The web is home to hundreds of unlicensed and unregulated online casinos. Unfortunately, there are thousands of gullible casino enthusiasts who sign up with such casinos and become victims of an organized scam.
When you’re considering signing up with an online casino, you should always make sure it’s reputable with a valid license. However, if it’s already too late and you’ve signed up and sent money to a rogue online casino, there are some things that you can still do. We’ll chart out the best course of action to take in this scenario later in this article. But first, let’s take a look at why you should not play at unregulated sites.
You Might be Playing Unfair Games
When an online casino is unregulated, there’s no way for you to know whether the games you’re playing are actually fair. Since the casino does not hold a license, it could mean that all the game the site offers have never been audited or tested by gambling labs that test for game fairness. So, you could very well be playing games that are rigged against you. The published return to player (also referred to as RTP, for short) percentages might be untrue and you’ll simply never know. You might just think you had terrible luck, but in reality, the games could be premeditated to make sure you lose and the casino wins.
The Bonus Offers are Make Believe
Most unregulated online casinos will use bonuses that are too good to be true to attract players. In some cases, players who are attracted to the bonus offer may knowingly decide that it’s okay if the casino is not regulated. Even if you’re able to claim these over-the-top bonus offers, you should know that you’ll never be able to actually withdraw the bonus funds. The bonus terms and conditions are going to be highly restrictive and there are going to be many loopholes that the casino will cite when you want to cash your bonus.
Your Personal Data and Banking Data is not Secure
Losing a deposit at an unscrupulous, unlicensed online casino is not the end of the world. Maybe it’s a lesson learned and you’ll now know not to ever sign up with an unregulated site in the future. However, the bigger problem arises if you’ve actually divulged personal information about yourself to the casino.
In some cases, players may have even sent copies of their identity cards, address proof and other documents. Since these casinos are unregulated, there’s no guarantee that your personal and sensitive information is in safe hands. You could very well become a victim of identity theft. Or, your credit card could be stolen and used without permission.
You Could be at Risk of Developing a Gambling Addiction
For an online casino to be licensed, it must offer various responsible gambling tools, features and filters. Not only must the gambling site disallow underage players, but it also needs to offer players reality checks, self-exclusion, deposit limits, loss limits and other responsible gambling tools. Such features are very important when it comes to staying in control and gambling within your limits. At unregulated casinos, you’ll seldom find such features. On the contrary, you might actually be encouraged to gamble more and more. This is a recipe for disaster and you might just develop a crippling gambling addiction.
What You Can Do
First of all, don’t panic! It’s not really going to solve anything – much less help you think rationally or take the necessary action. We’ll be running you through a step-by-step guide on how to tackle this predicament. But, for future reference, you should definitely check out NoDepositExplorer.com, each and every AU no deposit casino listed is fully-licensed and legally operating. So that’s one headache out of the way!
All is not necessarily lost if you have previously placed money on a shady or rogue gaming website.
Even if it might be challenging to get your money back from an unlicensed or shady online casino, you should try the following:
- Contact the customer service department. Keep the email and any alerts you get from your bank as evidence, please.
- Send your country’s online gaming regulator a report that will aid in their investigation of the casino operator
- Whenever feasible, file a formal police report alleging cyber fraud; this is when pertinent evidence is crucial.
- Hire a lawyer who can assist you in bringing a legal action against the operator. International rules make this not always feasible or inexpensive, and sure, many operators are aware of this.
- If made within a fair amount of time, a report to your bank may occasionally aid an inquiry and even result in the transaction that cost you money being reversed.
- If you’ve made a deposit, but you haven’t yet sent personal documents to the casino, DO NOT send them these documents. It’s okay to lose some money, but sending personal documents can result in even bigger problems and hackers could even use the data to gain access to your bank account
