It’s been two years since the independent i-gaming standards, testing and certification company eCOGRA was the subject of a management buy-out from the original 2003 founders and the organisation has undoubtedly flourished.

In a management update this week, Executive Director Tex Rees revealed that ten additional professional staff, predominantly in the fields of chartered accountancy, certified information systems auditing and software test engineering have recently been selectively recruited by the company, extending its capacity to service a growing client base of tier one operators and software suppliers who have chosen to contract eCOGRA for i-gaming testing, monitoring and preparatory certification work in numerous regulated markets.

Among newly signed clients has been the respected and itself rapidly expanding Swedish online gambling software development group Net Entertainment.

eCOGRA has also won new eGAP standards and monitoring contracts with other leading industry companies, the most recent being the online gambling operator Paf (Ålands Penningautomatförening).

Rees says that her company has made significant financial investment in new audit software and programmes, internal control systems and testing laboratory infrastructure to support effective management of the growing business.

"Our substantial investment in technology and human resources will favourably enhance our ability to meet clients’ needs and the licensing jurisdictions’ stringent criteria for accredited testing facilities," Rees said this week.

"Based on unsolicited feedback, we are confident that our clients are more than satisfied with our testing and certification services, particularly in regulated markets such as Spain, Denmark and Italy.

However, the foreseeable introduction of diverse regulations and requirements by national licensing jurisdictions will continue to provide unique challenges for both licensees and testing houses, an industry dynamic for which eCOGRA is suitably positioned to excel." she said.

A lucky player from the Ukraine became an instant millionaire when he won a $1,548,999 progressive jackpot while playing the Gold Rally slot game at Titan Casino.

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Olek joins the ranks of the numerous big jackpot winners who have won millions of dollars while playing Titan Casino’s more than 300 popular casino games, including online roulette, slots, video poker, baccarat, and blackjack, as well as the extremely lucrative progressive jackpot slot games.

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It is a pretty bold move, getting betting online started up in the 21st 6 Century. Although this is still a growing industry, there are many firms who have years of experience behind them, but Irish firm Oddball seems to think they have a chance to get in to this industry, and make it big. They have a lot of competition to deal with – for example Irish betting firm Paddy Power – is supposedly more liquid than the Bank Of Ireland.

This new company however does not seem to be perturbed by the success of this live and online gambling giant, and seem determined to "shake up online betting", according to the press release.

Oddball is a start-up company, which founder Eanna O Hiorua, expects to be fully launched by June of this year. It has also be emphasised that Ó hIorua seems determined to corner at least a 10% share of the overall Irish online betting market by the year 2015. He is a Dublin City University graduate in engineering and business studies, who developed the Oddball.ie concept himself. His own maths algorithms have been used to create a fluid odds system, which allows for better odds, and we have to admit that we all like the idea of better odds. He believes this system will control the exposure of the business, and thereby avoid adverse outcomes. We are not really sure what this technical-ese means, but it certainly seems to be technical.

Explained in lay-men’s terms, this online gambling concept is a new maths-based move towards to bookmaking. They basically adjust the odds more frequently which reflects their liability on certain events, and it is this which attracts punters who offset this liability. The knock on effect is what they have labelled "fluid odds", and O Hiorua believes that these results will be more attractive to punters. In other words they will be able to offer better odds deals than their competition.

The new company was started by O Hiorua, after being made redundant. It is based in Dublin – Glasnevin – and Oddball already employs three people full time. It is licensed in Ireland, and apparently the business has only set it’s sights on the Irish market for now. However, the one thing we all know is that any business online, tends to end up being business without borders.

There is a website set up already, running in test mode – Oddball.ie – where users are able to place virtual bets free, just for fun. Weekly Prizes are already being awarded to savvy tipsters who are willing to test the product. According to those who have tried it out, this is a simple design of website, which also loads well on the WWW as well as on Smartphones. The company is currently seeking investors.

It is no secret that the European Union finds the online gambling industry to be problematic . But the problems actually don’t lie with the industry, it is in the way EU countries just do their own thing with regards to trading regulations. The EU is committed to a policy of free trade within the Union, but there are all kinds of issues that come into play, so individual countries tend to make their own laws regarding the industry.

One of the chief concerns of many EU partner countries is the problem of match fixing. So, they attempt to put an end to corruption in sports by stopping activities such as online sports betting, and it is this that affects industry players. While the European Union themselves battle with the case of creating a unified, or rather, common, platform for operators in the Internet gambling biz.
The real problem seems to be that the gambling sector is vulnerable, so protection, as well as stamping out corruption is the EU’s main points of focus.

There has also been a great deal of deliberation surrounding inconsistencies in the rules that apply to online gambling ops within EU member nations. We have seen evidence of this in Belgium, Germany, France, and other member states. These states seem determined not to come to the party in terms of this industry.

Their actions have been seen in the light of a monopolistic approach, and this

goes against the basic mandate of the European Union – that fairness and free e-commerce is an integral part of the structure.

The European Commission has requested industry input, and responded with an action plan, however, this has made very little difference to the way in which certain countries respond. Despite the fact that Michel Barnier – the EC Commissioner for internal trade has called for member states to fulfil their obligations, they simply go their own way.

Apparently there are five areas in which increased cooperation is required, but Mr. Barnier has also mentioned that the EC is “not proposing EU-wide legislation on online gaming”. However, they are still proposing that a common protection principle be adhered to, as well as requesting that all member states follow an across-the-board set of actions.

It is obvious that both the EU and member states have concerns such as underage gambling, cheating in sports, and money laundering, but these issues should not be used as an excuse for monopolistic gambling practices to take place. Age verification technology and other tools to protect the vulnerable have become highly sophisticated – operators in regulated jurisdictions are visibly making use of these. However the new EC action plan wants advertisers to be more responsible too.

We have been seeing some incredible growth figures for the mobile gaming sector of the online gambling industry. It has become obvious that this sector has grown so fast and so quickly, due to the fact that mobile technology now offers the capability of entertaining gamblers on the go. Increased smartphone use is one of the biggest heralds for this boom, and mobile-friendly online casinos are taking advantage of the feeding frenzy.

Some pundits of this industry are telling us that the mobile gambling marketplace will be worth more than $100 Billion by the year 2017. This could be more, but online gambling concerns are banking on sharing $45 Billion in profits, if the market reaches this figure. As one can imagine, some serious business people are looking at this business rather seriously.

Now that smartphones and tablets have been blamed as being the key drivers for this increasing trend, researchers have been taking a look at these users. Currently in the UK alone – 62% of the population are in possession of a smartphone. This is an increase of 14.2% since October 2011. Combine this use with the fact that gambling online has also grown, and we see that the mobile sector is responsible for a massive amount of virtual gambling spend, and it is they who are sparking increased profits for operators. In fact the fastest growth sector has been seen in online, and in-play sports betting by mobile.

Currently 15% of the entire gambling sector of the UK is driven by mobile gamers. A smartphone or tablet is eminently portable, much more so than a laptop ever was. The smaller these devices are, the more desirable they are, and much of a smartphone is taken up by screen. This makes it easy to use to access a game, and the game is easily seen, with superior graphic quality.

We have mobile banking apps too, so, it hasn’t taken long for gambling operators to work out mobile payment systems for playing these games for real money, and winning real money prizes too.

Gone are the days where we had to get dressed up, travel, and pay through the neck to have a night out in a casino. We take our mobile phones wherever we go, so wherever we are is our mobile casino. Games and many apps are free to download, can be played for free or real money, and casinos offer a ton of incentives to get us to play these games. They even give away free money.