Online casinos allow players to have an interactive experience when it comes to betting on games of chance with digital cash. Scams are, unfortunately, a reality, but you can easily avoid them by taking certain precautions. Unfortunately, there are quite a few dodgy sites out there that have been known to scam players out of their money and personal information.
Thankfully, it’s not difficult to avoid these websites if you know what to look for. However, while this might seem like a relatively harmless way of enjoying yourself and maybe even winning some money along the way, you must understand the risks associated with such sites before proceeding.
In this article, we’ll be going over some ways in which you can identify if an online casino is likely to be a scam site and how you can protect yourself so that you don’t end up losing your money.
Be Careful of Free Casino Games
The most common way that online casino scammers get people to sign up is by offering a free casino game with no deposit required. Unfortunately, this is often a slot machine game with a very low return rate, which means that it’s very unlikely you’ll ever win any real money from that game.
The scammers behind these free casino games will just load a player’s account with fake money and hope that players get bored and sign up for a real account with their real bank account information. So, if you see a website that offers a free casino game, stay far away. The only safe casino games are the real money ones.
Check the URL
If you suspect that you’ve found a scam site, the best way to check is to hover over the URL of the website. This will give you information about the domain, including who owns it and where it’s hosted. Also, if the URL looks like it’s been made in a free online website builder, then it’s probably a scam site. Irrespective of whether the website is professionally made, once the URL seems sketchy, then it might be a scam site.
Some websites allow you to check if the site gets regular visitors; it will also display some helpful info, such as the date of creation. All of this can point to a fraudulent casino site which should tell you if it must be steered clear of.
Too-Good-to-be-True Promotions
Online casino scammers will often offer ridiculously high welcome bonuses, such as 100% cash back on your first deposit. If you see an offer like this, stay far away from the site. Casinos don’t offer anything like this, so it’s likely a scam.
Check to make sure that a high bonus is a percentage of your deposit and not a percentage of your winnings if you see a high bonus. There are also terms and conditions for clarity so read them thoroughly before proceeding.
Check the Company Behind the Site
Major online casinos will always publicly disclose who owns the site, so if there’s no information available, it’s best to assume that the company is trying to hide something. Popular and reputable casino sites are transparent with all their users, and this is part of what allows them to run a successful business.
Poor website design, outdated content, and even something as simple as improper grammar is all warning signs. However, professional casinos know how to keep their operations running smoothly and rely on proper site performance, high-end security, and regular updates, just to name a few.
Check the Reputation of the Casino
Many online casinos will publish player reviews on their website. If you’re looking at a website and can’t find any reviews, it’s best to move on. A real Online Casino will have reviews on its site since this is the best way to differentiate themselves from scam sites.
Be wary of reviews written by bots; it’s also best to ignore them if they’re done by the casino’s employees. Instead, look for third-party reviews with ratings made by unbiased players.
Reviews are also a great way to find out what popular casino sites have to offer and if there are any good welcome bonuses for new players seeking to try their hand at some betting.
Be Suspicious of Excessive Promotions
Most real online casinos offer promotions that give you a small amount of money back on every bet you make. For example, a site may give you $0.25 back for every $100 you bet. This is a huge benefit for a real online casino, as it makes it more likely that you’ll keep playing. However, if you see a site offering $10 back for every $100 you bet, that’s a huge red flag.
No legitimate online casino will offer something like this, so avoid these sites at all costs. If a casino seems to be offering an excessive amount of promotions, it’s likely a scam casino trying to reel you in with flashy, unrealistic offers.
How to Know for Sure If an Online Casino Is a Scam
Done all of the above and still not sure if a site is a scam or not? Then you have one last option: try depositing $10 into your account and then withdrawing it immediately. If the withdrawal takes longer than a few hours, or if you don’t get the money at all, then you know that you’ve found a scam site.
There are websites that have a dedicated list of online scam casinos updated regularly; it won’t be a bad step to check some of them out. Some of these sites can also help you get the money you lost, so it may be worthwhile to enquire with them.
Conclusion
Online casinos are filled with opportunities to gamble, play games, and have fun. But they can also be filled with danger if you’re not careful when choosing the sites you visit. Unfortunately, there are a lot of scam-ridden websites out there that want to steal your money rather than give you an enjoyable experience.
These scam sites often masquerade as real online casinos, but they’re just looking to take your money and leave you with nothing in return. Thankfully, it’s easy to recognize a scam site if you take the time to know what red flags to look out for.
