Online Casino Blacklist

The most common complaint from casino players is that a casino is taking forever to send them their withdrawal or they aren’t paying them at all. It usually all goes the same way; a casino says the withdrawal can take up to 30 days to process, then excuses start about why the payment is delayed. Following that, either a partial payment is paid, or the money never shows up. Online casino players are savvy; many are used to these tricks and use public forums to call out the operators. However, the rogue casinos don’t care and will continue to steal money right from their loyal players.

Legitimate casinos tend to get licensed by a jurisdiction that gives players the security in knowing that the owners have been properly vetted and that their money is going to be safe. As with everything else in this industry, there are ways to get around this; some countries provide “licenses” that have far less stringent rules if any at all. In extreme cases, a rogue casino will slap a logo from one of these regulatory boards on their site without ever having gone through the application process.

This one can be a little tricky to detect without an expert checking into it. Basically, an operator hacks the software to stop it from being controlled by the software vendor. This gives them the opportunity to use the software without paying for it, as well as being able to change the paytable configuration to whatever they want. A genuinely shady way to do business, you find these operators usually hiding out in Russian and the Ukraine.

We’ve all seen them: Deposit Bonuses of 300%, 400%, even 1,000%. So attractive e from the outside, but so unrealistic when it comes to actually clearing the bonus. Add in some brutal Terms and Conditions, and there is no chance you are able to cash out winnings from these offers. Many rogue casinos use these flashy types of promotions to bait you into joining their site; we are here to tell you that if an offer looks too good to be true, then it probably is. Stick to more manageable numbers when it comes to deposit bonuses.

Let’s be clear: we don’t want to have a Blacklist at all. In our perfect world, everyone who is involved in the online casino business is on the up and up and no one is trying to scam you out of your money. However, the world just doesn’t seem to work like that, so here we are, chasing down the bad guys.

In some instances, some event happens which allows us, after time and consideration, to remove someone from this list. Typically, it involves a white knight; another site or owner that comes in and dealing with whatever issue transpired to get the casino on the Blacklist in the first place. We don’t hold our breath for too long with a rogue casino; the odds are that they will either go out of business or keep scamming you before they ever try to make it right.

This is a list of the most notorious scammers in the online casino world. It is by no means a complete list (we continue to find rogue casinos all the time), but these are the sites you are most likely to come across that you should avoid at all costs.

Here are some clues often left by shady casinos.

Slow Paying

This is especially noteworthy from a casino who otherwise paid their players within a reasonable timeframe. Then, suddenly, their payouts are taking 2-3x as long.

If this happens once or twice, ignore it. Stuff happens.

What should catch your attention is when a casino goes from reasonable, consistent payments to routinely taking 2-3x longer to pay you. And it’s even worse when they make promises and fail to live up to them. Or they give you the runaround.

That should be your clue to leave.

Not Processing Withdrawals

If a casino stops paying players, then that’s a clear sign it’s time for you to leave. And chances are there were plenty of signs prior to this point that should’ve tipped you off. But no matter. So long as you get your money off the site before they close.

Changing Terms

Another scummy tactic rogue casinos pull is changing their terms on an ‘as needed’ basis.

For example, maybe a player plays through a bonus at 30x. They complete the requirements and then request a cashout.

The casino tells them no, because they say the player didn’t fulfill their terms.

But when the player tells them they did, and proves as much through the casino’s own terms, the casino will go back and change them to favor their argument. They might change the rollover to 35x or 40x. Or, they might say that the management’s ruling is final.

Screwed up, right?

This is just an example. But it’s an example we base on actual events we’ve seen happen. And when you see a casino blatantly cheat their customers, it’s clear there’s no sense in doing business with them (anymore).

Jurisdiction

Another clue may be where the casino operates from, or where they’ve received their license.

If they operate out of a country like Costa Rica, your warning bells should go off. This doesn’t have to stop you from checking them out. But you should proceed with caution. Any other sign that may point to roguish behaviors should send you packing. You can learn more about jurisdictions and why they don’t always mean protection here.

Affiliate Problems

Rogue casinos screw their partners over too. This might mean not paying them or changing their terms. It might mean removing old referrals or reducing how much they’ll get paid in the future. The bottom line is they’re stealing from affiliates. And if they’re willing to screw over their business partners, don’t you think it makes sense that they’d be willing to screw you over too?

Big Offers

If an offer’s too good to be true, it usually is. We’re not talking about a 100% match bonus up to $1,000. We’re talking about a 400% match up to $5,000 or $10,000. The reason why these should stand out to you is because most legit casinos – ones you can trust – don’t offer bonuses that high. Why would another casino do that?

Unwanted Bonuses

Some casinos will give you a bonus even if you don’t want it, or try to offer you one when you ask to cash out. They do this because, if you agree, you’re not bound by their terms and conditions. You’ll have to complete their rollover terms before you can cash out.

But why don’t they want you to cash out? A legit casino wants you to stick around too, sure, but they’ll let you cash out without question.

No Funds

Shady casinos won’t go out of their way to tell you this, but if you hear about them being light on funds or having to wait until more players deposit before they can pay players out, that’s a sign you should avoid them.

For example, we heard of a sportsbook who told their players they couldn’t cash them out during the summer. They had to wait until fall to pay players because that’s when football season started. Because that’s when they expected more deposits to come in.

Say what?

Casinos should have money – your money – on hand to pay you. If they have to pay you out of other player’s deposits, then they don’t have enough money on hand. If something bigger were to happen, say a progressive jackpot, chances are they’d be wiped out. They wouldn’t be able to pay anyone.

There’s a clear sign to cash out ASAP.

Payment Pressure

Another sign of a roguish casino is when you hear of casinos trying to force players into taking payments for their progressive jackpot wins. Or, to take a lump sum instead of the full balance. Shady casinos do this to prevent paying the full balance owed. And if someone (dumb enough) takes the payments, the casino might pay them for a couple months or years before A) closing, or B) stopping payments and telling the player to get lost.

Locking or Banning Accounts

Another sign of roguish behavior is when a casino locks your account – or bans you – which often happens when you get into an argument about winnings, bonus info or getting cashed out.

These are the more common examples of clues rogue casinos leave. Sometimes these things will happen to you. But often you’ll hear about them happening to others.

Sucks for them.

Seriously, it does. But no matter how you get the information, what’s important is you take action on it and avoid these shady casinos at all costs.

Unless a casino screws you over, the only way to know about a rogue casino is when they screw someone else over. And to get that information you’ll want to use the following resources:

Casino Reviews

Many reviews are biased, so you need to be careful here, too. But if the website clearly does their homework and/or has a large following, you should be able to trust them. You want to see what they say about the casinos you’re thinking about joining. Don’t just look at the good stuff, but see if the casino pays their players and treats them fairly.

Casino (Affiliate) Forums

You should visit popular casinos, niche casino game and affiliate forums. You’ll hear firsthand from players and affiliates about which casinos are treating them well …and which ones aren’t.

Casino Blacklists

Blacklists tell you what online casino’s websites and watchdog groups feel are scams and should be avoided. You won’t spot a scam ‘early,’ but you may spot one before you signed up and made a deposit. That’s just as useful, especially if you’re not an online veteran.

Search Google

Do a search for ‘casino scam’ or ‘casino complaints’ and if there’s something wrong, you’ll get plenty of results. What you want to look for is the most recent feedback. Some casinos have had problems years ago, but fixed them. The opposite is also true. So, make sure you look for results from the last 6-18 months.

Another good rule of thumb is this – ignore the random, one-off complaints. Often these complaints are from disgruntled customers who believe that games are rigged because they lost 6 times in a row. Or because THEY failed to read the terms and got mad when the casino wouldn’t cash them out.

Ignore that stuff.

What you don’t want to ignore are the multiple complaints about the same casino, let alone the complaints about the same thing – unfair games, bonus terms or slow/no pays – and all within the same timeframe.

These are the clues you DON’T want to ignore.

The first thing that you should do is start withdrawing your money as quickly as possible. We understand that there might be high fees involved (that could be one of the reasons the site has been blacklisted in the first place.) If that’s an issue, try to withdraw in brief bursts to try and keep the fees as low as possible (do the math if needed to figure out the best rate of withdrawal.)

We’d also suggest that you cut off all contact with the site once you have your account closed, which means blocking them on e-mail or text to prevent them from causing you any more distress. Don’t feel ashamed at having been fooled by one of our blacklisted online casinos, as it happens to a lot of people. But make sure to take the steps needed to end your relationship with them so that you can minimize the damage or, if you’re lucky, cut it off before it starts.

Blacklisted online casinos continue to exist in large part because many people just wash their hands of the situation once they’re out of it. They might not want to even think anymore about their bad experiences. But doing that means that these casinos might get another person down the line.

If you’ve ever played at one of our blacklisted online casinos, you know how awful that can be. Now think of somebody else who might be excited to consider online gambling and they end up at one of those same sites. That’s why we’d suggest that you take the time to report these casinos if you think they’re committing one of the fouls that we’ve mentioned in this article.

We actually would love it if you’d drop us a line and tell us about any experience you’ve had with online gambling sites that you’ve used, good or bad. But we stress in particular that you tell us about any sites that you think should be blacklisted. Contact us at any time via e-mail at [email protected].

Getting scammed by a rogue casino sucks, we know that. That’s the reason this site was created – To find safe and secure online casino sites for all our readers.

We’ve done the work so you don’t have to.

Below, we’ve listed the highest quality casinos you’ll find online. If you don’t want to risk losing both time and money with a rogue casino, then select one of our top recommendations below.