Definition of 'Affiliate Site' for Bingo Networks

First off i'll just say thank you to the editor 'poker' for replying to my initial email quickly with detailed info.

I would like to ask in general what the idea is behind removal of bingo sites that are part of a network. I use Kiwi Bingo (http://www.kiwibingo.com) as the example because it is most relevant to me <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" alt="" />

The site Kiwi Bingo (http://www.kiwibingo.com) was removed from the Games/Gambling/Bingo/Online catagory.

Kiwi Bingo is not an affiliate site of BingoWorkz. We are a separate site that has software that runs as part of the Bingoworkz network. The vast majority of bingo software is run in a network situation whether or not it is a download product with a separate front-end or a flash based product that is connected to a network.

Some editors are obviously well versed in the gambling industry and the analogy can be given to the multitude of different casinos running software provided by a particular company (eg Playtech and Kiwi Casino) where jackpot totals are based on a network level.

I believe a bingo site that is acutally a front-end product (with separate promotions, branding and support) should not be included in the definition of an 'Affiliate Site'. I realise this is possible a reasonably new style of site that does not quite fit what would typically be a separate product but I still am of the opinion we could not be classed as an affiliate.

Thanks for your consideration, I'm very interested in hearing what editors have to say on this.

Affiliate Manager / Webmaster
Kiwi Bingo, Kiwi Casino

Hopefully others will chime in with comments about general ODP policies about this sort of thing, but just to clarify the situation, while I probably replied by saying "affiliate" which is a common term around here, in your case the term "affiliated" is really what I was trying to say.

What we have here is Bingoworkz has "one big bingo room" where several affiliated sites send players. Those affiliated sites can have their own promotions, etc., but the actual bingo game is taking place in one central place. If we were to list sites like Kiwi Bingo, theoretically there could be 1000 affiliated sites portaling as few as 1001 players into one central bingo hall. It would be non-user friendly and hopelessly cumbersome for ODP to list all 1000 doorways into one game. Also, it would be nearly impossible for us to tell what was a doorway into an affiliated site from an affiliated site itlself. We certainly don't want to list subkiwi.com which only points to Kiwi which sends players to the Bingoworkz game. That is a very important consideration.

And this isn't a Bingo-specific policy. For example, as of recently, in the online poker world there are now a few cardrooms that operate as "one big cardroom" like the Prima Poker Network, where individual operators (with their own promotions, etc.) all send players to one central destination. In this way, poker is the direct parallel to bingo because they both require many other people for a game to exist. The model of many small entities funnelling people to a central location makes sense for the business, but it makes no sense for a directory. We will happily list the central location, whether that is Bingoworkz or the Prima Poker homepage.

The example of casinos is not as good a parallel since network jackpots are only one, smallish, aspect of what is offered. In casinos, one individual can play alone. Their is no need for that multiple doorway portalling, and what does take place via jackpots is not the central element in what the sites offer. (We don't list every site in an affiliated casino family either.)

Speaking more general: We list sites that offer unique content.

Keeping that in mind, having the same content as another site (copied, linked, ...) does not qualify a site for an ODP listing.