eCOGRA Dispute Report Released

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."