Marty Jensen Steps Out From The Shadows

No Danes Allowed?

We here at Sports911 have written extensively in regard to online casino operator's unwillingness in allowing Danish citizens to play at their establishments or otherwise kicking them out.

Marty Jensen admittedly took this a few steps further by withholding a number of Danish players funds, only recently paying all of those owed. 

The pressure was certainly on Jensen after his purchase of theRx.com sports betting portal but he also fully admits mistakes were made.

Brian Cullingworth Question: The Danish bonus and winnings disqualifications two or more years back created a great deal of hostility to MSV among Danish folks and the playing community in general.  In more recent times we understand that you have admitted this was a mistake, and that you have now paid all claims made within your deadlines for this incident?  Are Danish players now welcome at your casinos, or are any "special" conditions applied to them (ie no bonuses or heavier wager thru' requirements?)

Marty Jensen: The Danish players are welcome but....there are higher player requirements for this particular group for them to receive and cash out any type of bonus. 

Sports911: For a specific group within the Danish community or the entire country of Denmark?

Marty Jensen: No.  If we see a "high risk" group we will impose these restrictions.  I believe the Danish are in this group and also there are groups in the Russian territories that we've identified as "high risk" also.  So if the normal requirement is say 10 times, those in the "high risk" groups will have to roll over 20 times.  You know, we are protecting ourselves.  If they come in and win, they get paid and all is good.

Sports911: How do you identify a "high risk" area?

Marty Jensen: It's an area or group of players - does not necessarily have to be a country - they are organized and seem to play just enough to make the bonus.  If all players came in and played just enough to get the bonuses every casino out there would go out of business.  We only win on average 2 percent so obviously if we're giving out a 100 percent bonus and this happens thousands and thousands of times, we are going to be losing money.  Playtech (software provider) has a lot of tools and we are always just looking for particular groups that are working together.  I can check IP addresses and different things to identify these groups. 

Sports911: Can you at least isolate it to a specific city in Denmark?

Marty Jensen: I don't believe we can isolate it to one city. 

Sports911: But don't you feel this is discrimination?  Obviously not all people in Denmark are out to scam your casinos.

Marty Jensen: You know, and you are right and that is a problem.  Unfortunately, there are going to be some good guys who get caught in a situation like that.  The good news is that PlayTech is fine tuning their software and in the future I believe we are going to be a little more exact in (terms) of which areas we ban.  The Danish situation was so widespread - not only for us but a lot of online casinos - that at the time we just blocked the entire country.  But to answer your question, yeah, there are legitimate people that get caught. 

Sports911: Would you do something similar for a region within the United States or Canada?

Marty Jensen: Absolutely.  We got hit by a group of players from Fargo!  There were about 30 of these guys who all knew each other.  I believe this is a city or a town.  We banned that whole city. 

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Jensen admits, without disclosing which online casino, that he too has been banned from playing at their casino for winning too much. 

The Threats and Barriers That Exist

Brian Cullingworth Question:  In more general business terms what do you consider to be the main threats to the natural evolution of online gambling (a) in the USA and (b) internationally?

Marty Jensen: In the United States it is the current administration.  I am quite optimistic about the rest of the world.  If I had one main concern related to international it would be the unscrupulous operators and there are a lot of bad operators in say Russia.  There needs to be some level of regulation.

Sports911: What about currency and language barriers?

Marty Jensen: In the Far East the people are reluctant to use credit cards online so that is definitely a barrier.  In the area of language, the games are pretty universal so I don't see that a major obstacle but no question, whether you are a sportsbook or online casino going after some foreign market, you really have to do your homework.  With Real Time Gaming we used to have our sites in Mandarin and Cantanese but without the right customer service geared towards these countries it just doesn't work out very well.

Brian Cullingworth Question:  Taking that question with a more positive approach, what do you see as the most promising areas of opportunity in terms of legal, gaming and new technology development?

Marty Jensen: There is just a tremendous online gambling market out there and as our generation grows older it is just going to expand.  For example, my parents are in their 60's and they probably don't know how to turn on a computer.  Another interesting thing is that people are getting much more comfortable sending money over the internet as opposed to a four or five years ago.  I am really excited.