eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA) has expanded its area of expertise in independent testing and monitoring service, to cover three new online gambling areas. The player protection organisation now covers bingo, sportsbetting and live gambling operations. This means that almost all branches of online gambling have the chance of getting a “Safe and Fair” seal from the organisation. eCOGRA covers all the major online gambling branches from online casinos and poker sites, through affiliate activities to mobile gambling, sports books, live gambling studios and the growing online bingo business. Besides keeping the game providers up to the standards they have a lot of ethical guidelines that must be kept by the gambling providers. They encourage them to be live up to their corporate responsibility and protect under age gamblers from playing online for real money. CEO of eCOGRA Andrew Beveridge said recently: “We have now introduced our new eGAP Minimum Requirements covering all operational aspects for online bingo and sportsbetting operations. This enables operators in these sectors to come forward for assessment and testing with a view to achieving the Safe and Fair eCOGRA seal, already held by some 126 tier one online casinos and poker rooms.” He continues to talk about the expansion of their activities: “The response to the challenge to meet industry best practice standards and improve operational capability has already been remarkable, and we currently have a significant number of sportsbetting and bingo operations under review.” “This extension of our inspection, advisory and monitoring services means eCOGRA now covers all the main products currently being offered by online gambling operators. We complement this work through oversight of areas such as live gambling studios and mobile platforms, and by providing monthly payout percentage and randomness reports based on the live gambling data from every transaction”. eCOGRA keeps growing as an organisation and more and more gambling sites are reviewed and approved, and this calls for more staff in the organisation. The ongoing inspections and monitoring of all the approved sites are very detailed and comprehensive. Every time a new or existing gambling site has to be reviewed, all the operational and financial systems must be checked and the site is checked for its compliance regarding responsible gambling – how do they find minors who play at the site, how do they help problem gamblers etc. Customer relations is also reviewed and based on their observations eCOGRA issues a report and the “Safe and Fair” is awarded or maintained, depending on the outcome of the review. Most of the top software providers in the online gambling business have been evaluated by eCOGRA already. eCOGRA is recognised by several international gambling associations, among other the European Gaming and Betting Association, which speaks on behalf of most of the European gambling industry. Andrew Beveridge said to the press in a news statement that: “Over the past six years we have built up a wealth of expertise and information as a result of our involvement in well over a hundred extensive accreditation audits on many of the most successful and well run gambling groups on the Internet. This has expanded the practical industry knowledge of our dedicated staff which includes Chartered Accountants and IT specialists recruited from some of the top audit and technology companies in the world, and the accreditation process makes this valuable professional and business guidance available to all online gambling companies and software providers.”
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