[StellarWind]

There has been much speculation about what Empire is doing and why. The consensus seems to be that Empire is booting bonus abusers in order to become more profitable. There are also dark rumblings that Party is somehow behind this.

It occurred to me that everyone has overlooked a major beneficiary and a major victim of Empire's housecleaning.

Winner: The Empire affiliate network. Everytime a bonus whore strike Empire some affiliate loses money. I'm sure this is a source of major unhappiness for many affiliates, especially the ones that don't do rakeback. This cleanup should strengthen Empire's affiliate network as they prepare for the coming market share wars.

Loser: Party Poker. Surprised? Don't be. Most of the Empire whores do not play their Party accounts when Empire doesn't have a bonus on. Some have rakeback at another skin, some chase bonuses off the Party network, and some don't play poker at all between bonuses. But when whores hit Empire, Party gets paid a share of the rake even though Empire is losing money. The Party network also gets all the intangibles that greater traffic brings without having to pay for it.

I seriously doubt that IGM is "making" Empire do this.