Congratulations to all the EGR 2010 winners. Image courtesy www.egrmagazine.com)

The 2010 EGR Awards were held last Wednesday night with the winners in each of a bunch of I-gaming related categories crowned.

One of the big winners on the night was bet365 who took out both ‘Casino Operator’ and ‘Operator of the Year’ awards.  Well deserved if you ask us – these guys always seem to be striving to do everything bigger and better than the competition.  They certainly apply this philosophy to their live casino operation.

Interestingly, while there were no fewer than 30 categories, including niches like ‘Skill Games’ and even a ‘Socially Responsible Operator’ award, there was no live games category this year.

Last year Unibet took out the (inaugural) award for 2009 European Live Gaming Operator .  I guess with no equivalent award this year they retain the title?

Congrats to all the winners and nominees.

The EGR B2B awards were held in London last week.  These awards were for suppliers to the industry – the software developers and various other product and service companies that the casinos use.

In the category of ‘live casino software supplier’ most of the platforms represented at livedealer.org were considered by the judges and included on the shortlist, including Playtech, Media Live Casino, Vuetec and Smart Gaming (no Microsoft…interesting).  But there could only be one winner…and that was Evolution Gaming.

Can’t say we disagree with the judges…the EG games are pretty slick and have put a bit of a rocket under this new online gambling format so it’s a well deserved win.

Interestingly, the judges also decided to give Evolution Gaming the ‘Rising Star of the year award’ – calling their product “category defining”.  Not sure what exactly this means, but it sounds very complimentary.

Congrats EG…keep up the good work!

Awards, certifications and testimonials in the online gambling industry should always be viewed with a healthy degree of skepticism.  Many are meaningless.  And while this one doesn’t exactly come with the same prestige as a best picture Oscar, it is one that I think is worthy of notice.  Primarily because the site handing out the award is a player forum with almost 14,000 members that has been operating  for over 10 years, and also because its owner seems very transparent and objective in his assessments.

Anyway, this got us thinking about what makes a great online casino?   There is always going to be an element of subjectivity around this question so it’s a difficult one to answer for the collective.  A good example of this is the fact that 32Red, the newly crowned online casino of the decade would not make my personal top 10 list, purely because it’s a bit light on for live dealer games.  But taking subjective elements like game preferences and putting them to the side, there are a bunch of criteria that should be very relevant to all players.

The universal ‘Great Casino Attribute’ list

Trust factor -

It’s pointless playing at a casino you don’t trust. You want to be absolutely confident that the amount showing in your account balance is as good as money in your bank account.  But how do you quantify the level of trust you can attribute in a given casino?

Here’s a suggestion.  Take the following considerations into account:

• License:
  Is the casino licensed by a respected Euro region licensing authority?
  UK Gambling Commission
  Gibraltar Regulatory Authority
  Lotteries and Gaming Authority
  Alderney Gambling Control Commission
• Size:
  Is the casino’s holding company stock exchange listed?
  Has the casino served more than a million players?
  Has the casino invested tens of millions of dollars in it’s brand through mainstream sponsorship and advertising?
• Certifications:
  Is the casino eCOGRA (or equivalent) certified and are historical gaming returns audited and published?
• Software:
  Are the games powered by a well known platform provider?

If a casino ticks all of these boxes, then trust will not be an issue.  You just need to be concerned with trying to win.

Service factor -

Here we are looking at the extent to which the casino is equipped to best meet your needs in getting up and running and playing the games with as little inconvenience as possible.

• Banking
  Does the casino have the size and financial muscle to provide a broad offering of banking and account keeping options including a wide choice of currencies, and deposit/withdrawal options – including those of the best known virtual wallets such as PayPal ?
• Support
  Is toll free support offered to a range of countries and in a variety of languages?
• Rewards programs
  Is an extensive rewards and promo program operated, to maximize players chances of winning?

Believe it or not there are many casinos that tick all of these boxes.  And a very long list that tick all but one or two.  Names such as William Hill, 888.com, Unibet, bet365 and of course 32Red are all on that list and give you a good starting point before turning to personal gaming preferences to pick where you want to play.

Not sure if its a Latvian thing, but smiles did seem a little hard to come by.  That was until we came across Jekatarina on one of the Gold blackjack tables.  Inspired by her warmth and bubbly personality, and a smile that seemed to be a permanent fixture on that very pretty face, the ‘Dealer of the Week’ award was born.

And inaugural winner…Jekatarina of course!

Congrats and keep on smiling!

LD