Playing casino online is becoming more and more of a thing in India. To gambling operators, the country is seen as having huge untapped potential because of its vast population and developing state. According to a report carried out by Kantar, internet users have increased from 384 million in 2017 to 622 million in 2020 and are expected to reach over 900 million by 2025.
While politicians have raised concerns about internet gambling, only a few states have actually banned it, Andhra Pradesh being one of them. The vast majority of Indians can play casino online without any legal consequences and can do so easily as the options are aplenty.
However, no government body in India is actually regulating online casinos. All options are off-shore casino sites that are located and run outside the country. This begs us to ask if online casinos can be trusted or not. The short answer is that some can and some can’t.
How to Tell If an Online Casino Is Trustworthy?
As an everyday Indian looking to play casino online for the first time, it is anything but easy to tell if a casino site can be trusted. They all appear legit at first sight, but many things have to be taken into consideration to really understand if they are.
Many novice players take the easy route though, and rely on the opinion of various review sites as these types of websites are what you’ll normally find when you google search for an online casino. There are many such sites that recommend gambling sites to play at. However, they aren’t always truthful.
These review sites are often affiliated with the casinos and get paid for promoting them. Thus, they wouldn’t necessarily bring up any important downsides or even put a single thought into the casinos that are highlighted as recommended choices.
Of course, some review sites do have the ethics to do so and are passionate about their work, scoring casinos accurately. But if you aren’t familiar with the casino industry already, how could you tell if they are honest or not?
If you want to gamble safely, your best bet is to understand what characterizes a trustworthy online casino and combine that with the opinion of seemingly legit review sites that list the best online casinos in India.
The Right License Is Important
Online casinos can be licensed by many different organizations and although rare, some aren’t licensed at all. These entities oversee and regulate the casino sites to make sure that players are protected to a certain extent. However, some organizations take their job much more seriously than others.
As an Indian, it’s best if the casino is licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority. Not only is this a highly reputable entity established in 2001, but it is also easy to look up if a casino’s license is valid through Malta Gaming Authority’s license register. Simply input the URL of the casino and you will see if it’s licensed.
The MGA (short for Malta Gaming Authority), take player complaints seriously and will revoke a casino’s license if its practices are dishonest. To receive a license from the MGA, all games must also be proven fair and the casino site has to have a sustainable business model with enough balance to pay its players.
Customer Support Can Tell You a Lot
Always try a casino site’s customer support before you start playing. It is usually available all around the clock on live chat and if it isn’t, that is reason enough not to play at that casino.
By asking about withdrawal times, supported payment methods, their license and other things about the casino, the response you get can tell you a lot about their trustworthiness. If it takes too long for the agent to reply, he or she doesn’t seem very knowledgeable and he or she isn’t very polite, that’s a warning sign.
Having tested the support at many Indian casino sites, we can tell for a fact that the quality varies a lot. As an example, LeoVegas has always provided world-class treatment, while other online casinos have left us waiting for 30 minutes between replies and even been outright rude to us.
Don’t settle for anything less as the customer support is a good reflection of how well the online casino is run behind the scenes.
Terms and Conditions Are the Key
If a casino is dishonest, a common way they will trick you is through their terms and conditions. Whether installing an app on our mobile device or opening a bank account, most of us have probably agreed to some terms without actually reading them. It’s normal considering the effort required to do so.
However, if you want to get a full understanding of a casino site’s trustworthiness, it is very important to read the terms and conditions. Especially when it comes to bonus offers, which often come in abundance at online casinos, there are a lot of rules telling you what you can and can’t do. You need to know about these in order to avoid negative surprises.
There may also be other important terms that you don’t want to miss out on. As an example, Spinpug is a fairly well-known online casino that appears trustworthy at first sight. From the research we have done, it also is for the most part.
However, in their terms and conditions 7.13, it is stated that a player can only win a maximum of ₹8 lakh every 7 consecutive days (unless won from a jackpot). While it may seem like a high amount, this is an outrageous condition for a casino site to have, which you normally wouldn’t find. If you win too much, Spinpug would actually not pay you everything according to their terms.
What About Player Review Sites Like Trustpilot?
Listening to other players’ experiences is normally a good thing to determine a product’s quality. You have probably done this yourself when purchasing a product or service off the internet.
When it comes to online casinos, many are reviewed by players on Trustpilot. However, the score is usually about the same for all of them – very low.
A problem we have found with online casinos and players reviewing them is that many don’t know how online casinos work and give them a low score even if the casino site has done nothing wrong.
For instance, many people are superstitious and if they lose too much money at a casino site, they will call them out for scamming players even though any types of losses are perfectly normal.
Another example is bonus usage and terms and conditions. As many people don’t actually read the casino’s terms and conditions, it is common for players to make use of bonuses and become mad when they break any of the bonus’s rules. Something which can lead to confiscation of winnings.
Conclusion
To find a trustworthy online casino, we find that the best method is to compare top lists that are created by various people and then do your own research. Learn more about the online casinos by verifying their licenses, testing their customer supports and reading through their terms and conditions. Find out who actually owns the casino sites and how long the companies have been in operation.
