Online safety always matters, and this is especially true when dealing with websites that handle money. While the vast majority of online casinos are legitimate enterprises the sheer number of them does mean there are some bad apples in the barrel. And it’s far easier to avoid them than deal with the consequences of malign activity. Thankfully, players have a lot of ways to help keep themselves safe in the world of online casinos.
Check the Licensing Arrangement Before Registering
The licensing arrangement should be presented at the bottom of every page of an online casino. Very occasionally, a site will have it hidden away in the terms and conditions but, for the most part, this should be located at the foot of each casino page. And this matters a lot for players who want to engage in casino games in a safe way and avoid getting scammed. The licensing arrangement directly affects the regulation of the casino, with a more trusted licence being indicative of a more rigorous and higher quality regulation. In cases where there is no licensing whatsoever, this is a major warning sign to players and is usually enough by itself to make an online casino one to avoid rather than join.
Canadian betting sites have licensing from numerous authorities of both a domestic and international nature. On the home front, licensing is often from the trusted Kahnawake Gaming Commission, or may come from provincial authorities. For example, the Alberta Gaming, Liquor and Cannabis Commission (AGLC) regulates gaming in Alberta and Play Alberta Casino is the only regulated casino in the province. When it comes to the foremost international regulators, the top tier includes the Malta Gaming Authority and UK Gambling Commission. In Canada itself, gambling laws differ by province and (in common with online casinos around the world) betting sites may have multiple licensing arrangements to cover various territories. As licensing is one of the easiest things to check as well as being one of the most critically important for swiftly establishing if a site is reliable and well-regulated, or not, players should always factor this into any decision to register at a casino or leave it alone.
Check the Terms and Conditions
While reading through reams of text within the terms and conditions is never on anybody’s list of reasons why casino gaming is fun, checking the fine print is very much a worthwhile activity. That’s not to say the whole thing has to be read but there are certain sections that can directly impact how good or bad a casino is. While nothing illegal will be contained within the terms and conditions, there may be aspects regarding the way the casino is run which amounts to a scam in that it is either prohibitively onerous or reduces the value of promotions drastically (especially compared to the face value offering).
Most online casinos have a special offer to welcome new players, and this introductory promotion frequently features a match deposit deal. The rate of this matching (which sees the casino put in cash for every dollar the player deposits) is most commonly 100% (dollar for dollar) but can vary from 50% up to 300%. An upper limit will also be applied, often a few hundred dollars, though some deals may reach four figures. All of this means players can often double their starting playing funds. However, there is a catch. The playthrough requirement, also known as the wagering requirement, is the total sum that must be wagered prior to a withdrawal of bonus cash and related winnings being permitted. This requirement is written as a multiple of the bonus (so a $200 promo with a 30x WR would need $6,000 in bets to be made before withdrawal). The higher the wagering requirement the worse it is, with 30x being a decent level, 60x being deeply uncompetitive, and 150-200x being horrendous. The reason why the playthrough requirement is so awful at those high levels is that it hugely increases the length of time it takes to meet the condition while simultaneously reducing the chances of having profits to withdraw (because over a longer period of time results will near the average which is to the casino’s advantage).
Other potentially nasty instances in the terms and conditions could include inactivity costs for an account, or excessive time or fees associated with making withdrawals.
Search Online to Assess Reputation
The least painful way to experience a Canadian online casino of ill repute is vicariously. By searching online to assess the reputation of an online casino, potential players can save themselves the heartache of going through a horrendous time by learning from the unpleasant difficulties encountered by other people. There are several major ways that casinos can be found lacking, and two key areas to check for players are withdrawals and customer service.
It’s vanishingly rare for an online casino to be slow or present obstacles to depositing cash. When it comes to transferring funds into a betting site, things are usually hassle-free and very quick indeed. That is not always the case when it comes to withdrawing cash, however. Every banking method has its own time scale for deposits and withdrawals, but this can also vary between casinos who might have their own processing time. In some instances this can add days to withdrawals, but worse still is when errors are repeatedly encountered when trying to withdraw. Nothing is more frustrating than winning good profits only to have the cash imprisoned in the casino because of difficulty withdrawing. Couple this with customer service being slow and/or unable to remedy the problem and it’s something of a nightmare.
Customer service itself is another crucial area to review when assessing a site and whether it’s on the level or not. Technology is always prone to inexplicable problems, but good customer support will reply politely and promptly to resolve any concerns with a minimum of fuss. Poor customer service will have few channels by which to reach it, lack of 24/7 availability, and staff with a poor attitude and inability to actually solve problems, exacerbating the player’s annoyance substantially.
Affiliation with Testing Firms
Just as the licensing arrangement is a strong indication of a trustworthy betting site, so do some online casinos that are highly reliable have approval from/affiliation with independent third party testing and auditing firms. While not essential in the way a high quality licensing arrangement is, association with such a third party testing firm is a very positive sign that a site can be trusted and is not a scam casino. Unfortunately, betting scams are not limited to the online sphere and happen in the real world too but a great way to avoid them is by playing at an online casino with both a great licensing setup and affiliation with a testing firm.
The reason why these independent, third party auditing firms are such a good thing is that online casino games are mostly down to pure chance. However, if an online casino is dubious then those scales might be tilted unfairly, with the player having worse odds of winning than should be the case. The odds are determined by RNG (a random number generator) and this is tested by firms such as eCOGRA, TST, and GLI to ensure the randomness is fair and the games are operating as they should be. Websites affiliated with a testing firm will typically indicate this at the foot of the page, near to the licensing information.
On a similar note, offering games from trusted software developers is a strong sign of trust as leading studios wish to protect their well-earned reputations and do not want to be associated with dubious websites. By their very presence, games from the likes of Microgaming, NetEnt, and Play’N Go are indicative a site is likelier than not to be reliable.
The proliferation of online casinos in Canada in recent years can make it difficult deciding which ones are places to avoid. However, many of the most obvious signs of trust are easily found and go a long way towards establishing if a casino is sound or not. And it’s always worth taking the time to search out a casino’s online reputation before signing up.
