How To Spot Shady Online Casinos

There has been a significant increase in the number of people who use online gambling platforms recently. This significant increase has resulted in a surge of many new online gambling sites. The creation of these sites aims to provide different options for players who want to join an online casino.

Due to the numerous amounts of online casinos available, players may find it difficult when selecting the right online casino to join. How then can you select the best online casinos? And how can you spot shady casinos? This article will provide six factors that can help you select a good online casino. The factors include:

  • Delay in payments
  • Lack of payments
  • Unclear terms and conditions
  • Unrealistic bonus offers
  • Poor affiliate program
  • Jurisdiction

Delay in Payments

Delays in making payments may occur once or twice due to administrative issues, and this is acceptable. However, if you observe that your online gambling platform has a  habit of withholding or delaying your payments after you’ve met all requirements for withdrawals. The gambling site may be shady, and you may need to look for another competent gambling platform. 

Lack Of Payments

In some cases, an online casino will suddenly stop paying their customers who request withdrawals. If this occurs to you, it is time to find another online site to join. However, make sure you collect all your money before leaving an online gambling site.

Reliable online gambling sites which run into problems will make sure they pay what they owe to their customers. Similarly, these sites will inform customers of challenges or problems they have and discourage new players from joining their site.

Unclear Terms and Conditions

An online casino’s terms and conditions must be clearly stated so players can easily understand them. However, if you notice that your casino changes the terms and conditions on their site without informing players, they may show that they are shady. 

For example, a promotional offer may have a 40x wagering requirement when you opted into the promotional offer. However, the site may suddenly increase the wagering requirement to 65x without informing players. When you notice something like that, you need to leave that online casino. 

Similarly, if you notice that the casino uses vague words or unclear terms when explaining the terms and conditions, you need to choose another online gaming platform.

Unrealistic Bonus Offers

Many online casinos reward their players with bonus offers. However, these bonus offers must be reasonable and achievable. If you notice that the bonus offers made available by a casino are too good to sound true, then it is most likely untrue. 

Unrealistic bonus offers do not apply to offers like a 100% welcome bonus worth $1000.  It applies to offers like a 100% welcome bonus worth $6000 or $10,000. Such offers are unlikely, and good casinos do not provide such offers to their customers.

Poor Affiliate Program

Most online casinos offer their customers the chance to become affiliate partners. However, a shady casino may regularly change their affiliate program’s terms and conditions without informing their affiliate partners. Similarly, the site may refuse to pay the rewards earned by affiliate partners if you notice this or read reports about a site that does this. Then you may need to find a new online casino to join.

Jurisdiction 

Most countries have a gaming authority that controls all gambling activity within their jurisdiction. If you notice that the gaming authority that controls your online casino has no jurisdiction in your country, that may be a red flag. 

For example, an online casino licensed and regulated in South America provides a gambling platform in Europe without a gambling license in Europe. That may be a sign to find a new online casino regulated within your jurisdiction.

You may then wonder where you can find correct information regarding the best and most suitable casinos to join. You can check:

  • Casino Reviews
  • Players Reviews
  • Gambling Regulatory Authorities

Casino Review

One of the easiest ways to spot a shady casino is by reading the site’s casino review. Casino reviews are meant to reveal the performance of a casino based on many factors. Some of those factors include Reputation, promotions, player experience, customer service, payment options, and game selection. 

If an online gambling platform has too many poor casino reviews, it may be a shady casino, and you may need to avoid that particular online casino. Many reliable sites provide users with an unbiased review of many online casinos. They include sites like that WeGamble, WhichBingo, Casino.org, and many others. Similarly, there are online casinos that blacklist shady casinos that have a bad reputation. You can check the review on these sites too. 

Players Review

You can read the review of other players who have used the services of an online casino. If you find many positive reviews about an online casino very likely, the casino offers its customers the best service possible. However, if there are too many negative reviews, the casino is likely not good enough and needs to be avoided. 

Gambling Regulatory Authority

A good online gambling site must be licensed and regulated by a good gaming authority. Gaming authorities provide and enforce strict laws that guide gambling operators and players in an online casino. Similarly, gambling authorities serve as intermediaries when problems arise between players and an online casino and help resolve them. 

Any online casino that is not licensed and regulated poses a risk to players and should be completely avoided. When selecting a new online casino, please check the gaming authority that licenses the site. Popular gambling authorities include sites like the United Kingdom Gambling Commission, Malta Gaming Authority, Alderney Gambling Control Commission, and many others.  

Conclusion

Many online casinos claim to offer their customers the best quality service available. However, from experience, we know that some online casinos are shady, and these casinos try to cheat their customers.

If you want to select a new online casino, please check the casino review, player review, and the gambling regulatory authority that control the site. Doing this will help prevent becoming victims of a shady casino and help players select the best online casino.