Pacific Poker, 888.com and Spam... Who Woulda Thunk It?

From the "So This is News?" department comes a piece today courtesy of the folks over at Professional-Poker.com, one of the more poker-newsworthy destinations on the web. The release isn't so much an original reporting as it is a relaying of news from yet another source, InfoPowa News, confirming what anyone who's been around the poker world already knew: Cassava Enterprises, parent company of Casino-on-Net (888.com) and Pacific Poker, is an unrepentant, long-term, pervasive spammer.

Here's a "Thank you, Captain Obvious!" --- just because your blogger's in a smarmy mood this evening. My collection of spams from the upstanding citizens at Cassava dates from (I believe) 2003, and is one of the reasons I quit playing at Pacific --- that and the crappy software and the ridiculous slow payouts --- those take five business days so they can sit on your money a little longer and grab a little bit more float-generated interest... courtesy of you.

By the way, Cassava has also been cited in the InfoPowa report as being one of the leading blog spammers; Cassava, true to form, remains consistent in their belief that the best advertising is that done on other people's dimes.

According to the initial article, which can be read here, "Casino Affiliate Programs.com has pulled 888.com's accreditation after months of attempting to reason with the gambling group regarding its '…failure to reach an amicable resolution involving known content theft and blog spamming being performed by their top affiliates and consultants.'"

In addition, according to the release, Casinomeister.com placed 888.com on its "Rogue" list last week, and iGAMI took similar action.

Now place this in the context of how large Cassava is --- as of mid-2005 they were the third largest of all online-gaming concerns behind Sportingbet PLC and PartyGaming, although this encompasses all online gaming, rather than just poker. In a nutshell, Cassave is (a) huge, and (b) as scummy as they come. In a time when online gaming is under legislative pressure on many fronts, it is my not-humble opinion that online poker players need to do whatever they can to make the Cassavas of the world... go away.

Coincidentally, your blogger's other poker site (it's in that list over on the left, bucko) was approached by one of the very same Pacific "affiliate" contacts for a proposed ad swap just last week. I turned down the offer out of hand. I don't do business with Pacific Poker and I haven't for some time. I don't care how soft the games are; I just refuse to do business with the likes of Cassava.

As always, these opinions are my --- and only my --- responsibility; KAP's boss honchos Jason and Brad are not responsible for the directness of my words. Soapbox tucked away now. 'Night, all.