As we allow the companies based online increasing levels of access to sensitive financial and personal information, the onus is on companies, regardless of their size, to ensure their security protocols are of the highest quality. A security breach spells a serious problem for everybody involved. In casino gaming, companies hold your name, date of birth, credit card information and several other critical bits of valuable, sensitive data. This makes staying safe and being secure primary concerns for millions of bettors.
Finding a safe and trustworthy online casino
Many of us enjoy betting at the casino and sitting back and relaxing while playing a casino game on a smartphone, tablet or laptop is a popular activity. In a world where more casino companies are popping up daily, there seems to be more TV and social media advertising than ever before. This means knowing how to navigate these crowded digital markets and find trustworthy and safe online casinos is an important first step.
Trustworthiness and safety can apply to many situations. When it comes to staying safe while playing at an online casino, you can employ many preventative measures to ensure your experience remains as stress-free as possible. It’s important that all gamers exercise caution while navigating the internet.
Whether you do your banking online, or you have booked a vacation online or bought a car, you will have undoubtedly had some level of wariness and paid close attention. For the most part, online casino gaming is no different.
Our recommended safe online casinos for 2024
We will be delving into the components that we believe make a premium casino the safest even in a highly secure industry. There are several recommended casinos that have proven to be secure and have placed extra emphasis on ensuring that customer data remains as safe as possible.
As we trawled through the vastness of the internet to try and find the safest online casinos, we settled on around a dozen that had a clear focus on keeping customer information secure and ensuring customers have the tools to protect themselves. Borgata Casino and FanDuel stuck out as two casinos that place a strong emphasis on customer safety and have excellent track records.
By definition, casinos are already highly secure; they use encryption levels and security protocols that are virtually identical to most commercial banks. Other payment methods, such as cryptocurrency, are making waves in the casino industry by utilizing the immense capabilities of blockchain technology. Although they’re very much in the minority, they’re beginning to find more customers, and it’s becoming a more popular way to play casino games — particularly among Gen Z players, who are more savvy with Bitcoin and crypto and have active investments in the market.
Other notable names in the world of safe online casinos include Caesars Casino and TwinSpires. These operators have commendable track records in security and feature updated, recent business models with customer security at the forefront of what they do.
Playing high-quality games
Often, the care and time that go into listing specific games is indicative of the reputation of the online casino. High-quality games can take many forms, depending on the type of casino player you are, whether it’s top-of-the-range poker games or a substantial selection of other card-based table games like blackjack. Regardless of what you enjoy, high-quality games highlight a number of crucial positive indicators.
For instance, if a casino has a strong working relationship with revered game designers who have been churning out award-winning games for decades, this shows that they will most likely have a stellar safety record.
Highly successful and prominent game designers such as Microgaming, NetEnt, Pragmatic Play and Evolution Gaming are some of the names to look out for. If a casino has a wide range of high-quality games from world-class providers, they are likely to have working connections with the industry’s most esteemed operators.
While it is strongly suggested that you seek out the safety record of the provider as well and don’t rely on this as the only variable, high-quality games are a great indicator. In addition, notable games from proven, high-quality providers are highly unlikely to have phishing or malicious programming that could compromise you. Although this is extremely rare in casino gaming overall, the probability is even slimmer when playing games from respected providers on legitimate platforms.
Protecting your identity at online casinos
Ensuring you have a layer of protection and anonymity online is important. Although the internet has provided us with a rich, global community where it is easier than ever to connect with people in the same field or those who have similar interests, it has also acted as a breeding ground for criminals who are looking to buy and sell data illegally.
Simple steps include not posting your birthday or age on any public profiles, including social media. Some people that criminals target will have their social media pages used to gather information, such as pet names, old schools or children’s names that are often used as passwords. Taking this mindset into casino gaming, you should avoid using your name, disclosing your information or bank details to a rogue provider, and ensure that the site you’re using is legitimate to help protect your identity.
Protecting your device
Other highly effective tools include setting up two factor authentication so that you need to provide two pieces of identification before you log in to your casino account. You can do this via Google Authenticator or other authentication apps. It means that if somebody can guess your password, they would also need access to your email or mobile phone to confirm the login via an app. If you get a notification somebody is trying to access your account, you can take measures to prevent their access, change your password and keep your information safe.
Protecting your device by having a passport or biometric face ID to unlock it is also critical in ensuring you remain safe when gambling online. Although Android and Apple phones are renowned for their security and fix any bugs they come across extremely quickly, ensuring you follow the basics of cyber safety will also help protect your device. Games like Fortnite highlighted just how huge the potential for online gaming is on a global scale, and ensuring you keep your device secure, given it essentially holds the keys to your identity, is vital as part of your daily digital routine.
Keeping your money secure
Preventative measures might seem like basic advice, ranging from not clicking on spam e-mails to not entering your banking password into phishing links; however, there has been a consistent number of people who still fall victim to these types of scams.
Although the idea isn’t anything new, the way that criminals use it to extract your data and your funds has become more sophisticated. Practicing these safe digital habits, such as not clicking on phishing e-mails and ensuring you do not give out sensitive passwords to anybody over the phone, will go a long in protecting your money from those looking to get their hands on it.
Again, some of the tools we discussed earlier will help too, such as enabling two factor authentication on all your sensitive logins that provide access to financial information and setting up biometric face ID in addition to a password, PIN or identifiable personal data.
Staying on the safe internet network
Ensuring you stay connected to your trusted Wi-Fi networks is a good way to prevent access to your data. The most susceptible networks to watch out for include public connections that don’t require a password. You’ll often be able to use these connections for basic functions, such as calling somebody on WhatsApp or sending a message.
However, you should avoid using a public network to perform financial transactions. If you do need to use a public network, you should consider using a VPN to help mask your activity and minimize your digital footprint. Ideally, you want to avoid using any public networks that aren’t password-protected if you’re entering your financial details online, as this is one of the most common ways hackers gain access to this data.
Enjoy responsible gambling
Ensuring you know when to call it a day at the casino is imperative. If you believe you are spending too much time playing casino games or that it is starting to have an adverse impact on your friendships and relationships, you should seek out professional assistance and discuss your issue before it snowballs into a crisis. There are plenty of services available online, and many of them are free. They’ll be able to guide you and help you put the brakes on problem gambling.