Disputes decline at eCOGRA certified online casinos

The main source of complaints at 73 or 50 % of disputes involved cash-ins, well ahead of bonus issues which at 27 constituted only 19 % of valid disputes. Locked account complaints in the quarter reached 30, or 27 %, also exceeding bonus issues, and there were 15 complaints regarding miscellaneous issues.

Rees received a total of 197 complaints through eCOGRA's online channel in first quarter 2009, rejecting 25 as involving non-eCOGRA accredited operations over which the protection body has no influence. Of the remaining 172, twenty seven complaints were generally abusive or non-specific in nature, rendering same incapable of enquiry.

Rees investigated and mediated the remaining 145 disputes, resolving 59 in favor of the player. An average of 15.1 complaints per week were dealt with within 72 hours by the Fair Gaming Advocate.

"It is interesting to note that the incidence of "locked account" complaints has increased by 4 percent and is greater than "bonus" queries for the first time,` observed Rees. `The indications are that this is due to a growing number of cases where linked accounts were proved (a tactic used by players trying to abuse bonus promotions) and a greater number of fraudulent accounts were discovered."

The key performance statistic of average number of disputes per accredited operational site per month was again low at 0.36 - down on the average 0.39 recorded throughout 2008.