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© 2024 CasinoPilot.ca. All rights reserved.If you browse through the FAQs on any casino review site, you will find that the most frequently asked question is ‘Is it safe to play games at online casinos?’. It’s not surprising that safety is at the forefront of every player’s mind. The early days of online casino were fraught with dodgy casino sites that used any means necessary to scam players, taking their money and never paying out a jackpot in return being the most common complaint.
Thanks to strict regulators and genuine casino brands, the industry enjoys a much better reputation today than it did in the past. Players have access to hundreds of excellent casino sites that are run by trustworthy professionals. Online security systems are more robust than ever before. And fair gaming is made possible by transparency and strict licensing.
Unfortunately, however, there is still a plethora of rogue casinos on the market that are out to make a quick buck at the expense of unsuspecting players.
Red Flags
Knowing that there are rogue sites constantly in operation, we have created a guide that will help you identify scam and blacklisted casinos. With this guide, we hope to arm you with the information you need to help you recognize and avoid a casino that is operating under false pretenses. Here are the most common red flags to watch out for:
- Weak or non-existent licensing
- Offers that seem too good to be true
- Issues with payments
- Pirate software
- Convoluted terms and conditions
- Vague information
- Unresponsive customer service
It’s important to keep in mind that a rogue casino will look usually look just as good as a legitimate casino. It fact, it is almost impossible to spot the difference between a real casino and a fake casino at first glance; you have to dig below the surface.
Licensing
Whenever you decide to try out a new casino, the first thing you need to check is the casino’s license. It’s important to do this even if the casino has been recommended by a review site. A license is your main form of protection against unscrupulous behavior on the part of the casino. A good casino will display the logo of their regulator as well as their license information at the bottom of their home page.
It is important to double check the legitimacy of the license by looking for the corresponding license details on the website of the regulator that issued the license. A clever casino scam site can replicate the logo of a government regulator to make it look like their site is licensed, and they can easily add licensing details to their home page that look legit. They get away with this false licensing because many players just don’t bother to double check.
In some cases, the license will be a real license, but it will come from a country that does not impose strict rules and regulations. This means that the casino in question can get away with certain behaviors that lead to players feeling cheated and frustrated. We recommend that you take the time to research the various government regulators that issue licenses. The strictest regulators are the UK Gambling Commission, the Malta Gaming Authority, the Swedish Gambling Authority, the Gibraltar Gambling Commission, and the Kahnawake Gaming Commission.
Outlandish Bonus Offers
Online casinos often use attractive welcome bonuses to encourage new players to sign up to their sites. Competition between casinos these days is ferocious, which means players benefit from bigger and better bonuses than ever before. However, there is a big difference between a generous casino bonus and one that seems far too good to be true.
A generous bonus is usually made up of a match deposit bonus and a number of free spins. The match deposit bonus is usually in the realm of 100% up to $150 and is often repeated on the second and third deposit. The wagering requirements can range from x10 to x40, and more often than not the requirements can only be cleared by playing slot games. Casinos never make it easy for players to walk away from winnings garnered from a bonus, but they do make it possible.
A rogue casino will offer a bonus that goes well above and beyond the standard fare. We’re talking match deposit bonuses of 300% up to $500, or more. We’re talking hundreds of free spins; a remarkable rewards program, and insane prize giveaways. All of which sound incredibly tempting and look like the real deal. However, if you take a close look at the terms and conditions of these bonuses, you’ll soon see that no matter what you do, you’ll never be able to cash out any winnings, and while trying to do so, you’ll blow through your deposit. The wagering requirements are usually well over x50, the time limits in place for clearing the requirements tend to be super tight, and any winnings made from your free spins will be capped so low as to make them worthless.
Payment Issues
Unfortunately, payment issues are not so easy to detect. Rogue casinos don’t advertise the fact that they are going to make it as difficult as possible for you to withdraw your funds. In fact, from the outside everything will look and feel legit. You’ll be presented with a list of reputable payment providers, all the right safety protocols, and promises of fast payments. You are likely to be completely unaware that there is a problem until the time comes to make a large withdrawal.
The rogue casino will suddenly come up with any number of excuses as to why you are not able to withdraw your funds. You may be told that you need to verify your identity, and that the verification procedure could take up to 30 days to complete. You may be directed to a previously unseen terms and conditions page that somehow manages to come up with reasons to deny your withdrawal. Or instead of paying you a lump sum, the casino will somehow justify paying you a small amount per month over a long period of time. You might even find that your account is suddenly suspended, and you are unable to contact anyone from the casino’s customer service department.
Luckily, when it comes to payment issues, players are quick to take to public online forums and review sites to complain and call for the casino in question to be blacklisted. Always do a quick Google search prior to signing up to a casino to see if other players have raised a payment issue.
Pirate Software
An unlicensed casino will not be able to offer licensed games. In order to get around this issue, said casino will resort to offering players pirated versions of their favorite games. The operator in question will hack the game’s software, and by doing so the game will no longer be under the control of the software provider. Not only will the rogue operator be able to offer the game on their site without having to pay a license fee, but they will also be able to reconfigure the game’s payout ratios to ensure that the game hardly ever (or never) pays out a jackpot.
There is a simple way to check whether or not you are using a licensed version of a casino game. All you need to do is check the game’s hosting server to see if it matches the software provider’s original hosting server. You can use a feature on your device called ‘Inspect Element’ to check the hosting server. Be sure to look closely at the URL, because in many cases the hackers will only change one letter from the original server, so at first glance it will seem legit.
Rogue Terms and Conditions
Not all blacklisted casinos end up on a blacklist because of any major wrongdoing. Some blacklisted casinos run very low-key scams. The most common of which is to subtly mess with the terms and conditions. This may involve regularly changing the terms and conditions of a bonus without warning. You will only discover the change in the T&Cs when you try to withdraw your winnings. Your withdrawal will be denied based on the fact that you haven’t fulfilled the wagering requirements, or you didn’t fulfil them within the allotted time frame. Unfortunately, it is hard to spot this trick before it’s played. All you can do is look out for any mention of a casino’s cheap tricks in public forums.
Sometimes, the terms and conditions are so convoluted as to make them impossible to understand unless you happen to be lawyer. Convoluted terms and conditions should serve as an immediate red flag because a good casino is an upfront casino. If a casino is trying to hide behind a smoke screen of heavy legalese, they probably have something to hide.
Vague Information
Along the same lines as convoluted T&Cs, vague information should also serve as a red flag. It should be easy to find the information that you’re looking for – whatever it happens to pertain to. A good casino is a casino that wants you to understand every aspect of how the casino works. Navigation throughout the site should be intuitive; if you have a question regarding payments, you should be able to find the answer within the payments section. A good casino should also offer a comprehensive FAQ page.
Customer Service
Customer service is an integral cog in the online casino machine. A good casino is one that puts player satisfaction at the top of their list of priorities. Support staff should be on hand to answer any and every question, no matter how trivial. If you can’t find an answer to your question within the site, there should be a customer support service available to you 24/7, or at the very least during office hours 7 days per week. Some casinos now use bots to field basic questions, and while this practice is not inherently bad, it isn’t great either. But the real red flag is casino that doesn’t provide a live chat service and that doesn’t respond to emails.
In Conclusion
For the most part, online casinos provide legitimate platforms for players to enjoy casino games. You should have no trouble finding a trustworthy casino. We recommend that you select an online casino from an unbiased review site like Casino Pilot because all of our recommendations have been vetted by industry professionals. We also recommend that you also take it upon yourself to thoroughly check all aspects of a casino prior to signing up for an account – even the casinos that we recommend.
Use this guide to double and triple check all the elements that could potentially signal casino scams. And when you do sign up for an account, take the time to explore the site thoroughly before you make your first deposit. Read all the terms and conditions associated with payments, bonuses, and gameplay carefully. Play a few games in demo mode to check for any glitches and pay close attention to the RTP rates and payout ratios. Contact customer service and ask a few questions to gage their level of responsiveness. Complete the identity verification process as soon as possible so that you’re not caught out with a ridiculously long procedure when you’re trying to make your first withdrawal. Keep your initial deposits small so that you can walk away from a casino quickly if you don’t enjoy your experience. Sign up to more than one casino site so that you can compare the way the sites are managed.
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22/09/2021