eCOGRA

When eCOGRA first started out I was very excited at the possibility of an actual online gambling regulation commission which supposedly had no outside influence from the online casinos they have self-commissioned themselves to regulate. That to an old vet in the biz was refreshing news and I quickly contacted them to be listed in their approved casino portal section because as I told them,  if anybody deserves to be listed there its my site(s) because I have an extensive list of people I have helped get satisfaction from online casinos which were not showing the integrity that they should have been showing (ie not paying people on cashins was and continues to be the most prominent problem I encounter).

Although I have seldom ever had a casino I list treat someone badly ...  (only twice in going on 7 years have I ever had to send someone money to uphold my guarantee and even then ... in both cases,  the respective casinos did eventually pay the players): I have helped many people with problems they had at casinos where they got ripped-off before they knew about my site(s). So I do have experience in these kind of dealings and at risk of sounding immodest,  I never asked nor gained anything for the time I spent except hopefully some loyal surfers (and I've been very successful at getting players satisfaction).

Well now the truth has come out about eCOGRA (perhaps truth is too strong a word as I am told that this information is available if you know where to look) and it seems they have not been entirely upfront about their origins.

 While they claim to not have influence by the casinos they self-imposed to regulate it turns out the money behind the site has come from the man responsible for Casino-on-net (888.com - one of the main contributors) which would not be the end of the world (in my opinion) but for the fact that the site has now shown to have a double standard: it has chosen to revoke the approval seal to the casinos belonging to the Jackpot Factory network for unscrupulous search engine optimization (a free way of getting visits from surfers by optimizing web pages so to gain the top listings on searches for keywords such as "casino"),  when in fact the Casino-on-net is well-known for also using such shady tactics. 

In other words they punished one group of casinos for having same ethics as another group they did not punish. A double-standard without a doubt and thus I must now distance myself from eCOGRA and sadly report that once again .... the only protection you really have when playing online is to have knowledge of - or surf a site (such as mine which guarantees its knowledge is correct with cold hard cash) of which casinos can be trusted to always pay their winners.

That said:  I think eCOGRA does still have its uses but those are diminished considerably with news of this coming out. Using it in combination with the clout I have, I imagine will still be more than just my own clout.  Meaning lets say a casino didn't pay someone then when I wrote the casino I'd not only mention my own public outrage at various forums pertaining to this niche,  but also file a formal complaint with eCOGRA.  So to that end I think it will still have effect but or rather I should say unless the problem was with Casino-on-net (also known as 888.com).  There are to my understanding some other big-wigs involved in online gambling which also were a big part in the creation of eCOGRA but I don't know off-hand who they are or how they relate. That part doesn't really matter anyway .. what matters to me is that when I see something happen that I think is unfair it causes a credibility question to form in my mind and that doesn't go away until a time that I see fairness for all involved.

*edited to add: It seems that at this time there has been "a suggestion of hope" that eCOGRA may be pressuring 888.com (Casino-on-net) to begin enforcing more stringently its T&Cs and stop supporting ... or paying those affiliates who use what is known as "black hat" marketing techniques ... or perhaps 888.com has decided to make the effort on its own.  We shall see in the near future whether  888.com is really sincere in stopping black hat marketers or not:  and that in turn will for me ... go a long ways towards what I think of eCOGRA.  But as long as a double standard exists ... it wouldn't be right for me to give eCOGRA my endorsement. 

I will remain at a wait and see position and give this the time it needs to work itself out and prove (at least to me) whether its backers and thereby eCOGRA are actually "too legit to quit". Please visit the appropriate links for my eCOGRA.org review (my original predictions and hopes about them). For a list of eCOGRA approved casinos (a list of casinos both approved by eCOGRA and covered by my guarantee).