Private Regulators Win Hands Down

After completing an exhaustive comparison of European government-run monopolies and private gambling operators, the European Gaming and Betting Association (EGBA) has been forced to admit that private markets do a better job at enforcing high levels of consumer protection.

The study was completed by eCOGRA at the request of the EGBA. eCogra, an independent non-profit certification company, may offer the best example of free-market regulation for internet gaming. If you’ve

ever visited online gaming sites, you may recognize the eCOGRA stamp of approval. The 100 plus websites they certify comply with certain standards of operations and agree to participate in the company’s dispute mediation process. By all accounts, the company is doing a good job. What’s more, eCOGRA is a brand–and must compete with any other company that decides to issue it’s own certification. Government monopolies don’t have to worry about this competition and thus, they don’t have the same impetus to perform and continually improve. If, as this study seems to confirm, self-regulation works so well, why then do we need uncle Sam or any other paternalistic government entity to protect us from the evils of online gambling?