What a Fair Casino Should Not Do
Online casinos have an advantage over players through their odds. Is it unreasonable to expect them to offer a fair gambling experience in return?
Online casino players can generally sort most operators into three groups.
The first group includes most online casinos. These operators are fair and trustworthy, making them among the most reputable available. They hold appropriate licences and, more importantly, recognize that treating members fairly encourages word of mouth and helps build the reputation they have earned.
A second group may be licensed and operate within the law, but do little more than the bare minimum. These are operators that seem to ‘sell sand in the desert’. Their bonuses look appealing, but wagering requirements are high, bonus terms and conditions can be awkward, and large bets may be subject to payout limits. Their marketing is often strong, while member satisfaction is low.
The third group enters the market intending to take as much as possible from players before being exposed. This approach is short-sighted and hard to defend. Such casinos may impose predatory rules, falsely claim to hold a licence, rarely pay out big wins, and suspend accounts with little explanation.
The key is to work out early whether the online casino you use can reasonably be called fair. Views will naturally differ on what a fair operator should provide. In this review's view, though, a fair casino avoids all of the following:
Use Predatory Rules
Predatory rules are designed to mislead or unfairly exploit players. They may be buried in the terms and conditions or left out altogether. Examples include making a full win conditional on having deposited a certain amount, or cancelling winnings above the player's daily, weekly, or monthly withdrawal limit.
Both examples are highly unethical and especially unfair to players who could not have known about them. Players should always read the terms and conditions at every online casino, but rules like these are designed to benefit the operator at the player's expense.
Unfair Win Limits
Some online casinos set win limits in their terms and conditions that are difficult to consider fair. A limit may apply to the maximum win from a single spin or turn, or to winnings accumulated over a set period.
The review considers around €250,000 a fair limit for a single bet. It describes this as an industry standard and says most such casinos avoid games that could pay more than this amount from one bet.
These terms commonly state that any money won above the limit is void and will not be credited to the player's account. If the limit is below €250,000 and the casino offers slots, the review considers the terms unfair because many non-progressive jackpot slots can award up to €250,000.
The review's position is that there should be no win limit, as a cap can affect a game's RTP. Few things are more frustrating than landing a major win at an online casino and then finding out you can claim only a fraction of it.
What about progressive jackpot wins?
Terms on maximum wins should not apply to progressive jackpot games. Progressive jackpot games should NEVER have a win limit; the casino should pay the full win within 30 days. The T&cs above apply to single bets.
Maximum Bonus Betting Rules
Maximum bet restrictions while bonus cash is in play are fairly common at online casinos. They are meant to prevent bonus abuse: casinos usually provide these funds through promotions and want to prevent players from exploiting the offer.
The concern is that casinos often fail to use software that prevents players from betting above the limit while a bonus is active. Many people who join a new casino do not know a limit applies and accidentally break the rules, resulting in the loss of their bonus.
Online casinos should prevent this from happening. Ideally, the software would block an over-limit bet. Otherwise, the casino should clearly explain the maximum when awarding a bonus and whenever a player enters a qualifying game.
Withdrawal Limits
Withdrawal limits are another common casino feature and can often be justified. They cap how much a player can withdraw during a specified period, helping protect an operator's cash flow. The review does not object, provided the limits are not too low.
Limits are commonly set daily, weekly, and monthly, so a player may need to make several requests over time to withdraw their full balance. The review considers a limit fair if it is not excessively low and amounts to at least 10,000 per month. Players are advised to consider another casino if the limit is lower.
Restricted Countries
Licensed and regulated online casinos are not necessarily allowed to accept players from every country. For example, online gambling may be illegal in a particular jurisdiction. Such a restriction is understandable when the operator is complying with the relevant laws and regulations.
The problem is when an online casino lets players from restricted countries register and deposit anyway. The player may only learn about the restriction when requesting a withdrawal, when the casino refuses to pay and keeps the funds.
This is extremely unethical because the casino appears willing to accept money despite knowing where the player is located. The player can spend as much as they like, but can never withdraw their balance.
Betting Patterns
Casinos considered unfair may use various tactics to avoid paying when they choose. One common tactic is to accuse a player of using betting patterns to gain an advantage. While some patterns may indicate fraud, the review argues that some casinos use this rule as an excuse to reject withdrawals.
This would be less troubling if the casino clearly defined the prohibited betting patterns. Instead, terms and conditions are often vague, leaving players uncertain about whether their bets comply with the rules.
Self-Exclusions
Most online casinos must provide responsible gambling measures. Regulators require this, so operators have little choice but to let people experiencing gambling problems stop playing.
Players should be able to self-exclude from an online casino for a set period or indefinitely. Once they have made that choice, it should not be reversible during the specified period. The problem is that some casinos let players cancel self-exclusion whenever they want.
Many online casinos also belong to the same company. If a player self-excludes from one casino in a group, they should not be able to bet at another. This safeguard is not always enforced: sometimes a casino accepts the bets, then refuses a winning withdrawal because the player had self-excluded.
Player Verification and Duplicate Accounts
Experienced players know that most online casinos prohibit each player from having more than one account. Some people open extra accounts to abuse bonuses, but having a duplicate does not always mean that was the intention. A player may have forgotten an existing account, lost their login details, and opened another one instead.
The player may then win money only to be told the winnings are invalid because of duplicate accounts. The obvious question is why the second account was not caught during registration. The player's IP address, name, date of birth, and banking information should have alerted the casino to the duplicate straight away.
Accepting a player's money and then refusing to let them withdraw their winnings once they win is, again, conduct that serves the casino's financial interests.
Enforcing Rules
Some online casinos close accounts and confiscate funds without explaining why. They give only a vague notice that the player breached one or more T&Cs rules, without saying what actually happened.
This is a very poor practice and may make the casino seem untrustworthy. If an operator refuses to explain which rules were broken, it raises the question of whether any breach occurred at all—or whether the casino simply does not want to pay.
Transparency
A fair casino should also avoid a lack of transparency. Every casino game has an RTP (return-to-player percentage), which indicates the house edge and the player's mathematical chance of winning money.
Some online casinos do not disclose the RTP of their games. Without that information, players cannot assess whether a game is fair or whether its mathematical odds are reasonable.
