Accreditations, markets and choosing a lab
eCOGRA was set up in 2003 in the United Kingdom as a self-regulatory body to monitor fair gaming, player protection and responsible conduct in online gambling. Two decades later it is one of the main independent test labs for the industry, used by operators, studios and platform suppliers to prove to regulators that their products work as declared. Will Shuckburgh has been Group CEO since 2024.
How the accreditations built up
- 2011: ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation from UKAS for its testing laboratory, now held under the 2017 version of the standard.
- 2017: the first independent online gambling test house to receive ISO/IEC 17021-1.
- 2020: ISO/IEC 17065 accreditation.
- 2022: eCOGRA Ireland established.
- 2023: ISO/IEC 17020 accreditation from INAB, the Irish national accreditation body.
Accreditations are the reason regulators accept a lab's reports. Each standard covers a different activity (testing, certifying management systems, certifying products, inspection), so the list maps directly to the services eCOGRA can sell.
Where its reports are accepted
The company reports approval in more than 40 jurisdictions. They include Great Britain, Malta, Spain, Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Portugal, Romania, Ontario, Colombia and Brazil (approved in 2024), and a growing list of US states, among them Pennsylvania, Michigan, Colorado, Arizona and West Virginia, which was added in 2025.
Services
- Testing and certification of games, game engines, RNGs and RTP.
- Platform, website and integration testing.
- ISO/IEC 27001 certification and cyber security work such as penetration testing and vulnerability scanning.
- Alternative dispute resolution, with more than 10,000 player disputes handled.
- The eGAP seal for fair gaming, player protection and responsible conduct.
Choosing a test lab
Most suppliers want one lab whose reports are accepted in all their target markets, so a game is tested once and submitted many times. When comparing eCOGRA with other labs, look at:
Overlap with your roadmap. List the markets you plan to enter in the next two years and check acceptance in each one, not only in the markets you already serve.
Turnaround for a new game. Certification time decides how fast new content reaches the lobby, and it varies more between labs than prices do.
Change management. A small maths or code change can trigger retesting. Ask how the lab handles minor versions and what the cost and timeline are.
For an operator rather than a supplier, eCOGRA is also relevant through ADR: in markets that require an independent dispute service, using an established one reassures both the regulator and the player.