How transparent are remote gaming jurisdictions?

[Rusty]

I have studied page upon page of literature on how remote gaming jurisdictions attempt to ensure that their licensees operate under their regulations and how proactive they are in ensuring the player gets a fair game.

As far as I can tell not a single one concerns themselves with the spot check testing of software or having anonymous players to gather real world data.
Any checks for license eligibility are made at the request for this license and after that the most that is done is a check of their annual audit.

In light of this I wondered how they could regulate effectively and wanted clarification on what they considered a fair game.
The only way I could think to do this was to ask some very specific questions and see how forthcoming they were with the answers - after all they are supposedly in existence to regulate the industry and protect the player so surely they would be happy to address any concerns, right?

This is what I sent.

RemoteStandards.doc

Only one replied (UKGC) with a link to their site.
Over one week later and all the others are apparently taking the 5th.

Actually the UKGC has some excellent regulations though I can not testify to how rigorously they are imposed.
What I can say though is that RTG, MGS, Rival and Playtech would currently fail the mandatory technical requirements of the UKGC.

Play at your own risk

[takethemoney]

Online gaming, at least for those of us in the USA, has, for the most part, become a joke......and a risky one at that. Why bother? I'm spending more time in my land based casino which is one hour away. At least I can see what's going on and if I happen to win, I can walk away with it right then and there. I see no more sense in feeding something that has gone from a service / entertainment business to a predator enterprise, which is what most of these casinos have become, as evidenced by the quickness of funds disappearing in game play as of late. The writing is on the wall, for those of us willing to read what it says. Online gaming in the USA is taking it's last breaths as I type this and only the fools and their money will continue to be parted.

What has online gaming done for us lately?

Rude customer support
Bonus banning, if you fall into some mysterious criteria in casino's matrix
Non response to emails when there are issues
Tighter games
Fewer comps
Arbitrary decision making not to pay wins
Slow or no pays
Increasing number of casinos using "discrepancy" or
"chargebacks at another casino" as an excuse not to pay
"Fraudulent player", even though no proof is offered
Impossible playthroughs on bonuses, given the RTP settings,
which are touted as high, but we all know they are low, but nobody is
telling.

Is it really worth it anymore?
BTW, please feel free to add to this list.

[Rusty]

I guess whether it is still worth paying online is very much up to each individual.
Sometimes things have to get worse before they can better and maybe US policy was to sit back and watch it disintegrate before stepping up as the knight in shining armour and cleaning up - in every respect.

[4 of a kind]

Only one replied (UKGC) with a link to their site.
Over one week later and all the others are apparently taking the 5th.

At least you got one response even if it sent you back to where you started from. I sent e-mails and written requests to several online gaming commissions, requesting game regulation and game rules. Not one single response.

It’s amazing how certain online players, online casino advocates, online casino affiliates, alleged online casino regulators, and casino reps. insist on endless shoveling of shit down our throats while all of them completely are ignoring and derailing all of our requests regarding the simplest of requests for transparency. It’s amazing how any person that spends time at this forum amongst many others, or spent a fair amount of time actually playing online casinos, could come to any realistic view or conclusion that online gaming is a safe and fair playground.

There is nothing safe or fair about online gaming for the serious gambler. This crap as evolved into nothing more then the random depositor (non serious gambler) that as 20 or maybe 50 bucks to burn and instead of buying lottery tickets at the local corner store, try the games online with pretty close to the same odds of being a winner then actually getting paid.

As far as the alleged accredited casinos and recommended casinos being pushed all over the place is just another promotional tactic. Every casino software platform being used today has rogue casinos affiliated with them. That should tell everyone that the accredited ones also have the power to go rogue whenever they feel like it, or just haven’t been exposed yet. The 4 or 5 casinos really trying to do the right thing (at least for now) are just being overwhelmed by all the others.

In addition online casinos realize that players can eventually expose the real owners when they re-brand. Does anyone here really believe that by now they haven’t mastered how to get around that issue also? I wouldn’t be surprised with the recent new launches of RTG casinos if the hidden owners are from the Virtual Group.

Who in their right mind and with the money to actually invest in an online casino today wouldn't do research first and realize what it evolved into making them run for the hills. As far as I'm concerned online casinos only could draw certain types of investors.

[WyldGirl]

Well Said 4 of a Kind!!

[Rusty]

Well Said 4 of a Kind!!

Yes, I agree with most of that, it is a mess.
All I would add is that affiliate forums such as Casinomeister give players the opportunity to at least express this view and while no one, not even Bryan, would claim that all accredited Casinos are guaranteed safe you can at least be sure that you have less chance of being ripped and more chance of a resolution when a problem occurs at an accredited casino.
That is worth something in my view and it doesn't matter to me if that results in a mutually better pay off for the Casinos and Bryan because the player is in the loop.
Bryan deserves every success because a lot of tremendous hard work has gone into this site.
Now compare that with Curacao a "official regulator" for a topical example.

So yes I agree completely about the state of regulation and online gaming but that unfortunate reality makes this forum and the accredited list more worthwhile in my view.

That is why I was recently banging on about changes to the accreditation requirements, I wouldn't bother if I considered it irrelevant or completely worthless.

PS

The UKGC has the most stringent regulations governing remote gaming of all the licensing jurisdictions I have read up on.
These regulations are relaxed somewhat for whitelisting purposes.
None whitelisted jurisdictions (other than perhaps Australian) have much weaker regulations again.

It is a sad fact that MGS, RTG, Rival, et al powered Casinos would not be granted a license by the UKGC as they do not meet the required standards.

[rouletteguy]

It likely comes down to strength in numbers ladies and gentlemen. When a casino is rogued here essentially it is the same as saying no casinomeister member will play there anymore. It seems that this has little effect because they continue to operate business as usual.

I have no idea how many members are here on this forum but apparrently all of us banding together is still not enough to get answers. Try it for kicks set up a thread where all can sign up refusing to play at a certain casino until such and such is answered either we're not organized enough or there isn't enough of us to make a difference.

[takethemoney]

It likely comes down to strength in numbers ladies and gentlemen. When a casino is rogued here essentially it is the same as saying no casinomeister member will play there anymore. It seems that this has little effect because they continue to operate business as usual.

I have no idea how many members are here on this forum but apparrently all of us banding together is still not enough to get answers. Try it for kicks set up a thread where all can sign up refusing to play at a certain casino until such and such is answered either we're not organized enough or there isn't enough of us to make a difference.

The World Wide Web is much bigger than us handful of peons here. I like your idea though.

[jetset]

I believe that the extreme actions that many rogue operators have taken over the years to damage Casinomeister is testament to it's efficacy in exposing questionable practice and warning players.

The problem is, and always has been:

1) Greed - some players cannot resist incentives, even when they emanate from known rogues

2) New blood - newbies entering online gambling do not carry out anough (if any) research. They blunder online and are easy prey for rogues that advertise OTT offers to the unwary. That new blood is what keeps the rogues ticking over.

Unfortunately newbies once bitten may never return to the industry again, or they get wise quickly and join up with forums where they can obtain and exchange information....like Casinomeister.

Edited to add:

Regarding regulators, it's not so much the content of their regulations, which can be strong and is often common in content with other regulators...it's their preparedness to enforce that is the real key. And that's where most them are lacking, along with player sensitivity.

[Rusty]

I believe that the extreme actions that many rogue operators have taken over the years to damage Casinomeister is testament to it's efficacy in exposing questionable practice and warning players.

The problem is, and always has been:

1) Greed - some players cannot resist incentives, even when they emanate from known rogues

2) New blood - newbies entering online gambling do not carry out anough (if any) research. They blunder online and are easy prey for rogues that advertise OTT offers to the unwary. That new blood is what keeps the rogues ticking over.

Unfortunately newbies once bitten may never return to the industry again, or they get wise quickly and join up with forums where they can obtain and exchange information....like Casinomeister.

Edited to add:

Regarding regulators, it's not so much the content of their regulations, which can be strong and is often common in content with other regulators...it's their preparedness to enforce that is the real key. And that's where most them are lacking, along with player sensitivity.

I would argue that the regulations vary greatly from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
With the better(whitelisted) regulators that license popular remote casinos the initial license requirements may be reasonable as far as financing and accounting and other general practices are concerned but are completely inadequate once that license is granted, particularly in the area of technical standards.(which if you are the player and want to know the games are fair is what really counts)

For example the UKGC has it's own technical standards which are quite detailed and relevant to fair gaming but no remote casinos using RTG, MG, Rival, Playtech software are licensed by them.
(Not certain if they have their own technicians,programmers etc carry out the tests but no mention of a 3rd party.)

Now lets take one of the most respected Whitelisted jurisdictions, Gibraltar.
They have no technical standards whatsoever!
How is this possible?
Because they allow their licensees to farm out system testing to "approved" third parties and if these third parties give the thumbs up then that is that, all fair.

By the way eCOGRA and Gaming Associates are on the approved list.

It is the same when it comes to 3rd party auditing.Who audits the auditors?

Of course, as you state, even if the technical standards were made and initially tested by the regulator they quickly become irrelevant when they don't take a proactive role in enforcing regulation once a license is granted.

As you can see by the lack of response/unwillingness to answer from regulatory bodies to my questions this is also a huge problem.

In short, remote gaming regulation is a bad joke and players should be aware of this when deciding if Casino X is fair and above board.