eCOGRA, the acronym and nickname for the important eCommerce Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance has published their report for disputes and complaints in the year 2007. The report was put together by Ms. Tex Rees, a representative for the non-profit organization and fair gambling and player advocate. As the report was made public to the online gambling industry, its results were extremely heartening.

eCOGRA is an organization dedicated to ensuring fair game play and business dealings for online casino websites and their moderators. They issue “Play it Safe” seals of approval for sites that (1) apply, (2) meet their high standards and (3) maintain these standards always. In order to ensure that the security and fair game play standards are indeed met, the online casino companies are not only investigated at the application time, but are monitored periodically throughout the year- both at random, and when complaints are made against the site. They are required to submit software data logs, monthly verification reports, and contact with eCOGRA directly as disputes are resolved.

eCOGRA has jurisdiction over more than 120 online casinos, which then cater to the needs of thousands of gamblers all across the globe. With the numbers of hours of game play being logged annually, one would expect that the 2007 report would inundate Ms. Rees, who is solely responsible for the management of disputes. Surprisingly, the number of complaints averaged out to just 44 a month in the last year.
There was an increase in the total number of complaints received from 2006, but 138 of the 783 grievances were void for a myriad of reasons: those primarily being complaints against sites that were NOT eCOGRA-approved, and therefore inapplicable or simply insubstantial. There were a number of claims that were dismissed because it became obvious that the plaintiff was disgruntled at a loss of funds and was refusing to take responsibility for his oversight or misunderstanding of the Terms and Condiitons, a personal accountability for all online gamblers. The raise in complaints most likely stems from players’ awareness of eCOGRA and their influence on sites. In the recent past, eCOGRA has focused a huge amount of energy in players education, and completed the largest online casino survey in history in 2006.

Summarily, the data in Rees’ report was encouraging and informative: Sixty-eight percent of all complaints were resolved in favor of the plaintiff. Forty-seven percent of the issues were in reference to payout problems, twenty-eight percent were about bonuses, twenty-one percent were about locked accounts, and the remaining four percent were miscellaneous. Obviously, eCOGRA’s influence has been both effective and positive.