Almost seven in ten complaints received by the independent standards and player protection association – eCOGRA - in 2007 were settled in favour of the player.

The group has just released their annual report for 2007 and it again clearly displays eCOGRA’s strength in the industry.

eCOGRA oversees the online gambling activities of some 120 tier-one online casinos and poker rooms owned by some of the biggest and most established operators on the Internet and offers players a dispute resolution service at those sites awarded eCOGRA’s Safe and Fair seal.

The body reported a total of 783 complaints for 2007, which was up on the previous year, but 93 of these were dealing with sites outside eCOGRA’s sphere of influence. In addition, a further 45 complaints were invalidated for reasons of insufficient information or irrelevant enquiry.

“The number of valid disputes received increased over the past year and I believe this is a result of players becoming more aware of our mediation service and our ability to respond quickly in achieving a fair outcome,' said Tex Rees, Fair Gaming Advocate for eCOGRA.

'Resolutions in favour of the player reached 68 percent and there appears to have been fewer ‘chancers’ submitting questionable complaints in 2007. I suspect that this is because there is a greater awareness that complaints will be thoroughly investigated in pursuit of a fair and unbiased resolution.

'It is very reassuring to note that the average number of valid disputes received per approved site per month remains particularly low at 0.44 percent. This is a clear indication that the approved operators, together with eCOGRA, are being effective in meeting the need for fair gaming, player protection and responsible operator behaviour.”

The average dispute per site per month remained at less than one half of one percent while Rees reported an enviable average response time of less than 72 hours per complaint.