The regulatory auditing and testing agency eCOGRA has been selected by leading Stoke-on-Trent based online gambling group bet365 to serve as its "third party regulatory testing and certification partner".

Companies are increasingly recognising the value of partnerships that will oversee and conduct independent specialist audit and testing procedures to streamline the often complicated and varying matrix of national regulatory requirements in newly legislated, as well as existing, markets in Europe.

Bet365, as one of the world’s largest online gambling groups, identified the need to appoint a strategic partner that would provide it with quality and cost-effective compliance and audit services ensuring each aspect of its business is in sync with the myriad of legislative requirements adopted by the various markets it operates in or intends to enter.

eCOGRA’s 17025:2005 testing laboratory accreditation by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) and extensive mix of professional Big 4 audit firm, IT and industry experience, ideally places the firm to perform compliance and audit services across the diverse spread of regulation and testing principles and methodologies being adopted throughout Europe.

Andrew Beveridge, the chief executive of eCOGRA, welcomed the appointment saying: "eCOGRA specialises in providing services to tier 1 software suppliers and operators, and bet365 certainly meets this requirement. eCOGRA looks forward to assisting bet365 with future certification endeavours while ensuring the group remains compliant in the markets in which it currently operates."

Steven Degg, regulatory compliance and information officer of bet365 commenting on the appointment said: "bet365 selected eCOGRA based on the depth of skills, experience of their resources and a successful track record in providing compliance services to other leading operators and software suppliers. Bet365 successfully submitted challenging Spanish and Danish certifications in partnership with eCOGRA, and look forward to working with eCOGRA as we expand into new markets going forward."

About eCOGRA

Founded in 2003 to set and improve operational standards and player safety in the online gambling space, eCOGRA has amassed a wealth of experience in implementing international best practice standards and requirements and ensuring these are maintained through regular review and monitoring.

Over 200 of the most established and successful internet gambling websites are accredited and policed by the independent, London-based company, which is staffed by professional auditors with Big 4 auditing firm experience, information system experts and responsible gambling specialists.

The company is an accredited testing agency with several jurisdictions, and has been awarded the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) ISO approval ISO/IEC 17025:2005 : General Requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories. This accreditation is one of the quality assurance requirements for approval as a testing agency in various European remote gambling licensing jurisdictions.

About bet365

Bet365 is a world leading eGaming company and a driving force in the development of Enterprise and Internet technology. Established in 2000 from a portakabin in Stoke-on-Trent, bet365 has grown into a global operation that employs over 2,000 people, is live in 17 languages and delivers an unrivalled online experience to over 9 million customers worldwide.

Giving its development teams the freedom to innovate is key to bet365’s success. The company has worked hard to cultivate a culture of innovation where good ideas and a techno-entrepreneurial attitude are encouraged and rewarded. Today bet365 continues to push technological boundaries and break new ground in software innovation.

We have been seeing the same news for what seems to be years, and very little changes in terms of Federal regulation for the game of online poker in the USA. Certainly the State of Nevada has made this form of gaming legal and is currently issuing licenses, but this is for intrastate poker online. The Federal Government has said as much – each state must decide, and legislate for themselves.

However, in December last year, the Department of Justice changed their stance on the matter of legality for online gambling. Basically the Interstate Wire Act of 1961 was revisited, and the DoJ opinion released that only sports betting is illegal. The online poker industry has mobilized rapidly, joint ventures are in place, and Nevada has passed legislation for online poker, while the state of Delaware has made legal the full gamut of casino games for the Internet.

The American Gaming Association has released a white paper, and they represent just about every US casino operator, as well as gambling equipment manufacturers. The report states that $4 billion is spent annually by American who play at offshore casino and poker websites. They peg the potential for the online gambling industry to make between $6 billion and $10 billion annually. Is the payday close for these operators, they seem to think so, but is it time to start picking winners?

The problem is actually three-fold; the industry can only look at the potential for regulating online poker for the meantime. The potential turnover for this game would not be $6 billion and $10 billion annually, only a fraction of this. The second problem is that online poker alone, might not be all that attractive a business proposition for potential operators, and the third issue is certain states will not opt to legalize and regulate, so, it needs to happen on a federal level. In its present position the market is much too small, or too shaky to be a viable proposition.

Overseas we see that online poker sites are closing their doors on a regular basis. While we see PokerStars doing well, they actually monopolizing the marketplace because of their massive liquidity. A good example would be IGT’s purchase of Entraction, only to find that they were compelled to close this poker network. Regulation in Europe is also a tricky task to breach. The Italian industry is failing, France is a nightmare of regulatory red tape, Will Hill Poker is losing business as is Bwin.party and others. Fortunately for 888 Poker, they also seem to be doing something right and their business has grown.

But what we are seeing is that online poker alone is not financially viable in many instances. Operators need to be able to offer the whole range of online gambling games. So, with the exception of Delaware which state apparently sees the bigger picture, very little can change if the Federal Government does not come to the party, and offering online poker without the addition of other Internet gambling games, simply won’t cut the mustard.

It has been called the new frontier in online gambling, and while some gambling games are by nature more social than others, this new zeitgeist promises to make playing virtually any gambling game a social experience. It has become such an important factor to the industry that a conference has been specifically called for dealing with what seems to have become another sector of this incredibly successful industry. We’ll take a wager that when the first gambling game went live online, the developers/operators had absolutely no idea just how big this genre would become!

The first Social Gambling Conference takes place on 16th November in London – Dexter House on Tower Hill. iGaming Business is the host.

As experts in the field of gambling online claim they see huge opportunities opening up in the social space, the big question is "where is the money?" Of course this question is as relevant to operators as it is to social gamers who are keen to win prizes. It is the online gambling part of the equation where attention should be focused, but there also has to be a way to get the balance right. This gathering hopes to address the intricacies and interesting facts of a rather complex subject.

As we see social gambling transform into real money gambling online, the same is taking place from the real money online gambling point of view, where this business is becoming more social. So, like in all instances of just about everything, there are two sides to the coin… thank goodness for that…that is how we achieve balance.

Implications include legal and regulatory requirements as the social gaming market unfolds. But as the experts tell us, there are a great many opportunities presenting themselves. All we need to think about to grasp the idea; is the fact that Globally there are close to 1 billion Facebook users. Already more than 11 million regular (daily) users have made social media platforms the place play to win, and it is estimated that 50% of Facebook users play social games.

Facebooks five top casino games are Texas Hold Em, Slotomania, Double Down, Bingo Blitz, and "Best Casino", so, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that a huge new market is readily available for existing online gambling operators – but, and here is the rub, they have to make the games social. The five games we mentioned attract a fairly incredible 11,240,000 daily players; who wouldn’t want a slice of that pie?

The two sides of this global online gambling and social gaming equation has become a classic "you scratch my back, and I will scratch yours" scenario. Each business sector is being offered the opportunity to accelerate one-another’s growth. Money is made from the sale of virtual goods, such as coins to unlock more advanced features. It is in this aspect that money is made. Getting ahead appeals to the need for personal achievement and status, so, players spend the money. Social gamers are therefore not so much different from online gamblers, and in fact many play both types of games.

The Gauselmann Group is a German gambling and gaming giant; they have taken a huge leap of faith to get into the British gambling market. Their target is the UK amusements market with the purchase of Praesepe from private equity firm – Marwyn Management Partners. Gauselmann is best known for their Merkur brand, and it is this division that will take control of Praesepe’s 159 adult gaming centres, nine bingo clubs, five family entertainment centres, and Beacon Bingo online. The new company vehicle for this is Merkur Casino UK.

The current Merkur Casino compliment includes 240 arcades throughout Germany, and also has venues in Central and Eastern Europe, the Netherlands and Spain. There is also Merkur Win outlets in Italy. They are best known for their supply of slots, AWPs, Server-based gambling systems and VTLs. The vvast majority of employees is based in Germany; this is a staff compliment of somewhere around 6300.

The Chief Financial Officer of Gauselmann – Ulrich Wuseke – now becomes chairman of Merkur Casino UK. Nick Harding who is the founder of Praesepe, remains in the CEO role of the new company – at least for the time being. Wuseke commented that Praesepe has a good reputation in Britain across the markets it serves. They own the largest land bingo club in Europe and the UK, as well as the Crystal Rooms in London’s Leicester Square; this venue is world-famous.

At the moment the merge is examining a progressive philosophy which is where their investment efforts will take place; they believe they have a unique approach to gambling entertainment in the UK. They also have Blueprint Gaming on-board – another UK subsidiary – these people develop both games and devices. This means that Gauselmann now has a complete range of products to cover the UK market.

Gauselmann is one of the most inspiring business stories in the gambling/gaming industry; the company was launched in 1957, and fast grew into a €1.7bn internationally recognised enterprise. It is a business with back-bone which has survived the double-dip recession, and the Praesepe/Gauselman merge is set to cement this company into UK gaming history.

We mentioned the fact that the largest bingo club in Britain is also part of the Praesepe/Gauselman deal, so, feel that now might be an appropriate time to mention a little bingo aside. The future of UK bingo is also about to change, with the resignation of Paul Talboys from the Bingo Association. Miles Baron is the new appointee, and hopefully with this new blood will come some radical changes in what we believe we have seen become a stagnating representative body for bingo.

Bingo has been enjoying a new breath of fresh air online for the past ten or more years, and we would like to see the same happening in the land version of this game. Miles Baron takes up the post today – Monday 8th October – he has a wealth of industry experience, after leading as Sales and Marketing Director of Mecca Bingo since November 2006, and is no stranger to the Association.

Fast-fold Poker is finally taking a-hold at more than one well-known website; PokerStars is now also attempting to stop its feverish spread on the World-Wide Web by pending patent rights. The game started more than a year ago at Full-tilt Poker, and with this websites’ downfall, copies have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain.

Players are getting the hang of the game, where the appeal is its difference to normal paced poker online. Because it is fast, it reduces waiting time – a player can fold, then simply be moved to another table, and take part in another game. The additional appeal is that the game is a natural fit for mobile, and opponents barely get to know the game of the people they play against, so, this makes it fabulously fair. It is an action-focussed game with an almost arcade game-type feel.

Full-tilt introduced fast-fold in 2010 – calling it "Rush Poker". At the time, no other poker product was interested in exploring the possibilities that this form of the game seemed to offer. This gave FTP almost a complete year with exclusivity on fast-fold poker. Whether or not this shows lack of competitive vision, or fear of patent infringement, on the part of other online poker software developers, we actually do not know. But what we do know is this, as soon as Full-tilt was out of the fold, there was a mad rush to develop software which emulated fast-fold.

PokerStars have their own version of the game, and now that they own FTP – lock, stock and their backs over a barrel, they also want their hands on any patent rights they may be entitled to. Their version is called Zoom Poker, but they were in fact not the first to offer real money fast-fold poker after FTP. InstaDeal was the first fast-fold poker competitor online.

This software provider soft- launched a flagship product called "Terminal Poker" back in late 2010. They were the first online network to exclusively host fast-fold style poker with low stakes Hold ‘em games. They expanded with white-label skins on PokerTube as well as at an online poker portal – Vegas365. This product still receives consistent players, even if only in very small numbers.
When it seemed as though Full-tilt would never rise from the ashes of their ruin, let alone ever be able to competitively defend a patent rights legal brougha; “Fast Poker” from Maltese developer – Relax Gaming was the next to hit the Net. This game can be found at Unibet and iGame.

Zoom Poker came from PokerStars in March 2012, and is still ostensibly wearing the "Beta" banner. However, it has hit the tables hard, there are various stakes and multiple game types available already, and now PokerStars has nothing to worry about, their lawyers have taken the problem of "Patent Pending" away from FTP lawyers, and are letting their lawyers handle the issue, as though they developed this product for themselves. Good on them, they paid enough money for FTP; might as well get it back one way or another!