The best casino sites in Canada are those that take casino safety seriously. There are plenty of old and new casinos alike that take protecting your personal and financial information like it’s a matter of life or death.
That’s why there is really no reason to take the risk of playing at a dodgy casino. So, without further ado, here are 10 easy ways to spot a dangerous casino site:
1. Bad Reputation
Casino reputations are earned, both good and bad. The best way to get an idea of how reliable a casino really is, is to read about the experiences of others. For every one of the hundreds of casino sites out there, you’ll be able to find several casino reviews, from laypeople and experts alike. Any casino site that is regularly flagged as dubious by several players is most likely not the best spot to deposit your hard-earned cash.
It’s especially important to look out for reviews that mention payout fraud. If there are several players mentioning balances disappearing, or withdrawals never clearing, we definitely suggest you steer clear of the site in question.
2. No Official Regulation
Illegal casinos are unlikely to honour their financial commitments to you. Why would they if they can’t honour their basic business responsibilities? Casinos that fall outside of the jurisdiction of regulatory authorities still have a responsibility to their customers and shareholders to acquire a relevant licence. These licences are issued by different regulatory bodies. Some require casinos to follow much stricter guidelines, while others can be quite lenient and allow a few illicit sites to slip through the cracks.
Safe casino sites will hold licences issued by reputable authorities such as the Malta Gambling Authority and the UK Gambling Commission.
3. No Commitment to Responsible Gambling
When it comes to any type of casino establishment, there is always one risk casinos and players can’t avoid. The risk of addictive behaviours. That said, casinos have a responsibility to protect their players, and that includes providing a safe environment where a player can easily opt out if they feel they are betting too often or playing with money they can’t spare. A good casino will make a concerted effort to minimise the negative effects of gambling on their players.
These efforts could include allowing players to place time and amount limits on their playing habits, as well as providing the option to permanently exclude themselves from being able to place any real money bets. Responsible casinos also provide a plethora of self-help resources and the contact information for gambling help lines.
4. No Clear Commitment to Security
Sadly, even tech, financial and social media giants have fallen victim to security breaches over the last few years. No one seems to be safe. So, it’s only natural that players want to only join a casino that takes security seriously.
It’s on the shoulders of an casino to ensure the protection of their customers’ personal and financial information.
This requires casinos using serious encryption technology. Look out for words such as SLL and TSL certificates, as well as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). These technologies are designed to ensure your personal data is protected. You’ll be hard-pressed to find these types of certification on rogue casino sites.
5. No Transparency
Finding evidence on all three of the above red flags all comes down to the readiness of a casino site to provide clear and honest information. Casinos need to make information clear and available when it comes to their security methods, licenses, and responsible gambling.
Players have the right to understand how a casino will handle, share and store their data. Your personal information should not be available to any third parties, and this should be a critical concern for any casino website – to the extent that it should be included in the terms and conditions of a casino’s privacy policy.
6. Technical Difficulties
Casino games can glitch for a number of reasons, but once you have discounted all the reasons on your side, it’s best you be aware that something untoward could be in the works. This is a great warning to give you an idea of the validity of an online casino’s games, without needing to spend a cent. The secret is that you can play several games for fun (read: free). If a casino hasn’t invested in proper servers to run their games, you can rest assured there is something else they have cut corners on.
7. Sketchy Terms and Conditions
Reading the terms and conditions of a casino, especially in relation to bonuses, is a fantastic way to get to know a casino. Even casinos that have matched all of the above requirements can still choose to cheat a player right before their eyes. If it’s included it in the terms and conditions, the onus is on you, the player, to ensure that the terms are in fact fair.
One of the biggest ways that casinos will take advantage of you is in relation to bonus terms and conditions. Some bonuses can only be wagered on specific games and must be wagered through more than 40 times before they can be withdrawn. While this is a common practice, anything more than this should be red flagged and only be accepted if you fully understand and accept the bonus.
8. Terrible Customer Service
‘The customer is always right’ has become a little bit of a debunked phrase, but there is definitely some truth hiding behind this cliché. Firstly, if you have checked the reviews of a casino site and they are more than 25% negative, you might want to steer clear. This isn’t a case of Karens having their say, but rather a suggestion that something foul might be afoot.
When problems crop up, especially in terms of processing your finances, not being able to reach an actual human when contacting customer services is a huge red flag.
Casino customer service teams can be busy and overwhelmed, but any customer service department worth its salt will get back to you within 24 hours, and will be able to deal with even the most complex issues within a few days. Usually, casino sites will feature a link to their customer service department quite prominently, typically at the bottom of the screen.
9. No KYC
Customers often see sending in their personal info when making a withdrawal as a bit of a pain and an unnecessary delay. But what players don’t realize is that KYC (Know Your Customer) is a critical process. This is a terrific way to establish whether or not a site is serious about protecting both players and itself against fraud and money laundering.
10. Slow Casino Payouts
After you’ve won a little bit of money, you might be surprised to learn that you can’t immediately receive your winnings. This happens for a number of reasons. The first is that you need to prove that you are who you say you are. On top of that, some casino payment methods have their own delays to protect against fraud.
Using e-Wallets facilitate immediate payment methods, while money transfers can take considerably longer. Despite all of this, casinos shouldn’t take longer than the average payout time of any method.
So, if you’ve found yourself waiting for an excessively long period, you know that something in the process has gone wrong. If this happens more than once, it’s safe to say that the site doesn’t have its players’ best interests at heart.
