Look for the "Play It Safe" Seal at your site

Thanks for the tip.
Good to know that the site i regularly play at isn't on the list :S

Have you ever had any issues with your site? Or do you know anyone who has had an issue that has gone on unresolved because they felt they didn't have anyone to turn to?

So Riverbelle Poker, Trident Poker and 3 Piggs Poker (wtf!) are "approved" sites, but Pokerstars, Full Tilt and Party Poker aren't? I note sites have got to pay a "fee" to be approved. What a load of bull.

Here's some more information about eCOGRA:

*ding ding ding*
Someone's got it!

on a side note, if anyone would like a "Fish Seal of Approval" icon to post on their website, blog, pokersite, or even a bumpersticker, I can provide this service to you as long as you adhere to my strict standards.

STANDARDS
1. Send $50 to me.
2. That is all.

Actually guys you're wrong, people don't pay a cent to be an approved eCOGRA site, it's done purely on merit.

Au contraire

9.Once approved by eCOGRA's independent directors, a Members Agreement is entered into between eCOGRA and the software supplier;
10.The software supplier becomes liable for eCOGRA fees.

From an eCOGRA member of staff:

"I had a look at the recent posts and interesting to see that there's a perception that sites need to pay a fee to be approved, however I'm not sure where the person got this idea. We don't receive anything from the sites, so whether we approve 1 or 100 sites it makes no difference to us from afinancial perspective.

We're genuinely in place for the players' protection."

From THEIR website, where did they think I did?

Item number 10 on their Membership Process. Maybe i'm just a cynic like Fish, but as far as i'm aware, Poker players have no legal recourse to regain money that is owed to them by Poker sites. If a new player had concerns about this and asked me for advice re a site to play on, I would advise they stick to a) a large established site like Pokerstars or Full Tilt, b) a limited company - Party Poker or c) a site backed by an established and respected bookmaker - Ladrokes, William Hill, Victor Chandler. I wouldn't recommend that they deposit to 3 Piggs Poker, regardless of whether they have received accreditation from eCOGRA. OK they can offer mediation and assistance, but they offer no protection to money, nor do they (please correct me if i'm wrong) investigate the financial stability of these sites.

Again, if i'm wrong then i'll apologise, but in my eyes and until i'm convinced otherwise, the eCOGRA seal of approval carries as much weight as the Fish seal of approval.

(N.B most of the sites shown as accredited are prima sites - can we read anything into this?).

So there's the explanation of why 5 of the 8 listed sites run on the Prima Network. So a poker site, run on Prima software, verifies its strength by getting accredited by eCOGRA, funded by, errr, Prima. It gets worse and worse!

Sorry Nick, if you're in contact with Andrew again, can you ask him

a) why 888.com and Betandwin aren't shown on the list of approved sites?
b) why the big boys - Pokerstars, Party Poker etc aren't accredited?
and c) whether any sites have failed to get eCOGRA's approval (if not, why not, if yes, why aren't they shown on site?).

Nick sir, no offence but it appears you've been taken in by a giant load of horse crap.

I haven't even looked at the site, I just need to look at the OP to see that it's nonsense.

If you come across cashout issues you invariably have no recourse. There's nothing you can legally do if a poker site decides to just keep your money (mainly to do with the fact that (a) playing online poker is technically illegal in many places, and (b) most poker sites are based in obscure, unregualted places), and there's nothing more that this utterly meaningless 'organisation' can do either.

So this is either (a) an incredibly crap attempt at self-promotion, or (b) some kind of build-up to a scam. Probably (a).

Maybe that topp44 guy was onto something with his Prima bashing!

This disclaimer is at the bottom of their online "certifications":

This just decertifies the "certification". What good is it? Even they themselves admit they can't do much.

eCOGRA is an oragnization that is advocates for players. It has and does successfully advocate for the online player and have had funds returned to players when they were wrongly withheld on eCOGRA certified sites. The organization has been around for three years and works extensively to provide a free dispute resolution service for online gamers.

Entire gaming jurisdictions approve of eCOGRA's standards and some have waived regulation requirements for online gaming venues that are eCOGRA certified. That means that these standards meet and even exceed government regulations in numerous jurisdictions.

Card rooms and casinos that are certified undergo extensive testing by independent auditing companies. The seal is a symbol of ongoing site monitoring and indicates that that site is dedicated to fair gaming, player protection and responsible operator conduct.

and none are listed as approved, why is party poker, pokerstars, paradise poker, cdpoker, sbg and others not approved some are listed on the london stock exchange and i;ve never had a problem cashing out of any of them.