Gambling Grumbles for the Mediation of Disputes

Author: Josh Wilde ~ author of Wilde is the Joker

Begun in 1998, Gambling Grumbles has had the same aim, although different locations, since its inception: Helping players and casinos to mediate disputes.

It was the brainchild of then Gambling.com CEO, Graeme Levin, and its current manager, Steve Russo. Steve later trained the late Julie Sidwell to run it and went on to other tasks at Gambling.com. When Gambling.com was sold in 2003, Julie operated Gambling Grumbles on her own until her untimely passing.

In 2009, Graeme started Gambling City and asked Steve to revive Gambling Grumbles as part of it. Since then, and under its current ownership, Steve has handled disputes between literally hundreds of casinos and thousands of players.

The rules are the same today as they were in 2008: A player can send in a complaint about any casino, no matter if he has previously been a member or if the casino is an advertiser on Gambling City or not. No advertising matters are of consideration to Steve. If Gambling City's biggest advertiser is at fault, Gambling Grumbles will say so and if a casino which has never advertised on GC handles a dispute well, it will get a very positive report.

Gambling Grumbles' prime aim is to arrive at an agreement which is acceptable to both the player and the casino. If that is not possible, Gambling Grumbles will, if possible, point out which side is at fault. If even that is impossible, Steve will say so – and why.

Should a casino ignore two consecutive complaints, or state that it refuses to discuss any complaints, it is automatically placed in the Hall of Shame. Should future complaints come in about the casino, they will be reported as received and a link then sent to the casino (as opposed to the usual method of writing to a casino before posting a report).

While Gambling Grumbles was the first to offer this mediation service, some other websites have since taken on the task of helping players with complaints. Gambling Grumbles does not view them as competitors but rather as allies in the attempt to have players treated fairly.

That said, there is one major difference between Gambling Grumbles' operation and that of the other sites. The others will discuss the complaint in private conversations with the casinos and not publicly reveal the details. If a casino wants to tell Gambling Grumbles something "off the record" it is free to do so, but Gambling Grumbles will not let that information influence its report.

The reason is simple: We feel that in addition to helping resolve complaints, it is helping other players decide which are the best gambling sites – and they can only do that if they have the full information about disputes.