Test houses
Arguably one of the most important components of the igaming industry, test houses will give you peace of mind about your gameplay and how an online casino functions. This page explores how these work, what they do and the important part that they play in ensuring that online gambling is fair.
What do test houses do?
A test house is essentially an accredited auditing agency which works with the relevant gambling commission to make sure that a gaming operator complies to a strict set of rules that is in place. As such, test houses are entrusted with monitoring and testing any operator who possesses a gambling license to make sure they are abiding by the regulations.
One of the most important jobs, particularly from a player’s perspective, is analysing all of the casino games to make sure that they really are random and don’t favour any particular sequence or . This helps to keep the gameplay fair and ensuring that the UK gambling scene is safe for all legitimate players.
The main test houses
There are a number of test houses which service the hugely popular igaming industry, each of which has been approved by the UK Gambling Commission and works alongside them to ensure everything remains fair. We take a look at the main ones below!
eCOGRA: Known by its full name as e-Commerce Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance, this company is arguably the big player among its competitors.
Established in 2003 at around the time when the main gambling companies began to build seriously online, they are a leading, independent and internationally approved testing company, which specialise in the certification of online gaming software and systems.
eCOGRA has a number of industry awards relating to ISO accreditation, while staff members have a wealth of legal, financial, technological and business administration experience, with the majority having worked for some of the biggest management consultancies in the world. eCOGRA is extremely well thought of in the world of online gambling and boasts an impressive client list.
GLI: Standing for Gaming Labs International, they bought another testing house in 2010 (Technical Systems Testing – founded in 1993). Established in 1989, the company has tested nearly 2 million items and has both consulted on and/or testing equipment in more than 475 countries. Over the years, they have carved out a niche for themselves, becoming specialists in lottery providers and are well respected in the industry.
iTech Labs: Operational since 2004 and based principally in Australia, iTech Labs is a globally renowned testing and certification laboratory with expert staff across multi-disciplines. With some of the biggest clients across the iGaming industry, they work in a number of regions, including Australia, Asia and Europe. Their senior management alone has more than 100 hours of testing and certifying gambling equipment and online gambling technology.
Our commitment to fair gaming
As an affiliate website, we strictly only work with and recommend online bingo sites that have been approved and are regulated by the UK Gambling Commission. This means that you can be sure that all of the sites that we review are honest and fair. We want to make sure that your experience is flawless at all times and put a lot of effort into investigating sites which we feel confident are tested on a regular basis.
FAQs
We appreciate that you may have some questions about points that we may not have covered above, so have endeavoured to answer the most popular ones to the best of our ability.
If there is a question that you have relating to a point that you feel we haven’t covered, feel free to get in touch via the ‘Contact Us’ page and we will do our best to respond swiftly with a detailed answer.
Are all casino games fair?
Every site that we work with and recommend has been approved and licensed by the UK Gambling Commission and as a result is subject to continuous scrutiny from its own test house partner, which means that every casino game that we recommend is fair. We cannot necessarily speak for other sites that aren’t listed on our website, however, if they have been approved by the UKGC or an equivalent Gambling Commission, it generally all of their casino games are indeed fair.
How do I know if a site has been tested by a test house?
If a casino site has a specific logo of the test house partner (such as eCOGRA), then you know for a certainty that a site has been tested. However, there may be instances where this isn’t the case, but instead, the site may have the UK Gambling Commission logo, which usually, in the majority of cases means that the site will have been tested by a test house. The UKGC constantly monitors every site to make sure that they are not illegally using their logo and severely punish any site which does.
Are all test houses trustworthy?
Every test house has to be financially independent, therefore not susceptible to any bribes from operators. Also, many of them have been around a long time and well respected in the industry and maintain good relationships with a number of global gambling commissions.
What’s the biggest test house?
The most well-known is eCOGRA, even though it hasn’t been around as long as a couple of the others. In terms of awards and industry recognition, eCOGRA is certainly very well thought of by the authorities and have a high number of employees from the ‘Big 4’ accountancy firms which helps to further lends accreditation and legitimacy. However, an Australian firm, GLI is a big player and has been around since 1989.
How do I complain if I believe a game is not fair?
If you believe a game is not fair, the best way of making a complaint is generally directed to the relevant gambling commission of the site which you found the game on. They can then take the appropriate steps, however, if you are going to make a complaint it is definitely worth having just cause, so collect and document as much as evidence as you can to make your case.