For residents in many states, the days when the only online betting options involved shady offshore operators have come to an end. With more states at various stages of regulating online gambling, safe online sportsbooks will soon be widely available via mobile and desktop devices. Safe and Secure Online Gambling When a casino is licensed by a legitimate government group, is a member in good standing of an industry organization, and hires a third party company to test their results, that’s about all you can do to assure a company is on the level. Casino Pay-outs for online Gambling. Finding a safe online casino is not that tough, all you need to do is research well and be aware of all that is out there. With time, you will come to recognize the red flags and avoid them. One of the first things that you must check for in an online casino is the payment options offered.
The safest casinos for playing slots online follow the same pattern. These sites are licensed and regulated by a legitimate governmental agency. The casino is a member of industry organizations which police their own, in hopes they avoid further government regulations. Their companies hire third-party auditing services with a good reputation, so they can verify the games are fair and their site is secure. Those three traits mark out the safest places to enjoy online casino gambling, which is the best place to enjoy virtual slot machines.
It also helps if the casino where you play is located inside your own home country. This isn’t essential or possible in many cases, but it does help in the case the gambling operation turns out to be corrupt, because you can report to regulatory authorities or other gaming agencies. This won’t be possible in several English speaking countries. Unless you live in the United Kingdom and play at UK sites, you don’t have the luxury of playing at casinos listed on the stock exchange. That’s a luxury, though. Let’s talk about verifying if your online casino is legit.
Most Trusted Casinos with Slot Machine Games
Land-Based Casino Safety
Gamblers playing on live slot machines in Las Vegas know local regulations require casino operators to follow strict protocols in setting the payback percentage. If the game is in play, casino management can’t make changes to the probabilities. For four minutes before and after you make a wager on the machine, changes cannot be made electronically. Some jurisdictions require a computer chip to be replaced and a member of the local gambling commission to sign off that the process followed the law.
Online Slots Casinos Licensed and Regulated
Players are more at the mercy of a gambling operators on the Internet. The law is less clear, because it’s probably an international game, with the player in one country and the operation in another. If so, the player must trust the regulatory agency of the country which licenses the casino. If you don’t know or trust the issuer of licenses, then you’re leaving it up to chance that the casino operator doesn’t change the odds while you play. Especially in the era of server-based slot machines, the ability to make changes remotely is greater all the time.
Licensed sites promise this doesn’t happen, while having an agency which monitors their activity. Other methods of keeping the proprietor honest exist, too.
Trade Organizations
Several industry-run organizations exist to keep an eye on operations and verify their fairness. Microgaming founded eCOGRA, which acts as a watchdog for fair gaming. Casinos using other slot software joined their network. ECogra is just one example of the industry led verification groups. These people have a reason to police themselves: they don’t want to encourage governments to pass more laws, because that’s bad for business.
Third Party Testing
Technical System Testing or TST is a third-party company which audits game logs to find inconsistencies and tests software regularly to make sure it hasn’t been breached by hackers. TST checks up on their clients several times a week, if not daily. This company’s reputation for good business means it gives truthful responses, while they have the technical capabilities to know what’s happened and why. Other corporations exists which handle this type of security, but I mention TST because it supports the RealTime Gaming network, which many Americans use as their gambling connection.
Safe and Secure Online Gambling
When a casino is licensed by a legitimate government group, is a member in good standing of an industry organization, and hires a third party company to test their results, that’s about all you can do to assure a company is on the level. I’m not saying irregularities won’t happen even when these various groups keep a close eye on things, but it does provide assurances that it’s not nearly as likely to happen.
Slots Forums and Feedback
Scouting out potential online gambling destinations isn’t a bad idea. The one thing about gamblers is they like to discuss their hobby. The one thing about Internet message boards is people aren’t shy about providing their opinions (however crazy they might be). Find a slots community and see what they are saying on their message board. These discussion groups not only give information on the latest promotions and game releases, but they also provide plenty of feedback on individual casino experiences. You can be sure, if a website is treating customers badly, a forum discussion is taking place somewhere about it.
Don’t take anyone’s word as gospel. No matter how reasonable they sound or how well they complain, any one person might be a malcontent. People can be disgruntled about anything. Competitors could try to sabotage them by posting fake feedback, or the poster might just be an Internet troll. Whatever the case, use the weight of evidence to determine whether an online slots casinos sound safe.
Despite aging rumors to the contrary, there are many reputable online gambling sites that prioritize player safety and security above all else. Safe online gambling sites employ strict privacy policies, hold licensure with authoritative gambling industry regulatory bodies, protect sensitive player data through encryption technologies, and offer fair, balanced games that have been tested by third parties. In addition, the safest online gambling sites will never offer gaming software that could harm or infect your computer.
Safest Real Money Gambling Sites
Online Gambling Licensing And Regulatory Organizations
You can usually determine whether or not a site with real money gambling online is safe by first viewing their home page or About page. Here, you'll often find seals of approval and licensing details from the regulatory organizations that oversee the site. Several online gambling sites, including those that deal with sports betting, poker and casino gaming, have received the eCOGRA Safe and Fair seal. eCOGRA, or eCommerce Online Gaming Regulation and Assurance, is a UK regulatory organization tasked with assessing the fairness, game balance and safety of real money online gambling sites. eCOGRA also fields player complaints and resolves disputes between players and online gambling sites, usually in favor of players.
The Kahnawake Gaming Commission is another regulatory body that licenses over 250 online gambling sites. When you find a site regulated by this organization, it's a good indication that the site is among safe online gambling sites. The KGC famously cracked down on a heavily publicized cheating scandal at a popular online poker room in 2009, in which over $22 million was awarded to players who had incorrectly lost money.
Game Fairness At Online Gambling Sites
Reputable and secure online gambling sites power their casino games through software that has been fully tested by Technical Systems Testing, or other third-party software testing laboratories. Since 1993, TST has been testing the fairness of online casino games to gauge their fairness, and to ensure that players have a reasonable chance of receiving a return on their wagers. TST is now a part of GLI, or Gaming Laboratories International, allowing them to further increase their testing capabilities.
In order to achieve optimal game fairness, safe online gambling sites usually determine their game results using a random number generator, or RNG. RNGs use complex mathematical algorithms to generate completely random numbers. It's impossible to predict the next number in the random number sequence, and the occurrence of previous numbers has no effect on future numbers. This allows for truly random game outcomes at online gambling sites that often exceed the randomness and fairness of playing the same games in a live casino, where human error and dealer inconsistencies can lead to unintended results.
Security At Online Gambling Websites
Safe Online Gambling Sites
High quality online gambling sites take several measures to ensure that all player data is kept safe and secure. This starts with 128-bit or 256-bit Secure Socket Link (SSL) encryption. Although the processes behind this advanced encryption method are complicated, they essentially ensure that the personal information you transfer to an online gambling site (such as your name, address, email address, phone number and banking information) is impervious to hackers and other criminals that may try to intercept the transmission.
Privacy Policies At Gambling Sites
Safe And Secure Online
Of course, the best encryption technologies mean little if the online gambling site itself isn't committed to using the information you send it responsibly. Safe online gambling sites offer strict privacy polices, ensuring that the information you send them (such as your email address) will not be shared, traded or sold to other sites. You can usually find a site's privacy policy by viewing its FAQ, About page or Terms and Conditions.
Customer Support At Online Gambling Sites
The safest gambling sites offer multiple real time forms of customer service, such as live chat and toll free phone. This way, you'll be able to contact customer service and have your account locked immediately if you suspect that it has been compromised by a hacker or any individual using your account without permission. Support should be offered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, as an attack on your account could potentially occur outside of normal business hours.
Other customer service methods, such as email, may be offered as well. However, the relatively slow nature of email makes it less optimal than phone or live chat. If an online gambling site primarily relies on email for customer support, it should offer at least one real time support method as well.
Secure Software And Cashier
When you download software from a safe online gambling site, you can feel safe in knowing that the software will not contain any adware, spyware or other forms of malware that could potentially harm you computer. If you suspect that a software download from an online gambling site may contain material harmful to your computer, contact customer support immediately.