Some people may find it difficult to trust online casinos, for various reasons. It may be because casinos revolve around gambling, which some might associate with shady characters. Land-based Las Vegas casinos in the U.S. did originate from mobster investments, but that was many decades ago.
Another reason people may not trust online casinos is because in the past, many online casinos used pop-up advertisements and perhaps even shady redirects. Online advertising practices were very different in 2001 than they are today.
In the early days of the internet, people easily fell for scams and virus-infected websites, because everything was so new. And of course, because casinos and pornography were considered “shady” parts of the internet, you had to expect some level of risk if you visited those kinds of sites years ago. This mentality may continue today, even though online casinos (and pornography) have become a bit more ‘mainstream’. It can be disconcerting to some people that there really are just so many online casinos available. There are literally thousands of online casinos, with new ones popping up all the time. Because many of them may be shady or even outright fraudulent, it’s easy to just assume that all online casinos are untrustworthy.
Finally, even though there’s so many online casinos popping up all the time, many shut down their doors just as quickly. This can leave online gamblers feeling uneasy about joining new casino websites, seeing them as a potential risk if the casino shuts down and doesn’t return player’s wallets.
How can you trust an online casino?
As with any website that involves cash transactions, you must do your research beforehand. There are numerous ways to verify if an online casino is legitimate or not. There are many well established online casinos with good reputations, like Casumo online casino, BetOnline, 888casino, and others.
Reading user reviews of course should give you a good idea of other user’s experience, however bear in mind that user reviews can be reflective of a vocal minority. Some people may lose money fairly, simply the nature of the game, yet choose to accuse an online casino of being rigged.
There are websites, like Wizard of Odds, which maintain blacklists of online casinos to avoid. Do a Google search for “online casino blacklist”, and check to see if an online casino you are considering using is included on any site’s list.
Of course remember that not all websites may be entirely impartial. Some may add online casinos to their blacklist based on a few player complaints, and others may be bribed into besmirching legitimate online casinos.
What if I believe an online casino is rigged?
It’s somewhat normal to feel incredulous if you’re on a bad losing streak. If a Blackjack dealer is consistently beating your hands, like always getting 21 when you get 20, it might feel like the game is stacked against you, and the RNG (random number generator) isn’t actually so “random”.
To be fair, nearly all casinos games are stacked against you, even slightly. This is known as the house edge. While games like Blackjack, Craps, and Roulette offer nearly 50-50 odds of winning, it’s not as simple as flipping a coin. There are variances that show themselves after lots of plays. If you sit down at a Blackjack table and the dealer gets 3 Blackjacks in a row, this might seem incredibly odd. Yet if you tracked that Blackjack table over a million hands, it actually wouldn’t seem that odd at all.
So if you believe an online casino software is rigged, first make sure it isn’t simply bad luck. If you truly believe something fishy is going on, you can submit a complaint to various places who can investigate for you. Sites like Wizard of Odds, AskGamblers, CasinoPlayersReport, and others can investigate the online casino, and add the site to various blacklists.
Furthermore, you can file a report with the FTC (in the U.S.), the Competition and Markets Authority (in the U.K.), or other consumer protection agencies. Here is a list of consumer protection agencies around the world.
