Anti-fraud group Ethoca was established in 2005. Its efforts begin with sharing data from online commerce businesses, identifying fraud opportunities and flawed mechanisms, before developing anti-fraud measures. The quality and effectiveness of the decisions made by Ethoca and its clients depends on the pool being large enough. With the addition of the large online gambling group 888 it has taken a big step in the right direction.

The advantages of a clean gambling environment are clear. Gamblers trust the providers to be honest and fair, protect them and their money as they make deposits and place bets. But players need someone to protect them, as they cannot protect themselves, obviously.

The online casino operators too can only hurt from fraudulent activity on their site. If they fail to protect their players – not to mention their own operation – they will very quickly lose their members and fall off the radar, if not be legally persecuted for failing to do so.

But a third party is called for, and this is where Ethoca and other regulators step in. By protecting the players' privacy and using the information provided by the casino operators, the regulator can share fraud experiences from across the Internet without compromising personal customer data.

Thus, by joining Ethoca, 888 has done a lot not only to improve its defenses but also the anti-fraud efforts of the industry at large.