You can find more, as well as a list of casinos and networks known for pulling these stunts, on our casino blacklist page.

Because there are so many legit and safe online casinos out there, it makes no sense to stick around with the bad ones.

But — and this is important — not all jurisdictions are created equal. For example, casinos licensed to operate in Costa Rica or Kahnawake.

How much can the casino get away with? The games should be regularly tested for fairness by an independent 3 rd party auditor, too. While far from a perfect approach, it should be pretty clear that the casino has the means to handle nearly any cash out that comes across their desk.

I also look at how fair the terms are. So many casinos nowadays omit details about who they are, which brings the trust factor — and, thus, the safety factor — way down.

However, this is rare, and often reserved for public gambling companies for example, So, what I have to do — and what I recommend you do — is look outside of the casino and our website for a second opinion.

Usually if a casino is unsafe, I can trust these guys to write about it. And while you need to ignore the bonus abusers, multi-accounting and conspiracy theorists, you will spot the bad patterns if they exist.

As for complaints, 3 rd party mediators such as AskGamblers. This is an invaluable source of information. Keep in mind — all of us have a financial interest in recommending casinos.

Then you keep the honest ones for a trial run, and skip the shady ones like the plague. Because otherwise your bankroll may get sick — maybe even die.

When it comes to online casino betting sites, for example, we really like to see games from NetEnt, Microgaming, IGT, and Playtech. These companies have a long history and are guaranteed fair.

We know this industry is highly innovative and are always willing to give upstarts a chance. However, we need to dig deeper and find out if these companies are reputable, and ideally want to see third-party verification of payouts.

Safe betting sites will have no problem publishing payout rates and explaining how the software works. The longer a betting site has been around the better, in our view.

In those cases, we look at the management team and company running them. If they are experienced and run multiple safe betting sites, we are happy to recommend them.

Part of the key to staying safe when betting online is education. We want to prevent that, if possible.

Other than sticking to the sites which have already been reviewed in-depth by our team of experts, it helps to know what some of the common safety concerns are.

There is no single set of laws that governs online gambling on a global scale. In fact, most countries have their own relevant legislation.

Some regions even rely on decades old gambling legislation that was introduced long before the Internet even existed.

Confusing legislation in some parts of the world is one of the reasons why so many companies choose to operate somewhere else.

This means that the only option for residents of certain countries is to use betting and gaming sites that are based overseas, and this is a big part of why so many people have concerns about the safety of online gambling.

These regions are typically referred to as online gambling jurisdictions, and the majority of companies in the industry base themselves in these locations.

Companies must be properly licensed to be able to operate legally, and they must adhere to specific rules and regulations in order to keep their licenses.

These jurisdictions and licensing authorities exist to help legitimize the online gambling industry. You can read more about this subject in our article explaining how online gambling is regulated and governed.

You may also be interested in our section on gambling laws , as this includes details of the major licensing authorities in the industry.

Regulation of the online gambling industry only serves a purpose if it actually protects the consumers. Thankfully, the established and reputable licensing authorities do generally impose strict rules on the sites that they license.

The exact regulatory requirements vary from one jurisdiction to the next, but they typically include everything in this list.

A fit and proper person test is basically just a fancy way of saying that the individuals responsible for running gambling companies have to prove themselves.

In most jurisdictions, the owner or owners of a company will have to undergo certain checks before their company will be issued with a license.

If they have a criminal record, are not financially sound, or have been involved in any kind of shady activity, they may be deemed unsuitable.

This particular requirement helps to keep sleazy characters out of the industry. A common safety concern relating to online gambling is the fear of deposited money being lost if a company goes out of business.

This should mean that all customers of a site would still get their balances back in full even if it goes bankrupt.

This requirement applies to sites that offer any type of gambling games, such as casino games or poker. One of the biggest concerns among people playing such games online is whether they are fair or not.

They worry that the games might be fixed somehow, to ensure that they lose money. Although such concerns are understandable, they are also largely unfounded.

Some people really struggle to keep control of their gambling. Please take the time to read this. This software will provide you with an extra level of protection against anyone hacking your computer and possibly gaining access to your online gambling accounts.

We make a big deal of the fact that we only recommend gambling sites that we know to be safe. But how exactly do we know which sites are safe and which are not?

There are actually several ways in which we assess the safety of online gambling sites. Here are some of the main methods we use.

There are others, too, but these are the most important. We talk more about this later, when we discuss regulation in greater detail.

It helps us to establish what kind of reputation they have and what their track record is like. Our research includes studying forums to see if we can get a general idea of what previous and existing customers think, and seeing if there are any negative reports.

If we know any gamblers that have used a site, we will also seek their views. We have extensive contacts within the online gambling industry, so we ask their opinions, too.

We like to draw on our own personal experiences, too, which is why we carry out testing. This helps us to gauge certain aspects of a site that cannot be accurately assessed in any other way.

The bottom line is that we do whatever it takes to get a clear picture of just how safe a site is to use.

Proper regulation ensures that they HAVE to, and it protects us consumers and gives us peace of mind. And, in a worst-case scenario, we at least have some recourse.

Licensing authorities can get involved in disputes if necessary and help to resolve them. The exact regulatory requirements vary from one licensing authority to another.

Some are stricter than others, but the reputable ones all ensure that certain minimum requirements have to be met. The following are what we consider to be the most important requirements.

Separation of customer funds from working capital means that any balances that customers have at a site would be protected in the event of a site going out of business.