Goodbye Heart Bingo. Love Loquax!
Published On 1st May 2025
Heart Bingo are sadly the latest online brand to end up in our virtual basement. Brands end up there when they decide that for whatever reason they decide that we're no longer accepted as an affiliate. Unfortunately when it comes to promoting some brands size does matter and according to the Heart Bingo affiliate manager they're only "trying to focus on sites with high traffic that convert for us". Which is fine but wasn't the first explanation we were told. That was "we are losing money on this account so it unfortunately just isn't feasible for us to continue with the deal at the moment". So what actually happened?
Gamesys To Pragmatic Play
For a number of years Heart Bingo was not only one of our favourite sites, it was also one of our best brands to promote. That may well be because we were quite an early starter promoting Heart Bingo when they were on Gamesys. However when Heart left to join Pragmatic Play all our referred players didn't go with them. And from that point on the brand hardly converted for us. Now that could be because of changing fortunes within the affiliate sector or that their database of players went with them - or that the product was just poor. Anyway we didn't earn anything from commissions because more often than not our monthly earnings were in the red. Some operators run what is called negative rollover so any losses (player wins) must be balanced out before you're paid. Pretty much from the start our balance ended up negative and stayed there - in one 18 month period only one month ended in the black.
Nothing Of Nothing Is Nothing
Now we're not (that) daft and if a brand is earning us nothing then why would we actively feature it? Everytime we tried to promote Heart more the negative rollover seemed to get worse. So whilst we didn't remove them completely from the site we did push them down the listings. At this point we should note that not once did we hear from an affiliate manager - by the same token we didn't contact them because from our own experiences Pragmatic Play powered bingo sites aren't that great. Fast forward to January 2025 and the news that Heart had swapped Pragmatic Play's plugin product for Playtech's new system. Perhaps the latter wasn't so good after all? Anyway this seemed like a good time to give Heart another whirl, especially as a couple of registrations had occurred out of the blue on a site we hardly promote. Then we discovered something really intriguing and that was we were no longer being paid our revshare commission - instead our account had been zeroed. In short they'd removed our affiliate relationship without telling us but happily accepted traffic and they did that from October 2023.
New Beginnings
Despite this we still wanted to include Heart Bingo on our portal. After discussions with the affiliate manager where they were told when asked about player numbers "we can't tell you because theres too many unknowns and theres no point us making things up. It's not going to be 100s because it's impossible for us to compete with Which and co. We rely solely on content so it could be anything", the revshare was re-activated. The good news was that by the end of April there was a positive commission but sadly no new players. Easter holidays and Easter are usually slower times and if you're a small site then traffic is hard to come-by. We are not a big portal and always run the risk of missing quotas or not being enough for some operators. There's no point complaining (too much) about it but you can still function. Our view was to see how Heart Bingo worked out and - as we do with all brands - adapt our decision with regards to placement based on how they perform for us and also whether they're a good site for players.
Inactive Affiliate Account
Now we've seen a lot of underhand stuff in online gambling affiliate management over the years but even we were surprised to receive an "Inactive Affiliate Account" notice from Heart Bingo just a few weeks later. We had failed to deliver "a minimum of three depositing Customers per calendar month" and therefore "inactive accounts are subject to closure, and revenue share commissions will be withheld". When we questioned this decision we were told Heart "are losing money on this account". Given that they've not paid us a penny since moving from Gamesys, not given us a minute of their time, and it was them that did the deceitful removal of commissions for 18 months without tellings us, it's hard to see what they're losing. Yes the players we've sent have won but that's not our fault. The only losers here is us because we only earn of things work in our favour. Unsurprisingly the Heart Bingo affiliate manager didn't explain how we're costing them money (it's not like they're deleting the players we've sent either) but instead they "would be happy to continue and test for the month of May". We said "no"!
Too Many Negatives
To appease Heart Bingo and maintain the relationship we'd need to uplift promotion of them. Yet because of negative rollover we'd be working for nothing. If we did manage to hit the quota for May there's no guarantee it'd be reach in June or July or August. We'd be always wondering if closure is round the corner. And imagine say promoting a brand for several months, sending them traffic, maybe even players all to just remove a bit more negative rollover - but with the constant fear of being kicked off with barely a week's notice. That doesn't work for us. In truth perhaps this situation has done us a favour because it does mean we don't have to feature Heart Bingo just to earn nothing. However despite this we like the brand and would rather risk featuring brands that aren't good for us because they're actually decent destinations for players.
Why It Feels Underhand
Heart Bingo could have activated their quotas clause months ago so it seems strange they did it just a few weeks after the affiliate manager re-activated our account. By the way we didn't get an explanation or apology for the 18 months of zeros. We barely had the chance to do anything other than update a review. The reasoning that we cost them money is just insulting whilst the follow up "we're trying to focus on sites with high traffic that convert for us" is just nonsense. We weren't making unreasonable demands, we weren't taking up anyone's time and we were just getting on working in a compliant and honest manner. All we need from affiliate relationships is a tracking link that works and payments on time. Beyond that we'll get on and try and compete in a very difficult sector. Writing content doesn't often generate instant rewards and we're very open about what we're doing. But we're keen, honest and willing although these days that's not enough.
In An Ideal World
In an ideal affiliate world we'd be able to feature every main UK brand. We wouldn't have to worry about quotas or negative rollover. We'd have affiliate managers who understand that not every site is the same and that small sites can play a role in sending traffic, writing content and ultimately getting new players. Ideally we'd also have a newsletter and be able to use social media but UKGC rules make it impossible. As operators squeeze out small affiliates they simply make it easier for the bigger guys. As in The Premier League, the top teams get bigger whilst the gap between the haves and have nots gets wider. In our view if an affiliate is compliant and actively building a site or sending traffic, and isn't taken up anyone's time then let them get on with it. They'll either grow or fail. Pulling the plug on them because you just want to focus on a few sites - which you already focus on anyway - is just lazy.
Heart Bingo - Virtue Fusion
Spend £10 For £30 Bonus & 100 Free Spins
New UK Customers Only. New Customers. Opt in. Deposit & play £10 on Bingo within 7 days. Get £30 on Bingo + 100 Free Spins on Make Me a Millionaire. Advertised £30 Bingo based on 10p tickets. Rewards expire after 7 days. 18+. #AD
MrQ Casino - Independent
Deposit £10 For 50 Free Spins
New UK Customers Only. 50 Free Spins credited upon your first £10 deposit on Big Bass Splash slot only, valued at 10p per spin. Free Spins must be used within 48 hours of qualifying. All winnings are uncapped and credited to your real money balance. 18+. Terms Apply #AD
Bingo Stars - Pragmatic Play
Spend £10 For Bingo Tickets & Spins
New UK Customers Only. 50 bingo tickets and 20 free spins will be awarded upon first deposit and wager of £10 or more. Winnings credited to cash, x0 wagering. Expiry: Bingo Tickets 7 days; Free Spins 2 days. 18+. Terms Apply #AD
Related & Recent Articles
- Four Free Spin Bingo Rooms At Moon
- Bingo Loft To Relaunch In September
- Free Bingo & Jackpots On Pragmatic Play
- Vote For Free Bingo Games
- 888 Sell Dragonfish Bingo To Broadway Gaming
- Heart Bingo Review
- Latest News
