Slotmachine said:
So you're questioning the integrity of eCogra and saying they're biased because of their financial backing. As I'm not familiar with the deeper goings-on in the business, I can't argue your point one way or the other. I'll just say I'd be very disappointed if eCogra gave their stamp automatically to any casino that's affiliated with one of their backers.
I've always wondered why 32Red does not have the eCogra seal, or actually I've wondered why they don't want it. Somewhere on this forum one of the top guys at 32Red quite clearly said that 32Red has nothing to do with eCogra, and the tone was such that between the lines it could be read that they might not desire such a connection. Personally I'd rather have the "32Red seal of approval" than eCogra seal of approval, although I'm not questioning the bona fide intent of eCogra (further evidence of bias pending)
Caruso, which casinos would you give the "Caruso seal of approval"? I'd be interested to know, as I'm sure you have strict conditions. Thanks,
SM
The Ecogra subject is a long and thorny one. The directors are ostensibly independent - this fact is always the first port of call for the Ecogra backers, and it cannot be disputed on the face of it.
Look at it this way: Caruso employs Slotmachine to oversee some project of his. Since Caruso pays for the overseeing, without a little ostensibly independent corroboration the validation is clearly worthless, so Caruso empowers Slotmachine to hire an "independent" party to validate SM's overseeing; of course, Caruso's money is also paying the independent third party insofar as SM pays them from his pocket, whose pocket is lined by Caruso. And even if they were not, SM and Third Party are friends, colleagues and generally thick as thieves (no pun intended), so Third Party is hardly going to do the dirty on SM, are they they? Caruso's project is indeed validated by said Third Party.
How should an investor in Caruso's little project feel about this "validation" job, at this point? How should they feel about this "self-regulation"?
Let's cast the net wider still: Caruso joins a trade organization on the back of his little project; the two of them shake hands, do all the right PR and tell the world how mutually beneficial this alliance is and how generally wonderful they both are; unfortunately, Caruso's little project does, in fact, violate just about every recommended guideline that this trade organization advocates in its charter. Apparently, neither Caruso nor said organization have a problem with this.
Ah, and let's not overlook the technical side. This is also validated by a third party. Sadly, Caruso will not tell you who this third party is nor how they reach their conclusions; neither will any of this information ever be made public - Caruso wants you to take this on good faith, based on his good character as evinced up to now.
How is Caruso's little project doing now, Mister Investor?
My list? That's a tough one. It's got slowly wittled away to almost nothing.
Intercasino: used to be unscathed, but then there was the little Double Bonus episode. They fell off the throne at this point. I can't recommend casinos that behave like this (which doesn't mean I won't play there - hypocritical or what??), but they're otherwise as solid as a bank.
Ritz: pretty clean actually. That's it for the Cryptos. I used to go for Sands, but they pulled a stunt on me, so that's them on the slag heap.
Inetbet: clean. That's it for RTG.
Bet365 and Acropolis: no stunts I know of, and backed by UK corporations. That's it for Playtech.
Spin Palace / Ruby Fortune: pretty clean, but a recent promo rethink, uncommunicated to either players or CSRs, left players without promised bonuses.
Trident: actually, the only MG operation I can think of with a clean bill of health. Out of about 100 licensees, there had to be one! That's it for Microgaming.
Boss? Forget it. Don't even get me started. Remember those 100K jackpots they filched?
Harrods: no issues I can think of.
That's a hastily put together list, which would require much tweaking to ever be remotely comprehensive.