LONDON, England – (PRESS RELEASE) -- The Fair Gaming Advocate in the London offices of
eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance
reported this week on complaints received by the non-profit player
protection body during the first six months of 2006.
Tex Rees says a total of 265 submissions were made to eCOGRA's online
facility, of which 83 (31 percent) concerned online casinos and poker rooms
that are not accredited to eCOGRA and are therefore outside the FGA's
authority. A further 35 submissions (14 percent) were non-specific rants and
statements that could not be followed up.
The remaining 147 disputes were investigated and resolved, 31 percent in
favour of the player. The areas of dispute were as follows:
* Cash-in disputes : 75 (51 percent) up from 38 percent in the same period
last year.
* Bonus disputes : 41 (28 percent) down from 32 percent last year
* Account disputes: 23 (16 percent) no change from last year
* Miscellaneous : 8 (5 percent) down from 14 percent last year
The FGA received an average of 10 disputes per week, a slight increase over
the same period last year. The average number of disputes per "Play It Safe"
seal site per month was 0.3 percent, down from 0.7 percent last year.
"Given the major increase in the number of "Play It Safe" sites since last
year - there are now 88 sites accredited by eCOGRA - the level of disputes
coming in to my office remains remarkably low," Rees says in her report.
"These are all very large online gambling casinos and poker rooms, dealing
with high levels of player transactions on a wide variety of games. In 31
percent of cases I found for the player, which represents a very small fault
margin in terms of operational activity."