Playing safe on Irish online casinos

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No one could deny that the internet has transformed how the world works and does business in far too many ways to list. From booking a holiday to doing the weekly shop, these are all possible now from to comfort of your own home, at any time of day or night.

But, like all great advances in technology, the rise and rise of the internet has not been without its dangers. Not only has it attracted some less than scrupulous operators to set up all kinds of businesses, each time you enter any personal information online there will always be a risk of it falling into the wrong hands.

Even some of the world’s biggest companies have been victims of major data breaches. To appreciate the real seriousness of these one only has to look at the size of the fines imposed on the businesses involved.

One category of business for which security is very important indeed is the online casino industry. There are several reasons for this. The first, obviously, is that players need to provide some very sensitive information to play including bank and credit card details, as well as their address and maybe even their phone number. Online casinos also need to be trustworthy in other ways too. Players need to be confident that the games that they are playing online are fair and they have a reasonable chance of winning. They also need to know that their stake money is safe and that their winnings will be transferred promptly to their bank account.

There are a number of operators in the country so if you want to be sure of choosing one of the best Irish online casinos then one of the easiest ways is to carry out a safety check on online-casinos.com. This will give you a good idea that any you’re considering playing at are trustworthy and above board.

It’s also a very good idea to have your own checklist to make sure that you’re confident that the online casino’s trustworthy. Here are six important elements to look out for.

Is the casino officially registered?

The very first thing to find out is whether the online casino in question is registered and regulated under the laws in force in the country in which it is based. This is the sort of information that you can generally find at the base of the site’s home page. Don’t be put off if you discover that the company is registered in places like Malta, Gibraltar or the Isle of Man. These are all legitimate centres for online gambling. If you then want even more peace of mind you can always go on to the relevant ruling authority’s website to make sure that the company really is officially registered.

Are the games from well-known companies?

The best online casinos often make a big point of who supplies their games like slots and the software to run their casino games such as roulette and blackjack. So it’s sensible to choose sites that work with the bigger names in the business like NetEnt, Playtech and Microgaming. These are long established businesses who have excellent reputations and who would never allow their games to be used by dishonest operators. If they did, it would definitely damage their own reputations before very long and that would spell the end of their business. You’ll also know you’re playing the very best games.

Can you trust the games you’re playing?

Unlike “bricks and mortar” casinos where games like roulette and blackjack rely on the physical spin of the wheel or the turn of a card, online casinos recreate these digitally. This means that the randomness of the real world has to be recreated using a piece of software called a random number generator. But it’s impossible for a player to know exactly how random this really is. That’s why reputable online casinos use outside auditors like eCOGRA to carry out regular checks that the play really is fair. As long as it is, they will receive certification which you should look for on any site you play at.

Will your payments be secure?

This is a very important consideration indeed. You need to be 100% confident that any stake money you pay in, and any winnings you make will be transferred safely and securely, and quickly too. So it’s best to only ever choose online casinos that accept the most common payment methods such as VISA, Mastercard and Paypal. A number of online casinos are now also offering the chance to pay with cryptocurrency. But the fact that many of the best online casinos in Ireland don’t suggests that Bitcoins and their rivals are best avoided if you want real peace of mind.

What security measures are in place?

As already mentioned, you have to share a great deal of potentially sensitive information with an online casino. This is information that could lead to considerable harm to you if it fell into the wrong hands. So you have to be 100% sure that any online casino that you play at has the right level of security. So make sure that you take a good look at their Privacy Policy and also discover what level of encryption they use to disguise any data that is transferred to or from them online. If this information is missing or you feel that there isn’t the right level of protection, then avoid the site.

Are they easy to contact?

Finally, any legitimate business wants to make it easy for customers to contact them. So only ever play on online casinos that offer you a range of options. These can include online messaging, email or phone and the fact that you can communicate directly with them can give real confidence that you’re dealing with a responsible operator.

So follow these six tips and you can be reasonably sure that you’ll be playing on a site that is fair and well regulated. Whether you win or lose – well that’s going to be up to you and lady luck as well!