Is Odds On owned by
English Harbour?
Brian Cullingworth of INFOPOWA Reporting...
Player outrage grew this week as the unusual circumstances surrounding the
failure of Forty Plus Casino continued to come to light, with
questions being asked about the relationship that software provider
Odds On has with its only surviving licensee the English
Harbour group.
Just over two weeks back Forty Plus Casino made an unannounced and abrupt
departure, leaving unpaid players in its wake. CEO George Finley
and Casino Manager Alan Roberts vanished and ignored
all emails, having assured players in the preceding weeks that their overdue
payouts would be honoured.
The turnkey provider for Forty Plus is Odds On, but astonishingly this
Toronto-based company and its CEO Pierre Gagnon issued no
public or private player communications in the weeks following the casino's
failure. And attempts over the past week or more by InfoPowa to get comment
and answers to legitimate questions regarding this affair were ignored.
Players were not prepared to allow the matter to lie unanswered, however and
the main message boards were soon filled with indignant posts and persistent
claims that Odds On and its sole surviving licensee English Harbour, together
with e-processor Virtual Exchange and EC Exchange
and marketing outfit IP Marketing had a common ownership
bond.
And it appears from information that is still coming in that this
relationship requires more explanation.
With the message boards bristling, this week Gagnon sallied out from behind
his wall of silence. But it was not to make a public statement. Instead he
made a private telephone call to Bryan Bailey, webmaster of
the Casinomeister portal in which he made the astounding
claim that Odds On accepted no responsibility because it had no access to the
casino backend, had not known what was going on at its licensee, did not know
where the owners had gone and was in any case merely the software supplier.
Gagnon also claimed to Bailey that he had no information regarding the
financial status of Forty Plus because the casino had used an e-processor
independent of Odds On's usual supplier for this critical service. Cynics
immediately asked how Odds On kept track of its Royalty dues if it did not
know what was happening at its licensee.
Perhaps concerned at the escalating issue, English Harbour
then posted widely across the industry that it was in no way connected with
Forty Plus Casino, but that it had confidence in Odds On as its software
supplier. When asked to explicitly deny or confirm any common ownership
connections with Odds On in order to allay rampant speculation, the casino
group inexplicably remained silent.
As we went to press some surprising and as yet unconfirmed information was
coming in from a variety of sources, and efforts to track down the Forty Plus
owners without the cooperation of Odds On continued.
In today's industry the "we're just the software provider" approach is an
unacceptable cop-out as far as online gamblers are concerned, and the player
community expects providers to stand behind and properly monitor the conduct
of their licensees. At the very least Odds On should have communicated with
the players and investigated the possibilities of arranging a bailout for them
through another casino.
Odds On has seen several licensees fail, among them Vegas Player
which appeared around July 2002 and by October had disappeared, re-emerging in
December under new iCrystal software as part of Gambling Federation. It is
understood that Odds On eventually assisted players in that closure.
Another contentious failure was Casino 388
that reportedly did not give players the courtesy of payment when it folded.
There was a warning at that time on 'Gambling Grumbles' which after a long
struggle gave the case up as hopeless.
Unless some radical re-thinking on this matter takes place at Odds On, the
damage to reputation is likely to be substantial, and future consumer
resistance to their product cannot be ruled out.
_____
English Harbor Responds to Sports911.com:
12.09.03 (5:54 pm EST) - Statement from English Harbor:
We at EH New Ventures feel it necessary to acknowledge recent comments being
directed towards the English Harbour group of casinos as a result of the
unfortunate demise of Forty Plus Casino, a former licensee of Odds On.
Though we understand the anger and frustration felt by those who have been hurt
by the closing of Forty Plus Casino and regret the position that they are left
in, it is important to note that this situation has nothing to do with our
operation. We continue to rely, with confidence, on OddsOn's software for
our players.
Sincerely,
English Harbour Group
MERRY
CHRISTMAS FROM FORTY PLUS CASINO: FORTY PLUS ROW GATHERS MOMENTUM
