The following are resources available if you believe you may need help. For more information, please contact us at (959) 230-4034 or info@ccpg.org. Back to top Summary of the dispute to date. The summary below was up-to-date at Consultations. Complaint by Antigua and Barbuda. On 21 March 2003, Antigua and Barbuda requested consultations with the US regarding measures applied by central, regional and local authorities in the US which affect the cross-border supply of gambling and betting services. Gaming and gambling in Hungary have been key players in the entertainment sector. Without the two, most people would have cursed the world for being a boring place to live in. They are what makes. Gambler's fallacy. So, a roulette player watches as seven black numbers come up in a row, so he puts all of his money on red. This well-known psychological process is called the gambler’s.
Image Credit: nypost.com Walter Matthau. Originally making a name for himself in movies like The Odd Couple (1968) and Charade (1963), this classic movie actor continued to act well past typical.
Ever since the internet casino boom happened back in the 1990’s, the internet has been filling up with gambling sites. It is now the year 2017, and there are thousands of these gambling sites to choose from.
This large selection of gambling sites can be quite intimidating if you do not know what characteristics to look for when choosing one to play on.
What is a gambling site without reliability? Essentially, it is nothing. There is no reason to play on a gambling site if you cannot be sure that their business ethics are on the up and up. The main reason for this is that on an unreliable gambling site, you are never going to know for sure whether you will receive your winnings.
How can you know which sites are operating on the ethical side of things? Well, in this blog I have compiled a few key components that I look for when evaluating whether a site is worthy of my business or not.
If a site that you are thinking about playing on is missing one of these key components, then you need to seriously consider if another site might be a better choice. If the site you are considering is missing more than one of these components, it is definitely a site to avoid, in my opinion.
Gaming Licenses
It’s great to realize that you need to find a site that is reliable, but this is useless without knowing where to start. For me, the number one step to figuring out whether a site is reliable or not is checking out the gaming license that they hold, if any.
If a site does not hold a license at all, this is a clear sign to stay away. This means that they can do whatever they want whenever they want without answering to anyone. While this does not guarantee that they will try to steal your money, I do not recommend even giving them the chance.
There are far too many gambling sites throughout the internet that have a proper gaming license to justify depositing money onto one that is lacking such a license. Why take the extra risk if there is no extra reward for playing on such a site?
Unfortunately, counting out the sites that do not have a license only thins about 5% of the herd. So, where do you go from here to distinguish between the many different types of licenses?
Specifically, the United Kingdom Gambling Commission and the Malta Gaming Authority are the two most trustworthy licensing companies. These are certainly not the only trustworthy licensing companies, but they are the ones that I see the most often among sites that have a great reputation in the gambling world.
As far as license companies to avoid, I usually recommend staying away from any place that is based in Panama, Costa Rica, or Curacao. These areas have proven time and time again that they are willing to put profit over the safety of their players, and a majority of sites that cause trouble for their players are licensed by a company in one of these areas. These are not the only problem areas for licensing companies, but they are the ones that I have seen the most often.
RNG Audits
Another very important feature that I expect to see from a trustworthy online casino is that their random number generator, or RNG, has been regulated by a well-known auditing company. The random number generator is important because it decides what cards or numbers come up, and it is supposed to decide these outcomes in a completely random fashion. If the random number generator for a casino has no one regulating it, then the games can potentially be extremely unfair to the players.
One of the names that I trust the most when it comes to auditing online gaming software is eCogra. This leading testing agency has been operating since 2003 and their reputation remains flawless to this day when it comes to ensuring fair and honest games. They were the first testing agency to receive a license to audit Information Security Management Systems, but they still specialize in RNG testing and game evaluations.
You will know if a gambling site is covered by eCogra or not by looking at the bottom their website for the eCogra Safe and Fair Seal. This seal is only given to gambling sites that comply with eCogra’s strict fairness requirements.
Customer Service
Gambling Addiction Hotline
One of the best things about being a customer is that you are eligible to receive customer service. Some online gambling sites take customer service more seriously than others, and there are a few variables that you can look for to see what each site’s stance on service is.
The number one thing that I look for in a gambling site’s customer service model is that they are available 24 hours a day, and seven days a week. Most gambling sites serve players from all over the world across a number of time zones, so it seems silly to me to only offer customer support for certain hours of the day that cater to one or two time zones.
Another cornerstone of a quality customer service model is a Live Chat feature. If a gambling site does not have a Live Chat feature, then they clearly do not care about keeping up with the standards of the industry. The reason that this feature has become so popular is that the average response times are much lower than other contact methods such as email or telephone.
Gambling Stocks
Public Opinion
Another way that you can check on whether a site is trustworthy or not is to see what the public has to say about them. These opinions can easily be seen on gambling forums or review sites all across the internet.
While it is true that these reports are possibly less reliable, it is still possible to compare the number of negative reviews or forum posts for one casino to the number of negative reviews or forums posts that other similar casinos have received. Anytime a casino has an outlandish number of negative comments or stories floating around the internet, this is a red flag because it is unlikely that ALL of these are lies or competitors trying to smear their reputation in the mud.
Wrap-Up
Gambling Internet
Anytime you are thinking of joining a new internet gambling site, there are a number of variables which you must consider. If the site does not possess a quality customer service model, a license from a well-known gaming authority, an audited random number generator, and a good reputation around the internet, then it is probably not a site that is worth signing up for.