European I-Gaming Congress & Expo
~ Barcelona Special Edition
Dear ${token1},
This is the Barcelona Special edition, and since it was such a short trip, you will be pleasantly surprised that I was able to condense it into one issue without skipping any scathing detail. This is the fully unabridged, and unadulterated issue.
So if you care not to read about online casino news, Spanish food, Spanish Bordellos, and other scandalous activities, let your eyes drift elsewhere. But if this is for you, read on...
Telltalingly yours,
Bryan
MY TRIP TO BARCELONA
I didn't go to the Bordello
I didn't arrive at my hotel until 8 o'clock that evening. Fun day was shot to hell, but I did pick up a good Steven King novel (good so far, "Dreamcatcher") and I banged out about a hundred pages. Two hours of flight time wiped out the entire day.
Unfortunately, this delay caused me to miss out on some bitchin' action the first evening...but maybe it was for the better. My lodgings were nice. I was staying at the Hotel Colon which faces the ancient and looming main Cathedral in the heart of the Gothic district. A wide open market square, it served as a focal point for tourists, homeless people, smoke doping teenagers, and an occasional traveling musician. Since I hadn't had a hot meal all day (local travelers beware: Swiss Air charges for everything on the flight, to include the water!), I found a cozy little restaurant across from my hotel. At the "Taverna del Bisbe" (the Bishop's Tavern), I grabbed a seat inside since they charge 20% more for sitting outside. I had done enough people watching in Zürich's airport to last the whole trip.
I sat between an older British couple and two Swedish girls. I think they were Swedish since I didn't understand a thing they were saying, and I can recognize Danish and Dutch pretty good. But Swedish? No. But I could be wrong, they may have been Norwegian...but they looked swedish. But since my wife also reads this newsletter, I should shut up at this point. I wasn't really checking them out, I was only observing. Besides, I had a good book to delve into. The waiters were friendly and funny. I consumed a small dish of Spanish pork chops, two glasses of red wine, coffee, and ice cream. All this for under €24. Not bad for dining alone in a major European city.
Little did I know as I tucked myself into bed that night, I was missing out on some really sordid happenings. And what happenings did I unknowingly miss out on? My dear ${token2}, do you really want to know? Okay, I'll tell you. I missed the EIG's welcome party, which I assure you was not sordid nor did they behave badly. But as the party was winding down, someone mentioned that they were going to a specific bar (which will remain unnamed for this report, if you really want to know the name of it ask Michael Caselli from http://www.onlinecasinonews.com/, he knows). Anyway, someone mentioned they were going to this "bar", and just like at a keg party when the beer runs dry, word gets out that there is another party going on, and everyone loads up in their cars and heads off caravan style. But at the EIG party, they had taxis.
So six taxis zip down the main drag, and then slink through the alleyways into some darkened armpit of the city. I won't mention who was in the lead cab since it would be most embarrassing, but when it arrived with five in tow, they were surely most certainly surprised. It was a €17.50 cover charge to get inside. That should have been a blazing redflag since most bars that have a cover charge have a band playing, and I don't think anyone heard any music coming out from this place. Nevertheless, most of these individuals entered oblivious to what or whom waited within.
Once they entered (six cabs full of people), they found themselves confronted with a number of Spanish girls who were obviously not there for conversation purposes. An awkward moment to say the least. My informant made the observation that there were many top online casino industry figures and members of the press all jammed in this Spanish Bordello. Saving face for the industry, most attendees fled after the first beer. My informant left as soon as his beer had emptied as well. Meanwhile, I slept innocently on the other side of town.
The first day of the conference kicked off without any observable hitch. It was well attended and many familiar faces were present. One of the more interesting conversations that I had that day was with Michael Smeaton from Gamcare http://www.gamcare.org.uk who discussed Gamcare's philosophy a bit. And their relationship to the industry. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Gamcare, this is an organization that assist players via counseling, they have a helpline, and they provide educational services for gamblers who are having problems with gambling. They are also focused on youth gambling problems and provide a number of publications that address this growing concern. Unbeknownst to some, they are NOT there to help you recover gambling losses.
Gamcare is concerned that the industry does not take advantage of compulsive gamblers; this is very simple thing to do. Since the Internet is in nearly every home worldwide, anyone can do it - gamble. Many of the gamblers who enjoy the excitement of online casinos understand that this is primarily for entertainment, and there are a number who are in it specifically to take advantage of casinos and their bonuses. And then there are the compulsive and methodical gamblers; the ones who should be uninstalling their casino software and contacting Gamcare instead of reading this newsletter. If you feel that you are uncertain about what you're doing, check out their advice page: Do You Have a Gambling Problem? No reputable casino operator wants to contribute to someone destroying their lives or their family's via gambling.
And what's disturbing is that some casinos or sportbooks plaster Gamcare or Gambling Anonymous logos on their awards pages. Betonsports.com has a Gamcare logo on their awards page that according to Micheal, they have refused to take down. What sort of "award" did Betonsports receive from this organization? None. This is clearly a marketing ploy by Betonsports to lure the unknowing. I am rather perturbed by this.
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Anyway, the day wore on with a number of very interesting presentations. Primarily presentations from representatives from European licensing jurisdictions: Alderney, Isle of Man, Andorra, and Malta. There has been a bit of discussion concerning the importance of licensing. Most players don't care, which is unfortunate, until they are left in the dust by some unscrupulous operation. In my opinion, for whatever it's worth, licensing is an indicator of the casinos' commitment to the industry and its players. I feel that many licensing jurisdictions are aloof and just don't give a damn; a number of them are just plain unreachable. Most are set up to collect fees and taxes from their licensees, and they pledge to hear players if and when they have player complaints. Well, how often do player complaints go to the jurisdiction level? Not too often I can assure you. Reason? Either the player complaint was resolved before it had to go that far, or the licensing jurisdiction is a figment of our imagination.
I took a look at the player complaints that are piling up in my "pitch a bitch" section. I normally receive from 3 to 6 a day. I would say a strong majority of the casino complaints are from operations based in Costa Rica, and tiny islands around the Caribbean. The cases which are unresolved are also mostly from Costa Rica, St. Kitts, and Venezuela. Microgaming casinos, which get their fair share of complaints as well, are usually resolved before going to the software provider. Costa Rican operations? It's my standard operating procedure to go to the software provider after the second nonresponded to email. If the software provider doesn't respond, I don't think I would have any luck with the Costa Rican gambling authority since there isn't one. The player is thus screwed.
So what am I getting at? Licensing is more important than most players think. There is a trickle down effect. If a casino is licensed in a jurisdiction where the license is costly and thorough criminal background checks are made of the owners AND the employees, I would say that this is a casino worth doing business with. But then most players don't care until it's too late.
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Kudos to the River City Group and ATE for an excellent lunch layout. If any of you have never been to Spain, their food is sensational if you are into fish dishes, rice, potatoes and meat. This was one of the better catered meals that I've seen. But then Montreal's was pretty good as well. The only thing I couldn't eat was some crustatian that I broke open. Looking into his body cavity, could see some kidneys or some other intestinal item. I don't eat that.
And what's lunch without a bit of wine and gossip. And man did I get an earful. I'm not going to mention any names. I'm actually going to let you do a little detective work, that is if you care for this sort of thing my dear ${token2}. But assuming you do, here it goes. Bear with me for being a little vague, but vagueness is needed in this situation.
Recently I (and a few others) have been doing a little investigation on a casino which is making some outrageous claims. Unbelieveble bonuses and other stuff like that. This was just a half lingering thought of mine as I chowed down on some tasty chicken and rice, and sipping away (pinkies up) on a glass of Rosé.
A close acquaintance of mine was sitting with me, and out of the blue he asked me if I knew anything about this casino. I nearly sprayed his face with a mouthful of libation. So I wiped my mouth and told him my story about this casino that "seems" to be okay, but something wasn't quite right.
He then explained things to me: The casino in question is run by two guys. One guy is a former employee of a major Internet company that most of us have heard of, and apparently much of the scripting that is used at the casino site have been ripped off by this "former employee". We'll call him Sam. It turns out Sam and his brother-in-law (we'll call him Boris) went into business together and started up this online casino. In fact they started up a few other things, some shill portals, and other stuff that I won't get into. As this was explained to me, everything clicked together and finally made sense. In fact, my main point of contact at the casino was "Samantha" and here we were talking about "Sam". This is all too goofy.
And dangerous, since stuff like this really bothers me. What I don't get is, why do people think that they need to rip off players with glitchy software and bogus bonuses when all they have to do is set up a legit casino that players love and respect. The odds are and always have been in favor of the house. What the hell is up with that?
Anyway, I digress. A bunch of people already know about this, and I'm sure the operator is scrambling around trying figure out what to do next. I'll just wait and see. The sleaze factor in this industry never ceases to amaze me. Lesson learned? Stay away from no name casinos. And if it looks and feels funky, it probably is.
That afternoon there were several presenters whose main focus was the topic: Social Responsibility - Focus on Problem Gambling. Peter Bertilsson, the CEO of Boss Media, brought up some excellent points during his presentation that I feel that all operators should bear in mind. Since casinos can market their product to any sort of customer demographic, for instance old women who like to play Bingo on Sundays, they can pinpoint the choice gambler. He stated, "We can create a monster if we are not careful - it can backfire". This is so true. He went on to state that casino operators must take responsibility for this and that the operators need to show the public that they can handle these problems before politicians step in. He suggested that operators should give the players the possibility to set limits for themselves, and that the operators should market this effort; make the public aware that this is being implemented in the casino.
That evening I found myself meandering about with a few friends, Hilly, Peralis, and Mito, we ate and then played mobile phone tag trying to make contact with Michael Casseli who was attempting to meet us down by Port Olimpic where there were water-front bars. Well there were, but they charged around 6 Euros each (about eight bucks) for a lousy stupid Heineken. What gall! I pay around 2 Euros for a half liter of good German Bier in the restaurants back home. We said the hell with this and went back to my hotel. We chilled out in the hotel bar drinking glasses of Spanish red wine, and gossiped a bit more. Perhaps about you my dear ${token2}? Well I think not, we are beyond and above this. Instead, we talked about how some people we know were in the porno industry. Oh for shame!
The following day I spent some time browsing the booths. Real Time Gaming has a new 100 hand video poker that's a mind blower. We also talked about how the Gamblers Lobby players should be all about paid by now. If you are still owed by the "old" Gambler's Lobby, give it another week or two. You should definitely see something by then.
But I think the most interesting encounter was with the folks from Malta. Malta offers licenses for all types of online gaming. Their regulator is the Lotteries and Gaming Authority which monitors and establishes their licensing conditions (personnel background checks, auditing, certification of the gaming system, etc.). What makes this so interesting is that Malta becomes part of the EU in May 2004. The casinos that are just signing up now have five year contracts from the government of Malta. So this means that next Spring the European Union will be licensing and have licensed online casinos. So far only territories and principalities within Europe are licensing casinos (Alderney, Isle of Man, Gibraltar, Andorra). I believe the incorporation of Malta into the European Union will be a milestone in regulatory standards.
So that about raps it up. I want to thank everyone at River City and ATE who went through all of the aches and pains to put this conference together. These are the types of expositions that the industry needs to keep its unregulated head afloat.
Complaints? Kudos? Please let me know.
Peace
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Bryan Bailey Webmeister Casinomeister |  |