Kahnawake regulator releases 2012 player dispute stats

The Kahnawake Gaming Commission, which supervises literally hundreds of online gambling websites licensed in the First Nation sovereign jurisdiction located just outside Montreal in Quebec, has released statistics from its professional Dispute Resolution Officer covering the year 2012.

During the year, the Commission received 620 complaints and carried over 304 outstanding cases from 2011, making a total of 924 complaints in all.

Of this total, 144 did not satisfy the Commission’s criteria and were not accepted as valid complaints.

The 780 valid complaints were categorised by subject as follows:

* 51 complaints pertained to locked or closed player accounts;
* 590 complaints pertained to late, delayed, or non-payment to player;
* 63 complaints pertained to questions of fairness on operator sites;
* 77 complaints were categorized as miscellaneous.

The present status of the 780 validated complaints is that 448 have been resolved, with 66.52 percent of resolutions favouring the player and 150 closed as unfounded.

During 2012, June was the biggest month for complaints on 135, with July following on 75 disputes.

332 issues remain unresolved, pending, or outstanding, mainly comprising 311 outstanding complaints related to the Absolute Poker/Ultimate Bet file and the seizure of assets by the U.S. Department of Justice on April 15, 2011.

In 2009, the KGC made a commitment to improve the dispute resolution process for players of licensed operators, appointing a highly experienced and respected former member of the industry as Dispute Resolution Officer, with a dedicated complaints email address as well as a pull-down option for complaints on the Feedback section of the KGC website.

All complaints must be in writing within not less than seven days, and not more than six months after date on which the subject matter of the complaint first arose. Complaints must contain clear information about the complainant’s identity and provide all the relevant details regarding the complaint and the steps that were taken to address the issue with the operator.

All complaints are acknowledged within twenty-four (24) hours and entered on a master case file. As soon as practicable after a complaint is received, the Commission will review the complaint submission to establish its validity before initiating a full investigation which will include enquiries with the operator named in the complaint.

Operators are required to respond in detail within seven days to any complaint under investigation by the Disputes Officer, and complainants are given a report on the outcome of the dispute process

After its investigations of a complaint are complete, the Commission will take one or more of the following actions:

* Dismiss the complaint as unfounded;
* Uphold the complaint in whole or in part;
* Direct the operator to take remedial steps;
* Direct an operator to pay the costs incurred by the Commission in its investigation; and/or
* Issue any other directions it deems appropriate under the circumstances.

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