Helping to protect the customer

What is your role at CasinoReviews?
I’m the Head of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Services for CasinoReviews.com. For those not familiar with ADR, we act as an alternative to the court system, allowing consumers to seek a third-party review of any complaint they may have. ADR systems are put in place for two reasons:
    I) To help relieve the pressure on an overburdened court system:
    II) To make pursuing a claim against a business more accessible and less intimidating for consumers.
Not just anyone can offer ADR services, however. Much like gambling operators, ADRs must be approved by the relevant 'competent authority' to manage consumer disputes for a sector. In our case, the competent authority who oversees our practice is the Maltese Consumer Affairs Council.
    CasinoReviews is the only ADR service to offer services free to gambling licensees as well as players. My day-to-day responsibilities for CasinoReviews include steering the team in the development and deployment of our complaint management system, managing the complaints that players submit and training up new ADR Officials.

Could you explain how CasinoReviews conducts its reviews? Is it simply a case of trying and testing the products?
We have invested substantially in our reviewing process and, while it’s not completely deployed yet, this is a high level priority for our site that will see big changes in the near future. Testing the product is certainly a core part of our reviewing process, but we’re looking past simple one-off testing, to take a far more robust approach that champions the player by prioritising both their experience and safety.
    The development of our reviewing process has been a huge undertaking that has involved engaging in substantial levels of user research to help us establish what players look for and value when they search for a casino review.Alongside this, we’re engaging with industry experts to ensure our reviews take into consideration the factors that players may not naturally consider, but which make a significant different to their safety and positive experience. How well regulated is the gambling operator? What responsible gambling tools and regulations protect players? Are licensees expected to ringfence player funds? What complaint management systems is the operator required to engage with? Are the games offered genuine in nature and tested by reputable gaming labs? Are the terms and conditions offered by the operator fair and reasonable?
    Our objective is to ensure we provide a comprehensive breakdown of the experience that players are likely to receive from a gambling operator. Simplifing the complex. Advocating for fairness. And raising standards across the industry.

How many jurisdictions does CasinoReviews work with, and do you plan on working?
Currently, we have eight country-specific versions of the site, covering jurisdictions in Europe, North America, Africa, Asia and Oceania, alongside our general site that is accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world. As far as the complaints service goes, we have to be available to any player in any country that MGA (Malta Gaming Authority) licensees can accept. We already have roadmaps laid out to allow us to expand our country specific services to numerous countries in Europe and South America. It’s going to be an exciting year.

Could you talk to us about CasinoReviews' new complaints process?
The complaint process is actually very straightforward. If you’ve got a complaint you would like us to review, you sign up, verify your email address and then submit your complaint via our on-site form. You can upload any supporting documentation at the same time. Once you’ve submitted your complaint, you can monitor the progress of your case either via our on site system, or you will receive and can respond to updates via your registered email address.
    Our team will then review your complaint and either respond asking for additional information or inform you that we will contact the operator. We then engage an exploration process, discussing the issue with both parties and requesting relevant information or evidence as required. Finally, a ruling is given on the matter and a complaint report is published to allow other players visibility on both the claim itself and our approach to managing complaints.

What are the advantages of an ADR service?
The advantages of ADR vary depending on your role in the sector:
Regulators: The workload involved in managing complaints can create a substantial burden for any regulatory authority. Alongside this, complaints can represent a substantial risk for the regulator. If a complaint is mishandled, the regulator bears direct responsibility for the consequences.
    By outsourcing complaints to ADR services, the regulator has reduced the workload burden for themselves. Instead of managing every claim, they take an oversight role ensuring that ADRs uphold appropriate standards. And if any claim draws negative press attention the regulator can be seen to act to review the matter and take appropriate action against the ADR, rather than being viewed as the party directly responsible.

Players: The reality is that the court systems are an expensive and slow road to addressing a complaint against a gambling operator and many players will simply be too intimidated by the process to even try. ADR removes these barriers, ensuring players can easily access redress. Alongside this, by imbuing ADRs with legal authority, they can provide rulings that are legally binding and enforceable.
    This provides a strength of ruling that simply cannot be achieved via informal complaint management systems. Finally, ADR within the gambling sector is provided as an extra right to the player. It is easier to access than the court systems but it also does not impede the player’s right to take their claim to the courts at a later date if they are not satisfied with the outcome.

Operators: CasinoReviews' model of ADR allows operators to engage independent dispute management at no additional cost to their business. Significantly, having a third-party review system improves consumer trust in the brand, the licence and the sector generally. We are required to publish regular reports on the performance of the sector, detailing ruling rates, money recovered and various other statistics to help engender consumer confidence in the market.

How important has the complaints service been for protecting customers?
CasinoReviews' complaint service is a continuation and improvement on the service that was established and run on ThePogg.com in 2011. Over that time, the service has reviewed over 7,000 complaints and helped return almost $8m. By anyone’s standards, that’s a significant achievement that has made a substantial difference for players.
    The complaint service has helped us identify problematic practices and steer players away from gambling operators where there is a higher risk of them experiencing problems. The potential for CasinoReviews to reach a wider audience is huge. And that means we can support more players, helping them resolve complaints, and guiding them to reputable and safe operators to play with. The additional authority that comes with acting as an ADR makes a substantial difference to how effective we are at resolving issue for players. When managing complaints against an operator who engages our ADR service, we are several times more effective at recovering money for consumers than we are when acting informally against other operators.

What are CasinoReviews’ plans for 2024?
2024 is going to be a very exciting year for CasinoReviews. As I mentioned earlier, we’ve plans to extend the services we’re offering to new markets, improve the reviews we publish to better focus on user need, and grow the complaints service so that it can reach and support more players.