Finding a Safe and Honest Casino
The first priority of many new online gamblers is finding a safe and honest casino. We’ve all heard the horror stories about people losing their money online or falling prey to online scams; it seems all to possible that it could happen to us too. So before you give an online casino your credit card information, take a quick look at our guide to finding a safe and honest casino.
Fair Gambling Commitments
When you search for a safe casino on a site-by-site basis, the first thing you’ll likely notice is that some casinos have a “fair gambling” page. This page is generally used to outline the measures they take to ensure that their casino is safe and fair. In some cases this page may provide you with everything you need to feel secure, but if the site doesn’t have the affiliations (or reputation) to back their promises you might want to dig a little deeper. After all talk is cheap, which is why it takes more than a single page about fair gambling to convince us that a casino actually IS safe and honest. You can bet that the non-reputable casinos are the first ones to assure new players that they can trust them with their money. So if you can’t trust written words when finding a safe and honest casino, what can you trust?
Licensing
Any casino that has a real interest in being safe, honest and fair will pursue licensing, and any casino that actually IS safe, honest and fair will get that licensing. To get licensed, casinos must meet a host of requirements involving operations, ethics, fairness, and security. Generally licensing information is posted at the bottom of every casino’s home page. Pay close attention to the organization that is granting the license. The most reliable licensing is issued through the governing body of the country in which the casino has its base of operations.
Affiliations
There are a handful of recognized organizations that oversee the online gambling industry. Finding a safe and honest casino becomes much easier when that casino is on one of these organizations’ approved lists. One of the most popular and respected gambling watchdog groups is eCOGRA (e-Commerce Online Gambling Regulation and Assurance). You can rest assured that a site that receive eCOGRA’s seal of approval is a safe and secure one. If you don’t trust the logo on the casino’s own site, then you can always double-check via eCOGRA’s official approved site list: http://www.ecogra.org/approved.aspx?OP=P.
Warning Signs
If you can’t find licensing information on a casino’s home page, you may have to do some extra homework. Generally licensing information is also provided on operations pages. If all else fails, contact the casino’s support department before making a deposit. Never trust a casino that cannot provide licensing information! Also, be wary of casinos whose sites and games do not load reliably. In some cases it may just be bad software, but in other cases it could be a sign of a fly-by-night scam; take your money to a more established site.