|
Beware Of Web Casino Scams
There are two broad categories of online gambling scams: web casinos that scam people, and websites that try to convince people that a particular "betting system" works.
With crooked web casinos, it's easy enough to find "blacklists" of casinos that have scammed people. You simply type in "online casino scams" in a search engine, and you'll get plenty of sites that list "approved" and "unapproved" online gambling sites. However, with new gambling websites coming online all the time, sometimes the online watchdogs can't keep up. So how can you tell if a site is risky in terms of identity theft, slow payouts, or no payouts?
The regulating gambling authority of the country where a site is based should be listed on the web casino's home page. Check if the license is valid by going to the licensing authority's website and checking the list of approved casinos. It doesn't necessarily mean they're honest, but you can file a complaint against them if you believe you've been treated unfairly. If you can't find licensing information anywhere on the site, stay away.
A web casino's payouts should be audited independently, to verify that winners are determined by random number generator and the games are fair. Better casinos post their payout reports on-site, with overall payout percentage and percentages broken down by game categories.
Beware of a web casino online that provides little or no information about the software it uses. If they use brands like Playtech or Microgaming, they're probably OK. If there is no software information on the site, or if the software provider is an unknown company, you put yourself at more risk. Some casinos have been known to use obscure or no-name software that cheats.
Read the web casino's privacy policy and ensure that it has SSL encryption before entering any personal details into an online gambling site. It's also a good idea to try to contact the customer support service by live chat before starting to gamble at a site, to ensure that it's reasonably easy to get help when you need it.
As for the other kind of online gambling scam, don't believe anyone who tells you they have a "system" that works. Dice don't "know" and don't "care" what was rolled before. Most online betting "systems" are based on the so-called Monte Carlo fallacy that assumes, falsely, that every play in a game of chance is not independent of the others, and that a spate of outcomes of one type should be "balanced" by other possibilities in the short run. Operators of web casinos (and regular casinos) are not going to disabuse people of the notion that a given outcome is somehow "due" after a series of other outcomes. But in truth, there is simply no way around the mathematical rules of independent plays and the rules of probability.
With a fair coin, a fair roulette wheel, or fair dice, the next result is always independent of any and all previous results. Don't let any gambling "expert" convince you otherwise. Keep in mind the possible scams perpetrated by dishonest web casinos and so-called experts who tell you about a "system" for winning, and you'll have a much better experience with online gambling.
|
