Earlier this week, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission (KGC) issued a report outlining dispute resolutions for the 2011 calendar year. Overall, there were a large number of disputes reported to the KGC last year, a stanza that included Black Friday and subsequent industry upheaval. Read the report.In accordance with its regulations, the KGC provides an opportunity for individual players to resolve conflicts with any of its licensed operations. This effort was increased in 2009, when the KGC installed a Dispute Resolution Officer and also created an easier method for reporting complaints. Through these methods, the KGC is attempting to mediate any disputes between players and online gaming companies that it licenses.
In 2011, the KGC received 1,340 complaints from customers of online gaming sites (17 were carried over from 2010). A total of 162 of those complaints were summarily dismissed by the KGC, as they were viewed as being invalid or not regarding a licensed KGC operation. That leaves 1,178 complaints that the KGC acted upon last year.
The breakdown of those 1,178 complaints covered a vast array of subjects. Seventy-nine complaints were logged in regards to locked or closed player accounts, 49 regarded the fairness of sites, and 87 were categorized by the KGC as “miscellaneous.” The largest number of complaints surrounded late, delayed, or non-payment of a player’s funds, totaling 963 complaints.In its summary report, the KGC provides an update as to the status of the 1,178 complaints. A total of 874 of them have been resolved; 169 of the 874 were dismissed as unfounded and 705 were upheld in favor of the person filing the complaint. Interestingly, 304 of the cases remain unresolved, whereas at the end of 2010, only 17 cases were carried over into the next calendar year.
A look at the monthly breakdown of the complaints received by the KGC reflects what occurred in the online poker world in 2011. Prior to Black Friday, the KGC received 26 complaints regarding locked player accounts, 82 reports of late payments, and 17 complaints about the fairness of sites. Starting in April, however, these numbers exploded across the board.
From April to August, the KGC maintained steady a number of complaints logged regarding locked accounts (37) and site fairness (16). The numbers exploded in the area of payments from online sites, however, with the KGC receiving 681 complaints during this period about that topic.
September through December saw the numbers return to some semblance of normalcy, with 12 locked account complaints, 15 fairness questions, and 193 non-payment complaints filed.
One reason for the large number of complaints could stem from the fact that the KGC was involved with both Full Tilt Poker and the CEREUS Network. Absolute Poker and UB, which together comprise the CEREUS Network, were licensed and regulated by the KGC. Full Tilt Poker held a secondary license from the KGC that was renewed even after its primary licensee, the Alderney Gambling Control Commission, first suspended Full Tilt's operating license in June and then revoked it in September.UB, Absolute Poker, and Full Tilt Poker have all failed to pay players back following Black Friday.
The final numbers for the year present the stark reality of the online gaming world in 2011. What will be interesting to see is if the numbers remain high – and what the resolution of the 304 outstanding cases from 2011 will be – or whether the number of disputes logged by the KGC was, in fact, an aberration stemming from the unique circumstances of a difficult year.
Canada
United Kingdom
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Australia
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Denmark
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Sweden
Brazil
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