It seems that all online casinos have won multiple awards for being the best, most innovative, players’ choice, and so on - trophies that command respect and trust. It’s easy to jump to conclusions and sign up, especially for those who don’t know what to look for before registering their online casino account.
Without taking necessary precautions, players are likely to get suckered in by the first welcome bonus they come across. The most important information can be found in the small print.
Look for trustworthy casino licenses
Believe it or not, but online casinos are more regulated than alcohol and tobacco combined. Everything is scrutinized down to the wording of marketing material, and casinos do everything in their power to be compliant. There’s simply too much money at stake.
Whether a casino is licensed in the United Kingdom by the UKGC, are Curacao master license holders, or are regulated by the Malta Gaming Authority (MGA), makes little to no difference. Without a license, game suppliers won’t do business with any online casino and the casinos can forget about signing with any legit payment methods.
Always read the terms and conditions
Combing through page after page of legalese is no one’s idea of a good time but it will end up saving players a lot of grief down the road. Still, it’s not enough to go through a bunch of terms if they’re not understood, what they mean or the difference between the various remote gambling licenses held by online casinos. It’s a bit of a jungle out there.
In all fairness, online casinos have made huge strides towards becoming more transparent but there are still areas that could use a little finetuning.Casinos without any kind of gambling license should be approached with the utmost caution.
Beating bonus wagering requirements
Most bonuses offered by online casinos come with hefty wagering requirements and stipulations for what happens when a player wants to withdraw money from their account before they’ve managed to beat them. The amount of money players are asked to turnover in comparison with how much they receive can be staggering, sometimes borderline gross.
Before claiming any bonus, it’s vital to find out how the wagering requirements are applied. Some casinos will apply this term to the bonus amount while others apply it to deposit + bonus amount. This may seem like a small thing, but the difference in amount that needs to be wagered can be more than double.
Outstanding customer support
This is crucial. Any online casino that doesn’t offer a live chat service is probably too busy to care about their players’ issues. On the other hand, there’s never a good reason for cussing out any customer support agent for trying to do their job.
They aren’t asking people for proof of identification or source of wealth because it gives them pleasure. Nor are they trying to make life difficult for players. All they are trying to do is to uphold rules and regulations stipulated by the gaming authority that supplied their license and international anti-money laundering laws.
Go with the gut feeling
Sometimes players simply go with their gut feeling. There are thousands of licensed online casinos out there and more casinos are launched every month. It’s hard to keep up with a market that’s slowly getting saturated.
At least overseas. The Americas are still considered the new frontier and there’s no shortage of casinos ready to open their virtual doors to all who are of legal age to gamble.
