Guest: James Elliott, Founder, Gamecheck
Host: EGR, The Engine Room, Nosa Omoigui
James Elliott joins EGR's Engine Room podcast to explain why fake casino games are far more widespread than players assume, and why nobody can spot one by looking.
This episode is a Gamecheck appearance on EGR's own podcast, The Engine Room, rather than a Gamecheck Insider episode. James Elliott sat down with EGR to talk through how fake games spread, why the only reliable answer comes from the original providers, and what the Gamecheck SEAL is for.
The conversation covers the scale across 80,000 sites checked, why emerging and grey markets carry the most risk, the role affiliates play, operators running real and fake games side by side, the technology coming for live game sessions, and how regulators are starting to use the data.
0:45 How widespread fake games really are, and the biggest misconception
2:08 From IP lawyer at PartyGaming and NetEnt to founding Gamecheck
2:41 Why suing the people copying games was slow, costly and frustrating
3:21 Publishing the findings instead, free to search
4:02 The idea behind a seal for operators offering real games
4:35 Why the checks sit on a public ledger
6:12 The business case for operators who already offer real games
7:59 What a player can actually spot, and why a good fake gives nothing away
9:04 Going back to the provider, the only party who can confirm a game is real
10:01 Why Evolution, Pragmatic Play and NetEnt backed a shared effort
11:35 The role affiliates play in where players end up
13:30 80,000 sites checked, fake games found on 5,000
14:00 Why emerging and grey markets carry the most risk
15:58 Why Gamecheck does not pick markets
17:50 Why the SEAL matters more than a welcome bonus
20:32 Sites reappearing under new domains
20:54 Operators running real and fake games in tandem
22:01 Live in session identification through a plug in
24:52 How regulators are starting to use the data
31:22 Who should care most: providers, operators, players, regulators
A game is art, maths, music and a handful of other ingredients, and anything valuable on the internet gets copied because there is money in it. AI has made that far easier. The misconception is that players would notice. They would not. The copies are good, and the level of sophistication now means an untrained eye and a trained eye both come up short.
Reputable operators with reputations to protect are not where the risk sits. The problem concentrates on smaller and newer casinos in emerging markets, where regulation is lighter and the chance of being caught is lower. Gamecheck has checked around 80,000 sites and found fake games on 5,000 of them.
Gamecheck does not confirm a game itself. It collects the evidence, takes it to the provider, and the provider says whether the game is one of theirs. Providers have identifiers in their games that settle it either way. That finding is then published, with the record held on a public ledger so anyone can audit the claim rather than take Gamecheck's word for it.
The studios backed this because each of them was already spending money chasing the same problem alone, with investigators at trade fairs and legal budget going out the door. Pooling what they know produces a bigger picture than any single provider can build, and draws connections between sites that none of them would spot on their own.
For an operator already offering real games, the SEAL creates a distinction players can act on. A tier one brand may feel it does not need to prove anything. James argues it does, both to show it is not one of the sites ripping players off, and to hold on to players tempted elsewhere by a bigger bonus in a market that has more constraints than it used to.
The reason checking has to continue is that some operators run real games and fake ones in tandem, switching by time of day and by player. A single clean check proves nothing, so Gamecheck returns at different times, at different stakes, with different player identities. Next comes a plug in that identifies in session whether a game has been switched mid play.
The Engine Room is EGR's own podcast. This episode is a Gamecheck appearance on their show, not a Gamecheck Insider episode.
Not reliably. The copies are sophisticated enough that neither an untrained nor a trained eye can tell from playing. The only sign is winning less often than expected, which costs the player money to work out.
On smaller and newer casinos in emerging and grey markets, and on operators serving markets where they hold no licence. Established brands in regulated markets are not where the risk sits.
A bonus only matters if the games behave as the studio built them. On a fake, the rounds do not play out as they should, so the bonus buys a worse experience and usually requires a deposit of the player's own money.
Gamecheck collects the evidence and takes it to the original provider, who is the only party able to confirm whether a game is theirs. The finding is then published and held on a public ledger.
The Gamecheck app, search tool and Chrome extension are all free to download and use. Visit Gamecheck.com to check any online casino before you play.
