With their sheer accessibility and the virtually limitless variety of games they have on offer, online casinos are taking the Swedish gambling industry by storm. While, on its face, this is great for Swedes stuck at home looking to make a little extra money while having some fun, the truth is that it will take some time for new regulations to catch up with advances in technology.
Until that happens, the Swedish online gambling market is going to be saturated with less than reputable online casinos looking to make a quick profit at the expense of their patrons. Now, seasoned gamblers are no strangers to loss —after all, we all know that the house always wins. But, with many dubious online casinos, these underhanded tactics go beyond what can ever be considered fair play.
With these dangers in mind, Dominic Andreasson has prepared a list of tips and best practices for ensuring the legitimacy and safety of online casinos.
1. Critically Evaluate the Online Casino’s Reputation
At the very outset of your search, you should be leaving no room for doubt. An online casino’s website will have no hesitations about heaping praise where none is warranted, so don’t rely on these biased sources for accurate information. Instead, look up user reviews.
But, you should not stop at reading an online casinon’s positive reviews, even if the majority of reviews are positive. Be sure to critically assess negative reviews as well, as these will usually involve edge cases you may not have otherwise considered.
Take your time reading as many reviews as possible until you are comfortable with moving onto the next step of your research. Being thorough will help you gain an in-depth understanding of how the online casino operates and what you should expect.
2. Only Play at Online Casinos With Valid Licensing and Registration
It may seem that this step should come first, but with online casinos being licensed and registered with such a huge variety of international governments, making sure an online casino’s license and registration are valid can be somewhat challenging.
The Swedish Gambling Authority requires that license applicants host their gambling systems and servers within Sweden unless other agreements exist between the Authority and the applicant as to where the systems are located. In other cases, licenses have been granted where sufficient remote access has been granted to the Authority.
So far, these agreements exist between the Swedish Gambling Authority and the Malta Gambling Authority, the UK Gambling Authority, and the Gibraltar Gaming Division. So, you can feel confident in any online casino operated by these three international bodies.
3. Review Your Banking Options
To start playing online casino games, you will typically have to either register an account, make an initial deposit, or both. This can pose a major risk for players so early in a relationship with an unfamiliar establishment, which is why it is important to consider the degree of security that an online casino’s banking options provide.
Reliable payment options include credit card, PayPal, and cryptocurrency payments, as these have built-in security features to check the legitimacy of all transactions. If the online casino you are researching offers several —or better yet— all of the major payment options, this can safely be taken as a good indicator of the establishment’s legitimacy.
Takeaways
With the broad selection of online casinos and the even broader array of games each has on offer, it is now more important than ever for online gamblers to exercise responsible consumer behavior. An additional tip would be to examine the legitimacy of the operators of the casino’s most popular online casino games, though legitimate casinos will usually take this upon themselves so as to preserve their own credibility.
With all that said, by keeping in mind the best practices above, you make the best choice when selecting a legitimate online casino.