Issue #209
Barcelona European I-Gaming Conference Special Report
Dear Reader},
Finally, the Barcelona report. I'm beat, hope you're not.
Exhaustingly yours,
Bryan
Can't read this newsletter? Click here (or copy and paste this into your browser): http://www.casinomeister.com/newsletter.html#skip for the cool online version.
Like a good movie, a good story opens up with a subtle scene that evokes the theme, mood, or central idea of the presentation. I'll begin with my chance meeting of an old acquaintance in Zürich's International Airport. Perchance, we were unknowingly booked on the same flight from Zürich to Barcelona, and it was only fitting that we would sit together and pick up where we left off last year. Life is that way, you know. It's short and condensed, and when you see some of your friends only two or three times a year, it's easy to imagine time standing still.
You see, he was one of the persons I met last year in Barcelona that discussed with me the details concerning a certain casino group and their questionable "beginnings". (This was well documented in last year's Barcelona's newsletter). We also discussed Playtech and my relationship with them (he's well connected to some of the Playtech operators). I more or less stated that there is no relationship between me and Playtech since this company has not shown an interest to have one. Oh well, das ist leben.
We arrived in Barcelona, and yes it was much warmer than the 8 degrees (Celsius) that I was used to back in northern Bavaria. We grabbed our bags and took a cab to our Hotel in Sitges - about 35 minutes away. Lesson learned - always make sure the cabbie has his meter running and don't accept a flat rate offer. Most of the persons that I asked at the conference paid between €50 - €90 for the same ride. But my buddy and I split the cost (€60 before tip) - and here we were.
Sitges; a small resort town on the outskirts of Barcelona known for its gay clientele. And as many of you know, I used to live in the gay district in San Diego for about eight years - so I've seen it all. And being a native Californian - not much can surprise me. But what I was surprised at was the apparent emptiness of the city. My hotel was on the marina (about a ten minute walk to the conference center) which was lined with open-air cafes and restaurants - but it was a ghost town. Just a handful of diners, and plenty of stray cats.
The conference had already kicked off by the time I had arrived, which was cool since I wasn't dealing with jetlag or any weirdo time difference. I just briefly unpacked and made my way down the road two hundred meters, and then proceeded to climb 147 steps up a 45 degree incline (yes I counted them - 148 if you counted the curb) towards the conference center. Glad I'm not a smoker (eh, Spearmaster?).
And there I was, in the magnificent Melia Sitges Hotel (a four star with five star prices) and I was greeted by a myriad of familiar folk - it seemed as though I had just seen some of them merely a few weeks ago (I did - in Vegas), and some I hadn't seen for a year or so. And yes, they were all hanging out by the bar...
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The bar, like at any conference, is the command center. And most anyone you need to find will be there in one condition or another. And Brian Cullingworth, Ted Loh, and "Greedy Girl" were in fine condition and we commenced to chat and catch up on a few current issues.
Issue number 1: Why was the Casino Rewards group still implementing terms and conditions that most of us deemed unfair (this was covered in 5 November's newsletter here). At this point they had not replied to my inquiries, and Ted was to meet with one of their representatives during the conference (ed. note: they have since responded, more as you read on my dear reader).
And a midnight, our group left the restaurant to the now empty street, and I figured I we were going to catch some cabs back to the hotel (I had no idea where we were). But no, we walked a block or so along the waterfront, and lo and behold up a deserted alley-way was a small little bar with disco lights reflecting off of the pavement. "Where were the cabs?" I thought, but alas like sheep we followed the lights and thumping techno-pop and entered a dark place.
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Yeah, it was dark, but not dark enough to reveal the fact that about three other groups of i-Gamer legionnaires found their way to the same spot. There was a small disco floor in the back - which was empty - but the music was cranked. To experience what it sounded like, turn off the lights in your room (if it's night) turn up the volume on your computer (way loud) and click here. And while listening to this, imagine Michael Casselli of Bluff Magazine and me doing the "Freedom Dance" (a throwback from my 60's youth near San Francisco). "Greedy Girl" from Gonegambling.com was preoccupied with trying to photograph men's nipples (what?!). And some crazed Irishman (who will go unnamed) kept us in good spirits with an endless supply of Mojitos. This was a Monday night, and you could tell the barkeep was lovin' it. The entire town was deserted except for his disco-bar teeming with jocular (love that word) casino people. Everybody was gettin' down - bumpin' and thumpin', and then in walks this bearded Spanish guy selling roses and a collection of spinning light toys. We shooed him away, but not before he held the spinning light toy up against my ear - and this is what I heard: bitchin' music. Unbeknownst to me, this was not the last time I would see this guy.
I began the next day with a yummy hotel breakfast with Spearmaster (meals were included with my deal) which was topped off by a miserable walk up the 147 steps. But once we arrived back at the conference center, business was underway. I attended the roundtable discussion: "Life After Gambelli and Ladbrokes" which was to cover the changes in European law since these legal issues surfaced. Lawyers Martin Arendts (Germany) Polo Van der Putt (Netherlands) Quinino Mancini (Italy) Thibault Verbiest (Belgium) and Olga Finkel (Malta) gave indepth reports on what was happening in their respective countries. But after this presentation, it was clear that gaming laws in Europe are not clear, nor will they be anytime in the near future. I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Arendts after the discussion and got a good earful on the present condition in Germany concerning online gaming. There have been some recent laws passed, one of which allows German states to regulate or permit online gaming/advertising within their own jurisdictions. But again, our discussion proved that there are just as many grey areas as before. I still remain a confused man.
Lunch of course was fantastic. The meals provided at the GIGSE and EIG conferences always exceed expectations; this was no different. And Spanish food is always a treat - especially in Spain.
That afternoon, I hit the booths. One of the most interesting was URU a identity confirmation service provided by the GB Group in the UK. This service allows its clients to protect themselves against identity crimes. URU accesses and crosschecks numerous databases to verify personal information (addresses, DL numbers, etc.) in a matter of seconds. This would do away with the faxing of IDs and all of the other hokey stuff that are commonly forged by fraudulent players. It is only applicable to UK players at the moment, but I have a good feeling that they will be expanding.
The day wore on. Night came, and again it was time to feed.
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Food; one of my favorite subjects. And during these conferences I'm always able to enjoy some very good meals with people I really appreciate being with. We go through the normal chit chat, sometimes even talking about you my dear reader, but only nice things - I promise. Topics on our minds these days (webmasters, marketers, and online consultants): player fraud is a biggie. A couple of weeks ago I confided with some of these people that I was getting ready to shut the "Pitch a Bitch" section down since there were so many fraudsters wasting my time. Even this week after my return, I have a guy who has been a regular poster at Casinomeister try to pass on a Photoshoped drivers license to a reputable online casino. C'mon, give me a break. Don't waste my time with this crap!
And while we were conversing over a yummy meal (I had the fish), enter the same bearded guy from the night before selling roses and disco toys. Here it is again if you want to hear it: bitchin' music. Again we shooed him away, and continued with our conversations. Brian Cullingworth and I left before it got too late and walked back to the hotel. We passed a 17th Century church, the Saint Bartomeu (picture here but not mine - I had no camera with me this trip). It was midnight, and the surf was pounding the sea wall. Amazing that they would build a church there, as if they were mocking fate and the elements.
The following day, the third day of the conference, produced some memorable presentations. The gem was the closing presentation - the DDOS workshop. Deliberate Denial of Service attacks are still serious and will continue to be so. Companies that rely on continuous accessibility of their websites (Amazon.com, Ebay, Microsoft, and just about every online casino and sportsbook you can shake a stick at) have been hammered by every denomination of screwheads; from bored college geeks to Russian organized crime syndicates. The evil ones' goal is to shut down a site by launching a kagillion zombie computers on the site rendering it useless.
It was clear during the discussion that this is a bad situation, and that the attacks are evolving - getting cleverer. But there is a great deal of cooperation within the e-gaming community. One of the presenters mentioned that this is a blessing in disguise since it has heightened the level of online security, but unfortunately, many of us are unaware that we (yeah, you too) may be part of the problem. It is believed that 60% of home computers have been compromised. In other words they are zombies, running a program in the background that will cause the computer to visit a certain site on a certain day thus joining a league of evil.
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And if you are an operator, you may want to read up on the following and make a contingency plan with your ISP:
http://www.cisco.com/
http://www.networknewz.com/
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That evening, we taxied back down to the waterfront and had a wonderful dinner with a few new faces, and some old. And it was right at the end of the meal that the same bearded Spaniard came in sporting an armful of his wares, to include the "Musical Fantasy Light". It was a sign, I believe, I couldn't leave Spain without one. So I bought one for my kids back home. And this is why I have been sprinkling this newsletter with so many audio links to the damn toy. I just want to share with you, my dear reader, the sweet melody that my little ones have been pleasuring me with over the last seven days. Consistently. Endlessly. Mercilessly. Here, click it again.
The following morning was the beginning of the last full day in Spain, and for about four hours I met with eCOGRA's Andrew Beveridge and Tex Rees who had invited me, Ted Loh, Brian Cullingworth, Debbee Silverman, and Michael Corfman form Casino City. eCOGRA as most of you probably know, is the only real regulating entity in this business. I've been in involved in this industry longer than most, and I can honestly say that this organization has what it takes to do what it says it's going to do: provide player protection. If you are unfamiliar with eCogra, please peruse their website here: http://www.ecogra.org, it would be a few minutes of your time well spent. And eCOGRA member casinos are identified on Casinomeister's Reputable Casino section as well.
The meeting: we discussed at length player issues and ways in which we as portal operators and information gatherers could work together to achieve improved protection and awareness for players. Both Andrew and Tex discussed new player protection measures and eCOGRA's dispute mediation reports. Tex Rees had processed 123 disputes since eCOGRA began, 26 in the last three months. 26 out of the 123 were non-eCOGRA casinos (eCOGRA only mediates eCOGRA casino disputes). And 11% of the 97 eCOGRA disputes were valid issues. Impressive. To keep things in perspective, I've received over 300 complaints in the "Pitch a Bitch" section at Casinomeister in the last 90 days, and I would guess off of the top of my head about 60% of these are fraudulent claims.
At the end of the session, we gave feedback on any problems eCOGRA casino may be having, (which are few and far between), since we are the ones in the trenches; we know what's up with players and the goings on at casinos. All in all, I am pleased to say that this organization is really going strong and is definitely headed in the right direction.
That evening, Ted, Debbee and I went to Barcelona to check out the "Casino de Barcelona". It was smaller than expected with a few non-descript video slots and video poker. None of the VP machines had full payout. But to Greedy Girl's surprise, I doubled my €20 in about 5 minutes at the VP machine and cashed out. The place gave me the creeps with its low ceilings and smoky patrons. We left and grabbed some chow in the Gothic district. There they had an open air market selling antiques and artifacts - a very cool place to browse. And the Greedy Girl commenced to shop which I easily tolerated since I am very much accustomed to tagging along with the missus while she looks for shoes or other fascinating apparel. And I thought to myself, and which I elucidated later that evening "I look upwards and pray to God each and everyday and thank him for making me a man. If I were a woman, I couldn't handle the plumbing nor the shopping. Thank you, thank you, thank you."
We had dinner that evening with a player from Germany thesmiler, and topped off the evening with a cab ride back to the hotel. We were pretty exhausted and the following day was going to be an early one with morning flights to catch out of Barcelona.
And like a good movie, a good story ends with a few words that allow the audience to dwell upon what happens to the situation after they have stopped reading. Well, I'm back. I'm way behind in emails and updating the site (as you may have guessed). Winter's kicking in and it's dark most of the time here in northern Bavaria. But at least I have warm memories to dwell on and a really cool tune to remind me of Barcelona EIG 2004. Thanks Rivercity Group and ATE. You did a bang up job.
And as a post script, it was nice to find out upon my return that the Casino Rewards group removed the bonus wagering requirements that were considered unfair by many, and they gave their word they would not, under any circumstance, apply bonus terms retroactively. Good going!
Complaints? Kudos? Please let me know.
Peace
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