Industry News
Fewer than 400 Online Gambling Disputes Filed Last Year
The online gambling standards and player protection authority -- London-based eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA) group -- last week released figures for player disputes handled during 2006 by the Fair Gaming Advocate, Tex Rees.
Rees "mediates" on behalf of players who have grievances against online casinos or poker rooms bearing the eCOGRA "Play It Safe" trademark. Presently, there are 92 online casinos and 23 poker rooms that display the organization's logo.
A total of 599 complaints were received, of which 360 were accepted, by regulators. Of that total, the 142 disputes that were turned away concerned online gambling sites which have not submitted to the eCOGRA voluntary regulation and inspection, monitoring and dispute resolution regime. Thus, they are outside the influence and scope of the Fair Gaming Advocate's responsibilities. An additional 97 complaints were deemed to be invalid.
Forty five percent of the complaints were resolved in the players' favor following the FGA's intervention, and a number of *complaints* were non-specific and general commentaries which could not be actioned.
The average resolution time achieved by the FGA was in 72 hours.
Main areas complained about by disgruntled gamblers were:
* Cash-ins (50 percent - up from 38 percent in 2005)
* Bonus (26 percent - down from 32 percent in 2005)
* Locked Accounts (19 percent - up from 16 percent in 2005)
The average number of disputes received per week was 11.5, slightly up from the 2005 average of 9.5.
Commenting on the statistics, Rees said that the average number of disputes received per approved site per month was slightly down at 0.4 -- it was 2005 = 0.7 -- and represented further evidence that the "Play It Safe" sealed operations were correctly applying eCOGRA's standards and player sensitivity measures.
"Considering the very high volumes of business transactions which these venues process every day, the dispute rate is still remarkably low," said the London-based mediator.
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