Scam Casinos

There are many legitimate online casinos out there, but as is the case with everything, there are always a few bad apples trying to spoil the whole bunch. There is a lot of money in this industry, and where there is a lot of money there are a lot of scammers trying to take their share.

In this article we’ll do our best to list some scam sites and tell you how to avoid them, but before we get to the sites that you need to stay away from, we’ll talk about the one that you should join.

Legitimate Online Casinos

When it comes to finding a legitimate casino, you need one that has years of experience under its belt, one that is licensed by the official bodies and one that has thousands of happy customers and no red marks to its name.

Casinos like Spin Palace fit that bill perfectly. There are many others out there as well, but we’ll use this as an example. Spin Palace has been around since 2001, which means there is no shortage of genuine reviews on forums, review sites and even on social media. If you Google Spin Palace you will find all of these and once you skim past the affiliate sites, you’ll get to the actual reviews, the honest opinions from experienced players like you and us.

One look at the Spin Palace website will also back up the notion that this is a legitimate website. This site contains everything that you should look for in other sites when deciding if they are legitimate or not. From the auditor (eCOGRA in this case) to the regulator (MGA in this case) these are all well-known and widely used brands. Don’t just pay attention to the badge or logo though, if it’s legitimate then it will be hyperlinked and when you click that link you will be taken to the site’s official registration details with that authority. If a site does not have hyperlinks then it may still be legit, but be sure to run a check. If it says it is audited by eCOGRA but doesn’t have a link, visit the eCOGRA website and find them for yourself.

Another thing to note about Spin Palace is that it uses secure banking options and is also part of the Microgaming brand. It is important that your casino has safe and secure banking options, because ones that do not tend to be scams. It is also important that it has the license of a developer such as Microgaming or Playtech, as these don’t license their software to just anyone, which is why many scam sites use poorly made, often hastily-developed games of their own creation.

Scam Online Casinos

Taking everything we said above into account, which casinos have failed and which ones have fallen down in other areas? Well, one of the main issues that many modern casinos have is that they refuse to honour withdrawals. They may be doing many other things right, but if you can’t get your money then there’s no point playing there. This is easy to discover and as long as you Google them in advance then you’re okay. Moore Games were noted for this scam, and Lock Poker were also involved in a similar scam, with hundreds if not thousands of players waiting months for their winnings and with many of them still waiting.

Another scam involves games that do not have the odds they claim to have. BetFred was involved in such a scam not too long ago and they changed their casino software because of it. Amigo Techs were also involved in this, as reported by Wizard of Odds in April of this year. There was a player on this site who reported odds that were impossibly against him. He recorded all of his moves and was very meticulous with his report, but there have been many more players who have also said that the games on this site are not fair.

Sometimes, when legitimate casino software such as Microgaming is not used, the issue is not necessarily with the site, but with the software. This was the case with BetFred, who claimed to be completely oblivious of the flawed software on their site. Of course, it is a little hard to imagine that they could be so oblivious, especially when they were the ones to gain from such poorly weighted odds and not the developers themselves. The software used in this case (before BetFred switched over) was Spielo G2, which has also been used by other online casinos. If you encounter this software you should do your best to avoid it. Even if it has changed its practices and created games that are more fair, just like BetFred, it is hard to place your trust in a company that knowingly cheated their customers.