What Makes a Dependable Online Casino Review?
The best way to develop a balanced and complete overview of all the different casinos whether they are new or well established is to read online casino reviews that include past player experiences. As with any significant commitment, carrying out due diligence is worth the time and effort in order to reap the reward of choosing a reliable and trustworthy online casino.
Previous experience can never guarantee future results. However, it is almost certainly the best tool that exists in terms of evaluating whether or not an online casino is lawful, genuine and safe to join. If other players have already registered and joined before you and have had a positive experience, you can at least be assured that the casino in question is a legitimate operator and offers a good service. It is then in your hands to research and compare the details of different licensed and regulated online casinos in order to find the right one for you by reading casino reviews.
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1) Licensing & Regulation
At SmashCasinos, we only recommend casinos that are fully compliant with all the local gambling laws and regulations. While this may not seem important to many first-time players, we ensure that all of our casino reviews are written with your safety as the primary objective, recommending only those that are safe to deposit at, play on and have your security at the forefront of their mind.
It is important to note that different countries have varied opinions on the advertisement and marketing approaches to gambling sites, however our attention to both licensing and regulation tends to focus on whether the casinos are registered with their local bodies such as the UKGC, if your data is protected and whether their banking transactions are secured behind the correct firewalls.
2) Fairness and Game Integrity
For example, when you play roulette at a land-based casino, you can physically watch the game unfold in front of your very eyes. Short of rigging the wheel (which can still be done, by the way), you can be pretty sure that what you see is what you get. But what about virtual games, where you’re interacting with software and hoping for a fair game? Game integrity and fairness is hugely important, and most players on a losing streak will at some point or another question whether the game is rigged against them.
Playing with licensed operators is a good start, but you should also be looking to find certification from auditors confirming the games are random, and confirming the RTP percentages you are told are reflective of accurate chances of winning. Reputable casinos make sure their games are audited as random, using random number generators that are thoroughly tested for fairness. This information should be available on the casino website, and you should be able to verify these with the third parties if required. We also include this information in all our casino reviews.
3) Fast Withdrawal Times & Flushing (Stop the Dreaded Cash Reversal)
One of the main woes for casino players comes when it is time to cash-out winnings. Players generally think that because their deposits whether it's by card, Paypal or Skrill are processed very quickly, that their withdrawals will also be processed just as fast. However, this is rarely true. Casino Operators need to verify and check that all payments they transact are legitimate in order to act in accordance with financial regulations and to safeguard their own interests. As a result, a delay of several days can occur between the initial cash-out and receipt of funds. However, some good casinos have extremely fast cash-outs with funds hitting your account within minutes. Do your research.
Flushing is a topic related to fast cash-out times. There are a number of online casinos that have a two-step payment process, whereby, funds that have been sent for withdrawal are held in a pre-processing stage. During this stage, players are allowed to reverse their withdrawn funds and start gambling with them again. This is frowned upon in the online casino world, as players tend to go on and lose all their money, which was initially meant to have been withdrawn.
Providing you are 100% sure you want to cash out - Manual flushing allows you to by-pass this process and move cash-outs straight to their processing stage.
Some casinos have an option you can select during the withdrawal process, whilst with some others you will have to contact customer support and request them to manually flush your funds.
This can speed up the amount of time you have to wait to receive your funds.
4) Game Selection
When it comes to choosing a new casino, it’s important to look at their game selection. While most of our casino reviews detail the list of providers and number of games available at the site, the largest number of games doesn’t always mean the best selection. Industry leaders like Playtech, Big Time Gaming, Evolution Gaming and Microgaming are well-known for their large catalogues of high-profile games and often feature prominently in most casino lobbies.
It’s also important to decide whether you would prefer slots, casino games or even live casino tables as different gaming sites don’t always have all of these to offer. A number of the casino sites we recommend are particularly strong for their vast selection of slot games, but only the casinos the feature in our Live Casino section are notable for their strong portfolio of live games. In the end, it all comes down to what you want to play and ensuring that you do your homework (or read our carefully researched online casino reviews) to ensure your experience meets your expectations.
5) Customer Service
Customer service is of prime importance in the casino industry mainly because it’s usually the only chance you will get to speak with the online casino directly to discuss and resolve any problems or account issues. Initially, nobody expects to contact customer support, so it’s normally over-looked by players searching for the perfect online casino, however, it’s actually crucial to your gaming experience.
Look at the options and availability of customer support! Does the online casino in question have email only, or are there live chat and also phone support options available? Another point to bear in mind is when are the support agents available? Are they available 24 hours a day? These are the types of questions you should be researching by reading reviews enabling you to make informed decisions.
We Provide the Best Casino Reviews & Ratings
Doing absolutely no research is too risky and not worth taking when there is a wealth of information available to you. Why even take the risk, it is far better to approach the decision with your eyes wide open by reading as many online casino reviews as you can. Looking out for each of the important points listed above will not only help you become more familiar with what each casino has to offer, but potentially will also save you any inconvenience further down the line.
There is a big community hub of online casino enthusiasts (SmashCasinos to name one). We have honest reviews and ratings on pretty much all legitimate UK casinos (or at least Jon does it for us). Indeed, we even highlight the dodgy casinos you need to avoid. So, in a nutshell, read and learn from the past experiences of other casino players and take note of the online casino reviews in order that you may make informed decisions as to where you should play online.
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