SUSPENSION OF eCOGRA SEALS

[dominique]

This just came in my mail:

SUSPENSION OF eCOGRA SEALS




An onsite review was recently conducted by eCOGRA's Compliance and Advisory Services staff at the operations for the following casinos as part of a normal seal renewal process:

Challenge (www.challengecasino.com)
Golden Reef (www.goldenreefcasino.com)
I Big Casino (www.ibigcasino.com)
Music Hall (www.musichallcasino.com)
Nostalgia (www.nostalgiacasino.com)
UK Casino Club (www.ukcasinoclub.com)

The audit revealed failures in compliance with eCOGRA's Generally Accepted Practices. It has therefore been decided to suspend these seals pending further investigation.

[jetset]

PLAYER PROTECTION BODY SUSPENDS ACCREDITATION

Six online gambling operations have "Safe and Fair" seal pulled

The non profit and player protection body eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance has taken the unusual step of suspending its accreditation for six online gambling venues in the Casino Action group of companies.

This is only the second time in the five years of eCOGRA's existence that this has been done. In the only precedent, the Jackpot Factory group were suspended following accusations of black hat SEO activities that led to a $25 000 fine before the group was reinstated.

A brief notification release from eCOGRA's London headquarters revealed that its Compliance and Advisory Services staff had recently completed an on-site review at the operations concerned as part of a normal seal renewal process.

The following operations were found to have failures in compliance with eCOGRA's eGAP or Generally Accepted Principles - the wide ranging requirements governing all aspects of an accredited company's operations:

Challenge (www.challengecasino.com)
Golden Reef (www.goldenreefcasino.com)
I Big Casino (www.ibigcasino.com)
Music Hall (www.musichallcasino.com)
Nostalgia (www.nostalgiacasino.com)
UK Casino Club (www.ukcasinoclub.com)

After studying the compliance team's report, the independent directors in control of the eCOGRA operational wing decided to suspend the "Safe and Fair" seals carried by these venues pending further investigation.

The eCOGRA release reveals that the management of these casinos has been advised of this action and requested to comment on the findings of the audit review. Further information will be provided once these investigations are concluded.

The statement concludes with the comment: "It should further be noted that the operations applicable to Arctic Poker (www.arcticpoker.com) did not form part of the eCOGRA review, and therefore the seal for this site has been revoked, as the time by which it should have been reviewed has expired."

eCOGRA sets online gambling standards and provides an international framework for best operational and player protection practice requirements. These are enforced through inspections and reviews, and continuous monitoring.

Companies that have achieved accreditation with eCOGRA are entitled to bear the organisation's "Safe and Fair" seal, indicating to players everywhere that all operational systems and games are continuously monitored to consistently high standards.

eCOGRA's independent directors determine which operators qualify for the seal.

These directors are Bill Galston, OBE, retired Chief Inspector for the Gaming Board of Great Britain; Bill Henbrey, former head of gaming services at leading international accounting firm BDO; Frank Catania, former Assistant Attorney General and Director of New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement and Michael Hirst, OBE, a former board member of Ladbroke Group Plc, and formerly Chairman and CEO of Hilton International.

[Mousey]

Anyone have any specifics as to what these sites did (or didn't) do?

(My short list of casinos to uninstall this weekend is growing longer every day -- and I only have a double handful installed anyway.)

[vinylweatherman]

I am REALLY puzzled by this, it implies that the shortcomings found were of a very serious nature, since this is only the SECOND time this has been done.

There seem to be many eCogra sealholder casinos generating large volumes of complaints here, yet these, except in the case of Jackpot Factory, have not lead to suspension of the seals. Casino Action have barely featured in the complaints section, other than a while ago when they deviated from the standard EZBonus rule to require players taking the SUB to complete WR before withdrawing.
The complaints levied at others have been far worse, from Prime taking money out of player's Neteller accounts without permission, to the recent spate of confiscating winnings with ever more "borderline" excuses.
888 have condoned spamming, seen to have "friends" in Russia that spam on their behalf, and didn't handle Lucky Ace at all well, despite the fact it was THEM ALL ALONG CALLING THE SHOTS, so where is eCogra when PLAYERS get screwed!!!!!
I would suspect this suspension is more to do with a bureaucratic failure by Casino Action, rather than a raft of screwed over players. Unfortunately, all WE are allowed to be told is that they are considered "not safe to play at" by eCogra until "further investigation" has taken place. Without knowing what the problems are, players cannot make a proper judgement as to the severity of the shortcomings, and how it compares to the rest of the industry, much of which is NOT looked after by eCogra.

[GaryWatson]

PLAYER PROTECTION BODY SUSPENDS ACCREDITATION

Six online gambling operations have "Safe and Fair" seal pulled

The non profit and player protection body eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance has taken the unusual step of suspending its accreditation

I would say thats great news. It's about time there was a shake up. Too many sites, too few of quality. I hope they become even more selective. It can only be good for the industry

[JanBalslev]

This is a big shake-up to say the least - but what did they do (or not do)?

I run a casino portal myself and try to promote good and honest web casinos. I have made a list of 10 really good once, hand picked by myself. I have had Challenge casino on that list for a while. I have played there myself several times - they always treat me very well and have paid me my winnings reasonably fast.

I have not noticed any player complaints at all - so I am really really surprised to say the least.

Am I now all of a sudden promoting a rough casino on my list with the (in my opinion) 10 best online casinos??

If they did something really wrong it's great that they lose their Seal for sure - however why on earth does eCOGRA not reveal the facts instead of having us guessing and jumping up and down. To be honest this a bit unprofessional of eCOGRA.

[wangpoker]

The seal is still on all Casino Action websites.
I haven't seen any news about it in news section of eCOGRA website.

[same_old]

PLAYER PROTECTION BODY SUSPENDS ACCREDITATION

Six online gambling operations have "Safe and Fair" seal pulled

The non profit and player protection body eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance has taken the unusual step of suspending its accreditation for six online gambling venues in the Casino Action group of companies.

This is only the second time in the five years of eCOGRA's existence that this has been done. In the only precedent, the Jackpot Factory group were suspended following accusations of black hat SEO activities that led to a $25 000 fine before the group was reinstated.

A brief notification release from eCOGRA's London headquarters revealed that its Compliance and Advisory Services staff had recently completed an on-site review at the operations concerned as part of a normal seal renewal process.

The following operations were found to have failures in compliance with eCOGRA's eGAP or Generally Accepted Principles - the wide ranging requirements governing all aspects of an accredited company's operations:

Challenge (www.challengecasino.com)
Golden Reef (www.goldenreefcasino.com)
I Big Casino (www.ibigcasino.com)
Music Hall (www.musichallcasino.com)
Nostalgia (www.nostalgiacasino.com)
UK Casino Club (www.ukcasinoclub.com)

After studying the compliance team's report, the independent directors in control of the eCOGRA operational wing decided to suspend the "Safe and Fair" seals carried by these venues pending further investigation.

The eCOGRA release reveals that the management of these casinos has been advised of this action and requested to comment on the findings of the audit review. Further information will be provided once these investigations are concluded.

The statement concludes with the comment: "It should further be noted that the operations applicable to Arctic Poker (www.arcticpoker.com) did not form part of the eCOGRA review, and therefore the seal for this site has been revoked, as the time by which it should have been reviewed has expired."

eCOGRA sets online gambling standards and provides an international framework for best operational and player protection practice requirements. These are enforced through inspections and reviews, and continuous monitoring.

Companies that have achieved accreditation with eCOGRA are entitled to bear the organisation's "Safe and Fair" seal, indicating to players everywhere that all operational systems and games are continuously monitored to consistently high standards.

eCOGRA's independent directors determine which operators qualify for the seal.

These directors are Bill Galston, OBE, retired Chief Inspector for the Gaming Board of Great Britain; Bill Henbrey, former head of gaming services at leading international accounting firm BDO; Frank Catania, former Assistant Attorney General and Director of New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement and Michael Hirst, OBE, a former board member of Ladbroke Group Plc, and formerly Chairman and CEO of Hilton International.

Hiya Jetset,

Are they still allowed to take business as normal or have they been closed until the investigation is over with..

It looks like they just take seal of "safe and fair play" off??.

[jetset]

I don't know, to be honest - recommend you ask eCOGRA direct - you can do it through their website or by emailing the CEO Andrew Beveridge.

My interpretation of this release is that it may not be directly linked to player complaints at all.

Whilst player protection has always been stated as a key objective of eCOGRA, non-compliance could be failure to meet the eGAP standards in any of the many operational areas that the reviews cover.

And this was a step up from monitoring, because it was an on-site review - an inspection carried out (I think) every year or so that is required before a seal can be renewed.

It could be non-compliance with any one or more of the operational requirements seal-holders agree to meet in order to display the seal.

The release also comments that investigations are ongoing, which may be the reason why more details are not being made available at this stage. I would not call that "unprofessional," quite the contrary.

Note, too that the release says:

"Further information will be provided once these investigations are concluded," which I think supports this view.

I doubt that this step was taken lightly - those Aussies must have been seriously out of line on some of their commitments for their seals to be suspended.

For me, the interesting thing will be what James Canning-Ure and his compatriots at Casino Action do about this. Will they bend every sinew to work with the compliance team to get back up to standard as quickly as possible, or will they decide that meeting those standards is too much trouble?

[chuchu59]

I am pretty sure its business as normal as I just played at challenge last night but which was after Dominique's post.