First US-approved online casino is a notorious spammer of the past

Today, 888 Holdings received the approval to operate in US. It the process, it became the first company in the country, which has received the approval in spite of having only an online existence.

The company is only to retain the final details of the license. However, other than that, it has secured every detail necessary to have approval for operating online casinos in Nevada.

888 Holdings has not operated any online casino or poker room in the country, ever since the 2006 federal law was passed, which intended towards shutting down online gambling in US. However, the name of the Gibraltar-based firm might sound familiar to many, as it has been involved in some of the most aggressive form of spamming in the online casino industry.

At this stage, 888 Holdings is operating a huge network of sites, which include 888ladies, Pacific Poker, 888bingo, Casino-on-Net and 888Poker. In the early part of the 2000s, the company had an aggressive take on marketing and it aspired towards being omnipresence through email blasts, popup ads and the generous affiliate ads.

In those times, such tactics were quite unusual. And 888 Holdings took things a bit far as well. In 2005-06, the company even received sanctions for permitting its affiliates in engaging black hat strategies for demoting its competitors’ position in various top search engines of those times.

In May 2006, CasinoAffiliatePrograms went ahead and suspended its certification. They requested 888 to take necessary step of curbing spam. The IGAMI (International Gaming Affiliate Marketing Initiative) even blacklisted the firm for their spamming techniques. Other than these two, there were 36 different groups, which condemned the company publicly. However, there were a slew of players group, which sanctioned them and got them back into good graces.

Now, the question, which everyone would want to know, is, “Will the company consolidate its position in the market with the same strategy or is there going to be a new approach for US?” The main reason behind this concern is taht 888 still has an expensive affiliate program.

If you go by the officials at the company, they have said, “The Company has cleaned up a lot over the years and we have a new set of marketing plans for the lucrative US market.”

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