Online gambling has risen to become a billion-dollar industry. There are countless people who enjoy playing gambling games online. Not to be outdone, there are also thousands of online casinos that are ready to take any players who want to come and play. It appears that everything is in order and that supply and demand cancel each other out for an optimal state of the iGaming market.
That being said, there are some things that you should pay attention to if you want to make the best of your online gambling experience. Namely, unfortunate as it is, there are many online casino scams. There are countless ways in which the players can get scammed by shady iGaming operators. And the worst thing is that the number of these scams continues to grow.
So, it’s best to arm yourself with proper knowledge of online casino scams. Only once you know how to protect yourself from casino scams can you safely begin to enjoy your stay at a gambling venue, with a dog of red color mascot or other, to have fun playing your favorite games.
The Importance of the Casino License
One of the first tell-tale signs that a casino may be on the shady side of the spectrum is the lack of a casino license. All legitimate online casinos have an obligation to provide information on the license that they have acquired. And it’s not quite the easiest thing in the world to acquire a valid casino license, especially by one of the highest iGaming authorities. And some of the highest iGaming licensing authorities are:
- The United Kingdom Gambling Commission,
- The Malta Gaming Authority,
- The Curaçao Gaming Control Board,
- And others.
The first step for online gambling operators to acquire a valid casino license is to pay up. Depending on the quality and authority of the license, there may be involved heavy sums of money on this step alone.
But that’s not all; there are several other requirements that must be met by the operators if they are to be issued a valid license. So, we can’t say that it’s easy to acquire one such casino license without being serious about providing quality iGaming services to players.
And while having a license is not a definite guarantee that the iGaming operator isn’t up to some shady businesses – it still goes a long way to giving players an additional layer of safety when playing online gambling games. Long story short, if you find that a particular casino that you have visited doesn’t have a valid casino license, then the smartest thing to do is to steer clear.
It’s also not a guarantee that a casino that doesn’t have a valid license is shady or a scam. But still, you can never be too certain – so, the best option is to only gamble in online casinos that have a valid license, preferably issued by one or more of the highest iGaming authorities, such as the ones that we have mentioned above.
Random Numbers Generation and Casino Games
Online casino games are unlike their mechanical, land-based counterparts. There’s software on which the online gambling games run. And if you think about it, you really have no evidence whether the software has been tampered with in any way, shape, or form.
Well, having a casino license, such as what we’ve talked about in the previous section, goes a long way to providing a guarantee of sorts that the games are legit. But still, you need to know as much information about the game as possible before playing it.
For example, you should learn which company has developed the game itself. For the sake of reference, some of the biggest, legit developers in iGaming are companies like:
- Microgaming,
- NetEnt,
- Yggdrasil,
- Play’n Go,
- Red Tiger Gaming,
- Realtime Gaming,
- And many others.
The chances are that you also have had fun playing games made by these developers. And their games are indeed legit and offer fair odds for the players. Of course, the house always maintains a slight edge over the players, but this becomes obvious only in the long term.
The point of this is to illustrate the importance of random number generators. This, once again, is an important piece of software that the gambling game runs on. And it’s important in that it randomizes the game’s outcome. What this means is that nobody is able to predict the outcome of a particular round of a, say, roulette spin or a slot spin. Nor could anyone influence what the next turn would be in any way.
This is the way online gambling games, which you can get to know at ReDDogCasino.com, are meant to be played, and random number generators make sure that the players get a fair experience that they can enjoy without being scammed in any way. Again, the house will maintain an edge, but this edge won’t be huge, and the player will still have ample chances to win big.
That being said, there are some shady iGaming operators that are known to pick apart the game’s program code and change the random number generation system so that the house gets an even bigger edge over the player. There are known instances when games have been made to play out so as to give near misses.
For example, if a particular slot game requires that the player gets 5 scatter symbols to appear on the reels at the same time – then the game may be rigged to frequently give the player 4 of the same symbols so as to create the illusion of a near miss and that the player is very close to hitting the jackpot.
Again, reputable online casinos know that it’s not in their best interest by any means to create games like these. The reason for this is simple. A casino operator may keep the scam going for some time – but the same casino operator can’t possibly hope to keep the scam going forever. Eventually, an inquiry will be made. And if it’s found out that the casino features rigged games, then it will immediately be blacklisted by the authorities, and players will be warned not to visit. This will significantly hurt the casino’s reputation.
So, if you’re playing gambling games in reputable online casinos, then you have no reasons to worry. These casinos are frequently audited by the highest iGaming authorities; it’s been shown that their games are completely legit, and they offer fair odds to the players. But still, we advise you to keep your eyes open as there are indeed known scams with the random numbers generation systems that some shady, blacklisted casinos are known to employ.
Casino Bonuses and Promotions
One of the most important things when it comes to online gambling – the thing that helps set online gambling apart from land-based gambling – is online promotions and bonuses. If you just take a stroll through some online casinos on the Internet, you will undoubtedly come across a variety of different promotions that you can claim once you start playing. Some examples of the top most popular casino bonuses in online casinos are:
- Welcome deposit match bonus,
- Free spins bonus,
- Cashback bonus,
- Loyalty ladder bonuses,
- And several others.
The most popular of all of the casino bonuses, without a doubt, is the welcome deposit match bonus. With it, you can claim a prize of several hundred dollars when making your first deposit in the casino. There’s a lot of money involved here, and this is why it’s important for there to be a good deal of scrutiny on how the casinos operate in this regard.
The main thing to do in order to see what the bonuses are about is to read the casino’s terms and conditions. These are always available on the casino’s website itself. A sidenote – if the casino doesn’t allow you to read the terms and conditions, or if it has made them not easily accessible, then this is a red flag that you shouldn’t miss out on, and it’s a signal that the casino may be shady.
In the terms and conditions, you will find lots of information on how to claim and use the bonuses to their fullest extent. And you will see that there are wagering requirements and allotted time that you must meet if you are to make full use of the available bonuses.
Keep in mind that you still have to read reviews of the casino from an outsider’s point of view. Again, this goes regardless of whether the casino in question has a valid casino license. But if it doesn’t have one, then once again, this is a red flag, and you should steer clear.
In either case, once again, you ought to seek out outside reviews of the casino. Don’t just get sucked into the casino’s ads which may state that you will get thousands of dollars for free from your first deposit. It may not even be a direct scam or anything illegal, but you still may fall into a trap.
First, the casino may make bombastic headlines by offering you $1,000 with your first deposit as a 100% deposit match bonus. Pleasantly surprised by the casino’s generosity, you take the offer and deposit $1,000 of your own to claim this bonus. And you indeed get the money transferred to your casino account. But little did you know that there’s a steep wagering requirement that you must meet before you withdraw any money from the casino. And the wagering requirement may be set at 50x, which is definitely not unheard of in online gambling. What this means is that you’ll have to wager $50,000 before you can even think about withdrawing money from the casino. And what happens if you lose your $1,000 bonus all in one spin? It means that you will have to wager $49,000 worth of money in order to be able to make a withdrawal at this hypothetical casino.
Again, this is not a direct scam, but it’s definitely a shady practice – one that doesn’t let the players make a withdrawal unless they reach the deliberately steep wagering requirements that the casino has set in place.
Some online casinos don’t even bother with setting up any elaborate scams and traps for the players. What they do is a lot simpler than that. They tell you one thing with their terms and conditions, and they do another thing. They tell you that you can start withdrawing your money once you reach a certain wagering requirement – but once you do manage to do just that, they still prohibit you from making a withdrawal for no valid reason, effectively freezing your money.
This is why it’s very important to consult outside parties about the legitimacy of a particular casino that you’re willing to gamble at. Gather all the information you need and specifically about the casino bonuses, as this is another area where iGaming operators have been known to be shady. Another red flag that you should be aware of – if the casino bonuses look too good to be true, then they probably are. It makes no sense for a casino to give you $10,000 of free betting money for your first $500 deposit. It’s a definite sign that something is amiss and that you should steer clear.
The Casino Terms and Conditions
We’ve already noted the importance of reading the casino’s terms and conditions, specifically in terms of learning more about how to claim the bonus offers that the casino has in store for the players. But the casino’s terms and conditions contain a lot more than just terms about the casino bonuses. There are loads of other information about how the casino conducts business, including how it handles and protects your personal data and how you can make deposits and withdrawals, etc.
The reason why the casino terms and conditions merit having a separate section in this review of scams is that some casinos are known to be shady in this area, as well. One of the most popular scams in this regard, one that some online casinos use, is frequently changing the casino’s terms and conditions without even informing the player.
So, you can go into a casino expecting one thing to happen when, all of a sudden, the exact opposite happens. Unpleasantly surprised as to why this has happened to you, you decide to check the terms and conditions where you learn that they have been changed by the iGaming operator without even informing you.
Of course, this is not always bad, as sometimes, the casino’s terms and conditions may change for the better of the player. But still, this is no excuse not to inform the player that the casino’s T&Cs have been changed overnight.
And frequent changes of the casino’s terms and conditions, especially when the casino operator fails to inform the players of said changes, reek of a scam and shady behavior. This is why you’ll once again want to steer clear of these casinos. Checking the casino’s terms and conditions on a frequent basis is one of the ways in which you can protect yourself from this scam.
However, you shouldn’t be obligated to check the terms and conditions every time you want to have some fun gambling in an online casino. This is why it’s important to consult outside sources and reputable review sites that will tell you whether a particular casino has made frequent changes to the terms and conditions.
Freezing Funds Scams
The online casinos that are known to freeze players’ funds are the worst. And it’s a shame that these shady operators do exist nowadays. The gist of this scam is simple. You may get interested in depositing money in a particular online casino that seems legit to you. And you do so on more than one occasion, depositing several thousand dollars. At the same time, you don’t make any withdrawals as you wish to make a bigger sum of money before you make a withdrawal.
And you keep playing for months on end, with fluctuating fortune. But at one point, your luck turns for the better, and you win several thousand dollars all in one go. Ecstatic, you immediately turn your attention to the cashier page and select the withdrawal option of your choice so that you can withdraw your money. And then you come to face the hard fact that the shady casino won’t let you withdraw your money.
The reason for this refusal and prohibition may be trivial. You may get a statement that your funds are temporarily frozen as there are some indications that there’s some cheating done on your behalf. This statement may not even have a smidgeon of truth to it, but you still won’t be able to withdraw your money. You will contact customer support time and time and again, but the customer support agents won’t have an answer for you, and they’ll advise you to be patient.
This will go for quite some time before you eventually give up and relinquish your money to the casino. What we’ve described above is a worst-case scenario, and luckily, this is not something that often happens in the land of online gambling. But incidences such as this one are still more frequent than you can imagine. So, you can remedy this problem by only playing in legit online casinos that are known to give players quick payouts to the tune of how much money they want to withdraw from their account.
The Nature of Casino Scams
It’s not in the nature of casino scams to be obvious in any way. If they were obvious, then it would make it a lot more difficult to scam players out of their money. So, shady casino operators are known for taking a lot more calculated approach and hiding their scams.
What this means is that the players that play in an online casino will be, for the better part, oblivious to being scammed in the first place. For example, how could you know that a particular slot game has been rigged to have an 80% RTP from its based 93% RTP? You will still win and lose money, as is the case with any other slots. The chances are that you will prescribe your more frequent losses to a run of bad luck. And the chances are that you will keep playing the slot, hoping that it will “eventually give”.
So, casino scams can be highly sinister in their nature, and you may not even be aware that you’re being scammed while having fun in an online casino. The best (meaning worst) casino scams are insidious and very hard to notice, and even experienced players would take some time to notice that something’s wrong.
In some cases, you will be able to contact the iGaming authorities, specifically the ones that have issued the casino license, if one such license has been issued to the casino. They will do their best to help remedy the situation and repair any damages that may have befallen you. The best thing is to not get subjected to a casino scam in the first place, which is why continuous vigilance is very important if you’re serious about online gambling.
In Conclusion
If we were to make a list of all the potential online gambling scams that a player may fall into, then it would take us an entire book to do so. The number of online gambling scams is continuing to grow, and the scams themselves are becoming much more insidious and difficult to spot.
Luckily, there are many resources that will arm you with information and knowledge that you can use to protect yourself from these online gambling scams. And when you think about it, common sense goes a long way to protecting you from being scammed. If the casino has no valid license, if the bonuses sound too good to be true, if there are frequent reports that the casino is involved in shady activities – then your best bet is to steer clear. In this way, you will protect yourself from being scammed and will save your personal data and money. Be safe out there.
