10 tell tale signs of a shitty online casino

We don’t need to tell you that you should avoid rogue casinos. There are also a great many casinos which are not rogue but still we don’t recommend you playing there anyways. But how to easily tell if a casino is worth avoiding them? Hopefully we can answer that question for you here:

Withdrawal limits

As a general rule of thumb, the higher the daily, weekly and monthly withdrawal limits are, the better. While sometimes this can be misleading, one thing is for sure, a casino with very low withdrawal limits is one to avoid. Daily max of only a couple of hundred or a monthly max of less than a couple of thousand tells you the casino either doesn’t have the money to pay a decent win, or it simply doesn’t want to. Check our list of casinos with high limits and fast withdrawals.

Dormancy clause

A reasonable dormancy clause kicks in after 12 months and has a max fee of €5 per month (preferably with the fee going to charity rather than back to the casino but that is an ideal that is very seldom seen). Alas many casinos have clauses that start after 6 months of inactivity and some even kicking off after only 1 month of inactivity. Some casinos will confiscate an inactive players ENTIRE balance.

Crashing slots / Crashing website

If a casino cannot get their games or their website working properly then there is a very good chance they cannot afford a decent platform. If this is the case then chances are they cannot afford to pay you.

Responsible gambling tools

A top notch casino has full responsible gambling tools available to you. Deposit limits, loss limits, etc. There are a lot of good casinos who do not have the full set but we ideally want to see the whole lot ready and available and easy to find. Casinos without any responsible gambling limits should be avoided at all costs. Imagine winning 100k and not being able to set a loss or play limit and then getting the itch and losing it all back. When you win big you should be setting limits so you cannot lose it back before the withdrawal is completed.

Casino Licenses

While there are some decent Curacao licensed casinos out there, in general we do not like to recommend too many of them. Simply because the regulator does not help players out if there is a dispute. UKGC and MGA licenses are the strongest global licenses whilst players living inside a regulated market (for example The Netherlands, Denmark, France, Belgium, etc) need to be wary of where they play.

Customer service

A decent casino has multiple ways to get in touch with their customer support. Befor you sign up we would suggest you have a set couple of questions at the ready, get in to live chat and see how the agents respond (or even how long the waiting time is). If you receive bad support before even joining then why would you bother joining at all?

Bonus max win limits

If you are using a deposit match bonus then really there should be no limit to the amount you can win. There are of course some exceptions like where a casino offers you a ridiculously generous bonus either in terms of percentage or in terms of wagering requirements… in these cases then a fair max limit would be acceptable. What is not acceptable is the entire Nektan group who have a max win of 4x deposit, or some of the Direx NV casinos with a conversion limit of €250 for example.

Bonus wagering requirements

Again bonus wagering requirements should be kept fair. It is hard enough to clear a bonus without having ridiculous rules enforced. We have seen one casino chain with bonus wagering of 200x which is just insane. Even 99x is far too high.

Bonus play limitations

Ideally if there is a max stake or a list of restricted games from wagering with bonus funds, then the player accidentally breaking these rules should not have their entire winnings confiscated. We really like casinos where restricted games either count minimally (like 10% only) or do not contribute at all to wagering, however they are not banned entirely. Also where there is a max stake limit, any accidental bets over the limit should simply increase the wagering requirements rather than be a tool to confiscate funds completely.

Sticky or cashable bonus

Here is a tricky one and one we deliberated about adding to this page. Obviously we prefer cashable casino bonuses. However on occasion a sticky bonus is ok. For example if a casino offers you a monster 400% bonus match then the bonus itself being sticky is probably fair enough as the bonus is potentially generous enough like that.

Note 4/12/2017: The UKGC is clamping down on bonuses and as such many of these irritations are being dealt with, we hope we helped!

8 tell tale signs of a shitty online casino