Internet casinos to share customer information

Friday, June 25, 1999 | 11:09 a.m.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The Interactive Gaming Council, a coalition of 60 companies that operates or supplies Internet gambling sites on the World Wide Web, is offering a risk management database for its members.

The database, announced Thursday at the Global Internet Gaming Summit and Expo, would give association members the ability to screen credit-card users and make decisions about their willingness and ability to pay before they gamble.

The database is one of the first initiatives to address credit-card charge-back problems experienced by some online casinos. A high-profile lawsuit is pending in California, where a woman countersued Providian National Bank, Visa and MasterCard when the bank took her to court for failure to pay her credit card bill.

The woman ran up $70,000 in gambling debts in 50 online casinos she accessed from California. Her defense is based on the fact Internet gambling is illegal in California. Similar suits have been filed elsewhere in recent weeks.

The IGC, based in Vancouver, has provided a number of consumer-oriented initiatives involving the online gaming industry. Thursday's announcement introduced the vendor that will develop and manage the database, Vancouver-based Riptide Technologies Inc., a software designer. Terms of the agreement were not announced.

Alan Schneider, executive director of the IGC, said the database is the fourth major program initiated by the association, which was formed in 1996.

The group developed a voluntary code of conduct for members that addresses issues ranging from truth in advertising and accountability to limiting access to minors and controlling compulsive gambling.

The organization offers A Helping Hand, a program designed to help Internet players determine if they have a compulsive gambling problem and how they can get assistance.

Earlier this year, the IGC also unveiled its Seal of Approval Program, which acknowledges members that adhere to the code of conduct and agree to an arbitration mechanism for consumer claims against member organizations.

"It functions very much like the Better Business Bureau," Schneider said of the Seal of Approval Program.

IGC members say the program is designed to build credibility among customers. With dispute-resolution procedures in place, the IGC hopes to bolster confidence in the industry among skeptical potential customers.