Heard of the Wild West? Hackers and cybercriminals are always on the prowl. The internet has so many online casinos, both legit and fake, designed to scam online gamblers. To gamble online, you have to be cautious and carry out some background checks. Fake online casinos can steal money from users or steal their personal information. Check that their URL domain names are SSL secured and have licenses to operate by looking at the website’s company information. Read trusted reviews and gamble with small amounts first. So how do you spot a legit online casino? Here are 10 tips to help you decide.
List of tips to follow to identify fake online casinos
Unlicensed casino
It is quite obvious that to operate legitimately, you need to be licensed. An authorized licensing authority should issue the license. The license should be verifiable. Legit online casinos display their license numbers and regulators on their websites openly.
Some of the known legit and reputable jurisdictions that issue gambling licenses include the UK, Gibraltar, Malta, and Curaçao. They have reputable authorized gambling licensing agencies. If the online casino doesn’t have a license, don’t gamble on their website.
Online casino with scandals
Is the online casino scandal-ridden? Scandals range from fake bonuses, fake advertisements, not paying winnings, and delays in payment – or worse still, the online casino changes the terms of its bonus at short notice or comes up with strange reasons to close your account. Avoid such online casinos like the plague.
A good legit casino should have few or no scandals or payment issues save for the occasional conspiracists who spew hate online. So it’s always good to filter the information available.
No testing certification
With fakes, there is no such thing as fairness. A legit online casino should have a testing certification provided by companies specialized in auditing online casinos, such as eCogra, Technical Systems Testing, and iGaming. The audit ensures that the online casinos’ games are fair to gamblers and that the published returns (RTP %) are accurate. Legit online casinos will include badges with verifiable links to their certificates on their homepage. It would be good to double-check with the testing company that the audit is up to date.
If you find yourself on an online casino with no testing certificate, don’t play. Instead, choose legitimate websites with proven fair games.
Deposit and withdrawal Options
A lack of or too few deposit options can be a warning sign that you are dealing with a fake online casino. Payment options such as PayPal are very particular on who they do business with. Others like a credit card (Visa, MasterCard, or Amex), money transfer options, and Bitcoin do some verification on the online casino as a minimum and usually flag accounts suspected of illegal activities. If the online casino only accepts cryptocurrency or some obscure payment systems, it is good to probe deeper.
It is always wise to make a small deposit and test how fast they make payouts.
Slow Payouts
Check whether you can both deposit money in an online casino and withdraw the money as well. Instead of just trusting an online casino, it is crucial to test how fast they make their payments. You can try this by depositing small amounts and playing to find out if withdrawals are going through. If the casino delays in making payouts, there may be a serious reason to worry.
Casinos Hiding behind Web Forms
A fake will always hide under the veil. Fake casinos do not reveal the owners and are full of ambiguity on how you can get in touch with them. They only provide you with simple forms to fill in your details to contact you but fail to provide their full contact details. A legit online casino should provide clear ownership information, addresses and phone numbers, email contact addresses, and, if possible, a live-chat on their homepage. If the website has only requests for your information, dig deeper to check whether it is genuine.
Game Selection
A legit online casino should provide a wide variety of games from trusted game providers. If a casino features games from unknown software developers, it might be a scam.
Games such as sports betting games have strict licensing requirements and are on the constant radar of licensing authorities and signify that they are legitimate. An online casino should offer a wide variety of games.
Negative Reviews
Bad casinos have abysmal reviews and are rated very low. An online casino with a lot of negative reviews is most probably fake. If it has to do with failing to process withdrawals or pay winnings, then the online casino is a no. Some casinos change the terms of their bonus or close a player’s account on flimsy grounds; this should be a big red flag. Some allow users to share feedback on their website.
The reviews should be balanced and provide both positive and negative reviews.
New Name in the Market
Check the online casino’s general information, like where the casino is registered and how long it has operated on the market. It is also good to check the date of the reviews. If the reviews are mostly new, then the online casino is new, and therefore, it is good to be more tactful and careful.
Missing Contact Information
The online casino should have contact information, email addresses, telephone, and physical addresses, to make it easy to reach them. Check if they have a contact page or support team and other things; if they have, confirm if they promptly respond to queries. Be sure to read their terms and requirements.
Conclusion
The Internet provides a new gambling platform where you can play online casino games, but it comes with risks. An online gambling player should be conscious of the numerous online casino fakes that attract users and steal their money or personal data. Some online casinos cunningly take well-known game titles and replace them with pirated software. In this way, they succeeded in scamming the online gambler. Using the various tips mentioned, an online gamer will be adept at spotting fake online casinos. It would help if you always do checks, like confirming licenses and test certificates, among others. Legit online casinos are always a safe bet. Playing live casino at platincasino UK, you can be sure that you have found a legitimate outfit.
