Online gambling has been around for three decades now. Yet, following the economic downturns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it has expanded exponentially, with the number of remote gamblers now estimated to reach 291 million globally over the next five years.
Hence, there is no doubt that the world has a new favorite pastime, and technological advancements will only make this hobby more accessible. Outside of the obvious risk associated with this activity, people getting into financial trouble, falling prey to fraud, and unfair practices loom over those who desire to bet on the World Wide Web.
Enter watchdog organizations like Online United States Casinos. These entities ensure that the online gambling industry works smoothly and fairly. They have been tasked with or have taken on the task of safeguarding players and maintaining trust in the level of service this landscape expects to deliver. Here, we dive into this monitoring ecosystem, explaining its functioning and existence.
What Are Watchdog Organizations in Online Gambling?
The term watchdog organizations in the context of online gambling is a bit broad and can refer to various types of bodies. The first category is regulators or licensors. These are usually government-created entities that vet companies willing to offer gaming/betting/poker services to residents of a distinct region or internationally.
Examples include the Curacao Gaming Control Board and the Panama Gaming Control Board. They give licenses to businesses they think are eligible to host online gambling products that can be accessed remotely and check these periodically to ensure adherence to the criteria under which they have been approved. The UK Gambling Commission is considered the best regulator in Europe, and the Malta Gaming Authority is very well respected in international markets.
Then come testers, independent or semi-independent companies, who go through the software offered by gambling services, checking to see if everything is fair. For casino gaming, this involves auditing games’ random number generators to determine if they are supplying round outcomes in an arbitrary manner that is unaffected by anyone other than their utilized RNG algorithms that transform a seed number into a figure that no one can predict, which then undergoes the same procedure in a process that goes on until this software gets reset. eCOGRA, iTech Labs, and Technical Systems Testing (TST) are the most famous testers.
Lastly, we have what many call reviewer hubs. Online United States casinos are the main players in this domain, and like those, they promote transparency in the gambling process by uncovering all aspects of a gambling site. OUSC and its contemporaries analyze platforms, giving gamblers a detailed lowdown regarding what they supply and the overall quality of their service. Shady hubs that are unworthy of any attention get put on blacklists as ones to avoid.
Challenges Faced by Watchdog Organizations
One of the main issues for watchdogs, primarily testers and reviewers, is the wide gambling jurisdiction diversity they see. Such a high level of variety makes enforcing the same standards worldwide super tricky. The UK market has strict rules regarding player protection, going so far as to remove auto-play from all software games, mandate the implementation of wait times between slot spins, and far lower max bet options that other territories allow.
On the other hand, regions like Curacao, Anjouan, and Antigua are far laxer in general, giving operators much more leeway in the type of bonuses they can list, what functions the games can have, and being auto-play-friendly. Furthermore, they also have a much more permissive licensing process, where gambling companies do not have to show high liquidity/financial stability and management credibility before getting approved.
These and other deviations from place to place make it hard for watchdogs to convey and explain to gamblers that what is expected in one region may not be in another. Things banned in tightly regulated European markets are permitted in Caribbean, Latin American, and African markets, and vice versa.
Dispute Resolution & Responsible Gambling Advocacy
Regulators are not only there to let operators legally operate their businesses but also to help gamblers get a fair shake. Therefore, they must support players when they believe they have been mistreated. They do that by mediating disputes between users and gambling sites, rendering verdicts that must be followed by platforms and which are final, only disputable in court.
Reviewers such as the Online United States Casino mentioned above also do this. They try to act as a middleman between readers and hubs, threatening the latter to stop promoting them if they do not treat gamblers well.
Responsible gambling has been a hot topic in recent years, as due to the massive accessibility of casino/sports betting/poker websites, problem gambling rates have gone up everywhere.
Watchdogs ensure to mention safe wagering in their mission statements, and they push operators to do so, pressuring them to highlight the dangers of gambling addiction and provide links to organizations like GambleAware and GamCare that can guide people toward getting the proper treatment for this disorder. Some go so far as to post blog articles on topics connected to problem gambling, how individuals can overcome this affliction, and what they should do to avoid finding themselves in a financial pit from which they may struggle to escape.