PR: LARGEST ONLINE GAMBLING PLAYER SURVEY GOES LIVE TODAY

[Casinomeister]

LARGEST ONLINE GAMBLING PLAYER SURVEY GOES LIVE TODAY


PLAYERS URGED TO HAVE THEIR SAY


NEW YORK, September 6, 2006 - eCOGRA (eCommerce and Online Gambling Regulation and Assurance) eCOGRA : e-Commerce Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance, the player protection and standards authority of online gambling, announces the launch of its much anticipated Global Online Gambler Survey. As of today, millions of poker and casino players worldwide will be offered the opportunity to have their say, in what has been widely reported as the largest research initiative ever undertaken into the behavior and attitudes of online gamblers.

Covering areas such as poker, casino, player protection, responsible gambling and luck, the survey will be promoted to players via an unprecedented show of support from leading software providers, operators and portals, as well as through eCOGRA's own contact database.

The results are expected to create a better understanding of players' needs and concerns and to hear directly from players as to what makes rewarding and safe online gambling experience.

eCOGRA members 888, Microgaming and Ongame, whose software together handles the majority of the online casino industry's turnover, are supporting this survey together with many of their operators that have been awarded the eCOGRA “Play It Safe” seal. In addition, more than 30 top online gambling portals and other leading operators will promote this survey through hyperlinks on homepages, and outreach to the online gambling community.

Andrew Beveridge, CEO, eCOGRA comments, “Our aim all along has been to maximise participation in this groundbreaking project, one of the largest of its kind undertaken in any field. Very few players on reputable sites will remain unaware of the survey in the coming weeks and we would urge everyone to complete it in full. The results will give gamblers and organizations a better understanding of how this rapidly expanding industry has developed and where it might be heading, informing future decisions that we hope will ultimately lead to a greater improvement of standards across all aspects of the industry.”

Devised by the leading gambling research team from Nottingham Trent University and supported by the University of Nevada (Las Vegas), the survey will be supplemented by qualitative focus groups in six of the industry's major markets - US, UK, Japan, Canada, Germany and Sweden - due to take place from October.

The resulting 'eCOGRA Global Online Gambler Report' is due to be launched to the public in January 2007.

“This survey comes at a critical time in the United States,” said Frank Catania, board member of eCOGRA. “By working with two universities that are experts in this area, we're able to offer online gamblers a chance to express themselves, and tell us about their experiences with the online gaming industry.”

Players can find the survey at eCOGRA GLOBAL ONLINE GAMBLERS SURVEY 2006 and anyone wishing to promote the survey can contact eCOGRA directly for the hyperlink.

- Ends-


Notes
eCOGRA, the independent standards authority for the online gambling industry, is committed to protecting online casino and poker players around the world. The non-profit organisation addresses the most important issues to players: fast payouts, fair gaming, responsive and efficient service and responsible operator conduct.

eCOGRA provides an international framework of best operational and player practice requirements enforced through inspections, reviews, and continuous monitoring by independent global audit companies. To date, over 100 sites comply with these requirements and have been awarded the coveted “Play It Safe” Seal that identifies to players the safest online gambling sites on the Web. For more information on how eCOGRA is constantly improving standards in online gaming for players everywhere, go to eCOGRA : e-Commerce Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance

You are receiving this information based on your past business association with the executive of eCOGRA Limited, or because you have subscribed to receive eCOGRA news. To have your name removed from this list, please email pr@ecogra.org.

[wangpoker]

did it yesterday

[Trezz]

Great idea, However, as eCogra is funded by microgaming and 888, who is to say that this information is not going to be handed over to these parties who will use this information for their own personal gains?

[jetset]

The survey is being conducted by experienced and reputable bodies, I suspect at considerable expense and with good intentions. IMO this is a great opportunity for players to make their opinions known in the biggest study the industry has yet seen.

The results of this study will be made public (see press release) and clearly eCOGRA will be urging its seal holders to use the conclusions to better attune their offerings to what the players suggest. That's good, player-sensitive business sense and the raison d'etre for the project in the first place, I would suggest.

This is no eye candy survey, but a serious attempt to get the real views of a very large global sample through the use of professionally designed questions and analysed methods deployed by experts.

Trezz, I'm not sure what you mean by the claim "...who is to say that this information is not going to be handed over to these (888.com, Ongame and Microgaming) parties who will use this information for their own personal gains"

Perhaps you could clarify what part of the survey you think would fall into this category of (misused) information?

[Trezz]

Originally Posted by jetset

Trezz, I'm not sure what you mean by the claim "...who is to say that this information is not going to be handed over to these (888.com, Ongame and Microgaming) parties who will use this information for their own personal gains"

Just to set the record straight.

I'm not one to hide my feelings towards a certain aspect of eCogra. However, I do believe that eCogra is a needed entity for the industry. In my view it's a pity that funding could not come from elsewhere, instead of MG & 888. Which in my view gives just cause for criticism of this exact topic.

Originally Posted by jetset

Perhaps you could clarify what part of the survey you think would fall into this category of (misused) information?

Which part do you feel wouldn't?

IMO the survey resembles a rudimentary (raw) Psychoanalyzation exercise that's had its edges rounded.

[winbig]

Is it me, or are some of these questions irrelevant?

IE: some of the poker questions....betting habits, etc...

And I didn't feel those questions were of any value to misuse...

[jetset]

Trezz you have always been upfront with your personal disdain of eCOGRA and that is entirely your prerogative. However I think it becomes negative when you attribute base motives to everything that this organisation does, as appears to be the case here.

My own perception of this survey differs to your own, and that is my prerogative. I think it is a good opportunity for players to speak their minds on the wide range of aspects of online gambling that these professional researchers have identified as worthy of attention in order to arrive at a detailed assessment based on as wide a response base as possible.

I would find that useful and interesting, and I am sure others would too at both player and operator levels in the industry.

I have previously explored in some detail the question of eCOGRA funding here before, based on my own understanding of this organisation so I'm not going to deflect this thread by re-ploughing fallow ground, other than to say that no-one has yet come up with a workable and practical alternative to the structure that eCOGRA has chosen and its safeguards against internal abuse.

But back on topic. In my personal view this study is a worthwhile exercise in arriving at an accurate picture of what players think about a carefully considered range of matters of real interest, and I hope the target of 20 000 player responses is successfully achieved. The more genuine responses there are, the more accurate the final conclusions will be.

I doubt that the gambling research teams from Nottingham Trent University and the University of Nevada (Las Vegas) would agree with or appreciate your dismissal of their work as "....a rudimentary (raw) Psychoanalyzation exercise that's had its edges rounded" but then again, I don't see this being the case here.

And you still have not clarified your remark that "...who is to say that this information is not going to be handed over to these (888.com, Ongame and Microgaming) parties who will use this information for their own personal gains?"

[jetset]

Prompted by Trezz's posts above I have just emailed eCOGRA and asked them for a succinct comment on their main objective in this survey. Here's the response from CEO Andrew Beveridge:

QUOTE: the main objective of this exercise is to find out from players how eCOGRA and the approved operators can provide a safer and more rewarding online gambling experience! UNQUOTE

[jetset]

Originally Posted by winbig

Is it me, or are some of these questions irrelevant?

IE: some of the poker questions....betting habits, etc...

And I didn't feel those questions were of any value to misuse...

Sorry, Winbig - I missed this one.

Regarding your comment about the relevance of some of the questions e.g. betting behaviour: based on my (incomplete) knowledge of market research I think the more information NTU has about the practices and preferences of the respondent players, the more in-depth the analysis that can be achieved. e.g. Tournament players, who typically play with a bankroll of XX and spend XX hours a day playing, might have completely different concerns to those that play cash games once a week. In the same way that those who feel that they are generally ‘lucky’ people, might hold similar views with each other or have similar traits.

This is a good opportunity to explore these previously uncharted areas with a really large respondent base.

[liquidsoap]

Done and Done.
Alot of those questions did seem pointless though.