out to PAL moderator Chalkie on the successful launch of this.

The Gambling Affiliates Union

Here is some additional info here:

Affiliates hit back with Gambling Affiliate Union  - eGaming Review

Feel free to discuss or ask any questions here and I'm sure Paul will answer them.

[Greg]

Hey congratulations on getting the site launched. I noticed that there is a $3/month membership package available. What do we get for joining? There are so many programs out there that it's really impossible to have a relationship with everyone. How does Arbitration work with a new, not well regulated company that has violated it's T/C? Is it different than how Affiliate Guard Dog works?

[Chalkie]

Thanks guys for the support.

At present the membership fee is waived until such time as we have reached a size where funding is required to aid and allow the running of the organisation. I personally have no requirement for money from the GAU at present but have conceded to peer pressure that a union without funding would and could only fail.

Once you become a member you are entitled to the support of the GAU, you become a member of a union that is free from any conflict of interests, no one can ever accuse the GAU of having the interests of any poker/casino/sportsbook getting in the way of how we operate.

If you dont want to pay $3 a month then funding would have to be sourced from programs and that immediately creates a conflict of interest. So what you get for your $3 is membership of an independent union without any influence from programs, casinos etc and in this day and age that is priceless.

Basically the $3 buys freedom and independence and the knowledge that there is a union without any vested interests apart from its members.

Arbitration works as it does with any other organsation that offers the service, in that we contact the casino and ask them to subject themselves to arbitration and give their side. What we offer different is that we dont go to them as a single individual but as a union with hundreds and hopefully thousands of members prepared to act as one in the event that the casino refuses to act fairly. As a union we will bring the full weight of our membership to bare because the union itself will decide on the actions going forward, not ME!

By involving the whole union in the process we speak with hundreds of voices not one, if that still fails we will then continue the fight by contacting the licensing authority, asking our friends here, at the gpwa, agd and so on to join the fight. We will ask the entire union to act with us by blacklisting if required.

So what can we do, we can act as a united entity because it is the united entity itself that decides on the course that is taken by the GAU and any sanctions requested.

We will never rogue or bring a program in to disrepute without firstly having a membership vote.

Regarding AGD and are we different?

Yes because the AGD primarily seeks to find out term and condition changes and so forth, we dont do that, we act on complaints from our members, which may include a terms and condition change, which may include under payment, which may include other unethical actions and much more.

In addition the membership votes on the action going forward and if it collides with what the AGD does then the membership may well vote that we leave it alone and hand it over to the AGD and of course we will always work with the AGD and never against them. In relation to term changes will always defer to the AGD.

I hope that helps with your questions and will happily answer any further questions.

The Gau is there for its members and sometimes we will best serve our members by asking them to take their issue to the AGD, on other occasions we will take up the battle ourselves.

It would be wrong to tag the GAU with any specific role other than we are a union of affiliates looking out for affiliate interests as and when they arise.

I ask all to consider joining as we are not charging anyone for the priviledge presently and you are welcome to leave the union at any time without any cost to yourself.

[pokerprop]

I haven't had a chance to look into this, or even read the post for that matter. I just noticed though an email from GPWA about adding Gambling Affiliates Forum. I have no desire to visit other affiliate sites.

I had looked at this site a while back and pretty sure had some complex membership requirement to access other forums, but the biggest turn off was the Chip Leader support / ads which were at the time of a ton of affiliates complaining about there program over changes in terms, drops in revenue, concerns about tracking and lack of support, while also the cheating scandal was just unravalled. Wasn't as blatant as PAP's claim to have verified them as integrable operators without player complaints or whatever, but still was turn off.

Anyways my question is will the forums for this site be hosted exclusively at GPWA or how's that working. With it have its own forum at the official website?

I only ask because a quick glance before at some of the right ups the entire thing was anti sponsorship etc, and if hosting at a site that seems to sell ads to any program (or at least can be bought) - isn't the union now supporting a practice its verbiage seems to be going against?

Sorry if this derails the thread, hopefully this is an opportunity though to address it and further sell your product. No ill-intent meant on my part only concern and I was already reluctant from the little i had previously read.

[Chalkie]

Decent points and fair questions, thank you.

Regarding the forum for the GAU being at the GPWA, this is not something that needs to be exclusive, far from it. I am happy to answer any questions here and anyone wishing to correspond with the GAU through myself here at PAL are welcome to do so - with Jeremys permission of course.

There is and will no doubt be more threads on many forums, we at the GAU will try to keep abreast of these threads and speak to people.

The GAU has no intention of hosting a forum on its own website, this has always been the case. Although the GAU site is interactive in ways and people can make comment, observation, contact us of course and periodically will be allowed to vote on issues as they arise.

We are not so much anti sponsorship so much, however, against the GAU being sponsored. This whole industry thrives on sponsorship in some form or another but the basic principles and aims of the GAU means that sponsorship cannot be taken from within the industry. The GAU will actively search for sponsorship from non industry related sources to subsidise the costs of running the GAU for the members. If the GAU tried to be completely seperated from existing organisations like the GPWA, PAL, APCW and AGD that are devices to help affiliates, the GAU would be weakening itself for no reason. It is the intention of the GUA to work with all organisations and it would be silly not to do so.

By having external forums we allow the membership a voice that the management of the GAU cannot subdue, therefore allowing the GAU complete transparency.

The GAU is managed by myself and 2 others at present, however, the GAU will act as and how its members wish. For this reason, becoming a member of the GAU will allow you a say in the way the GAU operates, if members vote against a policy of the GAU then the policy will change to reflect this.

[Pokerkeep]

Just to make it perfectly clear - the forum that GPWA provided for the GAU is free. No strings attached. It is simply a place where their members can communicate with the management of GAU. Michael Corfman thought it would be easier for everyone if all GAU related discussions were contained in a single area - much like he did for AGD.

If Jeremy or Rick at GIA or any other affiliate forum wanted to set up an area for GAU discussions with their members, we would not object.