The Association Of British Bookmakers help maintain integrity in UK gambling

02 December 2009

The Association of British Bookmakers is the UK’s leading trade association in representing off-course bookmakers. The group’s objective is to help create and sustain the ideal conditions in which any socially responsible and law-abiding betting shop operator can compete and prosper.

The UK is riddled with bookmakers and other operators of off-course betting shops. In order to develop and implement strategies, many members must frequently come together, gather input, and discuss the best moves for the industry as a whole, while still remaining within the framework of the laws in place.

The ABB has many members and is a relatively large organization. Their membership covers the entire spectrum of Great Britain’s bookmakers, including national chains, sole traders, and other independent members of any size. All together, the ABB has over 200 independent members, and in total, they operate more than 5,000 betting shops around the UK.

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The Independent Betting Adjudication Service resolves gambling disputes in UK

12 November 2009

IBAS stands for the Independent Betting Adjudication Service. The service lends its credible and reputable practice to act as an impartial adjudicator on various disputes that often arise between online gaming operators and their respective customers. In other words, IBAS is like a third-party support team, able to come in, privately view the matter, and implement a course of action to either party involved.

In today’s wild world of online gaming, with thousands of sites and millions of customers, IBAS’ services are greatly appreciated. They can save time, money, and they always seem to reach a satisfactory conclusion when presented with the proper evidence.

Gambling, by its very nature involving money, involves emotions. Sometimes people get carried away, and when multiplied by millions, the odds of having a conflict in the online gaming world greatly increase. Every minute of every day, some player is having a dispute with some gambling website.

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The European Gaming and Betting Association - what do they do for gamblers?

28 October 2009

Nobody is as serious about business as the people actually running businesses. While the world may encounter the occasional crook that gives honest and legitimate entities a bad name, they’re still too few and far between to matter in the long run.

In the business of online gambling, seven of the top online gaming operators have set up a union to show their commitment to promoting fair competition and raising awareness within the gambling industry. The European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) is comprised of members from the bwin Group, Unibet, PartyGaming, Expekt, bet-at-home, digibet, and Interwetten.

Recently, the EGBA has been fighting anti-online gambling legislation throughout Europe. Although it is the rights of the individual countries to decide the legislation based on what is best for society, the EGBA feels that, using free market principles of which all citizens are entitled, responsible adults should be able to make up their own minds about gaming. Moreover, as licensed members, regulated by the EU, companies should retain the right to make their own decisions as well.

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The Horserace Betting Levy Board - a major figure in the betting industry

01 October 2009

The Horserace Betting Levy Board (HBLB) significantly predates online gambling. Although the two are tied in this day and age, the HBLB has been around since the 1960s. Originally, the levy was established-along with the HBLB-to provide a means of compensating racing for the loss of fanfare that experts anticipated after off-course betting shops started to pop up after they were legalized in 1961.

Although the fans still poured in to the live tracks, a percentage was still lost to racing houses throughout the UK. Today’s HBLB applies levy funds to various schemes in order to directly support horseracing.

The HBLB is a statutory body in the UK that was established along with the Betting Levy Act of 1961. Although many aspects of the board’s duties have changed, it still operates as a non-departmental public body and is sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

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Overview of The Remote Gambling Association (RGA)

16 September 2009

Currently, there are thousands of gaming sites online run by dozens of reputable corporations and other entities acting independently. With so many businesses operating in their respective field, they need a union of sorts to act in the industry’s best interest.

The Remote Gambling Association (RGA) represents many of the world’s largest stock-market listed and licensed remote gambling companies. Their goal is provide the entire industry with one, strong voice on every important issue, including regulatory measures, legislation in various territories, and other key decisions that will affect the industry.

The Remote Gambling Association doesn’t accept membership from just anyone. In order to qualify and be considered for a full membership, all applicants must be officially licensed for gambling activities and operational within the EEA (European Economic Area), the Isle of Man, or the Channel Islands.

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Who are the Interactive Gaming Council and what do they do?

01 September 2009

With so many gaming sites popping up on the web, it’s hard to keep them in line with one another. Various entities work hard to ensure that no rogue sites are implementing policies that give the industry a bad name. One of the more reputable groups out there, the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC), is an association that serves as a collective voice for the interactive gaming industry.

With the always changing atmosphere of online gaming, the IGC works hard to ensure that players are treated fairly in an honest environment, and that people employ responsible gaming. The IGC takes a two-pronged approach: improving the sites offering the games, and increasing awareness among those playing the games.

All members of the IGC are wholly dedicated to achieving the goals-even if lofty-they outline, and like any reputable community, they welcome new members and comments and support from individuals with constructive criticism and ideas on how to improve the Council’s effectiveness and leadership capabilities.

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eCOGRA - Leading Auditors in the Online Gambling Industry

26 August 2009

eCOGRA is one of the most reputable names in the online gambling industry. They act as an independent standards authority, ensuring that fair and honest policies are enacted and carried out by casinos and poker rooms.

The non-profit organization oversees the gaming site’s actions, acts in the best interests of the player, and will provide these measures wherever online gambling is legal. According to eCOGRA’s mission statement, their goal is to deliver the aforementioned player imperatives at any quality site carrying the eCOGRA Seal.

Apart from protecting players against shady site practices, eCOGRA also acts as a quasi-lawyer for players who’ve been mistreated. eCOGRA will inform players of all rights and responsibilities they have, and all findings will be reported through their home site. They also act as a mediator to quash problems between players and sites.

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UK Gambling Commission - What do they do?

29 July 2009

In order to rein in gambling practices in the UK, government officials worked to implement the Gambling Act in 2005. Due to the explosion of online gambling, the UK completely revamped their laws to include participation of online games in the new legislation.

In order to make sure everyone within the jurisdiction abided by the same lawful practices, the UK Gambling Commission was started in October of 2005. This commission has filled the role that was previously played by the Gaming Board for Great Britain. Among its many duties were regulating casinos, bingo halls, lotteries and gaming machines.

Today’s Gambling Commission has taken on some new roles, and now has the responsibility of regulating all betting practices in remote gambling. The commission is also charged with the task of protecting children by keeping them away from the games, and to raise awareness of gambling addiction and the role it plays in society.

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What is the UIGEA

19 August 2008

Many disappointed gamblers gather together to discuss their country’s ban of internet gambling. On October 13, 2006, President George W. Bush signed a bill into affect that banned internet gambling. More specifically, banks and other credit cards, e-wallets, etc, which transfer the money back and forth. Though many see it as a clear-cut case of Christian values being forced upon a "free" country, the logical see it as nothing more than the government’s way of cracking down on tax evasion.

If a person visits one of the United States’ legitimate casinos, i.e. one of the Trump monstrosities in Atlantic City, then he or she is taxed on their winnings. But if that same person has free reign to slowly drain $50,000 from their internet account, $3,000 at a time, how would it be taxed? Regardless of what is true and what is false, this situation is sticky for all gambling lovers.

This Nation of Nations, which was constructed to be an equal opportunity land, by the people and for the people, has always been about the few, discarding the many. In ancient Rome, members of the senate would crucify a citizen for not paying homage to the gods. Even in Tudor England, 2,000 years later, men and women were slaughtered for not abiding to the chosen faith.

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