Issue N21, 2008

May 22, 2008

eCOGRA Releases Surprising Quarterly Report

The eCommerce and Online Gaming and Reassurance group, better known as eCOGRA released its findings for the first quarter of 2008 and showed a few surprising results. Essentially, while the number of complaints that the group was asked to deal with dropped a significant amount, the number of online casino players who abused bonuses and promotions actually rose.

Tex Rees, eCOGRA's Fair Gaming Advocate, summed it up: "Unfortunately, the quarter has been marred by a relatively large number of false bonus abuse complaints lodged by fraudulent players, which when investigated in depth were found to be invalid due to multiple accounts, bonus over-claiming and in a minority of cases out-and-out fraud."

The number of complaints that eCOGRA dealt with was 127, after shaving off 27 for being connected to online casinos that had no eCOGRA linking, and another 17 for cases where the contact information was not sufficient to take the matter further. It is worth noting that in the first three months of 2007, eCOGRA received 195 complaints, resulting in a drop of 12% this year.

Mega Advertising Campaign Launched Ahead of Euro 2008

The race to catch a segment of the lucrative wagering market in time for the Euro 2008 soccer championships is already underway. Yesterday it was announced by the German company, Bet at Home that it would be launching a 10 million Euro advertising campaign ahead of Euro 2008.

Guido Schmitt, Information Director at bet-at-home, told the media: "We have launched this campaign in 20 European countries, with a focus on eastern and southern Europe. Our objective is to be the number one gambling site in European countries where the online gaming market is still developing. As such we will not be targeting markets such as the UK or Scandinavia."

The online gambling industry is generally divided about how much money a company should invest in advertising and promotions ahead of major sporting events. Some adopt the heavy-investment strategy as taken by Bet at Home, who has doubled its marketing expenditure in 2007 to 16 million Euros. However others, basing their decisions on the returns seen on marketing campaigns prior to Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup, have decided to

tone their spending down a little and not make too much of a dent in their finances.

The results this strategy are already impacted Bet at Home’s financial record, which has reported a loss of just under 1 million Euros in 2007, compared to profits in the previous year.

Jackpot Factory Launches New Lottery Promotion

The Jackpot Factory gambling group, which boasts a wide number of extremely popular and successful online casinos on the internet, has announced its latest promotion: A lottery game that has $75,000 worth of bonuses up for grabs.

The promotion will work on a weekly basis whereby players can stand in line to win part of the grand prize of 10,000 credits in bonuses to use at the online casinos. One lucky winner each week will win the top prize of 5,000 credits – a phenomenal amount with which to enjoy all the games and software from the superb Microgaming platform.

“The lotto phenomenon is growing worldwide and online slots players like this game too,” said David Brickman, Vice-President of Player Affairs for JackpotFactory.com. “Therefore, our team developed this unique lotto promotion, which should be great fun for all those who participate. To add to the fun we'll also be giving out a lot bonuses to our visitors so I am confident that we'll have some more winners at our casinos soon.”

RGA Assures Online Casino Players about Safety

The Remote Gambling Association (RGA), responsible for a strict code of conduct that addresses social responsibility and age verification at online casinos, has issued a statement reassuring online casino players that they should be confident about the safety measures taken by gambling sites to protect their interests. The RGA said that the online casino industry has “no security problems that people choosing to gamble online need to be concerned about.”

Referring to the online gambling industry, the RGA’s business director, Brian Wright said: “While it was all being built up and becoming established there was a perception that people weren't familiar with it and didn't really have the confidence to bet online, but I think customers now realize that it is such a safe form of gambling.”

Wright said that since the online gambling industry had expanded so significantly in recent years, a great deal of money and resources had gone into ensuring that the toughest measures were taken to ensure that players and their finances were protected at all times.

Wright also commented that players of today were attracted to the world of online gambling because of the “usability” and “comfort” of the many sites out there.