Are Online Casinos Rigged?
Are online casinos actually safe to play at?
This is a common question that is emailed to us on an almost daily basis.
By "safe" people usually mean - is my credit card data safe? Is my personal information safe?
Let's set the record straight on a few things before we begin.
The US government has been waging a war against the online gambling industry for years now. They make outlandish claims that are not backed up by facts. They say that online casinos are fronts for terroristic organizations. They say that online casinos are run by the mob. They say all sorts of crazy things.
Here's the thing - many prominent online casinos are owned by publicly traded companies.
For instance, Party Casino is owned by PartyGaming. PartyGaming is a publicly traded company that trades on the London Stock Exchange. PartyGaming is a billion dollar company.
Do you really think that Party Casino would jeopardize their business by doing something shady such as selling credit card or personal information? No way.
Just like in any industry, there are going to be shady companies - it just comes with the territory. There are shady insurance brokers, shady car salesman and shady shop-owners. However, the VAST majority of online casinos are on the up-and-up. If they weren't, then they would be out of business already. Word travels fast on the Internet.
Ask yourself this question - why would other countries such as the United Kingdom legalized and regulate online casinos, while the United States continues to say that online casinos are shady and illegal?
Is it because they are genuinely worried about the situation and are trying to protect people?
Or are they just mad that they aren't generating tax revenues from the industry?
Back to the matter at hand. In order to fully protect yourself from the handful of shady operators that are out there, I would suggest that you do the following things to best protect yourself:
1. Stick with online casinos that are well-established. Don't sign up with an online casino that just went into business this year, unless they are backed by an established company like PartyGaming or 888 Holdings.
2. Do a Google search on the casino. The idea behind this step is easy to see - you are searching to see if anyone has had any major problems with the casino, especially in terms of getting paid.
3. Make sure that they have a customer service phone number.
4. Call them on the customer service number and ask them a couple of random questions. You are just making sure that someone is actually on the other end of the line.
Always protect yourself, but also remember - there aren't nearly as many shady online casinos as some would have you believe.