Each industry has a dark side...!  Everywhere you look, you will find someone trying to sell you something that is too good to be true. Often, it is a product that does not look or perform as claimed, but once purchased, you are stuck with it and there is nothing much that you can do!

Scammers are all over the place, and there is no industry that has not been hard hit, especially now with the availability of the internet, and technology at large.

For online casinos, it has become even more difficult to detect not only the scamming action but also who is behind it.

The online casino industry has long been perceived as a hotbed of scammers, but this is simply not true. There are many legitimate online casinos to select from, and the majority are reliable and trustworthy.

However, the sector is not without controversy, and we want to assist you to gain confidence in your online casino selections so that you can avoid dishonest operators.

What Makes a Rogue Online Casino?

Before we discuss how to avoid rogue casinos, it's necessary to clarify what a rogue casino is in the first place.

Many players believe a casino is deceiving them because they never appear to win, but this is another illusion, and challenge for online casino operators.

This is not to say that there are no deceptive online casinos in some way. Let's examine some of the ways a casino can be labelled rogue:

• Software that does not adhere to the correct mathematical rules
• False advertising in promotions and offers
• Payouts are slow
• There will be no rewards
• Removal of funds from player accounts
• Inappropriate Software

Unreliable Gaming Software

This is less of a worry nowadays, but in the early days of the online casino sector, there was significantly less inspection of the games themselves.

Certain operators were able to "tweak" the payout chances of certain games, resulting in a significantly higher hold percentage.

Advertisements That Are Not True

When you see an offer that appears to be too good to be true, your antennas are likely to go up. Usually, these large bonuses and promotions are not genuine, especially if they come from a site you've never heard of.

Rogue websites employ these possibilities to entice you, even though they know pretty well that you have no chance of winning anything.

Payouts Are Slow

While there is some delay in processing withdrawals, certain sites use this to conceal the fact that they are paying you at a rather slower pace.

The site may be slow to pay in order to entice you to reverse your request and play some more, or it may simply be uninterested in paying players on time.

This is the worst-case situation for gamers – they make a deposit, play some games, and then attempt to withdraw their funds only to discover that the casino is completely untraceable.

While this is an extreme example, it is something that happens and should be considered when managing your casino balance.

Removal of Funds from a Player’s Account

Certain websites' Terms and Conditions will include a clause stating that they reserve the right to deduct money from a player's account if they believe the player has violated any regulations.

This is another approach used by rogue casinos to conceal the fact that they are defrauding gamers. We've heard numerous cases of users logging into their accounts to discover their balances had been depleted, and the reason given was due to a technicality!

What Could Possibly Drive a Casino Rogue?

This is not as simple an answer as you may expect. Of course, a casino operator could just be a criminal intent on defrauding people.

However, that number is shrinking faster than ever as casino software regulators have put in a lot of work in an effort to weed out fraudsters. Before an online casino can be issued with a license, they have to undergo an extensive background check, before issuing them a licence.

Another reason a casino may go, rogue, is that the money deposited by players on the site has been mismanaged. The industry is extremely competitive, and it costs a lot of money for many businesses to remain viable.

Although this is a horrible business model, some companies use player funds to assist in running the day-to-day activities of the business. This is despite the risk involved in losing a player’s money.

How to Avoid Falling Prey to Rogue Casinos

Whatever the cause, rogue casinos exist, and all we can do is put you in the best position possible to avoid being cheated while making online deposits. At deluxe casino bonus, we have a squad committed to reviewing every online casino we can locate.

Let's go through some of the criteria we use to establish a site's reliability, as well as what you can do to stay safe and avoid falling into the hands of a rogue operator.

Look out for Genuine Licenses

The simplest approach to determine whether you are dealing with a legitimate site is to check for a gaming licence. There are several gaming authorities that issue online casino licences, each with a different and varying level of player protection.

We prefer sites licenced in the United Kingdom or Malta. These two jurisdictions have a tough mandate whereby, all player funds must be held separately in a bank account that must also be regularly audited.

Other jurisdictions like Curacao and Kahnawake, are less stringent than their European counterparts, but any casino operating under one of these licences has undergone some type of due diligence.

Audits on Software

We understand that certain casinos operate without gaming licences in order to attract consumers from certain countries. Malta and the United Kingdom, for example, will not give licences to operators seeking to accept wagers from the United States.

In this scenario, we look for a software vendor whose games have been audited by a third party. This is something suppliers take pride in, therefore if you are unable to locate an auditing firm's emblem on an inline casino site, this should raise a red signal.

Read Casino Reviews!

Independent review sites like us are dedicated to providing players with the most comprehensive, unbiased assessments of all online casino sites we come across.

We have a reviews section that covers hundreds of online casinos that we can recommend to users.

Consult Online Casino Forum Websites

A majority of player-driven websites provide a platform for gamers who believe they have been short-changed by an online casino.

Now, some of these forum posts are simply players whining about losing money playing games; therefore, when reading a forum post on a site, seek answers from previous users.

Also, forums can be used by websites to conduct customer service in public, so if you do not receive a response from the casino, you should be concerned.

Have Faith in the Advice from your Friends

Given the probability that you know someone who has used an online casino, it's worth asking for advice.

This does not guarantee that you will locate the best sites or that you will avoid rogue sites, but when combined with our reviews and the forums, having a seal of approval from someone you trust may be just what you need to make a final selection.

Start with Small Deposits

Even after conducting all of this research, you are still under the casino's mercy, and especially if you are playing for real money.

We always recommend that you play within your means, but if you have any doubts about a site's reliability, you should test it with the smallest investment possible.

Then, you'll want to manage your balance carefully, withdrawing funds whenever possible and maintaining a minimum amount. While this may lead to a slight increase in transaction costs, but it is still preferable to having your entire amount wiped away by a rogue operator.

Conclusion

As stated in the beginning, as long as the industry exists, there will still be malicious people with bad intentions of attempting to exploit players.

The information on this page will help you and guide you on the right path as you establish yourself in this lucrative industry.

However, you may still run into difficulties with your chosen casino. If that does occur and you are unable to resolve the situation directly with the casino, you can seek help or advice from relevant forums, regulators, and sites like ours.