How to Spot and Avoid Blacklisted Casinos - Updated December 2024

Why Online Casinos Are Blacklisted

Firstly, it is crucial to note that there is no all-encompassing list of rogue casinos. When online, you will not find the same rogue casino on every blacklist you see.

Every cautionary webpage you come across will feature its list based on past experiences from players and their research. Therefore, you must know the telltale signs of a rogue casino for your safety. Below are some of the commonly found traits of rogue casinos that you must be wary of:

Unfair Games

All online casino games should be fair and random to offer the best gameplay experience. Unfortunately, some scam casinos alter their games to get the advantage (aside from the edge these games already give casinos), causing players to lose more often. A rogue casino may also tweak its demo or free practice games to favour the players, encouraging them to play the rigged versions of those games for money.

Slow Pays

Similar to other scam methods involving non-payment, a rogue site may resort to slow payment procedures. Such casinos may take weeks, months, or even years to pay players back. They either do not have the cash flow or want to urge the player to keep playing. They might also expect the player to choose a bonus to avoid cashing out altogether. All these behaviours are problematic. Meanwhile, after several weeks of waiting, the players are forced to deal with partial payments and bouncing checks.

Non-Payments

Rogue casinos do not pay players their winnings for (obviously) unstated reasons. There are, of course, legit reasons for not paying a player, such as because they resorted to cheating, abused bonuses, or did not complete the terms of an offer. However, note that rogue casinos can use these same reasons as excuses not to pay out players despite no proof that the player has done anything wrong.

Instead, they accuse the player of cheating to stall and, other times, bore them into taking another bonus so they cannot cash out. Non-payment also applies to affiliates. Consider this–if the casino refuses to pay affiliates, how long will they continue to pay players?

Dishonest Terms and Conditions

Rogue casinos often have outrageous terms, such as:

• 75x or even up to 100x rollover requirements for bonuses,

• a limit on the money players can win with their bonus (the maximum value of x times the first deposit amount),

• a cap on how much they can bet each round,

• or barring games such as progressive jackpots during the bonus use.

They may also resort to tactics such as getting a player signed up for a promotion or bonus while trying to “resolve” a conflict involving said player wishing to cash out. What is ironic here is that they are offering bonuses despite calling the player suspicious. Their reason for this is to trap the player into an offer forcing them to play (and lose) more instead of withdrawing.

Changing Terms

Among the most deceitful things rogue casinos do is abruptly change their terms and conditions without notice. They do this when disputing with a player over something they state the player has done wrong (even though they have not). They will deliberately alter the terms and conditions in favour of their argument. Meanwhile, when you go through their archives, you will see that the terms were changed from favouring the player to siding with the rogue casino.

Fake or Unreliable Regulation and Licensing

A rogue casino may claim to have a license. They may also be located in an area liberal about regulation, allowing them to go scot-free with their dishonesty.

This is a horrible experience for players since they do not get customer support during non-payment or issues playing particular games. Even if you can contact such casinos’ customer care representatives, they are incredibly impolite and may threaten you verbally.

Fund Removal

Some rogue sites state in their Terms and Conditions that they have the right to remove funds from a player's account if they suspect the player has broken any rules. This is another way scam casinos can conceal the fact that they are exploiting players. There have been many instances of player players logging in and finding their funds gone due to some technical issue.

Selling User Information

Some rogue casinos take users’ data and emails and sell them to third-party marketing companies online. A telltale of this is that your inbox starts getting emails and offers you have never subscribed to.

Although this does not affect your money or gambling experience, it is highly unprofessional and shows that the casino does not care about its clients. This also begs the question: If these casinos are this ready to give away or sell your personal information, what else would they be capable of doing for a quick buck?

Lack of Information

If you do not find much information on the online casino’s landing page or if something seems off, try investigating the casino yourself. If it is a blacklisted casino, chances are you are not the first user they are attempting to scam.

This will automatically lead to some traces. A quick Google search will show you if the casino had any conflict in the past or is already blacklisted on an affiliate website.

Poor Customer Service

A casino might get blacklisted for having bad customer service. This happens when players don't get the help they need from the support team. If they have to wait a long time for help, if their complaints aren't taken seriously, or if the support staff is rude, it makes players unhappy and gives the casino a bad reputation. So, poor customer service can lead to a casino being blacklisted.

Rigged or Unfair Games

A casino can get blacklisted if its games are rigged or unfair. This means players aren't getting a fair shot at winning. Whether it's because of manipulated outcomes, biased algorithms, or practices that favor the house, rigged or unfair games damage trust and honesty in the gambling scene. Casinos involved in such behavior risk losing credibility and being blacklisted by both players and industry watchdogs.

How We Identify Blacklisted Casinos

The Irishluck team is trained to keep an eye out for blacklisted casinos, and we also have a rating guidelines system in place to ensure we only list safe and reliable casinos on our sites. We conduct extensive research, speak directly to players who played at these casinos and learn from their experience. Here's what we do:

1. Use trusted sources of information: It is important to do research from reliable sources so we can get the most accurate information. These include industry experts, watchdog organisations and established review sites.

2. Verify payment process reliability: We check whether the casino has a history of not issuing winnings to their players. If so, then this is a huge red flag for us.

3. Look at the casino's regulatory status: One of the first things we look at before adding a new casino to our lists is whether or not it holds a valid licence. If we come across a casino that doesn't have a licence or holds a shady licence, then it is blacklisted on our database and not recommended to our players.

4. Is customer care prompt? That is another aspect we look at. As mentioned above, if a casino doesn't have a good customer service system in place or completely lacks one, it is automatically blacklisted.

5. Monitor patterns of misconduct: We look for patterns or trends in players' complaints, such as a high volume of unresolved issues and repeated instances of these issues.

6. Check industry watchdog reports: Each week, the team assesses these reports, and we update our lists accordingly.