Online casinos have become a very popular form of entertainment over the last few years. However, one concern many people have with gambling websites is how safe online casinos are to play at. Contrary to what most people believe, online casinos are actually quite safe, and you can learn all about how they keep you safe by reading on.
General Safety
Like most other online businesses, online casinos use SSL technology to encrypt all of your information, including login details and all payment information. This means hackers cannot obtain any of your personal information or payment details, preventing fraud from occurring. In addition to encrypting your data, some online casinos may provide two-factor authentication, which requires you to enter a special one-time code into the website when logging in. Only you will have access to the code, again preventing anyone from hacking and stealing your details.
Licensing And Regulation
In addition to using the latest SSL technology, online casinos operating in the United Kingdom are required to hold a valid license from the UK Gambling Commission, allowing the websites to offer their services in the nation. The UK Gambling Commission or UKGC is the nation’s gambling regulator and is responsible for ensuring that casinos are safe for users to play at.
Casino operators with a license from the UKGC are required to follow anti-money laundering rules, must ensure that players’ bankrolls are kept safe and secure, must display all rules, must display all terms and conditions of a bonus clearly, must ensure all information is accurate and updated, and must keep all player data safe.
The UKGC also requires operators to identify players gambling beyond their means or players that have developed unpredictable behaviour and intervene to provide them with help and support to prevent any gambling-related harm. Operators are also required by the regulatory body to run identification and age verification checks to ensure that those registering and playing at the website are over the age of 18 and to prevent fraud.
Finally and arguably most importantly, the UK Gambling Commission requires all of its licensees to offer players fair and equal games. Online casinos usually work with auditors like iTech Labs to verify the fairness of their games and RNG (Random Number Generator), the technology used to run games. This ensures that the online casino offers fair games and provides players with a good chance at making wins.
For anyone based outside of the United Kingdom, numerous other licensing and regulatory bodies work similarly to protect players. They include the Alderney Gambling Control Commission, the Malta Gaming Authority, Sweden’s Spelinspektionen, and plenty more, all of which work hard to ensure that gamers are kept safe. However, it’s important to note that all gambling regulatory bodies will have different requirements of operators. Not all of them will be as strict as the UK Gambling Commission.
Personal Safety
In addition to the requirements set out by regulatory bodies, most online casinos also provide you, the player, with a range of tools and services to help keep yourself safe. For example, most online casinos will provide you with deposit, time, and loss limits, which allow you to set a limit for how much money you can deposit or lose and how much time you spend gambling over a select period of time, whether that’s per day, week or month.
A few online casinos also offer lock withdrawals, which allow players to lock withdrawals to prevent them from being reversed by themselves or customer support when requested. Although only a handful of casino websites offer this service, it’s incredibly helpful for those that find themselves reversing withdrawals to continue gambling with their wins due to the long withdrawal processing time at a casino.
Casinos employ a lot of measures to keep you safe, and while most websites will usually offer everything we’ve mentioned above, you must ensure you’re playing at a casino licensed for your jurisdiction. Since there are so many online casinos, it can be difficult to find out which online casinos are licensed for which jurisdiction. Luckily, there are websites like Sister Sites, which do all of that work for you and help you find a licensed online casino. Once you’ve found a website that is safe and licensed, you’re free to enjoy yourself as much as you want.
