Privacy and Cookies Policy

Who we are

Our website address is: https://referafriendcasinobonuses.casinoonlinegaming.com/ . And when I say, “our”, I mean my website address. Yes, there is only one person behind this marvelous website. But do not be fooled. I have been doing this part-time, then full-time and then retired for more than 20 years. So this is why you are reading this non-legalese privacy policy,  which I hope is still okay to satisfy the internet police.

What personal data we collect and why we collect it

Hey, I really don’t care about your personal information. However, it seems like that everybody on the Internet is collecting some type of data for whatever reason, so let me try to explain what I think is going on here.

Comments

The standard information for comments is below. However, due to the incredible amount of spam and trolling that I see on the internet, I do not allow comments on this blog. Sorry – have you heard of twitter.

“When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, and also the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string to help spam detection.”

“An anonymized string created from your email address (also called a hash) may be provided to the Gravatar service to see if you are using it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available here: https://automattic.com/privacy/. After approval of your comment, your profile picture is visible to the public in the context of your comment.”

Media

Ditto to this section. If you think that I will allow people to upload nudity, vulgarity and spam to this website, then you are crazier than a loon. However, I still leave the standard WordPress default text below.

“If you upload images to the website, you should avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included. Visitors to the website can download and extract any location data from images on the website.”

Contact forms

I love everyone! But that still does not mean that I am going to let you contact me with endless questions about like “what is my name”, what is my “ social security number” and “will you marry me”. So, there are no contact forms on this site. However just in case I feel the need to interact with my faithful followers, I might in the future add a contact form. In that case, I will go back to the section and add something appropriately legal sounding and “butt protecting”.

Cookies

The standard text below for cookies applies if you leave comments on my website. But, as I have said before, I do not  want to receive spam any more than you do. But, I leave it alone for your edification. But don’t skip over the next section, because embedded content probably does include cookies, for their information and my benefit.

“If you leave a comment on our site you may opt-in to saving your name, email address and website in cookies. These are for your convenience so that you do not have to fill in your details again when you leave another comment. These cookies will last for one year. If you visit our login page, we will set a temporary cookie to determine if your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser. When you log in, we will also set up several cookies to save your login information and your screen display choices. Login cookies last for two days, and screen options cookies last for a year. If you select “Remember Me”, your login will persist for two weeks. If you log out of your account, the login cookies will be removed. If you edit or publish an article, an additional cookie will be saved in your browser. This cookie includes no personal data and simply indicates the post ID of the article you just edited. It expires after 1 day.”

Embedded content from other websites

You can rest assured that I am not writing this  blog simply because I am bored out of my mind. While that may be the case, all of the external links  from this blog will certainly involve the inclusion of cookies. These cookies are how  I offset the cost of providing this domain on the  internet. Since I am retired, I try to keep costs at a minimum. OK, I admit it! I am frugal (cheap, miserly, tightwad, cheapskate, a penny pincher & stingy).

Sidenote: The USA used to have a nickel with a buffalo pictured on it. That gave rise to a saying about frugal people “He holds onto and squeezes a nickel so hard that he makes the buffalo fart”. That was one of my fathers witticisms, not mine. And if you think that I am “crazier than a tick”, you should have met him! Other keepers included “two bricks short of a load” and from one of 16 brother-in-laws “lost my mud”.

The basic purpose of this site is all about affiliate marketing. That basically means that I dissect information and present in a more educational, entertaining,  understandable and simplistic form. If the end website receives any income from you, I most likely will receive a commission. However, don’t be alarmed, this does not cost you anything more. The internet is a marvelous tool isn’t it!

That’s pretty much all I know about what these people do with the information that they get from you. If you have any questions about who they are and what they do, they have their own own privacy and policy in place. (Sorry,  it’s hard enough to keep track of my own stuff without worrying about other people’s stuff)

Links – Now that you have a general understanding of what the site is all about, let me go further and explain the types of links that you are likely to find on this site. The first type of link has the website name in front of it with an extension called “earn”. This is followed by the general description of what the link is about. These go to an external website and are most likely an affiliate link.

If the link includes the name of this website (what was it again – oh, yah – https://referafriendcasinobonuses.casinoonlinegaming.com/ ), but does not have the word “earn” after it, then it is an “internal link” that goes to some other page on this site.

Another type of link is one that does not have this website name in front of it. This is a link to another website, probably another one of mine. Some sites use this as a way to sell or exchange links from one side to another in order to increase SEO. However I do not sell links nor do I buy them or exchange them (hey google, I know you are listening – but I really don’t buy, sell or exchange links – bless your little heart dear) .

If you click on a flashing image, this most likely comes from a JavaScript provided by the casino site. I’ve included these because they are automatically updated by the casino and not by me (this saves me a lot time – did I mention that I was also a “tad” lazy). In general, I try to find the best descriptive bonus offer from them. When you click on there, you will go directly to the applicable site.

Casino Affiliate Programs – As of the time of this writing I have included links from two different casino affiliate programs in my blog posts. One of them is the Revenue Network (Slots LV, Bodog) and the other one is Commission Kings (affiliate codes added). The first six ‘refer a friend offers’ include three casinos from each of them.

If you search the Internet you can probably find some other ‘refer a friend offers’. But unless they come from the casino side itself, they probably are outdated. Besides, when you’ve got six great super duper pooper scooper candidates, why bother to go looking elsewhere (they are really not pooper, it just sounds funny and I’m all about fun – and squeezing that nickel <—- that was a test people, if you don’t know what the heck I’m talking about then you have skipped over some intensely educational material above – tsk, tsk ).

The reason I chose the two affiliate programs (Revenue Network & Commission Kings) is that they also have a sub-affiliate program. Not only can you sign up at those affiliate programs to promote casinos and get a percentage of revenue – but you can also get links to sign up other affiliates for them and get a percentage of their revenue too (slick). Of course that is not the only reason I chose them, it is just one of the many reasons. Regardless, wherever you signup, it is important to find reliable and credible casino sites and programs

Using Bonuses – When you get a bonus from a casino whether it is from referring friends, depositing or simply for registering – you should also know that they all have terms and conditions , T&C’s. It is highly unlikely that anyone ever has or will become rich from using bonuses. In my honest opinion, all bonuses are basically worthless – at least to the people that use then to try and win (buy hey, isn’t that everyone).

These bonus terms & conditions are all out in the open on the casino website with clear and understandable text (balderdash).

You may ask “If bonuses are basically useless, then why do all casinos have them”. That is a great question, students. Basically they are the best promotion tool that casinos have ever used. Sometimes it seems that everyone is looking for something for free (or a handout). But this is not just a “sneaky” tool used by casinos (it’s not even sneaky). Practically every business in the world uses coupons, sales, discounts and clearances to get more customers. It works.

Even if it is highly unlikely that you are able to win enough money to cash out these bonuses, it is probably the first thing that people look for when deciding to play at a new casino. Remember citizens, the games are not rigged, they are just all designed (hundreds of years ago) for you to lose money – over the long term.

Because of this darned math, you are not even likely to win at casino games. But here you are!  However, don’t castigate or slight yourself, we’ve all been there and done that and are likely to continue to do so (because we are all special) ( when I was young, I never got a participation certificate,  I had to dodge that ball or get hit).

It’s not much different than contests, sweepstakes and lottery tickets. You probably know that there is a very slim chance that you will win, but you do it anyway.

Games with progressive jackpots are probably not eligible to be played with bonus money. The only no deposit bonus offer that I have ever seen with the possibility of winning a huge jackpot is at Casino Classic (affiliate code added) . If you are from Canada (and a few other countries) you get one free chance to win a progressive jackpot worth at least a $1 million. But if you are from a country that is restricted from actually joining the casino, you are redirected to another casino site of my choice. That clever code from the casino affiliate program, not me!

The Rewards Casino Affiliate program (affiliate code added) includes that casino along with a couple dozen others in their portfolio. None of their casinos offer ‘refer a friend’ bonuses. But they do offer some interesting “instant millionaire” promotions for new players (International players only – USA players are restricted) .

“Articles on this site may include embedded content (e.g. videos, images, articles, etc.). Embedded content from other websites behaves in the exact same way as if the visitor has visited the other website. These websites may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with that embedded content, including tracking your interaction with the embedded content if you have an account and are logged in to that website.”

Analytics

I guess this is the section where I can tell you all that I know (or can remember) about who’s tracking who and what they are doing with it.

To begin with, the registrar of the domain name for this website is at this time NameCheap ( affiliate code added). As far as I know, domain registrars are simply the service that sells you the right to list a domain name ( i.e  “referafriendcasinobonuses.com” ) and merely passes through visitors to your website. I don’t know if they have any cookie information or tracking information, but I’m guessing they might.  My previous registrar was GoDaddy (affiliate code to be added later). But I found a much better deal at  Namecheap. Apparently the less expensive price structure is due to less hand-holding there. But I don’t need much from them, so that’s fine.

The next part involved in putting a website on the Internet is a web host company. Nowadays, the domain registrar and the web host is usually the same. But, I am from the old school  and I already had a web host that allows multiple domains on one account.  I had many other hosts before this one, but this one doesn’t bother me too much (I hope I didn’t jinx it by saying that).  They are called Ipage  ( affiliate code added). Ipage even has a “refer a friend” (code added) program too !

The web host sends me a  monthly stats report which includes where people come from, what  page they have visited along with some other information – but I gave up looking at that a long time ago. I could check it everyday, but I do not have OCD (yet). 

My websites are always WordPress based. This is as easy as anybody can get to putting a website on the internet.  The great thing about wordpress is that they have all these additional “plugins” which help you to do so many things (you would be amazed ). Most of them are free. But if you want to get really in-depth with whatever service you’re dealing with, there is always a pro version upgrade  available at an additional cost (no surprise there).

At the time of this writing the only WordPress plugins that I have installed are the Smush image space saver (saves loading time for you and increase my SEO rating) and ThirstyAffiliates (cloaks affiliate codes to make the links look nicer and prevent hackers from stealing my commissions – I hope, anyway). Since I am using the free versions, they do not provide me with any tracking stats (which is just fine by me). But I’m sure they have their own data collection processes.

Now, if you’ve made it this far in the section, you should probably, at a minimum use the incognito version of your internet browser. There are also ad blocker plugins (which I have never used) and a whole lot of other things you can buy (or at least try for free) to try and protect your privacy. 

I also tried a lot of other free plug-ins and tools for this site which provided some fancier Gutenberg blocks. But none of them could accomplish the basic task that I wanted. So I removed them all and just went with basic Gutenberg. These included Blocksy Companion, Classic Editor, EIG-SSO, Stackable – Gutenberg Blocks, W3 Total Cache, WPForms Lite, Yoast SEO, Site Kit by Google – Analytics/Search Console/AdSense/Speed, Yoast Duplicate Post, Gutenberg Blocks and Page Builder – Qubely , Site counter and others  (affiliate codes added & to be added later ← you are catching on now aren’t you).

But I’m not done yet. I also tried a lot of different themes, which provide some built-in styles, color schemes, images and other good looking and technical stuff. I first tried the free Blocksy theme (Blocksy Pro) (affiliate code added) ( yes they have a free theme and blocks plugin – multitalented folks aren’t they). I also previously installed a pre-built site template which overloaded my inexpensive web host site. In general, it was a “resource hog” and I removed it. Then, I installed the free Kadence theme ( affiliate code to be added later), which at this point I am still using.

And finally, at last, we are down to the casino sites that I am providing information for you on this website. If you are a casual gambler and you like to play and skirt around the outside of the gaming industry, then you’ll be happy to gain some additional bonuses with these  referral  bonuses.  But, if you get tired of scratching around for pennies, I wholeheartedly suggest that you investigate the larger field of casino affiliate programs (definite websites reference and possible affiliate codes to be inserted here – hey, I’m no (big) fool).

The referral bonuses are real (remember the t&c’s) and valuable (possibly). But if you’ve read the terms and conditions of any bonus offers you would realize that they merely extend the inevitable. ALL casino games are designed for the player to lose money. Sure, people get lucky and come away with wins sometimes. But if they go back to the casino, the next time they are probably going to lose. And, if you continue to play, you are going to lose in the long-term (that crummy math you hated in school always comes back to to get you).

Who we share your data with

Hey, I am not the mafia or La Cosa Nostra, I don’t share your information with anyone. I have never sold the information before (I don’t have any anyway), nor do I intend to start.

How long we retain your data

As I said, this website is created by me (have you heard the expression “Yes, me and the mouse in my pocket” – probably not).

Now, in this case, the collective “we” apparently refers to every part of the process of producing and presenting the site – starting with the registrar and going all the way down to the casino sites. This also seems to be a little bit redundant as I believe it is all covered elsewhere in this highly educational and informative document (snicker).

I’m pretty sure that the “we” does not refer to the “imperial we”. Have you heard the expression “we are not amused”  as uttered by her Royal Highness, Queen High-fa-lute-in-toot-in (It should be safe to say that the person is fictional).

As far as me retaining any information – fat chance!  I have enough trouble remembering what day it is and whether I ate today (and if so, what did I eat). If someone  offered to pay me for some information, I might be tempted. But I don’t have anything of value, so I probably don’t have to adjust this statement at any time.

I am not a pack rat, nor a hoarder.  But if you do look in my small closet, you are apt to find a shirt that I have had in my possession for 15 years.

“If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely. This is so we can recognize and approve any follow-up comments automatically instead of holding them in a moderation queue. For users that register on our website (if any), we also store the personal information they provide in their user profile. All users can see, edit, or delete their personal information at any time (except they cannot change their username). Website administrators can also see and edit that information.”

What rights you have over your data

Here is another reason I do not allow comments on this website or add any contact forms. I really don’t know who you are! You don’t know me and I don’t know you – so let’s keep it that way.

“If you have an account on this site, or have left comments, you can request to receive an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including any data you have provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you. This does not include any data we are obliged to keep for administrative, legal, or security purposes.”

Where we send your data

Automated spam detection would be for any comments left here. Apparently it’s reason number three that I do not allow comments. I don’t share or send your information anywhere, because I don’t actually have anything, other than what I’ve told you above.

If someone  offered to pay me for some information, I might be tempted. But I don’t think I have anything of value, so I probably don’t have to adjust this statement at any time.

“Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam detection service.”

Your contact information

Now this policy is getting redundant. I don’t have any of your contact information.  If you try and hunt me down at the domain registrar, they have a free privacy  service which keeps my information away from telemarketers and spammers. I hate those people ( I’m sorry if you have to  earn your income that way – have you considered affiliate marketing.).

Additional information

I pretty much “spilled my guts” at this point. I don’t know what else I can add. But if I think of something, I will come back and add it here.

#1 Hey, I just had a thought (please, no snarky comments from the peanut gallery). Here is a good a place as any to discuss (marvel at) the relative advantages of affiliate marketing versus refer-a-friend programs.

The ipage web hosting affiliate program, mentioned above, simply requires you to register to promote their products. The last time I heard, if you are successful in getting someone to purchase their service, you will receive a flat payment of $100. They even had a recent special where you could have gotten $200 instead of $100 (wowie wowie). You don’t even have to be a customer to become an affiliate.

The refer-a-friend process is quite different. In this situation, you start out as a customer. Someone may have even been lucky enough to have referred you and received a $100 to $200 commission (do you remember my affiliate code above). Then you can search your account and find the code to refer a friend. If you successfully get someone to sign up, you will receive a flat payment of $25 (yes, I have one of those too).

Now, even if you are an idiot savant as regards math (less the savant portion), the difference between $25 and $100-$200 probably got the reels in your head to start spinning wildly.

Affiliate – Pros: No cost to you to join, you don’t have to be a customer, $100 minimum payment

Refer a Friend – Pro: $25 payment.

Crikey! Now here’s the sweet part (as if that wasn’t sweet enough), some affiliate programs reward you with you a “percentage” of the revenue generated from new customers. And it gets better (how is that possible you ask)! Well, that percentage of revenue is on-going for as long as the person remains a customer (OMG for “reals”).

#2 Casino themes and plugins – Are you are a website operator that is design and creativity challenged (as I am)? If so, there is a gambling theme as well as two great related plugins (affiliate codes added) which I think would solve most of your problems. I am just “itching” to buy them, so if you use my links to buy them yourself I’ll have less of an excuse not to.

#3 There ARE standards in this industry and we try to abide by all the rules of civility and honesty. To that end you will find many excellent organization also dedicated to that end. One such example is the APCW.org who has produced this following video!

How we protect your data

I basically protect your data by not collecting anything, personally. All those other people I have mentioned may have something, but I sure don’t.

Come to think of it though, I don’t always know what I know. We all innately learn, merely by existing. Unbeknownst to you, you have probably also learned something by simply by reading this scholarly treatise (snicker & snort).

What data breach procedures we have in place

Hmm. Now this is an interesting one. But I guess suffice it to say I don’t collect any of your data other than what I know about these other people do. So if there was a data breach that’s their issue, I don’t know anything about it anyway –  and they  probably wouldn’t tell me either.

What third parties we receive data from

The only parties that I receive information from are those that I mentioned above.  The one that I am primarily interested in is the commission that I may have earned. Also, if some of these programs tell me that people are particularly interested in one particular page on my website, I will certainly  try to highlight that information and possibly provide more similar information (“content” in SEO parlance).

What automated decision making and/or profiling we do with user data

There is pretty much nothing automated about my decision making.  I do not have any  sophisticated built in automated AI marketing tools that changes what information is presented. I don’t even advertise for “gosh sakes”. In my opinion, PPC should stand for “poor pitiful creatures”.

Industry regulatory disclosure requirements

In the United States, the FCC wants people that are into affiliate marketing to provide a disclosure type of statement that says basically “hey, if you buy something from here, I’ll get a commission”. All of those affiliate codes that I mentioned above would fall into that category.

 But in the US, there is no nationwide regulation regarding the promotion (talking about, like this site) of online casinos and games.  But in the United Kingdom there is the UKGC, which has plenty of regulations ( they do get a big chunk of the tax revenue).  Plus it seems like everyday some country is making a change to their regulations, policies and procedures. As of this point, the only ones that I talk about here are ones that accept players from the US. Whether they accept players from other jurisdictions, I assume they do, but I have no clue. Besides, it would change by tomorrow anyway!

I believe that this  privacy and cookie policy satisfies everything that needs to be said. But it probably does not satisfy everyone, especially those pernicious and ever helpful regulatory commissions, agencies, entities and self appointed watchdogs of everything that is pure and good in this world.