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As many of you know we spent last week at the ICE and LAC conferences in London. As ever these were great events and well worth the time spent. Sadly it was the last year for ICE at Earl's Court -- VERY convenient location -- and apparently next year we will be exiled to ExCel which appears to be 40 km out into who knows where. But hey, maybe it'll be magical.
What news from ICE? Well a few things, not the least of which is that I finally managed to get some inside scoop on what's happening at Gibraltar re: the licensing body. I also managed to get a good answer to why payments to players are slow and getting slower (at some casinos). Read on!
Kahnawake: Focused And On Track
I suppose it's become something of an annual thing for us now but we did sit down with the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) senior people once again -- Chairman Dean Montour, General Council Murray Marshall and Chief Johndee Delmormier -- and discussed the year past and coming.
As it happens Kahnawake has just come through a particularly busy year, largely due to a flood of Absolute Poker and Ultimate Bet (AP/UB) issues precipitated by the US Attorney's Office actions of April 15, 2011 (see http://bit.ly/wEqOZG). Micki Oster, the KGC's Complaints Officer, handled over 1100 player complaints in 2011, almost half of which came as a major spike in May and June (the AP/UB thing). That kind of work load would exhaust anyone -- more than four times the case-load I handle here at Casinomeister! -- and unfortunately Micki wasn't able to join us. We wish her a speedy return to good health and form.
The good news is that Kahnawake made settling player accounts a priority in the AP/UB case and roughly 700 non-US players have been paid out due to Micki's efforts. There are still a large group of US players -- something less than 300 -- awaiting their payments but that is a work in progress at this time.
Further news from Kahnawake is that their "logo click-through" program advanced nicely in 2011 and almost all KGC licensed sites now have the instant reports system which includes Certification, RNG, RTP, etc. As I mentioned last year this is a significant step forward for the industry and something I fully expect will become a must-have feature for all casino operators in the business. In the fullness of time.
When I heard that some of the senior people at Kahnawake were soon coming to the end of their terms I must admit that I thought I smelled potential trouble ahead but after discussing it at some length I was reassured that it is business as usual and that the highest levels of the Kahnawake political machine are committed to the continued health and well-being of the KGC. I personally believe that health and well-being is largely due to the changes the current KGC management team have introduced over the past few years and I sincerely hope that if and when the current officers do leave -- only Chief Delmormier currently has plans to move on to other things -- it will be a top priority of the Kahnawake people, political and otherwise, to see that their great work is respected and that the KGC continues on the progressive course forward which they have charted.
Gibraltar: Wherefor Art Thou?
As everyone in or around the online gaming business knows not all licensing bodies are created equally. Over the past several years the Gibraltar Licensing Authority (GLA) had made a very good name for itself and earned a lot of respect in the industry. More than a year ago now that department was restructured and moved under the Gibraltar government's Department of Finance. Ever since then the public face of Gibraltar licensing has been shadowy at best. Where did the old GLA go? In particular what had happened to the player complaints process? It seemed to have disappeared with nothing offered in its place. Was anyone actually home?
These questions were more or less answered at ICE after I asked some well-placed folk what the hell was going on. Turns out that Gibraltar licensing is now a proper government department and as such it is a political body -- the realm of bureaucrats as opposed to front-line licensing agents -- and is basically inward-facing. In other words they haven't, as yet, embraced the idea that the public needs someone to turn to if and when there is a problem with a licensee. Hence the disappearing act: public relations and player issues simply haven't been on their list of their priorities.
The word from ICE is that things are changing and the Finance Department are, or soon will be, allocating more funds to their new casino licensing division, which will apparently include the re-hiring of some of the folks that ran the former GLA office. That is (could be?) good news and will hopefully signal a return to form for Gibraltar licensing. Doing this yesterday would be a good idea, IMHO.
Q: When is a big ICE booth just bullshit piled higher?
A: When you are a toothless and largely discredited licensing body, like Malta and Isle of Man for example.
There has been a trend over the past few years for certain licensing bodies to get bigger and bigger booths right at the center of ICE. Is it a coincidence that those same licensing bodies have acquired increasingly shabby reputations as effective licensing agents over those same past few years? I think not. The message seems to be that they may be crap at monitoring and controlling their licensees but hey, they give good booth.
The problem is that a nice glitzy booth at ICE (and who knows how many other conferences like it) is not about improving their services, it's simply about attracting more tax and fee paying customers, their licensees. The PR departments at these puffed-up agencies would do well to put that booth and advertising money towards hiring a few -- or even one! -- experienced and well-motivated staff whose job descriptions focused on servicing their licensee's customers.
In contrast to this "bigger booth" foolishness Kahnawake had a teensy, no-glitter booth on the edge of the conference floor with nothing but a reception desk and a meeting room. Bad form? No, focusing on business and getting the job done. As it should be.
Q: Why are player payments getting slower and slower?
A: Because that's part of the casino's "business model".
This one has got to fall under the "Can't Believe They Actually Said That" category. For years now we have been needling away at certain roguish operators trying to get them to explain why they perpetually slow-pay and no-pay their players. Isn't that just bad for business? Wouldn't they be better off being straight and paying quickly and properly?
As it happens no, they wouldn't. The way it was described to me -- such that it finally sunk in this time -- is that there are basically two "business plans" in place to handle players. On the one hand is the high roller side of things were they demand quick payouts or they'll be gone as customers. These folks are serious players, know their maths, and don't depend on bonuses to survive. The business model for these guys is small bonuses, prompt payments, no-BS Customer Service. So far so good.
The other "business model" is massive bonuses for (generally) small-time players who are willing to accept a lot of ... irregularities in their payment plans. Apparently these are generally small-deposit players who demand the largest bonuses they can possibly get or they simply go looking elsewhere. For these guys the casino will consciously slow-pay on withdrawals in order to get the player to reverse the WD, which they usually do. These folks will often ignore non-payment in their quest for the bigger bonuses. And so that's what the casino gives them: slow-pay hassles, even non-payment on occasion, and massive bonuses to hook the fish that are looking.
So there you go, straight from the source. Of course none of this comes as much of a surprise to those of us who deal with player issues and have seen the methods behind the madness but it's something of a land-mark to have actually had it confirmed by the guys that do the business.
The bottom line, as ever, is that no one is giving money away: if they offer a 900% bonus and you take it then you're very likely buying into a whole slo-pay/no-pay/crappy CS nightmare that you are largely responsible for inflicting upon yourself. Or you can be modest in your bonus requirements and demand better and more responsible service for your casino dollar. It's your choice, of course.
Guess that's it for another year. Think nice thoughts for us in the hope that next year's event out in Bumberclat or wherever goes off half as well.
This article was originally published in blog:
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