1. Regulatory Compliance. OGA members will operate their online gaming properties under a legitimate gaming license from an OGA-approved sovereign jurisdiction and will abide by the laws and regulations of that jurisdiction. The jurisdiction, governing body and license number will be made available to players by the gaming site.
2. Accountability. To instill player confidence, OGA members operating their online gaming properties from a sovereign jurisdiction voluntarily agree to make their software, algorithms, servers and methods available for inspection and review by any legitimate gaming commission or governmental authority of that jurisdiction.
- Periodic Review. All OGA members agree to undergo periodic, unannounced testing and review of operations and practices by OGA or, at OGA's request, by any independent testing authority recognized by OGA.
3. Fairness of Games. OGA member sites and gaming operations will be powered by Grand Virtual software which ensures fair and completely random play.
- Uses industry standard odds and rules;
- Has a sophisticated Random Number Generator (RNG) and thoroughly vetted gaming algorithms designed to make simulated devices or actions, such as roulette wheels, rolling dice or card shuffling, behave in the same manner as their corresponding real-life versions.
- Has truly random play that is both statistically verified through millions of trials during periodic functional testing and empirically confirmed through analysis of actual gaming results;
- Uses the same algorithms and odds to ensure that free or no-money versions of the games are behaviorally equivalent to real-money games, within the limits of the random-number generators employed.
4. Prompt Payouts. All OGA members strive to make payouts as secure, safe and prompt as possible. Members offer a range of payout methods and always attempt to use the most expedient method allowed by the player's preferences and enabled payment instruments.
5. Payout Percentages. Aggregate payout percentages will be made available to players and randomly verified by OGA or another reputable, independent 3rd party auditing organization approved by OGA. Payout percentages will use the accepted industry standard of calculating the total winnings as a percentage of total wagers, either for a particular game or aggregated for the entire gaming system over a suitable number of games to constitute statistically meaningful results.
6. Posted Rules. The rules for each game on OGA member sites will be posted so players can access them at any time during play, and the gaming software will be regularly tested to assure that it executes according to the posted rules.
7. Truth in Advertising. OGA members will be accurate and truthful when promoting odds, payout percentages, jackpots and winnings.
8. Fiscal Probity. In upholding their fiduciary responsibility to be prudent and circumspect in their financial operations, OGA members will:
- Ensure that there is adequate financing available to pay all obligations to vendors, suppliers, partners and affiliates and that sufficient working capital is available to maintain viable, ongoing operations;
- Maintain sufficient cash reserves to be able to handle anticipated winning payouts plus all legitimate withdrawals of player deposits on hand;
- Keep accurate records of financial activity in accordance with generally accepted best practices within the industry;
- Pay legitimate winnings and account balances on demand in a timely manner as allowed by players' enabled payment instruments;
- Follow and adhere to all relevant jurisdictional laws pertaining to financial and transaction reporting;
- Conduct their banking and financial affairs in accordance with generally accepted standards of internationally recognized financial institutions.
9. System and Data Security. OGA members will use the best technology and operational practices to protect players' sensitive financial information, including credit card numbers, expiration dates, billing addresses and other account data. This high security methodology will cover all of the following:
- Data transmission over the Internet,
- Data storage, data archiving,
- Data transmission to private financial networks,
- Data handling and data access by authorized users,
- Internal and external breaches of the network, firewalls, systems, physical environment, banking connections, gaming applications and databases.
10. Player Privacy and Confidentiality. In order to protect player privacy and confidentiality, OGA members will:
- Never disclose personal or financial information provided by players to third party organizations except as necessary to conduct player-authorized financial transactions or to satisfy lawful requirements by authorized government agencies;
- Only use generic gaming activity data for research and analysis;
- Mask the full identity of players when promoting or announcing their winnings publicly (e.g. by using a player-defined Screen Name intended for public use or, if not available, then by using only first name/last initial and country - "Hans B from Germany just won $5000 in roulette");
- Put adequate controls in place to restrict gaming employee access to personal or financial information on the basis of job function;
- Post their privacy and confidentiality policies for players to review.
11. Connection Integrity. OGA members will take steps to insure that wagers and game states are protected in case of player disconnection or power failure during play.
12. Superior Player Support. All OGA members are dedicated to providing unsurpassed player support, including:
- Providing content and support in a choice of more than a dozen major languages;
- Answering questions in a timely, courteous manner;
- Providing player interfaces, games, rules and websites in a choice of more than a dozen major languages;
- Offering built-in player-accessed account management utilities to change password, contact information, update e-mail address, etc.;
- Using an integrated secure online wallet to hold billing and payment account information;
- Making available a secure "Record of Transactions" online utility for each player to view all purchases, cashouts and financial transactions;
- Providing multiple avenues for dispute or problem resolutions;
- Being receptive to suggestions, feedback and complaints in order to improve every player's experience.
13. Player Registration, Authenticity and Verification. OGA members will require players to register and provide sufficient identification to reasonably permit authentication for financial transactions and to have viable contact information to correct any errors so that payments go to the intended player. Players seeking real-money gaming will be asked to provide:
- Name
- Unique account Login Name and Password
- Billing Address (to make payments and receive winnings)
- Age
- Locality of residence (if different from billing address)
- Functioning e-mail address (for good communication and problem resolution)
- Verification of Account (providing documentation to verify account information)
14. Restrict Access by Minors. OGA members will require players to affirm they are of legal age, institute reasonable measures to confirm the information and block access by minors when identified.
15. Reduce Problem Gambling. OGA members will implement adequate procedures to identify and curtail compulsive gambling by problem gamblers, including posting loss limits, offering direct access to addiction-coping agencies and making referrals to other counseling organizations.
16. Fraud Screening. OGA members will diligently use comprehensive fraud screening tools to detect fraudulent activity and employ the built-in controls to block future access by players who engage in fraud. Furthermore, members will contribute their fraud screening data to the OGA Risk Management Database that is available to all members so every gaming site in the Alliance will have the advantage of denying access to known cheaters. Whenever possible, OGA members will cooperate fully with local, regional and national authorities to help prosecute fraudulent players to the fullest extent allowable by law.
17. Posting Terms of Use. OGA members will post the terms and conditions by which players may use their online gaming property for real-money play.
18. Bonus Terms and Conditions. OGA members will post the terms and conditions for awarding bonuses or other forms of promotional compensation.
19. Dispute Resolution and Data Archiving. In order to provide prompt and efficient dispute resolution, all OGA members will retain detailed transaction and gaming records which will be archived in a safe, secure offsite facility and which will be accessible by OGA or by any legitimate gaming commission or government authority of the jurisdiction that issued the gaming license. Players may request that OGA arbitrate in any dispute with an Alliance member. In such cases, the decision rendered by OGA will be final and binding on all parties.
20. Interactive Gaming Council. All OGA members will abide by the Code of Conduct established by the Interactive Gaming Council (IGC), the premier trade organization of the online gaming industry.
21. Superior Entertainment. All OGA members will provide superior gaming entertainment through the exclusive use of Grand Virtual software for the best in entertaining, realistic, multimedia games. To learn more about Grand Virtual technology, please visit www.grandvirtual.com.
22. OGA Link. All OGA members will display the Online Gaming Alliance logo to assure players that their online gaming site adheres to this Code of Conduct.
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