So, you have never played at an online casino before, but you feel that tickle that just wants you to have a go; however, something doesn’t quite feel one hundred percent and you’ve been retrograding from enjoying your favorite gambling games on the internet. You ask yourself the questions, “How can I trust an online casino? How do I know that my money is safe out there on the internet and how do I know I won’t be honeyfuggled?” And since we are now working within the online realm, there in no way to know who the people behind the glitzy adverts and assurances are and whether we should trust any of them.
It is good to know that such questions are completely valid and that any rational person should be asking them at a constant rate. After all, to use the old cliché, money doesn’t grow on trees, and we need to be extremely cautious about how we deal with our money and trust in cyberspace.
For this reason, I have put together an easy-to-follow guide covering six easy steps you should be taking when searching for not only a trustworthy online casino, but one that is also highly entertaining and fair to you as a client. Of course, these steps are quite logical, but many times, with the trait of haste as human beings, we often overlook pivotal elements within our capacity as buyers – after all, we are buying a service here, and the element of scrutinizing the product, in this case an online casino, must be on top of the priorities list.
So let’s get started.
- Casinos must have a track record – research is important
Before you give away your credit card details to an unknown entity, do exactly that, learn about the casino that you are thinking of playing at. If the casino is a credible one, you will easily be able to find plenty of useful and objective information on the internet. Visit third party sites, read their reviews and go on some forums to learn about what the community of online gamblers has to say about the product. Casinos with a positive track record will have players hail them as decent gambling institutions. Make sure you find out about how speedy the casino is when you have decided to cash out your money. Some casinos are known to pay out within 24 hours, whilst others (which I call black sheep casinos), take more than four or five, or even more than a week to complete players’ cash-outs. Make sure that the services the casino offers are high-grade!
- Bonuses
This is perhaps the most important factor when choosing an online casino. Online casino bonuses are the surest way casinos acquire new patrons. Many of them are also very meaty, meaning that they offer players great cash deals upon signup. Because there are so many casinos on the internet today, the competition is fierce, and bonuses seem to be getting meatier by the day.
Perhaps the most well-known casino bonus on the internet today is known as the Match Bonus, whereby the casino matches a player’s first deposit. Most deposits operate within the 100-100 bracket, which means that a person will get $/€100 on top of a $/€100 deposit, although others are also quite prominent in this particular online alcove. With no real need for saying this, bonus users will have to succumb to the casino’s wagering requirements which are essentially a number of hands, spins or rolls of the dice a player needs to see through in order to make a cash-out. Wagering requirements are put in place so that players won’t take advantage of the casino, so if you wish not to receive any bonuses automatically, you will need to contact the casino before you make your very first deposit and warn them not bestow you with any bonuses. There are also many other types of bonuses that better casino providers will offer their players. One can find Free-play, Banking, High-Roller and VIP/Loyalty bonuses that will form the structure of the casino’s incentives program. Again, it is very important that you conduct vigilant research on casino bonuses before you decide to play with a particular brand.
- Support
Anyone having previously dealt with online institutions should know that it is impossible to engage in a credible, workable and an open services environment without the existence of a support center forged to help its clients at any given time of the day. Dependable online casinos will therefore boast call and contact centers in most international languages at 24/7 via email, chat and telephonic (often tool free) channels. Make sure that the casino you have chosen has such structures in place – test them, contact them and see if they are real people behind the numbers and addresses.
- Trusted software
There are currently around ten trustworthy online casino software providers operating online today. It is important to understand that software operators are very different from casino brands. Although there are many brands online, lobby software is much of the same all the time, only for its exterior, aesthetic appeal which each brand designs to lure particular demographics. As far as the backend of the casino is concerned, it is many a time the same and the games present for one’s enjoyment will be identical. Noteworthy software providers include Microgaming, Playtech, Realtime Gaming and Cryptologic. Each of these casino lobby providers offers a something different from the other, so it is entirely up to you which you pick to play. Some providers offer more classic-type gaming, while others more of the so called ‘infantile’ entertainment which banks on graphics and multi-hued interfaces. When you land on a software download page, make sure you find out about the software responsible for making gaming possible at the casino brand.
- Extensive catalogues
A point I want to make is that of downloading and playing casinos that offer players a thorough representation of land based casinos. Most well-known land based casinos, or ‘physical casinos’, will provide players with a good cross-section of games. One can expect to find table games such as roulette, blackjack and craps, slots of all varieties, video pokers and a number of unique gaming variants. The abovementioned lobbies will all host the entire spectrum of gambling variations you would expect to find at leading land based casinos across the globe.
A good number of games at any given casino lobby would be around the 150 game mark, so be sure that you don’t download casinos containing short-handed gaming catalogues.
- Depositing currencies and alternative banking methods
A true stalwart online casino will give you options on how you can deposit your money. Always look out for casinos that offer the Dollar, Euro and Pound currencies. Some casinos will also offer players alternative currencies such as the Ruble, Chilean Peso, Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, Chinese Yuan – South African Rand, although depositing with your credit card should pose no problems no matter where you’re from.
