America Should Look to Europe for Online Gambling Regulation

Those in-charge of America’s policies on online gambling should learn some lessons from the handling of allegations of rigged software at two popular European gambling sites.

A five month investigation was carried out by the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority which it claims demonstrated a high level of openness necessary between regulators and casino operators.

According to one gambling mathematician who questioned the fairness of two games, the probe opens the door to future abuses.

The case involved games called ReelDeal and HiLo where players bet on the rank and suit colour of a card pulled from a virtual deck. One player kept track of over 19,000 hands which showed that the results were skewed beyond what random chance would allow.

However, the report from Gibraltar’s Gambling Commissioner Phill brear said that no evidence was found of adaptive software or dishonesty. Furthermore, he said that the player violated the casino rules by using multiple accounts and bots.

As states look into rules governing online gambling they must ensure that the regulators avoid becoming too close to those they oversee and that casinos have adequate protection against cheats. Furthermore, it is absolutely essential that casinos are forced to adhere to extremely high standards of fair play.