The threat of fake games on the black market is “escalating rapidly”, according to CasinoReviews.com’s Head of ADR Services, Duncan Garvie.
Speaking to Joe Streeter, Editor of iGaming Expert, on the latest episode of iGaming Daily, Garvie outlined the dangers of these games.
He said: “There’s no guarantee that the [fake] game functions in any particular way. In fact, it can actually be maliciously coded to do the opposite.
“For instance, what could happen is the developer could look at the pay table and say, we don’t want to pay out big wins, so we’re just going to make the top wins on this game inaccessible so nobody can ever hit them.
“The player doesn’t know the difference because they look at the game and see the same game that the legitimate provider is providing but they can’t hit the big wins.”
Not only does this harm the player, Garvie continued, but it can also “tarnish” the IP of the original game developer.
Although clearly a blight on the industry, it is extremely difficult to track down and legally challenge illegitimate developers given that they are operating exclusively outside of regulated markets.
Garvie explained that he has seen evidence of some developers being based in Russia and others can be traced back to Singapore.
As well as the developers, the rise in fake games is also being fuelled by unregulated casinos that carry the games and market them to vulnerable players. In recent years, there has been a rise in casinos advertising themselves as not on GAMSTOP, the UK’s national self-exclusion scheme.
“We see this black market emerge where affiliates target search terms like casinos not on GAMSTOP,” explained Garvie. “We know from the intent of that search terms that this is people who have registered on GAMSTOPand are now wobbling and they’re trying to go back to gambling.”
According to Garvie’s data, 70% of casinos marketed by these affiliates are likely to be offering fake games. Additionally, as the rise of slot streaming increases, 50% of gambling operators being promoted by streamers included in the study were distributing fake games.
Looking at how the wider industry can combat this issue, Garvie stressed the need for a more harmonious relationship with affiliates.
“I don’t feel that we [as] the responsible stakeholders in the market have necessarily treated affiliates with the respect of inclusive dialogue that they should have been,” said Garvie.
“That’s resulted in a lot of affiliates behaving in a counterculture where they push back against basic consumer protection issues. So, while streamers and affiliates certainly bear some responsibility for this, the rest of the stakeholders in the sector need to wake up to their role in creating antagonistic dialogue with those parties.”
