The independent player protection and standards body eCOGRA has announced the award of two more Safe and Fair accreditation seals to online gambling sites, bringing to 150 the number of tier one operations that have successfully met eCOGRA’s international requirements.

The latest seals were awarded to Red Flush Casino and Casino La Vida by eCOGRA’s Independent Directors on January 25 following an extensive on-site inspection and audit process that examined every operational aspect and the financial systems in use.

To ensure continued compliance, Red Flush and Casino La Vida will be consistently monitored through regular onsite reviews and eCOGRA’s Total Gaming Transaction Review regime, which involves analysing every live gambling transaction for software fairness.

The accreditation inspection was supervised by eCOGRA compliance manager Louise Chunnett CA (SA), CISA Certified, who commented in her report to the Compliance Committee:

"These operations have a successful management with well trained, motivated and competent individuals servicing their players. The review was well and comprehensively structured, with full buy-in from management and the staff in attaining certification."

Red Flush Casino and Casino La Vida are part of the Club Red Gaming Group of casinos. Each of these gaming destinations currently hosts over 450 games powered by Microgaming software.

Casino manager Alex Roberts commented: "We’re certainly proud of our newest accomplishment and glad to be recognised for our ongoing transparency, integrity and satisfactory operating standards."

eCOGRA chief executive officer Andrew Beveridge congratulated the new seal holders, noting the full cooperation that the eCOGRA auditing team had been given throughout an extensive process toward accreditation.

"This achievement provides internet players at Red Flush Casino and Casino La Vida with an added layer of assurance that the games are fair and the casinos are run on professional lines and to internationally recognised best practice standards," he said.

Tex Rees, the Fair Gaming Advocate at the independent player protection and standards body eCOGRA, has released statistics for the year 2010 on disputes involving online gambling sites accredited by the London-based company.

The report reveals that certain complaints submitted to the FGA came from a player syndicate fraudulently manipulating bonuses, which an in-depth investigation uncovered.

"Security considerations prevent the disclosure of the location and modus operandi adopted by the swindlers, who were all subsequently discovered and blocked," Rees recounts.

A total of 846 disputes (2009: 826 complaints) were submitted online to eCOGRA throughout 2010, an increase of 10 percent over 2009. 67 of these concerned companies not accredited through eCOGRA and therefore outside the ambit of the FGA’s authority.

A further 125 were found to be invalid, being fraudulent, non-specific or abusive and anonymous in nature.

The remaining, or valid, 654 disputes (2009: 628 complaints) concerned cash-in problems (44 percent); Bonus issues (25 percent); and Locked accounts (19 percent).

12 percent were categorised as ‘other’ and involved software fairness, responsible gambling and spamming allegations.

Over the 12 months, an average of 43 percent of disputes was resolved in favour of the player.

"The small decrease in the percentage of disputes resolved in favour of the player, and a corresponding increase in allegations of unjust bonus disqualification have been proved through detailed investigation to be connected," Rees reports.

"A fraudulent player syndicate was caught out by sophisticated security systems, resulting in its members submitting allegations which subsequently proved to be false, but had to be painstakingly followed up."

The free eCOGRA disputes resolution service has been in operation since 2004, and has handled a total of almost 4 500 disputes over that period. Almost 49 percent of these were resolved in favour of the player.

The level of disputes per accredited eCOGRA site was again remarkably low for the volumes of business transacted, with a typical accredited site delivering only 0.38 disputes on average per month throughout the year (2009: 0.37).

Live dealer provider Evolution Gaming, which has offices in London, Malta and Stockholm and high tech Internet video-streaming studio facilities in Latvia, has become one of the first in its sector to achieve the high standards required for the eCOGRA Certified Live Dealer Seal.

The company is an acknowledged leader in its sector, and counts many major European Internet gambling operators among its clients, including 888, Bet-At-Home, Expekt, Gala Coral Group, Ladbrokes, PaddyPower, Party Gaming and Unibet.

Explaining the significance of the Certified Live Dealer Seal, eCOGRA CEO Andrew Beveridge said this week that the relevant eGAP or international best practice standards required had been specifically designed for the distinct nature of live dealer operations, in which live games are streamed over the Internet in real time from casino studio environments managed by pitbosses and staffed by croupiers.

"The genre differs from the more common and purely software-powered online casino concept in that it features live staff using real gambling devices and tables," said Beveridge. "This requires a very specific set of operating standards and requirements to ensure absolutely fair, safe and independent gaming in which both hardware and software systems are reviewed.

"Along with our usual tests for problem gambling and dispute facilities, we also look at anti-money laundering systems, staff training, operator probity, player information security, staff access to sensitive areas, the retention of video recordings of all sessions, collusion controls and overall game statistical performance on the roulette, baccarat and blackjack games offered."

Chartered Accountant Gareth Muirhead, who spent several days in Riga, Latvia conducting the review, said that his compliance plan had included the examination of both return-to-player and RNG elements, and ensuring that eCOGRA’s Total Gaming Transaction Review system was securely in place, continuously monitoring all gaming activity.

"Evolution Gaming operates a very tight ship, and the cooperation of chief operating officer Svante Liljevall and the technical and operational staff in Riga was outstanding," Muirhead wrote in his report to the Independent Directors controlling the issue of eCOGRA seals.

Congratulating the management and staff in Riga on achieving the eCOGRA accreditation, Evolution Gaming chief executive officer Jens von Bahr said: "As a company we have always tried to lead rather than follow, and I am delighted that you have been successful in satisfying a tough but very practical set of international best practice standards.

"This can only boost our confidence in the commercial arena, knowing we are among the first to successfully put our technology, systems and people to this type of rigorous test."