if rakeback is so important how come PokerStars is a major player?

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My point is and will always be that even with your numbers that is a lot of money.

5%-20% of revenues when you start throwing around the B word is a lot.

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I haven't looked to closely at Party's reports. I should, but just saying a Billion dollars is alot of money simpifies things too much. That Billion is a gross dollar figure and if it costs party 1.2 Billion to service that Billion, well it might as well have been 4 nickles and a happy meal.

As an invester I'm concerned that Party would have a 10% of gross revenue cost for player retention that really isn't retaining players. Once an affiliate brings the player to party, continuing to pay for that player 5 years down the road to a 3rd party is just silly. What value does the affiliate provide in this case? How can you justify that type of expenditure?

Over abd above this you will likely put together a retention plan for these customers anyway, plus you have a set cost for player aquisition. You are in effect paying for new players and paying double for old ones.