eCOGRA Acts to Remove Problem of Underage And Problem Online Gambling

At the end of this month (May), the no-nonsense use of efficient measures to encourage responsible gambling at over 100 top poker rooms and Internet casinos will receive added momentum when eCommerce and Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance (eCOGRA), the online standards and player protection body, holds in London, UK, its second global training session.

Poker room and online casino managers are disturbed and devoted to resolving the problems contiguous to underage and problem gambling. For two days of concentrated training by a team of specialists from the international Global Gambling Guidance Group (G4, worldwide managers responsible for handling these issues will converge on London.

In Cape Town, South Africa last year, a similar session was carried out for eCOGRA sealed sites.

eCOGRA CEO, Andrew Beveridge, has said that this course is connected with an ongoing obligation to have trained members of staff overseeing effective responsible gaming measures for online casinos and poker rooms holding the "Play It Safe" seal.

CEO Beveridge says that since online gaming is attracting many millions of players worldwide and is therefore so popular, accountable operators know that it is critical to keep their sites and their players safe and that this therefore is their long term business goal, being directed toward the overall good of the industry. Furthermore, he said that his organization was pleased with the apparent commitment that they are receiving in this area of from their "Play It Safe" operators, who are just now having included aids and advice on their sites along with specific responsible gaming measures, in addition to appointing staff to look after these critically important operational requirement.

Attendees will learn how to identify problem gamblers through lectures, homework and practical workshop sessions, using Brief Intervention Techniques (BIT) such as the Balinth method and in order to learn how to intervene and deter these situations from arising they will employ role-play exercises. The delegates are also expected to analyze case history material, and by this learning how to develop the latest cutting edge strategies using BIT through e-mail and telephone consultations with players. Together with suitable interaction at this level, the impact, in detail, of problem gambling on players' families will also be examined.

Beveridge sees accountable gambling best practices as being and representing a vital and important requirement for the entire online gambling industry both in regards to compassion and within a business perspective.

Beveridge says that eCOGRA's feels obligated to ensure that responsible gaming is their top priority since their software supplier members and seal casinos are handling the majority of the industry's revenue and player activity.

He says that to allow problem or underage gamblers to play would be morally wrong, and could lead to industry wide legal and commercial consequences. Beveridge says that their third party audit teams are paying particular attention to compliance by those casinos and poker rooms that are eCOGRA certified and that there are very few and hardly any, online gambling venues that can compete when it comes to making an effort and in the commitment that their operators have already invested in this area.

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