It is real art to choose online casino, because honesty of results and payments depends on it. Licensed casinos guarantee the correct operation of the RNG and always allow you to withdraw the winnings in full. Therefore, it is necessary to check everything when you choose online casino before making the first deposit.
There are several golden rules on how to choose an online casino, and not to run into scammers. We’ll talk about them in our article.
1. Check online casino for license
The first thing you need to do if you decide to play on any site is to check the online casino for a license. Why is it so important? Because the presence of a license guarantees many things that are important for the player.
Online casino with a license operates under the control of the regulator. This means that the functionality of the site, the protection of players’ data, the reliability of payment systems, the business plan and development plan, the license of slot machines and the correct operation of the RNG have already been verified by a higher authority. Obtaining a license is quite expensive process, requiring a long preparation and attracting a large number of specialists. And if the owner of the resource has already invested in the casino, he will do everything possible to bring the business to profitability.
Online casino shangrila has license of the Malta Gaming Authority, as indicated on each page. All license information player can check on the official MGA page.
2. Check online casino domain
When you choose online casino it is worth do check the registration and expiry date of its domain. There are a lot of free online services that allow you to check not only the actual age of the domain, but also the exact date of registration, the date of the last update and even the date when the hosting extension will be required.
At serious casinos, the expiration date of registration may be 3,5 or even 10 years from the current date. Thus, the domain shangrila.com was registered in 2004, and the registration expiration date is 2026.
If the online casino site appeared only recently, and the registration expiration date comes in a year, this may be an indirect sign that the owners do not intend to develop the resource. This is how fraudulent online casinos act: during the year they cheat players, and then close, not even giving out the money they won.
3. Choose a casino with good attendance
Thinking about which casino to choose, it is worth paying attention on attendance. It is easy to check, just like the age of domain using specialized sites. It is enough to type into the search line “check the casino for traffic” or “check the traffic to the site” to see the most popular services.
For young licensed casinos a good indicator is several thousand people a month. And for sites that work for several years it can be hundreds of thousands and even millions.
If you are an outspoken person and prefer to take a closer look at the site you will be playing on, try to check the casino for attendance several times. For example, with an interval of a week or even a month. If it is a living resource that offers an honest game, attendance will gradually grow or stay at the same level.
4. Check country list where online casino operates
If the licensed site has arranged you according to the previous parameters, it is worth to check the online casino for geographical access. Often, the rules specify the countries where resource operates. This is very important, because representatives of these countries will be allowed to make deposit and, accordingly, withdraw winnings.
If there is no geo-referenced information on the site, you can contact support to find out for sure.
5. Choose online casino by reviews
Reviews – this is another marker that helps you to choose online casino. And this should not be feedback on the site itself. Serious companies do not do this. If the online casino is full of reviews, and yes even only positive, this is an occasion to think about its honesty.
You also ought to read those reviews on the Internet with caution.. Preference should be given to gambling portals and forums, where there are live branches with discussions. Even if they try to leave unfair reviews, the rest of the community will express their opinion.
6. Check casino bonus offers
Bonuses on the site are also a good way to check out the casino. Historically, in the gambling environment, there were several types of honest bonuses:
- Small no deposit bonuses – usually up to $ 20 or euro;
- Deposit bonuses – usually up to 500;
- Seasonal free spins – no more than 30;
- Small monetary bonuses for certain actions;
- Bonuses issued as a result of the lottery.
If you decide to check online casino, and you see one-time bonuses in the amount of several thousand dollars or euros, if the site promises hundreds of free spins and at the same time claims that it does not require wagering, it is necessary to check its honesty on a number of other criteria described above or below. Most often, such tricks are used by online casinos of one-day games, which have influence on RNG and do not allow to withdraw the winnings.
7. Go through the range of games
Licensed site use only licensed games by proven developers. In fact, there are not many such developers. Therefore, it is enough to find a list of software developers on the site.
If there is no list, this is an alarm call. If there is a list, you need to check the developers.
The most famous developers:
- Microgaming
- NetEnt
- Igrosoft
- Play’n GO
- EGT
- Evolution Gaming
- Quickspin
- AMATIC Industries
- Endorphina
- Novomatic (Greentube)
- Yggdrasil Gaming
- NextGen Gaming
- BetSoft Gaming
- Softswiss Software
- Thunderkick
- Pragmatic Play
- ELK Studios
Very rarely casinos cooperate with all developers at once, most often, 4-8 developers. So, at the Shangri La online casino you will find licensed games by Microgaming, NetEnt, Igrosoft, Play’n GO, EGT, Evolution Gaming.
8. Check if slot machines are licensed
If you decide to choose casino by the presence of popular slot machines – this is the right choice. But scammers prepared an ambush. The site can have announced, licensed games and the names of honest developers, but in fact they will be identical in appearance forgeries that do not allow to win.
Earlier, it was easy to define fake software by design, functionality or musical accompaniment. Today, it is almost impossible to do this, since counterfeits look identical with the original.
The only way to verify that the machine is real – check the management server. How to do this, is described in details in our article “Licensed slot machines: what is the difference between the original slots and fake slot machines?“.
If the management server does not correspond to the developer’s, in no case should you play such machines for money.
9. Check online casino for feedback quality
Another way to choose online casino, if it fit criterias were described before, check casinos support and feedback. You can check all kinds of offered communication: chat, email, phone.
What to look for?
- Response time
- Quality of spoken or written speech
- Courtesy of addressing the player
- Adequacy of answers and their correspondence to the questions.
If the request is not responded within 24 hours, choosing this casino will be an error.
10. Make minimum deposit after successfully checking all the points from 1 to 9
If you successfully checked online casino for the above points, you can safely proceed to the game. But in order to finally settle about the honesty of the site, it’s worth to start with a minimum deposit.
After making the first deposit, you will immediately see many of the site’s parameters:
- Time of enrollment (it is worth comparing it with the promised one);
- Honesty of the bonus calculation;
- The possibility of withdrawal;
- Terms of withdrawal.
To fully check online casino for all 10 items (in fast mode), you only need half an hour. But the correspondence of the resource to these requirements will show that you are at reliable online casino that offers an honest game and fulfills all obligations.