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Casino Game Testing Company Says Players Need Regulators as well as Tests to Ensure Fair Deal

"Unless the game is tested and regulated, the player has no real level of protection," he said. "If I go and gamble at a lot of sites, the fact is I don't know what my return is. I might be getting a 90 percent return, but I might be getting a 20 percent return. I don't know if the game is fixed."

Cargnello is not a gambler or odds expert. He's an accountant and an authority in information technology and computer system security.

He's the founder and chief executive of Technical Systems Testing, a company of computer scientists, electronic engineers, mathematicians and Internet specialists.

Since 1993, TST has been one of a handful of companies worldwide that evaluate gaming systems, originally for government regulators but in recent months also for gaming software firms and casinos themselves.

TST is based in Melbourne, Victoria. It began by testing slot machines and video poker machines, which are plentiful in Cargnello's native Australia. It's also tested lottery terminals for several Canadian provinces and for a few states in the U.S.

The company still does a lot of work with traditional casinos, but in the last two years it's also moved into the more complicated area of Internet casinos.

TST has been working with affiliates of Chartwell Technology and Starnet Communications, two providers of online gaming software. It's in the midst of a major project for the government of Antigua, and has done work for Dominica. Clients also include virtual casino operators in Belize, Curacao and Costa Rica.

One of Cargnello's teams may spend weeks dissecting a casino's software – studying the algorithms (the mathematical formulas that control the encryption and the random number generator, which determines the outcome of a game) and the eproms (electronically programmable read-only memory, in other words the chips that contain a game's program).

They'll analyze the firewalls, which maintain computer security, and the authentication system, which controls access by players and third-party vendors. The tab for a thorough evaluation of one Internet casino can easily reach US$100,000.

But even if a casino is willing to pay TST that kind of money, the testing by itself is of little value to the player. Cargnello is the first to admit that the government that licenses a casino has to be involved if the consumer is to be protected.

"We can test it, we can say that this is the gaming software, it has all the necessary controls, the random number generator is virtually perfect, it's got firewalls, it's got encryption, it's got X.509 authentication, it's as good as it gets," Cargnello said.

After TST's work is finished, however, there's nothing to prevent a casino operator from changing the software, unless there is ongoing monitoring by regulators.

"We can't be there all the time," Cargnello said. "We say to governments, 'You have to do your bit as well. You need procedures in place to make sure that what we tested remains unadulterated.'

"I believe that jurisdictions are starting to listen and I think they're going to have to listen. Because if you're a player, where are you going to go?

"Are you going to play in a jurisdiction where the government is basically disinterested, or are you going to play in a jurisdiction where the government says, 'Right, we have taken the trouble to make sure it's tested and in addition we are watching to make sure that your interests are continually protected.'?"

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