Taking your time when picking an online casino is very important. Virtually anyone with basic computer skills can create a convincing gambling site and use it to steal either your information, money, or both. Other sites will use tactics to sucker you in and won’t live up to their promises. You also have casinos that are outdated, don’t offer the best experience, or are unreliable. This is why you need to know how to identify a good website before you start looking at options. Let’s take a look at a few tips to help you choose an online gambling website.
Look at their Certification
The most important thing when picking an online casino is checking their licensure. If a casino is unlicensed, there is no reason for you to play there as this is the clearest sign of a fraudulent casino.
If you want to know where you can find the licensing information, you should be able to see it in a site’s footer or on their about page. This would be a good time to look up the information you find there and see how detailed it is. The more details you can get about the company, its ethos, and its history, the better.
You also have to know that there are only a handful of regulatory bodies that you can trust and are respected by the community. These include the UK Gambling Commission, the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, Curacao e-Gaming, the Malta Gaming Authority, the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority, and the Alderney Gambling Control Commission. If the casino is not licensed by one of those, you can always check their background history, but it’s wiser to stay away.
Look at the Bonus Structure Closely
You’ll notice that almost all online casinos offer some sort of bonus to new players. Most of the time, they will offer a deposit match on your first and sometimes second, third, and even fourth deposit.
You have to be very careful with those bonuses as they can be deceiving. First of all, if any casino offers a match deposit over 300%, beware. This usually means that the casino is either a fraud or that some hidden terms make the bonus almost impossible to redeem.
The thing you have to pay very special attention to when looking at a match bonus is the wagering requirements. All these bonuses will require that you spend a certain amount of money before you can withdraw your money, and that’s understandable. But this amount needs to be reasonable.
Ideally, you want to pick a bonus with the lowest wagering requirements possible. The lowest you’ll find is 20 times your initial deposit plus bonus, but the average bonus will require that you spend anywhere from 30 times to 40 times that amount. If any bonus requires you to spend more than that, it’s not worth it.
Look at Reviews
The easiest way to find a great casino is to look up reviews on reputable casino sites. These sites will usually have extensive reviews of different casinos and reputable review sites will make sure that all the casinos on their list are legit.
If you’re looking for a great review site, we suggest you look at OnlineCasinos. OnlineCasinos has a list of all the best casinos along with details on what you can expect when playing there. They speak about the bonuses they have to offer, the types of games they have there, and other things like security, customer service, and payment options.
Check if the Casino Performs Regular Audits
Another thing you should look at is how fair the odds are at a certain casino. The only way to know this is to check an audit report. Reputable casinos will go the extra mile to show that their games are fair and seeing that a casino has been audited recently is a great sign. If you go on the website and you notice that it has been audited by eCOGRA, AuditNet, or GamingLabs and it’s licensed, then you can play there with complete peace of mind.
Look at their Software Provider
Not everyone knows this, but most online casinos will use software from a third party to run their games. There are a few reputed software providers in the business and knowing which provider a casino uses will give you a good idea of what you can expect as far as gameplay goes.
If you go with a casino that is powered by Microgaming, for instance, then you can expect it to have a huge selection of games with great themes. The same goes for NetEnt. If the casino is powered by Playtech, on the other hand, then you can expect games with advanced graphics, soundtracks and sound effects, and traditional gaming aspects. So, learn about the different providers in the business and their specialties.
Download and Test Their Software
Once you’ve found a few casinos that you can trust, you can check the quality of their software. Download the software on multiple devices and see how well it runs. Try a few games using their free play option and see how smooth the animations are.Â
You should also pay very special attention to how stable the connection is. The last thing you want is for you to get disconnected in the middle of a high-stakes hand of blackjack, so check the quality of their servers before you start playing seriously.
Check their Customer Service
While you’re at it, you should also check how good the casino’s customer service is. If the casino has a live chat option, try to use it and see how fast you can get access to a rep. You should also give their customer service a call and have a few questions ready. You could ask them about their history, the number of games in their selection, or what software they use. How they answer should give you a good idea of whether they care about their clients.
Finding a great casino to play at should not be difficult once you know what to look for. Be sure that the casino is operating lawfully first and foremost and start looking at the fine details afterwards.
