One of the leading providers of software solutions and turnkey services for the online gaming industry has introduced a new program that it hopes will boast consumer confidence with casinos and raise the standards for operators.
Grand Virtual, one of the fist providers of online gaming software, announced this week that it has formed a program designed to set guidelines and standards for casino practices, fair play, and trust in the online gaming industry.
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"The biggest issue in gaming today is establishing trust with the player."
-Mark Camm
Grand Virtual
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As part of the Grand Virtual Casino Alliance (GVCA), licensees who use the company's software will be forced to meet a code of conduct that has 23 parts to it--ranging from accountability and prompt pay-outs to fraud screening and connection integrity.
The GVCA also has in place a principles and ethics code that all members must meet. The code touches on
everything from making sure players are adults who are playing under their own free will to setting up ways operators should handle communications with players.
Members who comply with the alliance will display a GVCA logo on their site, which according to Grand Virtual spokesman Mark Camm, will give players another avenue for making sure they're getting a fair shake when they gamble online.
"There are a whole bunch of fly-by-night operators out there," he said. "The whole reason for the GVCA and its associated codes is to deliver benefits to players and ensure they are getting a fair and honest gaming experience with Las Vegas-style odds. It also includes safe and secure financial processing. The biggest issue in gaming today is establishing trust with the player, and the formation of the GVCA is the right step in that direction."
Camm said the GVCA is the largest global family of online casino and gaming Web sites. He said the standards for the GVCA had been a work in progress for the last year.
There are no plans, he said, to extend the GVCA seal to operators outside the Grand Virtual family.
"For a lot of our licensees, we partner with them to assist them with the back end and all the technology behind that," he said. "Knowing that they are using our technology really enforces much of the code of conduct. There is no way for us to know if the code of conduct would be performed to support the principles and ethics if they weren't using our stuff."
Camm said the GVCA will in no way compete with the Interactive Gaming Council, the leading trade association for the online gaming industry. The council has its own code of conduct, and Camm said that all GVCA members have to abide by the IGC code. He said the GVCA is more to let players who may be unfamiliar with the different suppliers in the industry to differentiate between reputable sites and those that aren't.
"We have been in the gaming business for a long time," he said. "We are one of the oldest and one of the largest, and when we put our seal on something it means a lot."
Click here to view Grand Virtual's code of conduct.