Online casino gambling scams

You Cannot Find The Return To Player (RTP) Or It Is Very Low

Casino scams are not always associated with payments and fraud—one of the most common scams is manipulating the games so that the house always wins.

The return to player (RTP) is the proportion of wagers that will be paid out to players after a specific length of time. If the house edge is 10% and the RTP is 90%, for example, the RTP is 10% minus the house edge. You can easily tell a trustworthy online casino by looking at their RTP. In addition, the site’s footer or another part of the page will have info about the appropriate gambling enforcement agency that issued its authorization.

Avoid all online gambling establishments with an RTP below 80% or those that don’t display an RTP at all. BTW, an RTP of 94% to 98% is considered average.

Slow Download Process

Picture this: you’ve just completed an incredible run, and you’re waiting for the money to show up in your account. The wait lasts days, weeks, and even months. Even though you went through the lengthy process of verifying your account and confirming your withdrawal, the casino seems unwilling to pay.

This is a super common type of online scam— they will payout in the beginning, but payments slowly become more complicated and take longer to appear in your account, and the site will say it has to do with a conflict with the terms you accepted when you signed up.

Reading reviews and learning about other people’s experiences is an excellent way to steer clear of this. Look for sites that have multiple options and that use PayPal; this guarantees that you’re given enough options!  The fact that a company can pass PayPal’s rigorous verification process is usually a good sign that it’s legit.

Request for Personal Data

Shady casinos will not have the proper security measures in place to protect your info, so make sure to only play at reputable online casinos that have the “https” prefix in their URLs, and do not ever provide personal information such as SSNs, IDs, or your bank details.

If any online casino, whether it is legit or shady, asks for any of your personal info that could compromise your identity, do not offer up those details under any circumstances!

Identity theft is a widespread online scam that shouldn’t be taken lightly. It is imperative for gaming companies to prioritize the security of their players and implement effective protective measures.

Bad or No Customer Support/Service

Of course, shady casinos would rather you couldn’t get in touch with them to ask about the status of the money you have invested or won duh. Reputable online casinos will have lots of ways to get in touch with customer service, including 24/7, 365 days a year customer support options—this includes being able to call, email, or chat with them directly throughout the day and the night.

If you can’t find ways to get in touch with an online casino, or if you have trouble accessing any of the contact options they advertise, this can be a serious red flag.

And if any negative reviews complain about the site’s customer service, we recommend that you don’t spend your money there.

Incredible Bonuses That Don’t Add Up

Countless gambling establishments offer incentives for new players to join, but be super skeptical of deals that seem too good to be true–they probably are! All bonuses that demand an initial payment before you can get your hands on the money before getting the bonus are scams: full-stop.

These kinds of online scams are sophisticated and well thought out—it appears like you’ll get your bonus in the end, but the process is often deliberately lengthy and unduly complicated, and as a result, most people get frustrated and give up halfway through, which means losing their initial deposit.

Check out the sites that have special offers and bonuses that do not require a deposit. The best online casinos will have enough extra incentives to attract players and will not have to rely on any fraudulent deposit schemes to pull in players.

Payout Problems

If you are lucky enough to get lucky (sorry) with whatever your favorite casino game is, you should expect a timely payout. This process should only take a few hours, so if you find yourself waiting for a few days, it could mean your money isn’t coming.

Long payment processes and non-payment are the most common complaints about fraudulent companies. Customer service is basically non-existent in these types of scams, so players rightly get suspicious and worried when they are ignored, and many end up contacting the authorities in an attempt to blacklist the fraudulent casino.

Selection Problems

If you deposit your money into a casino, of course, you’ll want to be able to withdraw that money as well! A super common scam in an online casino is not being able to withdraw your deposit–or your winnings.

Shady or scam online casinos will frustrate customers with complicated withdrawal processes or include hidden terms and conditions preventing withdrawals. Make sure you always read the terms and conditions carefully and pay special attention to their withdrawal and payout policies. If you don’t understand what the heck you are reading, look into the online casino on review platforms or avoid them altogether.

Spyware and Ransomware

There are plenty of computer coders and hackers all over the world, and unfortunately, not all of them are using their skills for good—it’s the opposite in the case of scam online casinos.

Spyware and ransomware are among the most common forms of gambling scams, and their danger has risen dramatically (like bonkers numbers) over the last decade.

Spyware does exactly what you would expect it to do: Spy on your computer and steal personal info. This means your identity can be stolen, your bank account hacked, etc. A lot of people have become victims of extortion and blackmail from this type of cyber attack.

Then there’s the ransomware: This freezes your computer with unbreakable encryption. The only thing you’ll see is a little message from the scammers telling you how much money you have to pay, where you have to pay it, and how you have to pay. Once you pay the required amount, they promise a password to unlock the computer. Think of it like they have kidnapped your computer and everything that is on it.

But they don’t stop there—they just keep upping the ante and asking for more once you have paid the initial amount.

Ransomware is a serious threat, having paralyzed entire government systems in the past. There are several ways to try to avoid this type of scam—the first is by avoiding downloading casino apps and just playing games in your browser. If you want to download the app, make sure you download it from Apple or Google Play Stores or other verified download sites.

Identity Theft

“Financial identity theft affected 47% of Americans in 2020,” says the Aite Group.

According to a report published, identity theft cases resulted in losses of $502.5 billion in 2019 and increased by 42% to $712.4 billion in 2020. Yikes!

Although only a small percentage of this amount will go through casino scammers, it still happens. Casinos that steal identities simply exist to extract as much data as possible from the people they cheat. They could use this personal info for themselves or sell it to criminals on the black market who are looking for someone else’s information to carry out their illegal activities.

This is a harder scam to spot because it can look super legit, and one of the most common ways to get your information is to block your account and ask you to upload your identity documents. 

And although this is something that legit casinos have the right to do, it’s vital that you make sure that any casino that asks you to do this has all the criteria we discuss in the following section before uploading any personal information!

Legit Licenses

One of the primary factors to consider when selecting a virtual casino is to make sure the facility has a gambling license. This should be easy to find on their website—if it isn’t, stop right there—this is a huge red flag.

It is important to show not only the license itself but also where the license came from, as some countries or states are stricter than others. Australia, The UK, Gibraltar, Costa Rica, Canada, and Antigua are examples of countries with strong licensing laws. If the website you are visiting is authorized in a nation other than the one in which it states it is headquartered, you should consider it to be highly suspicious.