Announcement from the GRA concerning Hilo and ReelDeal games

[vinylweatherman]

Not as I term adaptive. Basically there is one table of odds, whatever you pick you get 96% RTP. adaptive is where the players outcomes are checked and the odds adjusted on their next bet. If you have a good run you get worse odds than 96%. Adaptive is a lot worse for game play than just having a fixed house edge.

Whether you call it adaptive or not, the issue is that the player placed a bet, and the fact of where that bet was placed influenced the result of that round. It would be like having a Blackjack game that altered the probability of the dealer matching his up card of 10 with an Ace depending on whether or not the player made the insurance bet.

What caused this was that the game being played was NOT the game being represented. Players saw a number wheel, using cards, and a betting table resembling a simplified variant of Roulette. If one bet Red on roulette, one would not expect the outcome to be weighted in favour of Black in order to meet the operator set RTP. Instead, one would expect the paytable to pay less than evens in order to provide the house edge. In Roulette, this is achieved by the "0" position, whilst still paying evens for a colour bet.

Where the series of previous results is used to dynamically weight future outcomes, the game is considered to be "compensated", which it what some say defines the term "adaptive". The term "adaptive" can also reasonably describe a game that only used the current bet to "adapt" only the current outcome, which is why we have this debate over terminology.

 

[vinylweatherman]

I don't think its fair to pick on an episode like this and conclude that online gaming is a scam. Admittedly the disaster-zone that the GRA have turned out to be doesn't taint the whole barrel, but it does, as already noted, give huge amounts of ammunition to governments who are determined to tax and regulate online gaming at the point of consumption.

PB appears to have aimed a gun at his own jurisdiction's head and pulled the trigger with extreme prejudice.

Not much choice really, since he has already blown both feet off

The UKGC must be elated that this episode has lead to this, and they would be pretty dumb to leave this out of their case that customers are not properly protected to minimum UK standards by many of the currently whitelisted licensing jurisdictions.

PB makes much of the fact that the UKGC took a similar 6 months to reach the "bleedin' obvious" conclusion over the dodgy FOBTs, and then demonstrates that the GRA can do an even better job of screwing up than the UKGC ever could.

Although PB says this is a minor error in a help file that "nobody reads", in the case of this particular game, because of it's underlying logic not seen by the player, it is a CRITICAL error in the ONLY piece of information that could convey to the player what the nature of the game is. This makes this "minor error" into a "major deception", something that could have been avoided by a basic precaution, proof reading information before releasing it into the wild.

 

[Eliot Jacobson]

Phill Brear clearly had pressure on him from the other side. That is something he has not mentioned at all in his replies. When Brear used his extraordinary hyperbole, was he looking in the rear view mirror?

I ask that Brear address the question of whether he was threatened by legal action from a casino, a software supplier, or anyone else in the chain whose livelihood depended on his report and conclusions. A conflict of interests is apparent.

Mr. Brear, did Spielo threaten a lawsuit?

No matter which way Brear ruled, he and the GRA were likely going to be a victim. Brear had to choose his poison.

 

[Westland Bowl]

Oh, never mind!

 

[Eliot Jacobson]

Oh never mind.

Forgive my editing my post, those incidents seemed off topic so I removed them. Thanks for understanding.

 

[Balthazar]

Phill Brear clearly had pressure on him from the other side. That is something he has not mentioned at all in his replies. When Brear used his extraordinary hyperbole, was he looking in the rear view mirror?

I ask that Brear address the question of whether he was threatened by legal action from a casino, a software supplier, or anyone else in the chain whose livelihood depended on his report and conclusions. A conflict of interests is apparent.

Mr. Brear, did Spielo threaten a lawsuit?

No matter which way Brear ruled, he and the GRA were likely going to be a victim. Brear had to choose his poison.

But why would Spielo (or anyone from the "other side") sue the GRA? The GRA isn't responsible for the games?

 

[vinylweatherman]

But why would Spielo (or anyone from the "other side") sue the GRA? The GRA isn't responsible for the games?

Yes, why WOULD Spielo want to shoot their feet off as Mr Brear seems so keen to do

It would expose as fact the impression that the GRA are under the control of the industry, and are not the independent regulatory and licensing authority they make themselves out to be. However, big business often seems unable to aim correctly, and the big online casino companies are not the first businesses to accidentally blow parts of their anatomy off when trying to aim at something else. Regulatory bodies can also be prone to having poor aim.

 

[Richas]

@ Richas and KasinoKing:

If the outcome of the game (red or black) was based on which color the player chose, surely the game must be adaptive.

No, the table is - player choice X%

Adaptive is player (or all players of the game) has been doing well so we will reduce the player choice X%

Both might pay out 96% in the long term for all players but the adaptive game reduces the chance of a good run and reduces the likelihood of terrible runs thus keeping players in th game longer.

 

[Richas]

Phill Brear clearly had pressure on him from the other side. That is something he has not mentioned at all in his replies. When Brear used his extraordinary hyperbole, was he looking in the rear view mirror?

I ask that Brear address the question of whether he was threatened by legal action from a casino, a software supplier, or anyone else in the chain whose livelihood depended on his report and conclusions. A conflict of interests is apparent.

Mr. Brear, did Spielo threaten a lawsuit?

No matter which way Brear ruled, he and the GRA were likely going to be a victim. Brear had to choose his poison.

The threat is caused by sites being able to choose their jurisdiction. They can choose where they want to be so the regulators compete to attract sites not protect players.

That is why the Gambling (Licencing and Advertising) Bill is a breakthrough change, a step change in regulatory power as any site operating to the UK consumer will need to comply with what the UKGC impose, if the sites don't like it their choice is to leave the market not to get a licence elsewhere from a more compliant site freindly regulator.

 

[vinylweatherman]

The threat is caused by sites being able to choose their jurisdiction. They can choose where they want to be so the regulators compete to attract sites not protect players.

That is why the Gambling (Licencing and Advertising) Bill is a breakthrough change, a step change in regulatory power as any site operating to the UK consumer will need to comply with what the UKGC impose, if the sites don't like it their choice is to leave the market not to get a licence elsewhere from a more compliant site freindly regulator.

... or operate without the authority of the UKGC and just accept that they will not be able to advertise in any media governed by UK regulations. It is unlikely that the Virtual group will take the slightest bit of notice of this, and will continue to attract UK players among others via the usual channels, websites and spam.

What I WOULD expect is the big software providers like Microgaming and Playtech to shut down the UK market for any operator trying to run without the correct license. This could lead to the problems that Spanish players faced being suffered by UK players, namely the zero notice overnight locking of their accounts by the software provider, not the operator.

 

[Eliot Jacobson]

Phill Brear sent me a personal e-mail addressing my most recent post in this thread. He gave me permission to reprint his e-mail saying:

If you wish to make all of our correspondence public, then by all means do so, the confidentiality statement refers to mis-addressed or mis-directed emails, not correspondence of this nature.

Brear succinctly summarized the incident in his letter to me, saying:

You called this one completely wrong, a short term maintenance error is not a ‘rigged’ game, we took the time to investigate the matter thoroughly and properly, you should have done the same.

Brear's e-mail to me contained the following threat:

I have no wish to have a public slanging match on your role in this matter and your defective logic so I suggest you make a diplomatic and tactical retreat.

I have no wish for a public slanging match with Brear and will suspend contributing to this thread and topic. In truth, there is nothing more to add.

The thing about banging your head against a wall is that it feels so good when you finally stop.

 

[ChopleyIOM]

Does this guy primarily operate in the realm of veiled threats?

I suggest you make a diplomatic and tactical retreat.

 

[just play]

Phill Brear sent me a personal e-mail addressing my most recent post in this thread. He gave me permission to reprint his e-mail saying:



In my post above, I asked Phill Brear about legal action against him directly or the GRA. His response to me contained the following threat:



I also have no wish for a public slanging match and will suspend contributing to this thread and topic. The thing about banging your head against a wall is that it feels so good when you finally stop.

What's he going to do? Have you swim with the fishes?


In my opinion, I don't think this is a big deal to gamblers (it is to me though) People are still playing at those casinos, CM still have them accredited, other casinos under the GRA are still operating and people have no problem depositing with them, so I guess you stopping or not stopping posting doesn't really matter anyway.

 

[Richas]

... or operate without the authority of the UKGC and just accept that they will not be able to advertise in any media governed by UK regulations. It is unlikely that the Virtual group will take the slightest bit of notice of this, and will continue to attract UK players among others via the usual channels, websites and spam.

What I WOULD expect is the big software providers like Microgaming and Playtech to shut down the UK market for any operator trying to run without the correct license. This could lead to the problems that Spanish players faced being suffered by UK players, namely the zero notice overnight locking of their accounts by the software provider, not the operator.

If they serve UK customers they commit a criminal offence in the UK. The Gambling Commission already believes it has powers to impose blocks on money transfers an impose IP blocking if such a site did do as you think they would.

In truth they would be at a huge competitive disadvantage to the regulated sites and be pretty peripheral to the UK market anyway.

 

[vinylweatherman]

So, pretty much any game where players suffer material loss can be dismissed as a "short term maintenance error", and it not considered important enough for a financial settlement that places both parties in the position they would have been in had the error not occurred.

If this is so, then Betfair should NOT be trying to recover their "insignificant loss" over their own "short term maintenance error" that lasted a mere few hours one weekend.

It is clearly one rule when an error favours the casino, and the opposite rule when an error favours the player.

Good, according to Mr Brear, if we profit from a "short term maintenance error" at a GRA casino, then we are under no obligation to give the money back due to it's "insignificance", however if they feel aggrieved, the casinos can boycott the players concerned.

Clearly, a mathematician and qualified statistician specialising in the maths of casino games cannot be considered knowledgeable enough in the field to give a valid account and opinion, yet someone with decision making power, but not much in the way of cutting edge academic skills to suit the sector in which they work, can overrule the logic of maths and statistics as "flawed logic".

If Mr Brear is so confident that he is right, and holds the moral high ground, why all the threats, whether veiled or not. It seems the idea behind them is to stifle debate and make this story "go away" with the passage of time so that the GRA can get back to business as usual, for the next couple of years anyway

 

[Keyser]

May I suggest not giving into Phill

Brear's e-mail to me contained the following threat:

Quote Originally Posted by Phill Brear
I have no wish to have a public slanging match on your role in this matter and your defective logic so I suggest you make a diplomatic and tactical retreat.

I have no wish for a public slanging match with Brear and will suspend contributing to this thread and topic. In truth, there is nothing more to add.

It is not for me to tell you how to fight (or not fight) your battles but ...
I think that by acknowledging a mutual interest in not having a public slanging match and then acting exactly as he appears to want you to that you are giving Phill what he wants and also giving credence (to him at least) of his opinion that your logic is defective and that you are in fact retreating.

Phill is clearly a bully and bullies don't understand concepts of discretion, mutual disagreement, being respectful, etc. (much less the definition of "defective logic"). Bullies love to feed on other people being nice, tactful, understanding, giving the benefit of the doubt, etc. to fuel their own agenda and cause and also to use these tools to beat their opponents over the head.

Furthermore, he has essentially called you out and attempted to sully your well earned sterling reputation and I have no doubt that he will use any timidity as a tool to further this end. Phill can ask for a truce if he wants, but it should be on your terms, after you have given him the public flogging he deserves and is begging for.

I say this from personal experience having occasionally erred on giving people the benefit of the doubt and having it used against me. Having said all that, things are easier said than done, and I understand if you'd rather just let Phill wallow in his own rage. Just my 2 cents.

BTW Yes I purposely call Phill by his first name and not Mr. XXXX. Calling someone Mr. or Ms. XXX is a sign of respect, one that Phill has completely unearned.

 

[The Dude]

Well not without the GRA actually doing its job, agreement would seem unlikely without this. The reason we are upset is your failure to act to protect consumers..

It would have been nice if you had not quoted me on the GRA's statement. These were not my comments but the commissioner's. This may seem confusing to anyone new coming into this thread.

 

[jetset]

Phill Brear sent me a personal e-mail addressing my most recent post in this thread. He gave me permission to reprint his e-mail saying:



Brear succinctly summarized the incident in his letter to me, saying:



Brear's e-mail to me contained the following threat:



I have no wish for a public slanging match with Brear and will suspend contributing to this thread and topic. In truth, there is nothing more to add.

The thing about banging your head against a wall is that it feels so good when you finally stop.

These not-so-veiled threats to my mind are yet another illustration of this guy's arrogance and (as another poster here commented) bullying, over-bearing personality.

I have to agree with VWM's comments: "Clearly, a mathematician and qualified statistician specialising in the maths of casino games cannot be considered knowledgeable enough in the field to give a valid account and opinion, yet someone with decision making power, but not much in the way of cutting edge academic skills to suit the sector in which they work, can overrule the logic of maths and statistics as "flawed logic".

"If Mr Brear is so confident that he is right, and holds the moral high ground, why all the threats, whether veiled or not. It seems the idea behind them is to stifle debate and make this story "go away" with the passage of time so that the GRA can get back to business as usual, for the next couple of years anyway."

I suspect these exchanges and the attitude displayed throughout will long be remembered.

 

[zanzibar]

As it's a long thread and I have skimmed most of it on and off over a few months, is this a fair summation of how things stand?

1. Brear does not think the deceptive paytables are a major issue, despite claiming that there were "millions and millions" of play rounds.
2. Spielo, Finsoft, Betfred, NordicBet, Stan James and others that either produce, rigged, or hosted these games won't be repaying anyone anything.
3. Brear and said operators continue to conspicuously ignore the evidence that some of these games were rigged in players' favour in free play mode with a RTP greater than 100% for several years, irrespective of whether the games had a deceptive paytable or help file in real money mode.
4. We can expect the cost of "mistakes" made by operators and/or software developers licensed in Gibraltar to be carried by players, not the people and companies making the mistakes.
5. Brear lacks some of the basic knowledge necessary for a person of his position, has the same flair for PR as a cow turd, and his organisation is nothing more than a paper tiger.

 

[dunover]

As it's a long thread and I have skimmed most of it on and off over a few months, is this a fair summation of how things stand?

1. Brear does not think the deceptive paytables are a major issue, despite claiming that there were "millions and millions" of play rounds.
2. Spielo, Finsoft, Betfred, NordicBet, Stan James and others that either produce, rigged, or hosted these games won't be repaying anyone anything.
3. Brear and said operators continue to conspicuously ignore the evidence that some of these games were rigged in players' favour in free play mode with a RTP greater than 100% for several years, irrespective of whether the games had a deceptive paytable or help file in real money mode.
4. We can expect the cost of "mistakes" made by operators and/or software developers licensed in Gibraltar to be carried by players, not the people and companies making the mistakes.
5. Brear lacks some of the basic knowledge necessary for a person of his position, has the same flair for PR as a cow turd, and his organisation is nothing more than a paper tiger.

I would say a fair synopsis, especially #5.

I must take issue with the 'cow turd' reference. As you may know, cows pass 'pats' which are runny and later go crusty. A 'turd' however has at least some form and shape to it, unlike Mr. Brear's outpourings.

 

[zanzibar]

Haha. That gave me a genuine laugh out loud moment. Thanks!

 

[Jasminebed]

I've not said a whole lot in these threads, mostly others have said it better.

But I'd like to say I've read every single word, and every single link.

I routinely read paytables and help files. I played a new casino today and some new games, read a few, and re-read a couple.

If I see "Card Game" and the odds stated work out the same as natural odds, why wouldn't I assume it's correct? If I lose, it's down to "bad luck", not cheating software I assume, I rarely play enough on any game to achieve TRTP.

Phil Brear has did this industry a great disservice.

I might be willing to believe that the casinos that deployed this game didn't audit it closely enough but relied on what was supplied to them. But if they made an honest mistake, then they should be able to go through their records and find out how much they made off the game. All the time settlements are made without admission of liability. If it is too costly in terms of time to reimburse individual players, I'm fine with a payment to gambling addiction charities.

Whether by mistake or design, this was a flawed and deceptive game. The involved casinos should not profit by it, and one would have hoped that a regulator could see the common sense of that.

 

[The Dude]

I would say a fair synopsis, especially #5.

I must take issue with the 'cow turd' reference. As you may know, cows pass 'pats' which are runny and later go crusty. A 'turd' however has at least some form and shape to it, unlike Mr. Brear's outpourings.

I understand that many people here don't like the outcome of this situation, to include me, but referring to the commissioner as cow shit is over the top and totally unnecessary. This is a forum where discussions may become heated, but these references discredit the forum and all of its members.

Thread upgraded to closed.