Recognizing Online Gambling & Betting Scams

There are thousands of online gambling and sports betting sites worldwide. Some websites offer a specific kind of gambling or betting such as poker, baccarat, slot machines, roulette, keno and many more. Other websites focus on betting for a particular sport like football, basketball, soccer, tennis, boxing, golf, rugby or e-sports. Finally you have sites which offer the full casino experience and betting for many different sports. How to distinguish the good, from the bad and the ugly?

Online Gambling Laws Differ per Country

A fundamental note is that not all these websites are regulated the same way. Gambling online is perceived differently all over the world from:

• No legislation at all and no consumer protection at all (like Costa Rica)
• Weak legislation and little consumer protection (like in Curacao)
• Strong legislation and related strong consumer protection (like in the UK)
• To online gambling and betting being completely illegal (like in most Bundeslander in Germany).

GamblingSites.org offers a nice overview of the legal situation around online gambling and better.

In some countries like Brunei, Kuwait, Lebanon, North Korea, Qatar, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates it is not only forbidden to offer online gambling but also not allowed for you as a consumer to bet online. 

We always recommend to gamble and bet on a website which is based in your country. This gives you more protection as you can complain to the local authorities. If there are no gambling and betting sites in your country (and it is not illegal for you as a consumer to bet), we recommend using gambling and betting websites that are based in countries with strict regulations. 

Below a list of websites where you can check if they are certified by the national authorities.

Gaming Regulators per Country

If you want to be sure you are gambling or betting at a website that is legit and certified, we recommend you check the government website of your country. In several countries, online gambling and betting websites may only operate if the government certifies them. The governments keep a list online of these companies. Please be aware that the level of certification and strength of legislation differs per country. 

• Alderney (weak)
• Belgium (moderate)
• Canada (state-dependent, see IAGR)
• Curacao (weak)
• Denmark (strict)
• Estonia (weak)
• Isle of Man (Weak)
• Malta (weak)
• Netherlands (strict)
• United Kingdom (strict)
• United States (state-depending, see IAGR)

A full list of national gambling authorities can be found at the International Association of Gambling Regulators. 

How to check if an online gambling site is legit or a scam?

First of all, a general remark. Gambling and betting sites are meant for entertainment purposes, not to earn money. In the end, most people lose money with online gambling and betting websites. As the saying goes: “The house always wins”. The purpose is to determine whether a gambling and betting site is a scam or not. 

Apart from the general checks to see if a website is a scam, hereby a few tips specific to online gambling:

• Sky-rocketing bonuses: if an online betting site offers an incredible “too good to be true” bonus, be very careful because you may never cash-out these bonuses
• Aggressive marketing: Legit betting websites usually have a predictable and moderate marketing campaign. Still, shady sites try to get you involved as soon as possible, offering great deals especially for you.
• Offering shady software to boost your winnings: you may receive calls or internet promotions to buy a software that can “predict” games by looking at other betting sites rates, which you can do all by yourself. 

Once you are playing on a gambling or betting sites, these are a few pointers which may indicate something is wrong:

• Slow pays: consistently takes a long time to pay back winnings.
• No pays: This is the biggest red flag which means to avoid any more buy-ins.
• Changing terms: Usually, online casinos provide a bonus, but you are required to play a certain number of games to cash out. Sometimes the terms are changed which means it is a shady business plan.
• Great offers: Some legit casinos offer great offers with a vague caveat, but if the casino offers 400% match up to $5.000 or $10.000 it is time to leave.
• No funds: if casino asked you to wait due to limited funds, we recommend not to continue with the casino.
• Locking or Banning accounts: When a casino bans an account, it means they argued with the customer, which sometimes means they were reluctant to pay back winnings.

Be careful with Gambling and Betting review sites

There are many gambling and sports betting review sites. The issue is that you cannot trust these sites completely as their business depends on affiliate fees from the same gambling and betting sites they are reviewing. However, you can still run through several blacklist of review sites such as casino.org and gamblingsites.org.

Want to know more about responsible gambling

If you like to know more about responsible gambling or help you with possible gambling and betting problems we recommend you to visit the following websites

• South Africa: responsiblegambling.org.za
• United Kingdom: gamcare.org.uk and gamblersanonymous.org.uk
• United States: gamblersanonymous.org 

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