As we transition into a new decade, new online casinos are popping up like mushrooms, with most of them offering a generous vault of titles to choose from and a promise of never-ending fun. The only problem is, not all of them can guarantee you the same level of cybersecurity. If you’re not careful enough, you could find yourself having your winnings confiscated, your customer support tickets ignored, or perhaps even your identity is stolen. Therefore, signing up with the first casino you stumble across is a big no-no if you want to stay safe.
There are, however, plenty of legitimate online casinos that meet the modern cybersecurity standards and have your best interests at heart. It’s just that they’re incredibly hard to identify without the right education. But we’re here to remedy that. So the next time you’re out and about looking for a casino online, be sure to check for the following signs of trustworthiness:
1. Displaying the right license
If the casino has managed to obtain the right licensing to legalize its operations in the chosen country, you – the prospective customer – will be the first to know. Since they are trying to win your trust, why would they ever want to withhold this crucial piece of information from you? Just as you can see from the example of an online casino at betsson.com, the license will be displayed either at the top or at the bottom of the website. Given that an online casino has to jump through many hoops to obtain one, displaying such a license is a clear sign of trust.
Prior to awarding one, the regulatory body checks that the casino adheres to fair practices and that it’s compliant with the local laws and regulations. But even after getting a passing grade, their work is far from over. In fact, over the course of time, a casino is repeatedly checked for adherence and possible violations. If player complaints are not resolved in a timely manner and if the platform is full of bugs, they stand to lose the license. For you as a player, such rigorous monitoring is a good thing.
2. Having a legitimate random number generator
A random number generator must be based on true randomness, otherwise, it’s not a reliable option for a casino to use. After all, this is what determines what cards will be dealt with next and which part of the roulette the ball will land on. The algorithm needs to be unpredictable and not follow a guessable pattern; that way, no one can manipulate or tamper with it.
To that end, casino operators tend to employ a third-party solution instead of trying to have one in-house. This is because a third-party’s solution has gone through rigorous testing which ensures the results stay consistently random across a huge sample size. This is because they want the players to trust in the fairness of the results. Otherwise, the casino could risk facing allegations of altering the algorithms for their own benefit since doing such a thing would be to their advantage (paying out less means more money gets to stay in their pocket).
3. Transparent terms and conditions
While the majority of people rarely take the time to read through the terms and conditions segment, this is an important piece of the cybersecurity puzzle. In it, the casino is required to tell you what they do with the personal data you entrust them and what measures they have in place to protect it. But irrespective of whether you read them or not, this is what will govern your every interaction with the casino. In fact, agreeing to them is a prerequisite for being able to create an account in the first place.
Since certain illegitimate casinos are known to change these as they see fit, it doesn’t hurt taking a screenshot of them either. That way, you’ll have a solid ground to stand on when demanding that the winnings be paid out. But either way, a reputable casino will be transparent about this and notify you in advance when the rules are bound to change for any reason.
4. Encrypting sensitive data
As part of the onboarding process, a casino may ask you to send over a scan of your personally-identifiable documents such as your drivers’ license, personal ID card, etc. Even if the casino does not ask for a form of identification, revealing your credit card number is sometimes the only way to transfer the funds over. But if this kind of sensitive data is not stored safely or intercepted along the way, this could lead to cyber identity theft and other forms of abuse. Therefore, 128 or 256-bit encryption is a must so no unauthorized third party will be able to get a glimpse of what’s inside.
In a nutshell, these are strings of unbreakable code used to mask what’s under the lock and they can only be unlocked by knowing the right key. In fact, this is the same kind of technology that’s used in online banking. So how can you tell that they have it in place? For starters, take a look at your browser’s URL bar the next time you’re visiting the casino. If there is a lock icon inside, this is indicative of them using a form of encryption.
5. Displaying an honest privacy policy
Just by signing up, the casino now has your name, address, and phone number. Since most of the players would want to keep these private, it’s important that the privacy policy reflects the way you want your personal information to be handled. If this is undefined (or perhaps even withheld from you), it could be a sign that the casino is contemplating renting or selling it to other companies for marketing purposes, which is clearly not in the interest of you maintaining your privacy.
But if you’ve agreed with the rules when signing up and the casino goes to break the agreement, later on, you have a legal ground to take them to court if need be. So if you want to make sure your personal information will stay protected the way it should be, make sure to give the privacy policy a thorough read. Typically, you can find it in the website’s footer.
Conclusion
Unless a casino meets all the criteria outlined above, do not be afraid to take your business elsewhere. After all, it’s next to impossible to run out of alternatives in this day and age. And remember: customer reviews are your friend!
