Whenever you offer something for free there are going to be those people who say “yeah, sure, gimme one” without any intent to use it or any respect for the impact that it has on the other party. Also, it would be too inviting for some ‘slock’ operator to just say “what the heck, it’s free – I’ll try – no harm, no foul”.
If you are running a casino program a couple of hundred dollars better not be breaking your budget. If so, you’ve got bigger problems than certification. To be sure, things are always tight in the beginning. But at what point in their development do you expect or want outfits to be seeking some sort of legitimacy through certification.
This brings up another point which I think is critical. I believe you need to look at their ‘financial capacity”. If there is a new “crook” in town with lots of money, you don’t want them to be able to “buy certification”. However, if there is a “great new outfit” you can’t just certify them because of “good intentions”.
“Good intentions” and ethics always seem to be the first casualty when things start to go awry.
I would like to see a certification. But I would also suggest that if they are not certified, that they are not allowed to advertise. If I see and ad from “crook #1” in any site, I assume the site approves of it.
Anyway, that’s my two cents, for what it’s worth.