Online casinos are becoming a staple because of its convenience and flexibility. But for platforms that operate online, they can be very prone to cyberattacks. Of course, it’s the players that get the most damage since they give out their information and banking details. So, it’s important to find the safest online casinos. But where do you start?
There’s a lot of ways to know whether an online casino is safe or not. For sure, bonuses, user interface, and the games are only parts of what makes them safe. Your decision shouldn’t rely on any of those above mentioned alone. In this article, we’ll go through all you need to know about safe online casinos.
TOP SAFE ONLINE CASINOS
Here are some safe online casino sites:
HOW WE FIND SAFE AND SECURE ONLINE CASINOS?
For you to know whether an online casino is safe and secure, you need a standard. That standard should be as objective as possible. Having some objectivity aside from user experience helps you determine what feels comfortable and safe better. It also helps you find the top safe online casinos. So, here’s how we find safe and secure online casinos:
Licence from a regulatory body
The first on our list is having a licence from an authorised body. Online casinos can run away with your money and personal details if you’re not careful enough. But with an authorised body around, you can reach them faster. More so, online casinos with a licence give more credibility because that means they went through lots of checking before getting their licence. And if they have one, they show it on their site, instead of hiding it.
Security Technology – SSL, encryption, etc.
Security technology refers to any method or tool that an online casino uses to employ protection to its players. One of the most common examples for online casinos is encryption technology. It makes all users and their activities anonymous on the site. This allows them to gamble without trace, which is helpful if they’re based in a country that prohibits the activity.
Customer Reviews
Customer reviews serve as a way for you to see other players’ insights about the online casino. It can look like comments on a forum about the online casino. You only have to search for the casino’s name and its average rating would appear. This gives a more subjective experience to read, but one that you relate the most to as a player.
Customer Support
Customer support consists of the ways the players are able to reach the site. If one encounters a problem while gambling, it can be harder to seek help in an online setup. So, a safe and secure online casino doesn’t make it hard for you to reach them.
Regular audits by independent organisations
If we’re talking about games and the overall feel of the online casino, it’s better to measure them with an audit. Regular audits by independent organisations like eCOGRA and TST allow you to see how reliable an online casino’s operations are. On the other end, they can show how vulnerable to attacks an online casino is without proper security measures.
Casino Game Providers
Of course, some game providers are better than others. So, it’s important to know how well-acclaimed the game providers of an online casino are. It should also include whether it employs fairness audits or a Random Number Generator (RNG) to keep players safe from fraud.
Terms and Conditions
Terms and conditions are agreements between the player and the operator. This covers how much you get to take home, the fees, and where they put your private information.
And there you have it! Here are the things we keep an eye on when we start hunting for the perfect online casino for you.
SAFE ONLINE CASINOS USA
A safe online casino USA consists of the latest security technology. Here are four online casinos that embody good security in their branding.
Bet365 labels itself as an online bookmaker before a casino. For its licence, it holds one from the British Gambling Commission. As it keeps expanding, it’s been investing in security, too. In fact, it features the latest security technology for its site.
There’s the 256-bit SSL encryption, the latest of its own. There’s also Provably fair audit for all its games, making sure they are anti-fraud and fair to the players. There’s also a 3D Secure program where for every transaction, the player needs to perform 2FA and biometrics checking.
If you’re looking for an online casino that knows how to upgrade its security measures, then Bet365 is for you.
Bovada is also a very secure online casino. It brags its SSL encryption similar to Bet365. It also prevents any malware from coming into the site using its firewalls. It also places the official links to the site, so players won’t stray away and go to illegal, pretentious sites. But when it comes to its games, that’s where Bovada aims to be the most secure. It doesn’t have a Provably fair audit, but its providers give the best odds with the shortest processing time for payouts.
888 Casino follows the international standard regarding Responsible Gambling. It also gets its audits from eCOGRA, an independent organisation that audits online casinos. When it comes to its security technology, it uses an RSA public/private key for all transactions on the site. So, players don’t only stay anonymous, but also their banking details get no compromise when they sign up at 888 Casino.
Wild Casino likes to integrate its security measures to its site. It holds a licence from the Panama Gambling Commission. It also features a 128-bit SSD encryption method. Then for its games, it features both a Provably fair audit and a Random Number Generator (RNG) by a third-party app. All in all, Wild Casino’s strength in security lies more in its games.
HOW TO STAY SAFE WHILE PLAYING AT ONLINE CASINOS?
Do your research when choosing an online casino
More than looking at what online casinos have to offer, you should also do your part in validating them. There are many ways that allow you to do this. With the internet, you can find information about anything in minutes.
Of course, you’ll need to target it well to an online casino. In security, there are different aspects to look after. The more that an online casino fits the bill, the better it is for you. And when it’s time to decide whether to play at that site, don’t cheap out on your standards. With that, here are the things you can research to check the security and safety of an online casino.
Check reputation of owners
One thing about the online casino industry is transparency of the operators’ profiles. If an online casino doesn’t show its owners, then it’s a sign the casino is fake. But if you can find the owners of the online casino, that doesn’t mean they’re reliable by default, too. What that only means is that you can dig deeper information about them.
Do they have other online casinos? What’s their track record in the country they operate from? Always look out for the answers to these questions.
Check customer reviews
As mentioned above, customer reviews help you gain subjective and player-to-player insights about an online casino. Most of the time, technical details don’t come into the player that well. So, if they can see experiences from fellow players, they can get an easy-to-understand review.
You can get answers relating to whether the site was comfortable to use or of the sort, like:
- How was the user experience?
- Did the interface lag a lot of times?
- How about the options, are they confusing?
- Was it easy to reach customer support?
There may be varying answers, but all of them will side on one aspect: whether the online casino was good or bad.
Check Online Casino Game Providers
An online casino’s game providers lets you know whether their games have good credibility. Now, it can mean many things, like fairness, good graphics, and whether it’s a legitimate game. Don’t be surprised if you come across the same names of providers for well-established sites. They have an international pass and compared to more local providers, they’re safer.
Check for licences and certifications
Licences that come from relevant regulating bodies provide massive credibility to an online casino. But make sure that licence is real and applies to where the site operates. Many licenses like the Curacao Gaming Authority and Malta Gaming Authority provide licences beyond borders. You can also check the site for audit seals or other certifications in using modern security technologies.
Read the fine print
A lot of fake and insecure online casinos double down on making confusing terms. They don’t make straightforward statements and add so many clauses to one term. This especially applies to terms regarding players’ bonuses and privacy. That’s because if the player finds out and sues them, they can refer back to the confusing term to defend themselves.
Check for secure payment options
Secure payment options include those that operate within the banking and digital payments industries. Don’t go for too localised payment options, or those you’ve never heard of. If the site has their own payment method, don’t make it your primary course of action.
Check SSL/TLS encryption
Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) are two encryption technologies. Most online casinos use them because they keep all players on the site anonymous. That means these two cover all your interactions and don’t let any out when you leave. Encryption in general is a way to secure your account is private, so it’s a must-have for online casinos.
Use unique usernames and 2FA
Make sure you don’t add any obvious or public reference to your identity on your username. This makes you easy to track and target. More so, try to use unique names combining a reference to your identity only you know and a random thing.
Two-factor authentication or 2FA is another layer of security that sites use to verify players who log in. It combines your password and a code that only your registered device can get to input.
Create strong passwords
Creating strong passwords creates a harder time for your hackers to bypass your account. Make sure you add different formats for letters, some numbers, and symbols.
It’s also advisable to change your password every three months.
Never use public wi-fi
A public wi-fi has a weak security system. So, hackers can go through the people connected’s data without much trouble. And since all the things we do with the internet connect, breaking to your online casino account is no different.
Never share personal information to anyone
Whether you’re talking to someone on the site or anyone online, don’t share your personal information. If they have access to them and know where you put them, they’ll be able to access your account.
Can I use a VPN to gamble online?
You can use a VPN to gamble online. But since many online casinos prefer to verify their players, VPNs can cause a problem for them. Make sure it’s alright for the online casino to have players use a VPN. If not and you persisted, you might face legal consequences for your action since you breached the casino’s terms.
HOW TO SPOT ROGUE CASINOS?
The benefit that comes with online casinos is that anyone can access them, regardless of where they are. And the same goes for online casinos entering different markets in different countries. While licences can apply to a region or the whole world, the ambiguity for scammers to join in is possible.
And that’s where rogue casinos enter the picture. In simple terms, these are casinos whose motivation from the beginning was to scam players. The fact that there are thousands of online casinos to choose from, a best safe online casino, then rogue casinos. The only way to find the best one is to know how to spot the bad ones and filter them out. But how do you do that?
What is a rogue casino?
The first thing you should know is that a rogue casino is a type of casino that falsifies everything to steal from registered players. You can picture it as a trap, where it shows itself to be no different from other casinos. But once you step too close in, it gets a hold of you and what you have.
Because of so many advancements in technology, it’s becoming harder to figure out the difference between a legitimate and a rogue casino. Because for the most part, you only get to see the design, bonuses, etc. If you don’t set objective standards for which online casino to play at, you risk yourself falling for a rogue casino.
If you let the urge to always seek the highest value in amounts, rogue casinos can take advantage of you far easier than others. They like players who fall gullible in no time for high bonuses, for example.
But what makes a rogue casino? Well, according to many incidents and reports, there are your signs:
- False advertisement of bonuses and promotions.
- No payouts.
- Cracked casino games.
- No customer support.
And once you sign up at a rogue casino, you’re already in trouble. But the sooner you figure that out, the better chances you have of leaving without any problem. You can try contacting them to delete all your personal details from their site before you leave. And that’s not an excuse, but your right to your information. If they refuse or don’t respond, contact regulatory bodies to help you out.
Shady practices of rogue casinos
There are so many ways that a rogue casino can pull out of its website and take the money from its players. But before we talk of how much impact rogue casinos leave to players, let’s look at some shady practices they have. If you’ve signed up at a rogue casino, all the more should you take a look at these practices.
They’re very unusual and often extreme, which should drive players away from playing. On a sad note, some stay because these rogue casinos trap them. And the longer they’re there, the more points for abuse they get from these hideous casinos.
Non-payment
The most common practice rogue casinos have is to not pay their players. It can be in the form of telling them to keep waiting, or technical issues that won’t ever find resolution. Rogue casinos will stretch your patience, and tell you different excuses every time you reach out to them for an update. When you realise the excuses are fake and they’re scamming you, that’s when they’re already gone.
Asks for too much information in verification process
There’s nothing wrong with a Know Your Customer (KYC) process. But it gets questionable when the site doesn’t confirm anything, yet keeps on asking players for their information. If that rogue casino can’t take out money, they can always use the personal information their players gave for money. If you’ve given your bank card, proof of address, and billing, then they also ask for your company and employment details, run.
Country-specific rules
Online casinos in general have the liberty to cater more to where they gain the status of being a local. But once they expand their ventures, they need to add more general rules. If the casino site starts telling you that since you’re based in X country, you need to wager Y amount, run. That’s a red flag that aims to collect as much money from rich countries as possible.
Confusing terms
Nothing beats the vagueness of a law. If their terms sound confusing, or if you end up not being clear on your payout and where the company keeps your information, that’s a sign. Terms should be concise and straightforward all the time.
Discretionary voiding of in-game bankroll
You can sync your bank to your online casino account. The site facilitates that. But if anything happens, they can’t take out your money from your bank roll. More so, they can’t void your bankroll unless you violated a crucial rule. And even if they do, they should only hold or confiscate your money, not void your bank.
A rogue casino floats with other legitimate, online casinos out there. So, players need to take even more cautious decisions when choosing an online casino to play at. The more you know about the shady ways a rogue casino operates, the less chances of you falling into one.
BOTTOMLINE
All in all, online casinos need to provide security measures to ensure safety among their players. Security is a crucial area that all players should look for. There’s no silver lining to an aspect of an online casino that you depend all your personal information on. So, always see to it that you review casinos’ security and safety before indulging in them.
