There are hundreds of online casinos, with most offering generous bonuses to new players to encourage them to sign up. However, not all sites are safe and secure. Here we look at some of the things potential players can check for to ensure the proposed online casino has a good reputation before placing a wager. 

Whilst there are unethical online casinos that regularly pop up on the internet you can filter these out with some simple checks. Whether a site can be trusted or is too good to be true may already have been assessed already and given an online casino rating. These ratings will flag whether the game results are truly random or whether they fail to pay out winnings.

Check games are from reputable software developers

Software developers of games on online casino sites will usually make sure that their games are only licensed to legitimate online casino sites. This means that the casino must be licensed by a governing body and have been verified as being a fair operator. The game development companies do this to protect their own reputation, so with games from the top companies like NetEnt, NextGen, Microgaming, Playtech and others.

Check sites are approved and regulated

Within the online casino industry are a number of independent regulators that ensure that sites are secure, keep player information safe and provide fair play across its games library. Independent regulators provide frequent audits and a certificate of approval to all those who pass. One of the regulators is eCOGRA and a seal from them is a good indication of a legitimate casino site since they have a track record of high-quality certification services dedicated to online gambling activities for almost 20 years.

Check the license number

At the base of every online casino homepage should be the license number issued by a regulatory authority. Some sites will have licenses from multiple authorities so they can do business internationally.  It is wise to check the license number against the authority’s own database to ensure the license is legitimate and to check that has not been suspended or withdrawn. 

The most trustworthy licenses are those from the UK, Malta, Gibraltar, Curacao, Isle of Man, Costa Rica and Antigua. If you cannot see the location, registration status and license number of a particular casino on its home or ‘about us’ page, this should raise a red flag. 

Player reviews

Reviews of online casinos by players can be a useful tool for the most up-to-date information about an online casino. These reviews can be found on blogs and forums on social media and will flag up any issues.  Even though players will have different experiences you will be able to see which complaints are legitimate. When several people raise the same concerns then the problem is more likely to be real.