McSplooger

Its great to see you've continued to choose the right path mate. When I left you had only just started so to see you've carried on refraining from gambling and you're in a better place is awesome! Really please for you mate and hopefully can see you as some form of hope when they are down and out. All the best brother!

To be fair I have no concrete proof that there isn't any manipulation but there is little need to do it hence why I find it unbelievable. The odds are never in our favour gambling.

@HorseBurger1989 Seemingly you derail every thread regarding streamers to air your views regarding potential slot manipulation. There is simply no need to rig any slots in favour of the affiliates. They get kickbacks through affiliation and bonuses, the casino gets advertisement so why would they need to go beyond this and break laws to give them big wins too? Just because there is motive (financial gain) doesn't mean its a feasible theory. Channel the negativity you have in to trying to make a positive change. Shouting people down on forums isn't going to get anything done. I suggest you take your concerns to the appropriate governing bodies via email/phone if you are genuinely concerned about the welfare of those watching.

Hey Solario, RTP is unaffected online. Online slots are not compensated to my knowledge so stake size and bonus amount doesn't really matter. The probability of a huge payout or a big losing run are the same regardless of whether someone has hit big before. RNG is the deciding factor.

Thanks for all the kind responses. Much appreciated! @Solario333 I wasn't implying actual hatred should be given to anyone. Just channel that hatred into something more constructive aimed at casinos/UKGC (the facilitators). Pretty much just leave the little guys alone and go for the big guns if they genuinely want change. Much like Rocknrolla put it actually. Maybe I didn't explain too well in my post, sorry! @Mining might I actually agree with your points made. However, I don't believe the solution is a blanket ban of the content. People enjoy watching the streams and if they choose to support their favourite via signing up at no cost to them then that surely is not a problem? You think along the same lines as me but your missing the point I was making. We both agree that these videos and streams are viewed by a high concentration of people 'at risk' so the promotion of Gamstop is actually way more effective than if it was promoted to general gamblers. That surely is a positive thing? If an addict chooses to ignore messages from the videos and not sign up to Gamstop then surely the blame is on the individual and not the person creating the content. The old saying of "You can lead a horse to water..." springs to mind. I say this as someone who used to think I was largely influenced by the videos when I lost a huge amount of money previously. The blame is on me, not them. Streamers as influencers have a lot of power in terms of slot choice, casino and style of play. Hopefully some can become a little bit more aware of their audience and try to help more rather than just take. I do believe someone should step in and force their hand though, I agree with @Denman that the fact its pretty much unregulated is baffling. Clear guidance should be given and anyone acting irresponsibly should be given the boot by affiliate partners. The same old debate of this streamer has done this or this streamer is fake is easily quashed with clear rules. Until that happens these debates and indeed the anger surrounding streamers will continue. No one knows who is fake, no one cares how irresponsible the play is and speculation is rife. In my opinion what should happen is 1. No fake funds issued by casinos. Anyone in breach gets a heavy fine. 2. Transparency regarding paid promotion. For example streamer A gets money to review a slot/casino. This should be disclosed before the videos starts so people are aware because they will say its great even when its shit. 3. Gamstop should be promoted clearly with a brief explanation before the videos starts if you get a potential kickback from the video. 4. Streamers operating an affiliate site should have responsible gambling guidelines clearly visible on site. 5. No streamer should promote hundreds of casinos and rate them all 4.5 or 5/5 on their site. Independent user driven review sites should be used as a guideline to what casinos are acceptable and have a good rating overall. 6. Any huge stake video which is deeemed irresponsible such as £20/40 spins should have no affiliate links at all and be purely for entertainment. This isn't because I think people will necessarily try to replicate the bets but I think its a bad look for the casino and gambling in general really. Baiting people to sign up on huge stakes which could cripple 99% of people isn't great. I wouldn't want to see everything watered down but rules would make sure everyone wae legitimate and more importantly not misleading. Its kind of sad really for the true gamblers its come to this shit show but the reality is that there's far too many greedy conmen taking advantage.

Since I posted in the first time for a while the other day on the fruity slots 'scandal' I've noticed a huge amount of streamer/affiiliate hating posts. A lot of these posts seem to be negative without any point. If these people were bothered about problem gamblers and trying to help the community then a solution would be put forward with the hate but there is none. I urge the 'haters' to look at the positive. Indeed, I was probably the biggest affiliate hater some time ago but things have changed. I can only assume those so angry and against affiliation in general have been scorn by casinos/addiction previously which is understandable but blind hate isn't the answer. Streamers and affiliates are merely promoting a product. Your hate around bet size and irresponsible gambling should be aimed at the casinos who facilitate this. Hate should be directed towards the UKGC who leave this kind of stuff unregulated. There's no strict guidelines to adhere to so each individual is bound by their own moral compass alone it seems. Don't like £50 spins and affiliate links on these kinda videos? Make a complaint. Don't like immoral fake funds being used? Again make a complaint. I will say this, since the introduction of gamstop the streamers as influencers are in a powerful position to change someone's life. Gamstop changed mine and I wish it had been around many years ago. The ones who actively promote Gamstop and Gamban have probably saved a few lives/houses/rent for the month etc. Maybe the person viewing would be unaware these services exist without the streamer. My argument has always been that slot videos are largely viewed by addicts/ex-addicts and those who are at risk. If you're searching slot videos you already have an interest beyond what is 'normal' and its not unrealistic to say they would gamble with or without the videos. That's not to say everyone who does view is an addict but look around at similar forums to this and its quite clear a lot have got problems. If any streamers read this I would urge them to promote Gamstop as much as possible. Forget the mandatory crap such as 'gamble responsibly' and 'when the fun stops stop' messages. They mean very little to someone who is addicted. Very much like the 18+ signs you see they act as a poor deterrent. I believe it should be mandatory to push gambling prevention methods rather than some half baked message which has no effect. Streamers could set up a dedicated page on their website or at least link to others showing real life ways of getting clear of addiction. Chat moderators could guide people there and it should be the first link on videos. Gamstop could be mentioned before video starts. The power to change someone's life for the better is more important than financial gain surely so why its an after thought at the minute is beyond me. Even guiding to a site like this would be beneficial with a lot of support available real time with a real human who understands. If you put responsible gambling first then no one will begrudge you if someone plays through your links and you get a cut back. If someone enjoys your content and wants to support you then I see no problem in this and good luck to you in my eyes. I find it sad that @Rocknrolla has to suffer because of the rogue actions of others. As someone who really understands the power of gambling addiction I'm sure he's reluctant to be like the others who don't care of know about the dark side of gambling. This means all the rogues get all the financial benefits and he doesn't. This doesn't seem fair. A blanket rule must be made on all streams to ensure fair play and streamers are compensated fairly. The best earners should not be the most immoral. How many people are now living a better life because of advice they've had in a stream? Probably quite a lot. Still, it needs to be pushed by all affiliates and not just the few. I know the bandit has spoken a lot about it on his videos and love him or hate him he's helped a lot of people. People should focus on this and ways to improve this for others rather than being jealous at stakes played or being butt hurt over money they've lost. I say this as a one time hopeless addict. If you're an addict, use the tools available to you. Nowadays there's no excuse.

Someone messaged me on here and I still have email notifications on so I couldn't help but get suckered in to this mess. I've read pretty much all responses and there's a lot or holes in the story (excuse) that has been given. As someone who used to work doing freelance SEO work for small businesses I can tell you with absolute confidence that this was not some mistake. Firstly why were they trying to rank highly for search terms including 'casinos not on gamstop' etc. The excuse that it was someone else's article rewritten is a weak one as plagiarism has been cracked down massively over the past few years. You can't just change a few words around and expect to rank anymore. Anyone with appropriate experience in SEO would not be simply stealing other people's work to boost their own keyword rank as it doesn't work anymore. Secondly, you have to actually write the article and at least have some understanding of what you're saying. The excuse that the person wrote a few thousand words and didn't have a single clue what any of the words meant is pretty pathetic. Was he doing it blindfolded and without the use of a brain? You used to see bots being put to use to gain rank in Google but if that was the case it would be ineligible. There is a human behind the post who knew damn well what gamstop was all about and how it could gather traffic to the site. Simply put they seen a gap in the market for such a post which would allow them to gain traffic. 'Non gamstop casinos' would be a highly sought after search term so that's the purpose of the article - to rank highly for that search result to pull some poor fudger off Google in who can't control themselves. Thirdly, the fact that there was no link provided to the listed casinos is irrelevant. The fact is that the person who created the article wanted someone who couldn't control themselves to visit the site is enough evidence to suggest the purpose was financial and not to rank the site overall. This is further evidenced by the fact the 'top casino' and indeed the first casino you view on their site is a non gamstop one. I won't mention the name but its a pretty clever trick to put your top casino as some dodgy ass one with no gamstop. In reality this is not the top casino out there, nowhere near. To those who have reported to the ASA I would probably say its pointless. They are 100% in breach of advertisement guidelines as no gambling content should be aimed at vulnerable people. However, the punishments and fines are usually dished out to the casinos themselves and in this case we can't see which casino is responsible as there isn't one in particular that is. What should happen is that all casinos should dissassociate with Fruity Slots as they clearly cannot be trusted as a reputable affiliate and target the most vulnerable. I see @JackSparks has already done this his side. Others should follow. The problem here and indeed with all gambling affiliation is that the casinos using these streamers and sites cannot control the content of the ads. They can set guidelines for the affiliates but most affiliates break some terms so expect further clampdowns in the future. Many casinos are bailing out of the game and its not too difficult to believe that this indeed is the beginning of the end. Practices like this not only damage the brand of the individual but they kill the entire sector. How many casinos if they get hit by more fines are going to stick around? Potentially getting hit with more fines and damaging their own brand too. I have no bad feeling towards Josh at all. On the occasions I have spoken to him I believe he is a good guy. He's also in the business of making money and it doesn't seem to matter who they tread on to get what they want. Setting up your own business and venture is admirable but the real cost in the gambling affiliation sector is furthering addiction, leaving people without food, families and potential suicide. Streamers as influencers should be more dilligent in their approach. They need to realise that their audience has a large percentage of addicts and ex addicts viewing who may or may not be trying to not gamble and the consequences of lost money is far higher than that of normal people. People sign up to gamstop for a reason and this was truly an awful act. Is anyone particularly surprised though? I wish Josh and Jamie good luck in the future. This was an awful thing to do but at least they have taken time to respond. A bit more honesty is needed though in my opinion, maybe their website guy is the one lying to them though and denying all knowledge. Who knows. Anyway I'm back to affiliate hating retirement now. Hope everyone is well. I couldn't help myself not to reply. Soz.

I'm retiring as the champion of champions. Nobody wanted to be the champ champ it seems stuck around for bugger all!

Crunchie second again. The poor guy is gonna be rocking in the corner of a dark room. Top man @Rocknrolla

Rangers 2-2 Celtic. Forgot that one.

Nice gesture of you @Solario333. Let's hope Crunchie wins because he's had a wave of 2nd places and may lose his shit if he has another one haha

Keep it up mate. Great dedication and it's awesome you're keeping it posted on here. All the best for the future!

Aw shucks. Thanks a lot people. I feel like I'm attending my own funeral on this thread I suppose I am dead in terms of my Internet presence though. RIP. Very nice of you all though. Much appreciated! I won't be doing a Miller by the way and making a comeback. Well maybe... if I do my balls in and come back with my tail between my legs. I most certainly ain't planning such an act though. Thanks people.

Yawn! Another leaving post unfortunately. I have been wanting to exit the community for some time and as it's been a year since I did my balls in and last gambled so now seems like a good time to do so. I know leaving a forum on the Internet doesn't require any posts such as this but before I 'left' I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone here who has been supportive of me. For me it's about drawing a line under gambling. It used to be who I was but no longer is. I still have the small matter of the football comp finishing tomorrow so will stick around for the end of that but I shall be done after that. All the best for the future everyone. Much love! PS - No need for replies by the way. I just didn't want to be a rude bastard and bugger off without at least saying thank you to many of you who have been very good to me. Also didn't want people thinking I've done my conkers in and I was off on a train to meet random Internet ladies for a place to stay.

Happy birthday old man. One step closer to the grave. Party on.