If you’re new to online gaming, or even if you aren’t, one of the most important things you should look for before you sign up with an online gaming site is to check that they are safe and secure. The security of customers and their card details should be paramount to all online gambling sites, but some take it more seriously than others. The best thing to do is to check out the betting sites before you sign up and enter your personal details.
What to Look Out For
The first thing you should look out for when you visit an online gaming site is whether or not the website itself has been secured with an SSL certificate. This is now easier than ever to figure out, just look in the top corner near the address bar/tab for a small padlock. If there is a padlock there, the website has a valid SSL certificate and as a result, any information exchanged between your phone/tablet/laptop and the site is encrypted. If there isn’t a padlock there, do not enter any personal information on the website.
1. Use an Antivirus and Firewall
When you play games on your PC, make sure you have an updated anti-virus and firewall before you go online. They provide you with virus and malware security and secure browsers to protect online transactions. Make sure you only play authorized games from reputable licensed sources. Do not accept informal cheats from sources unknown. They probably won’t work and could contain malware and viruses. If an Antivirus is set up, ignore ‘virus alerts’ unless they come from your Antivirus, as they may be fake alerts that will encourage you to install software that you do not need.
2. Set Your Limits
When you play online Games, it is important to limit yourself so you are not consumed entirely by the games or lose all your money playing online. It is important to limit the amount of time you want to spend online and the amount of money that you want to play with. You should decide to stop playing before you spend as much money as you want, whether you have won or lost.
Safe and Secure
Another thing to check for is to ensure the website you are choosing to gamble with is properly regulated. You can do this by scrolling to the very bottom of the page to the footer section, where you will find either a sentence stating that the company is regulated by the Gambling Commission, or an image of the Gambling Commission’s logo and the words ‘regulated by’ above or below it. It’s important that your chosen gambling site is regulated as, if you have any disputes, they have someone who they are accountable to. It also prevents sites from cheating their customers by fixing the random number generators (RNGs) that are used for all online casino games.
Plenty of Options
If you’re still not sure whether you want to add your card details to a gaming site you can explore the other options available to make a deposit. Gaming sites now accept more payment methods than ever before including PayPal and other e-wallets, giving you that extra level of protection. It’s worth noting that some promotions, such as new customer offers, are made invalid if the deposit is made using anything other than the customer’s debit card. One way to get around this to help keep yourself and your details secure, you can set up a new bank account which you can use exclusively for online gambling.
This way, you can add the card details for your new account instead of your regular account and simply transfer the money back and forth between accounts to make deposits and withdrawals. It’s an extra step each time, but it does provide you with the added level of security and peace of mind knowing that, even if the card details are somehow obtained by hackers, they will only have the details to a dummy account with no money in that you can simply close.
Whoever you decide to do your online gambling with, it’s important to remember that there is a responsibility both on yourself, and the site that you are gambling with, to ensure you and your details are as secure as possible. As long as you follow the advice here, you will be as protected as you possibly can be.
