The regulation of online casinos is poor. Many regulatory bodies are in undeveloped countries or in jurisdictions that have no legalized gambling. In the early days, casino software owners did not care who leased their software as long as they got paid. Some did not bother to even see if their potential partner had a criminal history. This is even a problem in today’s environment. For these reasons, online casinos sites sometimes fail. Players get stiffed when that happens.
Warning Signs that an Online Casino Might Be a Scam
New casinos come online every day. There are many signs that one may be a scam. The fact that it is new can often point to a fly-by-night operation. Make sure to Google the name of it before depositing to see if there are any player experiences out there. You can also go to Archive.org and see what used to be on the site to tell how new it is.
Legitimate new sites are often related to existing ones. One way to find out if that is the case is to copy a portion of the terms and conditions and paste it into Google. Related sites will often have the same exact terms. This may set your mind at ease.
Some shady sites will copy terms and conditions from legitimate ones. These rogue characters often don’t bother to change the name of the casino they stole the content from before publishing it. That is the sure sign of a scam. If a site is too lazy to write its own content then it is not likely to succeed. It may even set out to steal from the start.
Typos on the site can be another bad sign. A single error can be forgiven as we all make mistakes. Constant grammatical mistakes and misspellings can point to someone that has used a translator program to take content from one site to another. This is never a good sign.
You can also contact support and ask a few questions. If you get what you feel are legitimate and correct answers in a timely manner then that may tell you that the site is legitimate. If you get evasive answers or completely clueless support then that could be a sign that the operation is not serious.
We all love bonuses, especially ones that clear quickly. Scam sites know this and offer bonuses that are too good to be true. This often includes allowing blackjack, craps and video poker with low wager requirements. If a site that you have never heard of is advertising a 10 times blackjack bonus then it is probably a scam.
Warnings Signs that an Online Casino is Failing
Many failed casino sites started out as legit. The downfall is often slow. If withdrawals start taking longer and longer each time then this may be a warning sign that the site is in trouble. If support starts taking much longer than before to reply or live chat is now offline all of the time then that may be another bad sign.
A site that starts offering more frequent bonuses with wager requirements that are far superior to its typical offers is one that you may want to avoid. Some sites will try to attract fresh deposits with offers that are too good to be true in an attempt to stay afloat.
The best course of action is to find a safe casino site and stick with it. The more loyal you are to a casino, the better the offers and comps will be. Bouncing from one casino to another will make you more likely to fall victim to a failed casino site than giving most or all of your action to a specific one.