GAMBLING FEDERATION: from malware to larceny

Sunday, May 29, 2005

GAMBLING FEDERATION: from malware to larceny

Some software providers certainly know how to pile misconduct on top of misconduct.

In early 2005 it was discovered that the Gambling Federation casino group had added a piece of "malware" (malicious software) to their casino download packages, causing one of the registry keys of the users' computers to be changed and resulting in the the affected computers being unable to access the websites of a handful of Gambling Federation's competitor casinos.

Since computer-hacking is one of the worst cyber crimes in existence, Gambling Federation removed the malicious code as soon as they were caught and apologised for their over-zealous behaviour.

The fallout was tremendous: the group lost their membership of the two trade organizations to which they belonged - the IGC and the IGGBA, they were summarily placed on the Casinomeister rogue software list and they were vilified from all quarters of the industry.

Read the full story in the Gambling Federation malware thread at Casinomeister.

Sadly, it hasn't stopped there.

Recently, it came to public attention that Gambling Federation had revoked a gambler's €7000 winnings - approximately $9000 - for the given reason that the player had "multiple accounts". The player did indeed have many Gambling Federation accounts, but they were all at separate casinos, not the same casino, and there is nothing in the individual casino rules which prohibits this.

The rules for each casino state:

Player may only operate one active account at any time. Players opening multiple accounts without first voiding their existing account are subject to being excluded from the Casino with all wins forfeited. In order to void an account, Players must contact Customer Support.

There is no mention, on any Gambling Federation site, that the customer may not have individual accounts at any number of their casinos - all they rule against is having multiple accounts at the same casino - and there is no Gambling Federation "oversee" website which explains this.

In short: there is no way for customers to know that they may operate only one Gambling Federation account at a time, and that running more than one will result in any winnings being voided!

Furthermore, this would set a unique precedent: in the ten-year history of the online gambling business, NEVER has a software provider permitted only one account per customer over all the casinos under its wing. In fact, all things being equal, never has a customer been prevented from opening single accounts with ALL the license holders of a software provider. Of the 80 or so licensees of the Microgaming software, any one person may hold accounts at any and all those 80 casinos. The same goes for all the other providers.

So: does Gambling Federation truly want to limit customers to just the ONE account out of all 20 or 30 of their licensees?

Or is are they trying to find a rather creative way of avoiding a debt of $9000?

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