The strange behavior of Unibet

Unibet leaves us speechless

YourPokerDream is known for having open and honest communication with our community, which of course we also handle when the topic is a little more uncomfortable or one of our partners even seems negative. This article is about our partner Unibet and different scenarios that leave us speechless.

Unibet itself is a well-known name in the poker world, and it operates in many countries with official licenses, but whoever thinks that this is automatically a guarantee for professional work is far from reality. There are also reasons why Unibet is clearly one of our weaker partners and we have always avoided pushing them

Now let’s go into more detail.

The problem with a player’s account at Unibet

Some time ago, a good player that we have known over the years registered at Unibet. As usual, his player account was linked to us and verified as it should be. After a short time, Unibet Support contacted him with the request to create a new player account, since “Germany” and not “Germany Switzerland” or something like that had probably been selected as the language when registering. This is quite a strange thing because the player was already playing. And even if that were the case, it cannot really be a reason that the player has to create a new account.

However, the support insisted, so the player followed the instructions and created a new player account. So far so good! The player, of course, thought nothing of it and continued to play. After a few months, he contacted us and asked why he was not collecting YPD points. Definitely, we made an inquiry to Unibet and there we were informed that the newly-created player account was not linked to us. We were perturbed on why his new player’s account was not linked to us. We were informed that the player, unfortunately, did not indicate in support, that he would like to play with us as an affiliate again. We thought it was a joke but Unibet really meant it.

So a player creates an account with us as an affiliate, plays normally and is then asked by support to open a new player account because something is said to be wrong and then he has to mention again that he wants to play under the same affiliate? As if the player is thinking of something like that. Unibet Support also sees this and can easily link the new player account with us.

Unibet also agreed to link the new player account with us, but now the real hit is coming. We asked Unibet to let us know how much rake the player-generated in the period when his account was not linked to us. First, we wanted to credit YPD points to the user and, of course, also get paid. The time it takes Unibet to get this data is estimated to be 5 minutes.

But now the answer was the following:

I have checked with my manager and what I told you on Friday was correct – we are able to check the revenue only when the player has been tagged to an affiliate account as that is when the system starts collecting data for it. We cannot check any historical data about it I am afraid

Of course, we asked if this should be a joke and we know that it only takes a few minutes to get this data. But no chance! Do they really want to tell us that they see the stats of a player only if the account is tagged to an affiliate?????? Really???? Wow, respect Unibet!

But what is even more incredible is that Unibet actually believes that it is OK and that we start to take action and refer to as many players as possible. We have to say it was not really a lot of money, an estimated €200-400  maximum. Unibet wanted to save money on this matter. This incident alone is enough for us that we would never promote Unibet as a premium partner.

Problem with the Unibet Tracking Link and our Unibet Rake Chase

We used an English-language tracking link, i.e. a link that links to an English version of Unibet. It just makes sense because almost everyone understands English. Now we had an exclusive rake chase with Unibet for our players to get at least a few more registrations. No problem for us, it runs alongside and if someone wants to register ok; if not, it’s ok as well. Strangely enough, there was no registration, despite a few clicks on our link. Apart from that, 2 players had registered at Unibet and sent us their username. When we asked Unibet to check the registrations because nothing appeared in the system, it was found that none of the users were linked to us. Both users were manually linked to us.

We looked at it for almost one and a half months and then created a test registration ourselves to ensure that everything worked correctly. And as expected, the test account of us was not linked to us either.

Upon our complaint that the link does not work, our account manager took a test herself and found out that the link actually does not work if the user changes the language or has to indicate where he comes from. To give an example. A player from Poland is on our site and clicks on the tracking link from us and is forwarded to Unibet. He then sees Poland as the language or has to indicate that he comes from Poland, the page now switches to another form and the tracking is deleted and no longer counted!

What else can we say? We have no idea how many players get lost as this and nobody gave us this info!

Incidentally, this is a current topic that we only had on January 7, 2020. Our account manager then wanted to give us a special GEO tracking link, which works for all languages ​​so that it can no longer happen. We have already the 10.01.2020 and still have no link. There is no reproach here because our account manager is dependent on another department that has not been able to send the link for 3 days. Every day, the messages says the link will come later, but nothing happens at all. For Unibet it is not so urgently because they still earn money if someone sign up and is not linked to an affiliate, but we lose money if the tracking does not work. Since many players do not send us a username, we cannot claim anything either. Since it is now weekend, there is only a new chance to get a working tracking link on Monday.

Solid Unibet! Such a tracking link also takes a lot of time :)

The request from a player to subsequently link his player account with us

We received a request from a player to link his existing inactive player account to us. The user has been inactive for ages, almost 4-5 years to be exact. At that time, Unibet was still part of the Microgaming (MPN) Network. We contacted Unibet and received an answer that it is not possible because the user is linked to another affiliate. On this point, of course, you have to say that it is perfectly fine to have such a policy and that this applies to all players and affiliates. It’s fair!

From a business perspective, it is totally pointless. Like other operators, they should allow a player account that has been inactive for at least 1-2 years to be linked to another affiliate if the player requests it. The same rules for everyone here and everyone would understand. But no, Unibet does not really want to win back a customer and even puts one on top of it. As the player informed us, he received the following email a few minutes later

Dear ….,

Your Unibet account has been inactive for at least 30 consecutive months, and has now been deactivated as per our T&Cs and the MGA Directive.

You can no longer log in to your account, but if you wish you can contact us to reactivate it within the next month.

If you don’t reactivate your account

Your account will be permanently closed, with the total of inactivity fees amounting to no more than €90.00. Any remaining account balance will be transferred to the Malta Gaming Authority. We will not be able to recover funds once they are transferred to the MGA.

Kind regards,
The Unibet Team

Yes, they really mean it!

Are you wondering why we are still working with Unibet?

We also ask us the same questions some times. Different things are already going wrong at Unibet, which unfortunately has to be said very clearly. Nevertheless, Unibet is actually a big name and also offers some advantages to players. Also we want to give our community a big choice between different poker sites. But it is certain, however, that we will not continue to participate in this theater and will most certainly end our cooperation if the things become not better. Our goal is to have a sucessfull cooperation with every of our poker partners, things should work normal and everybody should be happy and make profit.

Even if we still have Unibet in our offer and also offer an exclusive rake chase, we would rather recommend our many other partners. You will have there most probably more fun, more Rakeback and benefits if you create your account via YourPokerDream.

To make it clear, we dont want to say that Unibet is a bad poker site for you as player, for sure not! Your bankroll is save at Unibet and there is nothing to worry.

The problem here is in the backround for us as affiliate and that different things have to work better. Especially the tracking must work! We hope the best and still believe in it, that things will become better from now on and that everybody will be happy in future.

If you want to give Unibet a try and enjoy also our exclusive Unibet Rake Chase, please make sure that you send us your username after you have signed up, that we canmake sure that your account is linked to us.