PartyBets and GameBookers Not Being Abolished by PartyGaming

PartyGaming has informed Gambling911.com that it is not abolishing the Partybets and Gamebookers brands as reported here last night.  The report was filed after a handful of PartyGaming affiliates received a notice that the two brands were deemed  "not suitable for a specific affiliate program" by the publicly traded poker giant and would no longer be available for promotion.

But as a PartyGaming representative pointed out Tuesday morning, only a handful of its affiliates will no longer be promoting the two brands.  Most will be unaffected and encouraged to continue promotion of the Partybets and Gamebookers brands. 

"We are committed to both the PartyBets and Gamebookers brands," the PartyGaming representative informed us. 

He explained the confusion.

"A letter was sent out to a company called Tradedoubler, which runs programs for some of our affiliates.  We determined that this group of affiliates was more suited for casinos and poker."

He went on to explain that only a small number of affiliates will be affected by this change in policy and emphatically expressed how the company stands behind both PartyBets and Gamebookers.

The Tradedoubler affiliate system will no longer be promoting the two products effective September 30, 2008. 

A revised letter (below) was sent out to these affiliates Tuesday in order to clear up any confusion:

UPDATE: PartyBets and Gamebookers Affiliates Programme
Dear Affiliates,

We would like to clarify our communication that was sent to you yesterday, Monday 15th September 2008, regarding the PartyBets and Gamebookers affiliate programmes that you participate in through your relationship with TradeDoubler.   

The PartyBets and Gamebookers affiliate programmes are no longer available through TradeDoubler network. However, these affiliate schemes continue in full effect directly through the PartyPartners.com affiliate network that is owned and operated by PartyGaming.

PartyBets and Gamebookers are important brands for PartyGaming as the company continues to build and increase its presence in the sports betting market. In the first six months of this year, PartyGaming’s sports betting revenues grew by 36% due to strong increase in betting volume. Recent upgrades to PartyBets and Gamebookers have been made to improve the appeal of both sites to betting customers.

We apologise for any confusion that may have been caused, and if you have any questions regarding this or want to discuss this in greater detail please contact a member of our affiliate team Victoria.mcpherson@tradedoubler.com or Henry.boyson@tradedoubler.com for any assistance.

Sincerely,

The TradedDoubler.com Team

Gamebookers was purchased by PartyGaming in August 2006 for 102m euros (£69m; $130m).  At the time of the acquisition, Gamebookers was reported to have 50,000 active customers in 140 countries.

PartyGaming has been struggling over the last two years since passage of the Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act forced it to leave the US market. Over 80 percent of its customers resided in the United States. The company was once twice as large as its next closest rival, PokerStars. Today the situation is reversed.

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Christopher Costigan, Gambling911.com Publisher