One of the most absurd claims I have ever seen since I started cruising the Gambling on Net scene was, and I quote from the main page:
The Bet Exchange Network runs on our own proprietary banner exchange software program. After testing and rejecting the major “shareware” and commercial banner exchange programs (still used by some of our competitors), we hired one of the top programmers in the world to build a state-of-the-art banner exchange program to meet our highly demanding specifications. The result is a world class banner exchange program, tailor-made to promote gambling-oriented websites.
What drivel! Unfortunately for me, it happened to be the first one I came across – how that happened I’ll never know, because they seem to be represented on 1 out of 20 sites – and some of them are debatable.
As a new site, I posted on my front page the concept of Got2Bet. I applied to Keluaran HkBet Exchange, which promises a reply in 24-48 hours. No answer. No answer. No reply. I waited 5 days.
It took another email from me to call attention to the situation to get this response:
I have reviewed your account and it has automatically been deleted because the URL specified in your account is not an independant gambling site and is more like a directory. Unfortunately the URL does not meet our criteria for gambling content.
Our sponsors have very strict guidelines which we must abide by to keep our funding, including the removal of all sites that are merely “doorway pages”, links to affiliate programs or redirects.
You make your own judgement. Does Got2Bet *really* look like the Net’s top 100 idiots site?
Update (4/30/2000):
Bet Exchange is part of the BetCentral network, which includes Place Your Bet, GamingDomains and Tipster. A look at the lot of them shows the same snotty attitude and excessive hype that Bet Exchange shows. For example, Place Your Bet has very few links in its Misc. Directory – presumably because they are afraid of competitors. GamingDomains is selling domain names beginning at $50,000 dollars, all the way through $500,000 – yeah right. Tipster is down.
As for the guidelines mentioned above, I have seen Bet Exchange banners on all sorts of top 100 sites, yet Got2Bet doesn’t meet their guidelines.
This review now includes the entire BetCentral network, though I wouldn’t go so far as to put it on a blacklist because they are certainly not doing anything illegal or unethical as far as I am aware.
