The popularity of gaming has experienced a boom in recent years, with many pointing to technological advances as well as gamers now being multi-generational in comparison to the earlier days of gaming. This has led to a large choice of games being made available to players, ranging from fantasy, RPG, sports and much more.
One of the areas that has benefited from the advances in technology is the online casino industry. Online casinos are one of the biggest gaming niches with huge numbers of casino sites appearing on the internet in the last two decades.
While there are numerous positives to having such a wide-ranging choice of online casinos, there are also negatives. With so many casino sites to choose from, it can become overwhelming and make it harder to separate the safe sites from the dangerous ones.
Not every online casino can be trusted with either your money or your data, and customer safety is one of the factors that make the best casinos stand out from the rest. There are numerous factors to consider when choosing a safe online casino, which we will explore in this article.
Factors to Consider When Choosing a Safe Online Casino
Casino Payouts
One of the main things that casino players want to know is that their money is safe and that they have a fair chance of winning. Before you create an account at an online casino, you should make sure that they pay out all winnings in full and in a timely manner. You will also want to know that the amount of money that can be made by winning the games is fair, which is determined by the return-to-player (RTP) percentages. This means that you should be looking out for online casinos that have games with the best payouts.
Online casinos with games that have been tested by third parties are more likely to be fair and have the best payouts. Doing some research using those third-party websites will help you to avoid depositing money at casino sites that do not pay out when you win or do not provide payments that are fair to the player.
This will save you valuable time and money, as well as give you peace of mind that the casino you are playing in is safe and secure.
Proper Licensing and Regulation
Another key factor is whether a casino is legitimate or not. Online gambling has its own regulations and system of licensing to ensure that there is a standard for all online casinos that players can trust. In the US, this is a matter for the gaming authorities in the different states, while in the UK it is handled by the Gambling Commission.
Other parts of the world also have online casino regulators and wherever a casino company is based it should be able to show an official gambling license for that location. This information is usually found on the ‘about us’ page of a casino site. If this information is not transparent then is a major red flag and you should not hand over your money or personal data to the site.
Range of Customer Service Options
Even with recent layoffs in this sector, customer support is still one of the most important roles in any company, and online casinos are no different. A good casino site in 2023 should be providing its users with more than one method of getting in touch with the customer support team.
In addition to an email address and telephone number, there should also be a live chat function that enables you to get a response right away. If the site has a social media presence, its customer support team should respond to queries made through those channels too. The things to look for include the speed of the response as well as how friendly and helpful it is. An online casino worth creating an account at will deal with any issues rapidly.
A good tip is to check the standard of customer service by making a simple inquiry before signing up.
Secure Methods of Payment
Another important marker of a dependable casino is the choice of deposit and withdrawal methods that it offers. There should be more than one, but all of them need to be safe and secure.
Debit/credit cards, bank transfers, and e-wallets such as Neteller and PayPal are among the options any reputable casino site is likely to provide. Such a site will also come with the very latest in SSL data encryption software to ensure that the bank details of customers and all deposit and withdrawal transactions are totally secure.
They should also employ security precautions like two-step verification and ID verification to bolster the safety of their customers. Most casino sites have a ‘payment’ page that details both the transaction methods and the security software in place, so make sure to check that page before starting to play.
Reasonable Wagering Requirements
Online casinos always come with bonuses for both new and regular players, but less reputable ones often advertise unrealistic bonus offers. What you will find when you study the small print is that those offers have equally unrealistic wagering requirements attached.
These are the sums of money that must be bet to trigger the promotional bonus and they can be set at a level that means you are spending a fortune to unlock the bonus. Reasonable bonuses and wagering requirements indicate that the casino is worth playing at.
If you look out for these factors, you will be sure to a find a safe online casino that is worth playing in.
