Changes implemented to reflect current ownership

Following the management buyout of eCOGRA earlier in the year, it has been decided to restructure and streamline the Board to reflect the Company’s current ownership.

As a result of the restructuring Non-Executive Directors Michael Hirst OBE, Bill Galston OBE and Frank Catania will be leaving the Board as of the 31st December 2011.

The new Board will be comprised of Chief Executive Officer Andrew Beveridge and Tex Rees, who have been part of the organisation’s management team since 2003.

Andrew Beveridge said, “I am very grateful to Michael, Bill and Frank for their enormous contribution in helping to establish eCOGRA as a pre-eminent independent remote gambling standards body and testing agency and steering the Company to its new found status.

“I look forward to the next chapter of our growth as we set out to use our exceptional and unrivalled experience in providing services to jurisdictions, whilst maintaining our unique eCOGRA seal assuring player protection on approved sites”.

The iGB Affiliate award votes have been counted and the organisers are happy to say that over 4,000 industry affiliates and executives made their choice. A fantastic response, ensuring a truly representative vote, the shortlist includes those who received the most or equal votes in any of the following categories: Best Affiliate (all verticals), Best Affiliate Program (all verticals), Best New Comer (Affiliate & Program), Best Affiliate manager (all verticals), Best iGaming Affiliate Network, The Louis Fabiano Award for the Best iGaming Community and Best Payment System for Affiliates.

“A well deserved congratulations to everyone in the shortlist” said Alex Pratt, Head of iGaming Business “To get to this stage is an amazing result and means you’ve had to beat most of your competitors to one of these top spots. Win or lose, each company on this list should be proud to have gotten to this stage. The final decision is now in the hands of our judges, so all that is left to say is good luck to our finalists.”

All the finalists will be examined by a judging panel who will evaluate each short listed nomination in order to select the final winner. The judging process is a rigorous and thorough procedure – each nomination will be considered upon their initial nomination entry (their answer to “Why You Should Win”) and evaluated against the judging criteria. Each judging panel will consist of independent experts to ensure that the integrity of the Awards is upheld, all entries get full consideration and that the right winners are chosen. Specific experts have been invited according to the judging criteria of each Award to give their expert opinion on chosen areas, for example landing page professionals, SEO gurus, branding experts etc… More information on Judging criteria and a list of judges can be found here: www.iGBAffiliateAwards.com.

The iGB Affiliate Awards will be celebrated on the evening of the 26th of January, on the eve of the London Affiliate Conference. Over 50% of the seats have now been booked, so organisers expect a full house to come and celebrate these rising stars in the online gambling affiliate industry. With a three course meal, professional entertainment and a carnival theme, this will be a festive affair.

To view the shortlist click here:
http://files.igamingbusiness.co.uk/PDFs/Final_Shortlists_2012.pdf

Lyceum Media, organizers of the most decadent iGaming party of the year will unveil a night of biblical proportion to the who’s who in the iGaming industry on Wednesday, January 25th at the exotic Gilgamesh in bustling Camden town London.

Doors open at 8:30pm for Party and Table Sponsors and their VIP guests. Organizers say that the best way to guarantee a spot inside the walls of Fire & Ice and avoid the queues outside is to reserve a drinks table in advance.

"Without our industry’s backing Fire & Ice couldn’t be possible. Leading iGaming companies come together to support one night of decadence. Fire & Ice is all about our totally unique stage show performances and we’re very grateful for our 2012 sponsors so far like headline sponsor ONEworks™ and our table sponsors such as WorldPay, Bet365, PayPoint, Income Access, JackpotJoy, Calvin Ayre, Experian, Bookmakers Review," commented Jodie Thind, organizer Fire & Ice.

Information, Photos and Video clips from past events are available at www.fireandiceparty.com

Sponsorship opportunities and VIP Table bookings are available now, Contact: Lyceum Media, events@lyceummedia.com +44 (0) 208 123 7184

Leading interactive gaming software and services provider, GTECH G2, has signed a partnership with Xorti, to launch two exciting new gaming sites; Pokerleaders and SpinWinners.

GTECH G2 will partner with Xorti; providing the company with its market leading Poker and Instant Casino products. Xorti will also benefit from the GTECH G2 Gaming Management System (GMS). GMS is the only truly open platform that offers a seamless interface giving Xorti an unrivalled view of the player.

The partnership also includes the provision of GTECH G2’s Gaming Services. GTECH G2 provides a range of gaming services to aid the successful deployment and operation of its partner’s portals. GTECH G2 will provide Xorti with fully managed CRM services including its market leading VIP Marketing Management Programme.

William Scott, Vice President of GTECH G2 said, “It’s very exciting for GTECH G2 to be involved with the launch and creation of two new brands in the iGaming sphere. We are certain that both the Pokerleaders and SpinWinners sites will benefit from our ever expanding games portfolio.”

Olivier DOUCE, Director, of Xorti said, “As a company we are passionate about iGaming and wanted to invest in the very best technology and services. GTECH G2 has provided us with the perfect partnership for our entry into the market.”

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;.