Editorial

Tuesday, 06 October 2009 01:48

There are three main features that a customer wants to have full assurance of when signing up for membership of any online casino. They are that it is honest, trustworthy and credible.

Gamblers dislike being cheated more than just about anything else. For this reason, the more astute gamers will seek out those online casinos that come with the best reputation along with plenty of documented positive reviews from real people online and off if they can get them. Let's look at how this can be achieved, but first of all we should also look at what can go wrong and how those wrongs can be righted.

It often takes a pretty big scandal to get people to sit up and take notice and that is exactly what happened towards the end of 2007. Following an investigation spearheaded by suspicious online poker players, Absolute Poker was forced to admit they had harboured a cheating employee. This person abused his position of trust to beat out other players on hands that they should have ordinarily won. To make matters worse, the same employee was also busy cheating players on their sister site, UltimateBet. This wasn't a short lived crime spree either. Kahnawake Gaming Commission's investigators produced a report that confirmed what the cheated players had most feared. The cheating employee had been actively fleecing clients of both Absolute Poker and UltimateBet for the best part of three years before finally being caught.

These findings rocked the industry to its foundations and the unethical behaviour displayed by the poker rooms involved has severely dented players' trust in online casinos the world over. To make amends, Kahnawake recently forced the company to repay all of the money that was stolen from players over that period as well as fining them heavily for failing to maintain a credible and trustworthy operation while dragging the good name of the commission through the mud. 

However, some good has come from this harsh lesson which has been learned by the industry as a whole. The introduction of a stricter and more uniform form of regulation throughout the industry has come about with the longer established, more respected and better known casinos leading the way. They are well aware that in order to keep their players while attracting new ones they must maintain their trust by proving they are legitimate, honest and credible.

One way of proving the credibility of any online casino is by their obtaining the seal of approval given by one of the industry's strictest and most well respected regulators, eCOGRA (eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance). eCOGRA is itself an independent non-profit making organisation that exists to oversee the Internet gaming industry and its members. Their task is to ensure the individual casinos and gambling sites that bear its seal of approval maintain their standards so that their paying customers can expect and get the levels of fair gaming that they deserve.

Before eCOGRA bestow their coveted seal of approval onto any gambling site, that site must first pass their strict array of requirements which include the integrity of the software they run, the fairness of the games they provide and the security of their financial system as well as ensuring that all extras are provided as advertised and don't lead players into believing they are anything other than they appear. Then to preserve their ability to continually display the eCOGRA badge, the site must agree to submit to random audits of all their services to ensure that fair play and integrity is maintained.

In addition to approval from eCOGRA, a credible online casino will also be licensed and regulated by the country it is based in. This in itself can go a ling way to allaying any fears from potential customers when casino operators are based in countries that are known for their strict licensing system, such as the UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Canada and Australia being amongst the most trusted. Online gaming companies that base themselves in smaller countries that have dubious taxation and licensing laws don't elicit the same level of trust for the very reason that people will believe that while they are avoiding taxation, they must also be dodging strict licensing, whether this is true of not. Public opinion can be a very strong motivator.

To provide guidance for new players and those unsure of which online casinos to trust and which to give a wide berth to, there are several websites that review and provide their own recommendations of the better casino sites. By visiting several of these sites, a pattern emerges with a group of casinos tending to attract the most attention. This is usually a good indicator they are more trustworthy than those that are not so well reviewed.

Lastly, word of mouth can also provide some guidance. If you know someone who has played a certain casino regularly and trusts them, you are well advised to follow suit. Firsthand knowledge of a trusted site goes a long way and as assurances go, this knowledge is priceless.