According to Michael Corfman, Executive Director of the Gambling Portal Webmasters Association (GPWA) and Chief Executive Officer of Casino City, the owners of Casino Affiliate Programs (CAP) are also the men behind CardSpike. The revelation was made in a post on GPWA’s forums. However, GPWA and CAP appear to be competitors, alluded to by Corfman in his post. In addition, many GPWA posters have questioned the accuracy of Corfman’s statement. Read the CardSpike thread.
CardSpike has come under fire for delays in paying affiliates. In late December, Poker Affiliate Programs (PAP), the sister site of CAP, pulled its endorsement of CardSpike. In his GPWA post, Corfman explained, “I was actually told many months ago that the principals at CAP were the beneficial owners of CardSpike.” He continued, “My understanding is that principals at CAP, which claims to certify programs and represent affiliates, are running a rogue operation and ripping off affiliates on the side.”
Posts on the PAP forums regarding CardSpike were locked at the time of writing. PAP member “Ridge,” who has been searching for his affiliate payment, commented in his most recent post, “I have players that I have to pay, and I want [to be] paid. I will not be satisfied until you pay me and my players.” Corfman also stated that in addition to having an interest in CardSpike, CAP officials also own part of Affiliate Speed Pay. However, the payment company vehemently denied the link: “The false, untrue, and misleading posting on GPWA came to our attention today and due to the serious allegations made on the forum, we are now urgently setting matters straight.”
Corfman explains, “So you have an organization being paid by affiliate programs to help them establish new affiliate relations that is, behind the scenes, using the affiliates who are referred to them through those programs and through Affiliate Speed Pay to promote CardSpike, which is their own beneficially owned online gaming operation.”
CardSpike, according to blogger Nat Arem, is a “rogue skin on the Cake Poker network.” The trouble seemed to emanate from a promotional post made on FeltPoker.com that promoted the new Cake Poker skin. The thread, which is nine pages long, was started by “Randy,” the site’s administrator. A VIP program plus 33% rakeback were the two main selling points for CardSpike, which boasted that players could still sign up even if they already had an account with another Cake Poker Network site. All they had to do was use a different e-mail address. The post was created on September 22nd.
In November, the lack of payments to affiliates came to a head. On the PAP forums, “Ridge” questioned, “Isn’t PAP/CAP owners or investors of this site?” PAP member “Greg,” who is now banned from PAP, responded, “First off, CAP/PAP does not own any part of CardSpike nor do they have any control over the payments to players or affiliates.” The banished user was a promoter of CardSpike on PAP and made numerous claims that affiliates would be paid.
A new face then emerged on PAP’s forums, “Peter_CardSpike.” His e-mail and Skype addresses were Peter@cardspikeaffiliates.com and “Peter Cardspike,” respectively. Recently, however, it appears as if several affiliates have been paid. However, “Ridge,” a very vocal PAP member, was not among them. On a post made on Tuesday, he commented, “OK, so affiliates are being paid. As I posted in the thread that is now locked, I have players that have not [gotten] their rakeback for the past two months, and I have only been paid for some of what was owed to me.” CardSpike remains absent from PAP’s “All In” endorsements. Affiliate programs that appear on PAP’s site include those belonging to PokerStars, Doyle’s Room, Cake Poker, and Everest Poker.
GPWA boasts 5,000 registered members and was founded in 2001 to “provide affiliate members with the means to collaborate with other online gaming affiliates around the world and to strengthen relationships with affiliate programs,” according to its website. Corfman acknowledged that GPWA and CAP are competitors.
