Crypto casinos get a bad rap, but it has its reasons

I guess there is a fine line.

Not that the physical casinos or your traditional fiat-focused betting sites are any better. Crypto casinos have the same games, same iGaming companies.

The only thing that’s attractive about them is the lack of “serious” KYC procedures and geo-restrictions.

These places can take customers from anywhere in the world. Gamblers in Iran? No problem. As long as one can deposit through a cryptocurrency, the gates of quickly-take-my-money-away land are always open. To all. No prejudice. Doesn’t matter whether you’re black, white, pink or purple.

So a Redditor has his doubts about crypto casinos and asked if these places could be trusted. In fact he’s already made up his mind, that most are scams. Even though there are plenty of cryptoholics on Reddit.

He said:

Those seems to be the new hype, and i have to admit they are tempting. However, i can’t shake the feelings that they are rigged one way or another. I’m not going to give any name or specific website but i’m sure you know some of those. How can anyone believe these casinos are not rigging the odds in their favor one way or another? even if it means slightly rebalancing the RTP, or straight out blocking the odds if you bet big. From a software perspective, it’s very easy to do, would take a few lines of codes, and this could go undetected forever even if some control structure pop out once every 2 years. There are hundreds of way to implement this. And remember even if they slightly change the odds of 1% in their favor it can mean millions more in profits for them overtime.

I personally tend to disagree about the rigging part.

Why, because unless the games are coded in-house, the chance of a casino rigging e.g., slots or blackjack are slim. Almost all online casinos, regardless of how they manage their banking methods, have a monthly contract signed up at popular iGaming providers. Say, Play n Go, Red Dragon, tens of dozens others.

The RTP values are coded by the game manufacturers. Same goes for the RNG technology used. The casinos themselves only lease these games for their platform.

I hope this makes sense.

There are other ways to dupe players; which frankly a ton of crypto and non-crypto online betting sites do. Like daily. There are plenty of horror stories for both sides.

For example, this Redditor lost nearly half a million dollars on a Live Casino. He didn’t take the name of the casino itself, but the actual gaming companies i.e., Evolution Gaming and Pragmatic.

By the way he also feels, or I should say believes that most online crypto casinos are a scam:

Always stick with live casinos. Online crypto casinos are a scam sadly I got addicted and lost over 2 bitcoin which is 60k at the time. Now its 200k
In Live casinos I lose sometimes, I win sometimes, its breakeven, 4k-5k loses is fine.
In Online crypto casinos, always lose especially the rigged evolution gaming, pragmatic gaming, stole 1000s of dollars from me. They are scammers, can never win, always lose and its not variance.
100% rigged BS save yourself. I lost close to half a million dollars to those scammers.

So, what can you do to protect yourself?

I mean, not much. If you, unfortunately become a victim of a scam crypto betting site; there’s very little that can be done.

Most of the time, you just have to eat up the loss and warn others on social media sites. Of course provide proof such as screenshots of transactions and email communications to strengthen your case.

Majority of crypto casinos are out of the reach of the law enforcement. Forget about being licensed. Other than a tier-2 license from places like Curacao or some other remote island, a good number of them don’t even bother registering anywhere.

Anonymity would only promote anonymity. The world of cryptocurrencies gives a lot room to maneuver around; and if a brand’s intention is to scam newbie gamblers; then most of the time, they will succeed. Plenty of suckers around.

If crypto is really your thing, I guess you could really spread the risk around. Just sign up at multiple places and keep testing them out one by one for odds, customer service, RTP, and a myriad of other wanted features that are revered by regular gamblers.

Thing is, such problems aren’t just synonymous to crypto casinos. Even social casinos have their fair bit of oddities. For example, the other day $10k was confiscated from a player’s account at WOW Vegas; which is a fairly popular social casino in the US.

Here’s a small checklist to make sure you’re signing up at the right place

Try your level best that all these points get checked on before you sign up at a betting site, regardless of whether it’s crypto or not.

This list was compiled by Djordje Tresac from SiGMA:

• Watch out for fakers: There are plenty of good honest brands out there. But, there isn’t any shortage of fake casino websites or apps (generally they have only APKs available) that pretend to represent a big brand. All they want is that you enter your credit card or crypto wallet details, while signing up, so that they can empty it. This kind of a scam is quite common, so make sure you’re always visiting the correct website. Ideally, visit the website by searching it first on Google or Bing.
• Rigging is common: Stay away from “very new online betting sites” – especially if they aren’t operated by a well-known casino group. Ask around on Reddit to confirm. This way chances are high, you will not end up playing on an app, where the games have been heavily rigged in favor of the house. For example, slots are suppose to be truly random and if they don’t act as such, stop, withdraw your money (if that’s indeed possible) and switch over to another casino.
• Cancellation of Withdrawal Requests: Always check a place out to see, if and how quickly they pay out. Read their TOS in advance, and if reads like BS, just walk away, because these places would definitely not pay out.
• Identity Theft and Phishing Attempts: I mean any person over 20, living in a big city should know these basics. There are tons of ways for scammers to steal your personal ID or use shady stuff to capture your passwords etc.
• No License Whatsoever: It’s pretty self-explanatory. But, then many crypto casinos don’t have any. Personally, I would suggest you at least sign up at a place that at least has some legal paper to show off. It may not mean much, but at least it is something. Ideally, one should stick to proper legal entities that are authorized by a local Gaming Control Board. I know it’s not possible in places, where gambling is illegal, but you get the gist.
• Website or app is designed so bad, you can’t take it seriously: This one is tricky. Some people like simple designs, others want complications. What you want to look for is if the people behind the company have genuinely spent money on it. One of the ways is to see if the platform has any custom features that normally don’t come with turnkey software platforms. This would also prove that the management is game, has the funds to keep the operation afloat. Basically, if it gives you the vibe of a fly-by-night setup, just split.
• Spam emails and incessant calls: You know the drill here. If you get 30 calls a day from a remote call center out of nowhere, a guy speaking with a strange accent (sorry Indians) pushing you to deposit more so that you can win millions that day; well it is a scam. Don’t be stupid enough to fall for such lowlifes.
• Bonus enticements and big bet pressure: Pretty much same as the previous one. If you keep getting bothered by the casino staff cornering you to bet big or go home; you should know what’s going on. Plus, there’s also the thing with massive bonuses, ones that come attached with such a large playthrough say, 50X the deposit, that it becomes impossible to complete. You should then be aware that you’ve been trapped and most probably playing on a scam gambling app. Better to call it quits early.

There’s no magic pill that can set you up in the right direction when it comes to staying away from scam casinos.

A good starting point – despite its own shortcomings – is try to open an account at place, that’s got the least amount of bad rap.

After that, it’s mostly luck. Like always.