Common Risks Associated with Casino Mines Games Tips
We like to emphasize that not all offshore-licensed online gambling businesses are fraudulent. On the contrary, some stand out with great longevity, boast thousands of satisfied customers, and have faced very few consumer complaints over the years.
With that in mind, we regret to say there are indeed some bad seeds out there. Some offshore casinos play on the lenient regulations of the jurisdictions that license them. This can result in various issues for players, including the ones we describe below.
1. No Legal Recourse in Case of Disputes
In the absence of adequate regulatory enforcement, players at offshore casinos largely lack legal recourse in case of disputes with the operators. They have no one to escalate their complaints to in case of payment-related disputes since their domestic regulators have no jurisdiction in the countries that have issued the operators’ licenses. At the same time, some offshore casinos provide no facilities where consumers can register their complaints.
2. Voided Bonuses
Many offshore casinos woo players with hefty bonuses worth thousands of dollars only to void them and deny payment of the associated winnings. The reasons for the forfeiture of the free funds are often petty, unjustified, or obscure.
Fraudulent businesses sometimes go to extreme lengths to forfeit customers’ bonuses. Some mislead players with dubious conditions, while others go as far as changing their promotional terms just so they can accuse customers of violation and seize their bonus funds.
3. Withdrawal Issues
Delayed or altogether denied withdrawals are not uncommon at some offshore casinos. Unscrupulous operators sometimes intentionally delay paying out so that less disciplined customers could reverse the withdrawal and gamble away whatever they have won.
Others incorporate predatory clauses into their terms and conditions just so they can refuse or postpone payments. Examples include imposing withdrawal caps that do not exclude progressive jackpot wins and maximum withdrawal limits based solely on the amount players have deposited.
4. Lax Responsible Gambling Policies
Online casinos that hold reputable licenses provide customers with a suite of responsible gambling options to assist them in better controlling or limiting their play. The tools range from deposit and wager limits to cooling-off periods, and discretionary self-exclusion. These mechanisms are prominently advertised and easily accessible, which is not always the case at offshore casinos.
With some offshore operators, imposing deposit limits or self-excluding is possible only after one contacts the support team, if at all. There have even been instances of self-excluded players who were still allowed to gamble or were not removed from a casino’s email marketing list.
5. Questionable Games
Some leniently regulated casinos do not subject their catalogs to regular third-party audits for fairness, so there is no telling whether the games you play have not been tampered with. The purpose of the extensive audits is to ensure the games’ authenticity and confirm their theoretical return percentages are as they should be.
The trouble is some offshore licensing jurisdictions like Costa Rica, for example, do not impose obligatory software checks on their licensees.
Such lenient policies can have far-reaching effects, ranging from rigged to straight out pirated games.
One case from several years ago involved a Panama-licensed operator that unknowingly offered a rigged craps game supplied by a Costa Rica-based software company. The game in question boosted the odds of losing rolls after users raised their bets.
Well-known gaming consultant Michael Shackleford tested the game after a player alarmed him and proved it was indeed unfair. On a more positive note, the offshore casino refunded both Shackleford’s and the player’s losses and removed the rigged game from its catalog.
6. Lack of Secure Gaming Environment
Another risk associated with unregulated casinos concerns the security of players’ personal and financial information. In the absence of modern encryptions and firewalls, customers could have their sensitive data stolen to be used for a variety of nefarious and illicit purposes.
The good news is players can easily tell whether the security at their chosen casino is on par with industry standards. SSL encryption is in place whenever a website’s address starts with ‘https’ rather than ‘http’ and a padlock icon shows in the address bar. Another precautionary measure is to check whether the SSL certificate is still valid and who has verified the encryption (Cloudflare, DigiCert, etc.).
7. No Funds Segregation
Stern regulators like the UKGC and DGE require their licensees to segregate players’ funds from their operating capital and store them in leading tier-1 banks. Unfortunately, not all offshore online casinos adopt this practice but you can easily check in a website’s terms and conditions.
Fund segregation is important because it protects your balance against liquidators or creditors in case an operator goes out of business. Otherwise, your balance will remain unpaid if the casino declares insolvency or simply decides to shut down its operations.
