Unsafe Online Casinos & Blacklisted Casinos

The Process Behind Our Blacklistings

Blacklisting online casinos is not a fun job, but it has to be done. The process behind it is meticulous and time-consuming, but we believe all players should have a pleasant gaming experience. Players who are new to the online casino will be deterred from ever joining another casino if their first experience is an adverse one, which is why we've compiled a list of blacklisted casinos. 

An isolated incident will not land an online casino on the blacklist, as these happen from time to time, and it's essential to give the benefit of the doubt. But if it's a series of incidents that are continuous and consistent, then we have no choice but to add these casinos to our blacklist. 

Player Complaints

We take every player complaint seriously, whether a comment is left on one of our casino reviews or we see a complaint on a third-party site when doing our research. Nevertheless, we follow up on these negative comments.

Many complaints are withdrawal-related issues, where online casinos withhold big winnings from players or make withdrawing extremely difficult asking their players to supply documents upon documents for verification until they give up. This is a classic fraud case, and it's a surefire way of landing on our blacklist. 

Testing Online Casinos

Here at CasinoTopsOnline, we take matters into our own hands, especially when player complaints are flooding through. We do this to ensure we experience the same issues other players are having. 

This is essential to give an accurate and fair view of the online casino and verify players' claims. Sometimes, we even reach out to online casinos and ask for clarification about the matter at hand. We will never be affiliated with an online casino that deceives players in any shape or form.

Common Blacklisted Casinos Practices

What are the typical bad practices of untrustworthy online casinos? Let's have a look at them.

Withholding Player Winnings

As deposited funds are instantly taken from players' accounts, players expect the same when hitting a win. What could be more frustrating and unfair than having winnings being withheld? Some online casinos delay paying their players their winnings, and while this may be acceptable in certain circumstances, it can cause a great deal of frustration and anger. 

Some online casinos tell their players outright that they won't transfer their winnings for several reasons. Still, the most prominent one is always an infringement of their terms and conditions, especially when related to winnings from bonuses.

False Advertising

False advertising can take many forms, but the most commonly used is through bonuses and promotions. The terms and conditions of every bonus should be clear and not misleading by using a lot of technical jargon, with the intention of dishonest players. Some bonus terms and conditions cannot be found anywhere, and others are so vague that players are unaware of whether the bonus applies to them. 

Terms and conditions of a bonus or promotion should clearly state:

• What the promotion is all about;

• The expiry date;

• The wagering requirements;

• Maximum bet;

• Any capped winnings;

• Any excluded payment methods;

• Which games the bonus can be used on;

• Which countries does it apply to.

Bad Customer Support

Players need to feel secure and reassured that they have a support team ready to assist when they encounter a problem. Online casinos that end up on our blocklist tend to have one too many complaints regarding their customer support experiences, mainly because they ignore their players when they need them most. 

Unreliable software when playing casino games is another red flag that players must be wary of. Countless player reviews describe how their game got hijacked by technical difficulties, and any funds won during that gaming activity were never reimbursed. 

While we understand that players can go through a losing streak, unusually long losing streaks are unheard of in a legitimate online casino. It could very well be that a random number generator is not calibrated correctly. We're very aware of the odds of winning each game, and anything beyond the norm is a clear red flag that is then reported to the authorities and regulatory bodies. 

Examples of Scams 

Dodgy online casinos are constantly looking for new ways to scam their players. It's deceiving and dishonest on many levels, and we're trying our best to protect players in any way we can. The following is a list of scams that some shady online casinos are known to use:

Slow Withdrawal Processing

One of the most common ways online casinos tend to scam players is by delaying withdrawals and asking for too many verification documents. While every online casino will ask for verification documents for KYC purposes, scammers tend to refuse the documents supplied or delay the process as long as possible until the player eventually gives up. 

Very High Wagering Requirements

We can't stress enough how important it is to read over the terms and conditions of every bonus or promotion. The promotion quality has nothing to do with the amount of bonus money awarded to new players but the number of times the bonus money needs to be rolled over before it's eligible for a withdrawal. 

Most wagering requirements range from 30 to 40 times. However, sketchy online casinos will have wagering requirements of 60 times and over, making it nearly impossible to meet the rollover requirements. Be wary of highly high rollover requirements. 

Vague Updates to T&C

Online casinos have the power to update their terms and conditions when they please; however, the dodgy online casinos will update their terms and conditions without notice and in a way that favours them. 

In other cases, the general terms and conditions will include lots of technical jargon that disheartens players and excludes essential information about a range of topics, including withdrawal timeframes and bonus information, to name a few. 

Pirated Games

Many online casinos across the board have been caught using pirated games to tweak the algorithm of the game, changing the winning percentages greatly to favour the online casino. 

Pirated games are more susceptible to hacks, which cause all sorts of complications, including lost funds. The online casino will then come up with all kinds of excuses that the hack was beyond their control and will 'work tirelessly' to recover what was lost.