New Report Showing Less Disputes for eCOGRA Sites

The Fair Gaming Advocate for eCOGRA, the independent gaming watchdog, has just released a report detailing gambling disputes from the first half of 2010. It has shown considerably lower levels of disputes between players and online gaming sites that have been awarded the eCOGRA ‘Safe and Fair’ accreditation.

Sites bearing the Safe and Fair seal are constantly monitored by this non-profit organisation, and are subject to annual inspections and reviews. They are also obliged to work in corporation with eCOGRA should a player dispute arise.

The organisation’s Fair Gaming Advocate, Tex Rees, said that in the first six months of the year there were 376 complaints submitted to eCOGRA. 33 of these were directed at non-accredited operators (over which the organisation has no influence) and another 56 of these complaints were deemed invalid, irrelevant or provided insufficient detail.

Of the remaining 287 complaints, all were resolved within a 48-hour period and 47% of these went in favour of the player.

Rees said “These numbers are similar, and in fact compare favourably with last year's numbers, despite the fact that eCOGRA now has eleven more accredited venues than last year... We have actually seen a decrease in dispute mediation requests.”

Deposits (43%), bonus disputes (21%) and locked accounts (10%) resulted in the most complaints from players. But Rees also highlighted that, considering the number of transactions ‘tier-one’ operators handle on a daily basis, player complaints have been remarkably low.

As the organisation has been working with accredited sites for a number of years, several procedures and policies have been developed that have led to less cause for disputes. “Our operators are also better equipped and motivated to deal with disputes at the operator level, which results in eCOGRA receiving fewer complaints,” said Rees.

Visit: eCOGRA.org