The expression about the "wheels coming off" is often used in describing sporting events, especially golf, where one competitor who had the lead begins to falter and, in an attempt to stay ahead or regain the lead, starts spraying golf balls all over the course. The "wheels" part is an analogy to a cart or wagon that is racing along and the wheels start wobbling, then one or more comes off and the wagon crashes to a halt.

I'm using that analogy for an online casino software company called Gambling Software.com (www.gamblingsoftware.com) that is often referred to as "GSS" within the industry. This company franchises online casinos and has, at last count, about 90 operations using their software out there on the 'Net. We liked the games they offer and gave one of their operations, Roman Palace Casino, a score of 88 points that places it in the "Superior" category of our Online Casino Reviews. In our "Gambling With The GameMaster" section, where we recommend various casinos for readers to try, two operations powered by Gambling Software.com were recommended: Roman Palace Casino for their Jacks or Better Video Poker and Treasures Casino for their Pai Gow Poker. So, I think it's fair to say that we liked what Gambling Software.com had to offer. In case you're wondering, not one Gambling Software.com casino has ever advertised here, so that was not the motivation for our recommendations. And, the fact that they haven't advertised here is also not our motivation for this editorial.

It appears that the wheels are about to come off this shiny wagon and I don't want to see our readers hurt if that happens. Editorials dispense opinion, not fact, so for the facts in this case, I recommend that you go to Winner Online (www.winneronline.com) and read the message board maintained by the Online Players Association for a lot of gritty detail about the Gambling Software.com controversy. There, you'll see that the OPA had called for a boycott of GSS-powered casinos due to the unwillingness of GSS to make good on customers' losses suffered from the demise of Player's Fortune Casino, a GSS franchise, and the battle has escalated from there.

Perhaps GSS isn't legally responsible for the transgressions of its franchisees, but any company that hopes to succeed in the Internet gambling business has got to protect its reputation for fairness and honesty. (GSS, I understand, has made some overtures for a settlement recently, but the OPA rejected the terms). The attitude of the GSS personnel appears to be that of so many other casino employees, brick-and-mortar or otherwise: Casino gamblers are suckers and suckers don't deserve an "even break". Fortunately, not all casino employees and owners feel that way and, even more importantly, the Internet has given us casino patrons a forum for expressing our opinions about how we are treated. The OPA's call for a boycott is a reasonable stance and we support it to this day.

We are of the opinion that the customers of Players Fortune Casino were screwed and think that GSS has a moral obligation, if not a legal obligation, to pay them. As this issue was being discussed in various places around the 'Net, some owners of GSS-powered casinos began chiming in with "inside" information about how things are run at GSS and some of them began lamenting the fact that this boycott had been called. If you read these postings, you may get a sense that Gambling Software.com is approaching a crisis in its corporate affairs and that cannot be good thing for those who have cash deposits with their franchised casinos, since GSS handles the back-office functions for many of them. If the wheels do come off, who can say how safe your $$$ are?

Before posting this editorial, I asked our Webmaster to remove the two GSS-powered casinos from our Gambling With The GameMaster section, but we have left up the casino review of Roman Palace Casino and have left up the play-money games from Gambling Software.com in The GameMaster's Arcade.

We urge you to support this boycott, if for no other reason than protecting your own hard-earned cash. In all fairness, there is a group of casinos that use GSS software, but all of their back-office functions are handled "in-house". This is the Pinnace Group and their casinos are not included in the OPA boycott. For a list of these casinos and current news on this situation, go to the OPA's Website at www.yourluckypage.com/opa/. While you're there, please give serious consideration to joining the OPA.

- The GameMaster