In a curious twist, players logging into the Pitbull Poker client on Wednesday were met with news that the site was officially closed. However, five affiliate banners for other online poker sites also appeared.
On Tuesday, players were able to log into the PitBull Poker software. However, no games were available, nor were any messages announcing that the Flash Poker Network site had officially closed. That all changed on Wednesday, when players who made their way to Pitbull Poker were met with the following announcement: “It is with great sadness that we have closed Pitbull Poker.” The terse statement then addressed the concerns of players questioning the future of their funds held on the small online poker site: “To cash out your balance, please e-mail support@pitbullpoker.com.”
The two-sentence text appears in white on a black background at the top of the screen. Below that are five banners for other online poker rooms. The text above the graphics, written in red, reads, “Pitbull Poker Recommends the following Gaming Websites.” Each banner ad contains an affiliate code, presumably for Pitbull Poker. At the top of the page at the time of writing was an ad for Cake Poker, a USA friendly site and flagship room of its own network. Below Cake Poker was Rushmore Casino, whose banner proudly notes, “All USA Players are Welcome” in capital letters. Rushmore Casino’s banner also touts an $888 bonus.
The third banner given belongs to PokerStars, the world’s largest online poker site. PokerStars boasts former World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event Champions Peter Eastgate, Joe Hachem, and Chris Moneymaker among its elite team of pros. Pitbull Poker is also hawking Bookmaker and Aladdin’s Gold to internet gamblers looking for a new home. The Bookmaker ad contains an image of a football.
Affiliate banners, when clicked, tie a player to a referral source. If a person signs up and makes a deposit, the source, in many cases, reaps a one-time finder’s fee or receives a percentage of their action in the future. For Pitbull Poker, which will now receive a tidal wave of player cashout requests, being an affiliate of Cake Poker, Rushmore Casino, PokerStars, Bookmaker, and Aladdin’s Gold can mean an influx of much-needed revenue.
Michael Scott, Operations Manager of PokerSource.com, one of the largest online poker affiliate sites in the industry, told Poker News Daily, “Becoming an affiliate of a poker room is not a difficult thing to do; however, I believe it is the affiliate’s responsibility to disclose to the customer that they are in fact operating as an affiliate. If Pitbull is doing this to try to raise revenue so they can pay out their customers, then that is a win-win situation for the customer, but if they are doing this to line their own pockets even more, that is inexcusable. I would hope that it is the former and not the latter. I guess time will tell as to what they are really trying to do.”
In other Pitbull Poker news, PokerScout.com, which keeps tabs on traffic across the major online poker sites, noted that the room’s departure from the Flash Poker Network left the USA-friendly family of sites in shambles. An article posted by PokerScout.com on Sunday read in part, “The move left the Flash Poker Network practically deserted. The network also stopped providing accurate traffic data to PokerScout and was therefore removed from the Online Poker Traffic Report.” PokerScout.com listed the network’s headquarters as being in Costa Rica, with its servers housed in Panama City, Panama.
Stay tuned to Poker News Daily for the latest on the Pitbull Poker closure.
Pitbull Support is NOT responding to emails. This is just more lies. Most of the affiliate links are to shady sites. Some tech support monkey set this up to try and make a quick buck.
Will the ridiculous behavior by this companies employees EVER be punished?
prob they do that so that they have some more time. trying to get some more money with the affiliate banners on there site.
but they do not respond on the emails.
If no action is taken against these lying, deceptive people,I will be beside myself,especialy after they are busted and continue to practice deception,the Costa Rica law involved has to be aware they are just kicking them in the face thinking they will do nothing,and i sure hope the US is investigating this outfit for money laundering and wire fraud,the employees were involved in all the lies they should be at the bottom of the list to get paid,because they will be getting money that was scammed from the players,Kevin Baronowski,Jordan Nixon,Dave Brenes should all be paid in full with years of jail time !!!!!!!!
Dave Brenes was taken as we’re many others. He was just an employee, Keven and Jordan are the two culprits of this ripoff… I own a gaming company that was setting up to use their Flash based software and was taken for a grate sum of money. It was Dave Brenes that phoned me and warned me of the impending situation. He wanted to call the others but he didn’t have their phone numbers, he just happened to have my phone in his cell phone because we had a conference call a day or two before the two crooks played their little game… Canada isn’t a very good place for them to hide either because when you pull ripoffs like this to the general public it follows you for years to come….
Example, Aladdin’s Gold used to belong to a guy from Antigua that went broke with two Sportsbooks in the early part of the customers…. I wouldn’t want to own that name… but then again I’m an old timer in the business and the bad press related to that web site name has long since gone… Inwish all the best of luck to the new owners of the name….
They owe me a grand that I’ll never see. Such a piss off.