Last year, the UK based online gambling standards authority, eCOGRA,
announced the introduction of a set of best standards for affiliate programs.
The move followed a growing demand from the affiliate community for
independent on site audits to be conducted by professionals. This in turn would
bring affiliate programs up to international standards in many cases, as well as
give their customers the assurance that their tracking and revenue calculations
were fair and accurate.
This week, eCOGRA announced that after listening to the advice and demands of
affiliate program managers, it would be fine tuning the affiliate program code
and updating the requirements for programs to receive an Affiliate Trust Seal.
"The directors have decided to make available a more focused certification
process which will fine tune our certification," said Andrew Beveridge, Chief
Executive Officer of eCOGRA.
Some of the demands to be set include that payments be completely and
accurately processed; that affiliate revenue is calculated accurately and that
deductions are correctly allocated; that program software applications
developed, implements and maintained, and that affiliate programs are able to
demonstrate that they can recover from a system disaster."
There are currently three affiliate programs that carry the Affiliate Trust
Seal. eCOGRA has made it clear that any program can apply for the seal, provided
that it is willing to commit to the requirements and comply with the regular
auditing by eCOGRA accountants.
"Where possible, testing will be conducted remotely, however it will also be
necessary to conduct certain elements of our reviews at the operator's
premises," added Beveridge.
