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APCW Audits: Rewards Affiliates

28 September 2009

Certain criteria have been kept confidential to preserve the anonymity of our auditing process. Audits are conducted randomly throughout the year and may come at any time and do not necessarily correlate to when we report our findings. Audit results are made available to APCW Member programs prior to the posting of our results if and when they are the subject of our investigations.

Introduction: Over the past sixty days, the APCW conducted two (2) audits on the Rewards Affiliates tracking software. These audits focused on a new casino brand integrated into the system, and two older brands which were previously audited. Additionally, we used old account to retest these sites and gage the long term accuracy of the statistical interface. Rewards Affiliates is an APCW Gold Member.


Audits: The audit began when the auditor cleaned his machine by running Spyware Doctor, cleaning his cache of all cookies and files, and searching his registry to ensure there were no previous items in place that could affect or override or interfere with the Rewards Affiliates tracking. APCW Auditors revisited the Strike it Lucky and Yukon Gold casinos via dormant accounts used during previous audits from two and three years ago, respectively. Auditors openned new player account in order to test Casino Action.


Audit One: During the past sixty (60) days, an APCW Auditor visited two old player accounts. The first was at Strike it Lucky casino where an audit was conducted two years ago and which had a $15 balance remained in the account. The auditor played through the $15 and the revenue tracked to the correct affiliate account. We also had an old Auditor account that was opened three years ago at Yukon Gold Casino. There, the auditor played through the balance of approximately $20 in the account, and this also tracked correctly to the affiliate stats.

Audit One Issues: There were no issues identified with this audit.

Audit Two: After confirmation that both old accounts tracked, during the past thirty (30) days we create another audit account at the newest Rewards Affiliates property, Casino Action. We had been told by Rewards Affiliates that, in the event of a potential customer encountering multiple cookies from the same property prior to visiting, then the most recent tracking cookie encountered took priority. We decided to focus our test with that statement in mind. We entered Casino Action through an affiliate link, then left the site and went to Casino Action via another affiliate link. The hits and download attempt did track correctly to the last affiliate tracking link used to enter the site. Casino Action is offering a free $40 instant bonus or a one hour free play promotion. The auditor opted for the $40 free. Bonus was added immediately after deposit. A Player's bonus account cannot be cashed in, but can be used to place wagers.

Audit Two Issues: When the auditor downloaded the software a window popped up saying the software was 100% virus free casino software. However, immediately after our computer's virus protection (McAfee) stopped the download and classified the software are potentially harmful. We had the auditor select other Rewards Affiliate Casinos to see if this same issue could be duplicated, which it was, for other Rewards Affiliates brands. After disabling the virus protection the download proceeded with out incident.


Affiliate Tracking

There were no webmaster affiliate tracking issues.

Player Bonus Report


Other Audit Details

  • CASINO(S) VISITED: Casino Action
  • DOWNLOAD OR FLASH: Download
  • WEB CONNECTION: Cable
  • DOWNLOAD SPEED: Unable to download (McAffee) / 8 seconds (McAffee disabled)
Player Experience Questionaire

The questionnaire below was filled out by the auditor. The questions were designed to obtain information about the player experience.

  • WAS THE DOWNLOAD AND INSTALLATION PROCESS EASY AND QUICK?: No.
  • WERE THERE ANY PROBLEMS WITH THE DEPOSIT?: None
  • HOW FAST WAS THE DEPOSIT PROCESSED?: Immediately
  • DID YOU ENJOY THE GAMES?: Yes. Black Jack was fun
  • WERE THERE ANY TECHNICAL ISSUES?: Virus protection stopping the download
  • DID YOU CONTACT CUSTOMER SUPPORT FOR ANY REASON?: No
  • IF SO, WERE THEY HELPFUL?: N/A
  • WERE ANY BONUSES OR COMPS AWARDED TO YOU?: Yes
  • DID YOU GET THE BONUSES OR COMPS YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO?: Yes
  • HOW FAST DID IT TAKE TO GET YOU BONUS?: Received upon deposit
  • WHAT WAS YOUR OVERALL OPINION OF THIS CASINO'S ATMOSPHERE?: Easy to use
  • WOULD YOU PLAY HERE AGAIN?: Yes
  • WOULD YOU RECOMMEND THIS SITE TO YOUR FRIENDS?: Yes
  • ANY ADDITIONAL COMMENTS OR OBSERVATIONS?: None.

Conclusion: The APCW is very happy to see that old accounts on the Rewards Affiliates system still track correctly after two and three years. We are
also pleased to see that bonuses are awarded quickly, and that the current affiliate tracking is working properly and as described.

We are concerned about the McAffee software stopping the download as something "potentially harmful". This is certainly not because we believe there is actually anything damaging within it, but because players may accept the McAffee warning at face value. This would naturally damage the conversion rate of referred players, hurting both the webmaster and the affiliate program. Additionally, it has a potentially damaging affect on the industry as a whole. We are looking at this "virus" issue further.


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