A Guide To Safely Playing At Online Casinos

Online gambling is a large and consistently growing industry, currently bringing in over $35 billion each year.

Regulation and gaming software has made huge strides in recent years, but there are still scams and fly-by-night operations out there that you have to watch out for. 

What follows are the main things to look for to ensure you're dealing with a legitimate and well-run online casino. 

Regulation

How an online casino is regulated and licensed depends greatly on where it is based. The most reputable and stable international online casinos tend to be those licensed by the British and Australian governments, but they are generally not based in these countries. You'll see their headquarters of record as places like The Isle of Man, Gibraltar, and Alderney, which are territories and dependencies that are often independently governed but are subject to the legal oversight of their parent countries.

Throughout Europe, there are also various countries that will license online casinos solely for operation within their own borders. Regulation in these countries tends to be extremely strong. The best of these options at present are Italy, Spain, and Denmark.

If you're in the United States, look for online casinos or sportsbooks based in Delaware, New Jersey or Nevada. These are the three states that allow them to operate at this time. The catch is, you have to actually be physically within that particular state at the time to legally play at them.

In addition to being licensed by the government of a country, there are various independent third-party certifications an online casino might opt to pursue to reassure players that their games are fair and operating properly. One of the most popular of these is eCOGRA, an organization that is headquartered in London and is licensed by both the British government and several other countries throughout Europe.

Casinos with an eCOGRA certification undergo periodic inspections of their software, live dealers, and that they are honoring all of their promised terms such as payout percentages and rewards program bonuses. Another similar certification that is popular comes from TST, an independent company based in Australia.

Casino Software

In addition to being licensed and certified, you'll want an online casino that uses a stable and safe software platform. The "big names" in this realm are Playtech, Microgaming, Cryptologic, IGT, Realtime Gaming, Novomatic, and Net Entertainment. Some of these providers, such as Playtech and Microgaming, have been in business for over two decades now and were among the first companies to jump into online gaming back in the 1990s.

In addition to making sure games always run the way they are supposed to, these companies provide added security to players by using both automated software and manual tracking by live security personnel to keep competitive multiplayer games like poker fair and free of cheating. 

Safe Deposits And Withdrawals

Deposits are one of the stickiest issues surrounding online casinos, even if you are in a territory where they are legal. Generally speaking, there are going to be far more deposit methods than withdrawal options even with legitimate casinos.

Online casinos now widely accept bank transfers, checks, PayPal and major credit cards for deposits. If you live in a country where online gambling is illegal (like the United States), however, your bank may block the transaction. A whole industry of PayPal alternatives have sprung up specifically to service gamblers in non-legalized countries in this manner, however; Skrill and Neteller are the biggest names by far in this area, and some casinos are now accepting Bitcoin as well.

When it comes time to withdraw your winnings, the most likely options you are going to see are a mailed check, a bank transfer or Skrill. A reputable online casino should ask you for a photo ID along with one or two other forms of supporting identification in order to initiate a withdrawal. Be aware that there are also usually daily, weekly and monthly limits on how much money can be withdrawn.

With these elements in place, you can rest assured you're dealing with a reputable organization. Now all there is left to do is win!