Rogue Casino Practices And tricks to watch for
Is online gambling safe and fair? This is the question most novice players ask first. Just as for any other industry, there is no universal answer to this question. One casino may be fairer than another, some play rough, others practice legitimate yet tricky techniques to make a winning player’s life harder. Below we have summarized the most common concerns together with how KeyToCasino can help you through them.
Non-payment, selective payment, slow payment
Will I get paid if I win? Obviously, that is always the number one concern with online gambling. According to our research, a flat-out, “no-winnings-are-ever-paid” attitude is very rare in the online gambling world. A more common variety are casinos that offer selective payments, which means paying out winnings until they are small and/or the overall player’s withdrawal minus deposit balance is negative. Then, after a player hits a big win or moves ahead of the casino in the aggregate balance, the casino stops paying out. Another rogue practice is slow payment, which is when a casino purposefully delays the payout, citing bogus reasons, in the hopes that the player will simply forget about it, or, even better, lose his patience, reverse his withdrawal to play more, and end up losing his potential winnings.
How KeyToCasino can help:
Go to the “Player Experiences” tab, filter it to money-related experiences only, and then review what other players have reported about specific casinos in terms of money and payouts.
Go to the “Banking and Payout” tab and access the reported payout time median and spread.
When searching, filter casino results by Reported Payout Time or by KeyToCasino-estimated payout time, which combines information from a casino’s advertised payout time and reports from all of its sister casinos.
Non-random deal
Your word against theirs
Country-specific rules
It was a rainy day in Paris, so Jaques decided to spend his evening playing cards online. He found an online casino, made his initial deposit, opted for a bonus, hit a few lucky hands, completed the 20xB-wagering requirement, and requested a withdrawal. The next day, he saw an email saying that French players were required to wager 100xB rather than 20xB and they are only allowed to play slots. While attempting to fulfill that wager, Jaques lost his entire balance.
How KeyToCasino can help:
Go to the “Countries and Languages” tab and see if there are any special rules for your country. We have arranged the default country selection to coincide with your IP address location, but you can change it if necessary. Additional options are also provided for registered players.
When searching, filter out those casinos that impose complicated restrictions on your country, like if your country is bonus-banned, for example.
Multiple casinos under the same management
Experienced players often register with multiple casinos. Sometimes, unbeknownst to them, they register with a casino that is a part of a group that another casino they have played in also belongs. Each group has its own rules when this sort of things happens. Some groups even encourage registration in all of their sister casinos, others would restrict it to one account per group, while some groups allow users to register accounts in multiple casinos, but restrict bonuses to only one of them.
It is worth noting that such restrictions are often imposed after a player has already registered, deposited, played, and requested his winnings. Winnings might then be voided and players become understandably upset. Generally, it is good to know about which group a casino belongs to, even if you have not played in their sister casinos, because the information about the sister casinos will help you better understand the casino in question. Rogue casinos rarely or never team up with more reputable ones.
How KeyToCasino can help:
Go to the “Ownership” tab and access the list of the associated casinos. Are there any titles that sound familiar? Do you have an account with any of those? If so, check the partner casino restrictions below that list.
Under the same tab, look at the average rating of the group. If it seems unusually low, the casino you are looking at is likely unsafe or untrustworthy as well.
Excessive player verification requirements
After you have complied with all the terms and feel that you deserve your winnings to be paid out, then you should always be prepared to provide your proof of age and address. This will typically be in the form of scans of your passport or driver’s license and a utility bill that is less than 3 months old. Also, if you deposited funds via a credit card, then you would be asked to send a scan of that as well.
Some casinos, however, go beyond that. Players are asked to provide a second bill or a specific type of bill, fill in a lengthy form, respond to a phone call, provide additional documentation, and even have it notarized and sent by regular mail. All of this is done at the player’s expense. In some cases, your winnings are less than these expenses, not to mention the effort required to complete all of those steps.
How KeyToCasino can help:
Go to the “Banking and Payout” tab and read the Player Verification subsection.
Remember that some casinos will list all of the possible extended verification requirements in their Terms and Conditions, even though they never exercise it in practice. Go to the “Player Experiences” tab and scroll over the lines of the “Other” type. If the specific casino has a habit of harassing players with excessive document requirements, then it is highly likely that KeyToCasino is aware of it.
Adding bonus funds automatically
It may seem strange to find this heading among undesirable practices, since many players enjoy having extra funds added by the casino to play with. However, some players prefer to only play with money of their own, so they are not restricted in terms of the required amount of play or games played. In most casinos, you can ask their support division to restrict you from receiving any bonuses. However, what if you want the bonus on one occasion, but not on another occasion? Remember, many casinos automatically reward every deposit with extra funds (and an extra wagering burden).
How KeyToCasino can help:
In the bonus terms, look for the “Bonuses Redeemed By” string. If it says “automatically”, then it means that the bonus will be added without asking your permission.
In the Support Section, look for a Live Chat option, which will allow you to easily resolve the issue on the spot so you can play without any unnecessary interruptions.
When searching, check the “Live Chat” box to filter your results to casinos with the Live Chat option.
Emails with misleading bonus offers
Imagine that a player gets an email with a promotional offer from casino X. The offer seems very attractive; there is some fine print at the bottom of the email, but none of it is scary or worrisome. The player clicks the links in the email, makes a deposit, gets the bonus, plays, wins, complies with all the required wagering, and requests cash out payment. Shortly after that, he hears back from the casino that a substantial amount of additional wagering is required; some will even say that his winnings are now void. But what is the reason for this? The terms listed in the email were only part of the full terms and conditions, or might have even been totally different from the terms on the casino’s web site. It is also possible that a third party, who cannot be held responsible for any misinformation, sent the email.
How KeyToCasino can help:
Search our database and see if the emailed bonus is listed on our web site. Search by either using the bonus name or look specifically under the “Promotions and Bonus” tab of the respective casino.
If the bonus is listed, check the Key Terms carefully for which games are allowed and any possible restrictions.
If it is not listed, see if the casino has an Online Chat option. This will allow you to clarify the terms and check the validity of the offer. Always save screenshots and/or copies of the chat text for your personal records.
Payout limits
Tricky or self-contradictory terms
Bonus Abuse clause and discretionary voiding
We have mentioned that various casinos construct terms that are difficult to comply with unless you have lost. This is something to watch for, yet such a practice generally falls short of the definition of “rogue”, as long as those prohibitions are clearly laid out. However, some casinos go even further and insert the ultimate “gotcha” clause, which allows them to void any player’s winnings at their discretion. Sometimes, the terms explicitly say that the casino may void any withdrawal for any reason whatsoever, while in other instances, it would be disguised by such terms as “professional players”, “bonus abusers”, “irregular playing patterns”, “non-recreational gamblers”, “abusive strategies”, “non-loyal play”, and other words that all have one thing in common: they are not tied to a concrete definition and may therefore be applied to anyone on the casino’s whim.
It should be noted that some reputable casinos also have clauses like those, yet they never exercise them. However, this is still a warning sign to watch for, as you do not want to be the first player they try to unfairly use them on.
How KeyToCasino can help:
In the Key Terms’ Wagering section, watch for the “bonus abuser” item.
When searching for casinos, filter out those with any sort of “bonus abuser” clause.
Under the “Supervising” tab, check to see whether the casino is supervised by a respected authority. If so, you will probably be able to overcome any unfair or discretionary voiding, even if the terms and conditions mention it.
