Online Casinos @ Casinovas

The Responsibilities of a Gambling Affiliate

I’ve noticed one or two threads on popular gambling forums recently concerning the promotion of purpotedly “rogue” gambling operations by affiliates in the sector. One of two posters have been singling out affiliate sites as being ethically challenged so I thought some analysis of their decisions to promote known dodgy outfits would be in order.

The first questions that need to be answered are where does the buck stop with an operator who knowingly defrauds players out of cash and just how common is it? In my experience, the number of good operators outweighs the rogues, but there is no doubt the bad ones exist. The 2006 UIGEA legislation in the USA has had the side-effect of removing most of the good operators from the market putting US players at far greater risk and the key is, as ever, research. Outside the US, the problem is less er, problematic, because the good operators have developed strong brands and 9 times out of 10 outperform their rogue counterparts in search engines. When - if - the USA finally regulate online gambling, there is no doubt that US gamblers will feel a lot safer.  

USA Casinos: Online Salvation?

So we’ve just gone through the 3 year milestone since the much maligned Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (”UIGEA“) was underhandedly snuck in as an amendment to a tenuously related anti-terrorism bill called the Safe Port Act. I’m not going to cover old ground, but if you want to read up on just what happened and the implications to US gamblers and resultingly, USA casinos, then check out the Wiki page for some informative, if not slightly disturbing, reading. So it’s Fall 2009 and what’s changed? Where is the USA heading on online gambling?  

Online Casinos: Psychology: Reverse Times

Many players who play at online casinos will be familiar with the concept of “reversing” a cashout. This is where you get lucky, cash some money out and a little later decide to reverse it into your account to play with it. The timeframe in which you have this option following a cashout varies from casino to casino and is often referred to as the “Reverse Withdrawal” or “Reverse Pending“.

Not all online casinos implement this feature - it largely depends on the software platform they have licenced as to the policy they adopt. It is not generally a popular feature with players as this poll proves, but there are two sides to every coin and this article examines the psychology behind it, both from the player and the casino’s perspectives.  

Gambler Loses $112m, Sues Casinos.

Quite a story. A somewhat wealthy chap from Vegas has dumped over $112 million at the casinos, most notably Rio and Caesars, but has an outstanding debt to the casinos of some $14 million. So the casinos want their money, and the guy is suing them on the basis they plied him with alcohol and prescription drugs!

Ah wait, yeah. It’s America. Do something stupid and you can always get your money back by suing someone who should have stopped you. D’oh! Full story here.

Poker Players Rally to Obama’s Site

Interesting article from the Las Vegas Sun this week stating that poker players voting on what should be Obama’s top priorities on his very own website have driven the “Legalisation of online poker” into the Top 10. Clearly there are some very important issues that need addressing by the new administration that dwarf the need to be able to gamble online, but nonetheless it’s a stark reminder that America’s population aren’t exactly enamoured with policy that affects their freedom to make their own decisions.

The full article here.

Top Article On The UIGEA

I know it’s been over 2 years now, but the UIGEA is still a hot topic, not least because it hasn’t been fully implemented, but also because of the new legislation being proposed to not only reverse it, but to implement a framework for regulating Internet Gambling within the USA.

He also alludes to the fact that the US gambling laws have been somewhat misinterpreted from within the industry and some decisions to pull out of the USA were too hasty. Effectively the article places some of the blame on the industry for the way it reacted. He’s right of course, although the clever strategy employed by the DoJ was the driving force behind this.

Anyway, doing some research I came across a brilliant article on the UIGEA from US First Amendment attorney, Lawrence G Walters. He analyses the UIGEA, the effect on the industry and offers analysis of the longer term. It’s a long read, but it’s so on the money.

Read the full article here…

Barney Frank Introduces Bill To Overturn UIGEA

Now I am not a fan of prohibition when regulation can be so much more effective, plus I work in the online gaming industry, so bear in mind I am biased here. But the introduction of the UIGEA in the USA in October 2006 made me shake my head at just how stupid some politicians can be. Well - I say stupid, but anything that guarantees campaign funding and votes perhaps isn’t so stupid, even if it does shout in the face of the Constitution. Land of the Free, right?

But it seems finally there is someone prepared to stand up and say “woah - hold up. that’s not right“. And this person thankfully has some clout. How much clout we will have to wait and see.  

PRWeb Drops Online Gambling PRs

It’s being reported by a number of online gambling companies that PRWeb, the popular press release service, has adopted a policy of “no online gambling press releases” which reflects the fact that they are based out of Washington State, one of the strictest States in the USA when it comes to online gambling.

PRWeb has long been used by gaming companies to announce new products or initiatives, but it’s being reported that the current move could see PRWeb lose up to 5% of it’s revenues as a result. Washington State’s no tolerance policy to online gambling has come under fire before with detractors calling it a Nanny State and that it should allow it’s reseidents to make up their own minds on the moral issue of gambling.  

Kentucky Ruling Chucked Out

Following on from my article last year about the Governor of Kentucky, Sen. Beshear, trying to confiscate a bunch of casino domains, I’m happy to report that sense has prevailed and it got overruled in court. Although it should be noted that it was only a 2-1 majority ruling, with one of those presiding presumably still short on campaign funding ;)

Villa (Costa) Fortuna Casino

Update 19th Feb: The offending clause discussed in this article is being removed from all Grand Prive casinos with immediate effect, although the affiliate issue referred to remains unresolved.

Update 16th Feb. This term applies to “outstanding balances” at all casinos operated by Grand Privé, including Big Dollar, Bella Vegas, Casino Grand Bay, Fortune Junction and Villa Fortuna.

Some of you may have spotted that Grand Prive have had some bad press recently for the way they treated their affiliates. In fact I blogged about it here and suggested caution as it might be a sign of things to come. Well, it looks like those times have come over at Villa Fortuna casino…

According to a post on the popular Casinomeister forum recently Grand Prive-run casino Villa Fortuna has implemented a new condition. A player in Hamburg who posts under the pseudonym “poser” discovered what is commonly referred to as a “F.U. clause” in the Villa Fortuna Terms & Conditions. I quote: