Online Gambling News

Remote gambling standards and player protection body achieves accreditations of its own.

eCOGRA, the independent player protection and standards body servicing the international remote gambling industry, has achieved two milestones of its own, successfully qualifying as a testing agency with the Italian regulator AAMS, and having its systems approved by ISO – a Geneva-based international standards authority.

Working through the United Kingdom Accreditation Service, London-based eCOGRA was accredited by the International Organisation of Standards (ISO) after meeting its stringent systems-oriented requirements and standards.

On July 22, 2011 eCOGRA was awarded the ISO approval ISO/IEC 17025:2005 : General Requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. The accreditation is one of the quality assurance requirements for approval as a testing agency in various European remote gambling licensing jurisdictions.

eCOGRA has also confirmed its capability as a testing entity in the burgeoning Italian market by securing the approval of Italian regulator Amministrazione Autonoma Monopoli di Stato (Autonomous Administration of the State Monopolies) or AAMS.

This accreditation empowers eCOGRA to act as a testing and monitoring agency for remote gambling platforms, random number generators and gaming operator applications for compliance with the technical standards issued by AAMS.

It opens eCOGRA’s considerable experience in the field to operators with plans to access the Italian market.

Andrew Beveridge, chief executive officer of eCOGRA, congratulated his IT and audit staff on the achievement of the new accreditations this week, saluting their professional commitment to the highest international standards.

"Promoting the values of commitment and self-regulation, and preparing remote gambling companies for the national regulatory systems now evolving, remains a critical part of our business, and eCOGRA will continue to pursue testing agency approval in other emerging jurisdictions to ensure that we can provide a full-service offering which meets all of our client’s regulatory compliance needs," he said.

Beveridge added that eCOGRA expected to announce further jurisdictional approvals soon, and was open to approaches from both existing and new clients interested in the regulatory requirements of the emerging licensing jurisdictions, and how to meet these.

About eCOGRA

eCOGRA is staffed by highly professional auditors with Big 4 auditing firm experience, information system experts and responsible gambling specialists. The organisation is a leading supplier of compliance and advisory services in the areas of player protection, fair gaming and responsible operator behaviour to stakeholders in the remote gambling industry. In 2011 alone eCOGRA will perform almost 100 compliance reviews against eCOGRA’s eGAP Requirements, the European Gaming and Betting Association (‘EGBA’) Standards (incorporating the European CEN Workshop Agreement Measures) and various jurisdictional regulations.

About ISO

Founded in 1947, the ISO is an international standards-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organisations. The organisation promulgates worldwide proprietary industrial and commercial standards from its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

ISO is a voluntary organisation whose members are recognised standard authorities, representing a diverse range of countries and industries. The bulk of the work of ISO is done by the 2700 technical committees, subcommittees and working groups, assessing and inspecting applicant companies dedicated to improving services and production.

About AAMS

The Italian online gambling market is regulated by the Amministrazione Autonoma Monopoli di Stato (Autonomous Administration of the State Monopolies) or AAMS, which sets dedicated Italian market standards and requirements for operators in the Italian market and grants and monitors licenses.

Sam Trickett plays on behalf of online poker room Titan Poker. In the inaugural 2010 British Poker Awards he received the Best New Player award.

Sam Trickett, a member of Team Titan sponsored by Titan Poker, the leading online poker room in Europe, has been nominated for three British Poker Awards.

Trickett’s nominations are in the categories of Best Cash Player, Best Tournament Player, and Best Social Media User. Winners of the awards, who will be selected by online voters, will be announced at the Poker in the Park ceremony in London’s Hanover Square on September 3.

In the inaugural British Poker Awards in 2010, Trickett received the Best New Player award.

Trickett has demonstrated his skillful tournament play this year by winning the Aussie Millions $100,000 Challenge and by finishing in second place in the Aussie Millions $250,000 Super High Roller. He had a 6th place finish at the World Poker Tour (WPT) National Series Paris and two cashes at the World Series of Poker. Trickett’s total earnings for 2011 are now $2,972,759.

Trickett’s cash game play received huge publicity earlier this year after an extremely profitable session at the high stakes games in Macau. Trickett is an avid user of both Facebook and Twitter, but faces tough competition in all the categories in which he has been nominated.

Sam Trickett plays on behalf of Titan Poker at the biggest poker tournaments around the world. Poker novices and veteran poker players alike are invited to try out the free poker download at Titan Poker and qualify to play alongside Team Titan’s Sam Trickett.

Ladbrokes is to unleash excitable Italian football commentator, Tiziano Crudeli, as the face of its new advertising campaign for the start of the football season. The campaign, called "Game On!", conveys the excitement that betting elicits and is the first advertising work by Ladbrokes" new lead creative agency SapientNitro.

Tiziano Crudeli is a cult commentator in football circles for his undisguised support of AC Milan and comical displays of football passion. "Game On!" captures Crudeli at his frenzied best and lets viewers experience the excitement that Ladbrokes" products deliver.

The "Game On!" ads break this weekend, as the 2011/12 football season gets under way on August 6th.

The ads see a delirious Crudeli celebrating at incongruous moments in a football game, such as corners and yellow cards, when Ladbrokes" Bet In Play app delivers live results against live odds.

The 30-second executions are designed to reflect the excitement of Ladbrokes In-Play Betting product during a match. Elements of the advertising, such as the Jumbotron display seen behind Crudeli, will change each ad break to show real-time live odds on-screen.

SapientNitro worked with director James Griffiths at Moxie Pictures, who is renowned for his ability to capture natural and believable comedy in feature films and TV (Episodes, Free Agents) and commercials work (BT, VW, Barclays).

The "Game On!" TV ads are part of a fully integrated campaign by SapientNitro, which is Ladbrokes" digital technology and experience partner. "Game On!" will also run on online interactive ads, in which Crudeli explodes with excitement as the user places their bet.

In-store communications and promotional activity using the "Game On!" theme rolls out to 2500 Ladbrokes outlets this week.

Malcolm Poynton, Chief Creative Officer at SapientNitro, says: "Game On! is much more than just an ad campaign, it captures all things Ladbrokes. In Tiziano we have a loveable, infectious, always turned-up-to-11 expression of the excitement Ladbrokes deliver. Game On! puts the product at the heart, giving viewers a taste of that excitement and calling for a response, then and there, by broadcasting live odds. In Tiziano"s words, In-cred-i-bile!"

Majority of complaints resolved within 72 hours!

The 2011 half-year dispute statistics released by eCOGRA Fair Gaming Advocate Tex Rees this week show once again that eCOGRA-accredited operators maintained a remarkably low complaint ratio under 0.5 percent per site on average each month over the first six months of 2011.

The majority of valid complaints received by the independent player protection and standards body were resolved within 72 hours.

"e;Operators have responded in a fast and cooperative manner to those cases where I have requested information and explanations, and have been quick to respect my findings in each case,"e; Rees reported, adding that it had been noted that a small percentage of players still tried to circumvent terms and conditions governing play and payouts.

"e;This small category of players has become more creative in their tactics, but the operators have developed correspondingly improved methods to identify and then lock them out,"e; she said.

eCOGRA oversees the online gambling activities of some 145 tier one online gambling sites owned by some of the biggest and most established operators on the Internet, and makes available a free dispute resolution service to players using those sites which have been awarded eCOGRA’s "e;Safe and Fair"e; seal.

During the first 6 months of 2011 a total of 475 complaints were received, 57 of these being in respect of sites outside the eCOGRA sphere of influence and therefore not accepted. A further 60 were invalid due to insufficient information or irrelevant enquiry.

The 358 valid and legitimate complaints accepted by the FGA featured cash-in problems (41 percent), bonus issues (23 percent) and locked accounts (21 percent) as the main disputes, with an average complaint rate of 13 per week across all 145 accredited operations.

The number of valid disputes resolved in favour of the player dropped to 40 percent, a decrease of 3 percent on the 2010 figures, Rees reported.

"e;This decrease is attributed to a number of gambling syndicates breaking the terms and conditions that were uncovered by operators through the application of increasingly sophisticated tracking techniques"e; says Rees. "e;The use of multiple account and fraudulent documents are being picked up on a much more regular basis"e;.

Specialist online casino game developer Cayetano Gaming is pleased to announce that the Alderney Gambling Control Commission (AGCC) has issued the company with a software supplier certificate. The certificate permits Cayetano to license its casino games to Alderney operators for the first time.

Robin Le Prevost, Alderney’s Director for eCommerce Development commented: "We are very pleased that Cayetano Gaming has decided to come to Alderney. The company is a leader in innovative casino games and a great addition to the Island. Alderney is one of the largest and fastest growing eGaming jurisdictions so this is a natural choice for Cayetano".

A spokesman for Cayetano Gaming, said "We are delighted to have the opportunity to offer Cayetano’s games in Alderney. It is a top tier jurisdiction with first class regulation and some of the best casino operators in the world. We thank the Commission for the certificate and look forward to working with local operators to deliver players the latest online casino games."