Definitions and Assistance
This part of the
AZOC online casino guide is all about identifying trust factors.
When I refer to a "
safe online casino" in this guide, I mean a casino who you can trust to pay out
in a timely manner when you win and one that has fair games that can't be tampered with. Most of the
safety indicators below can be found in our
comparison lists,
designed to be used as a reference point.
Safety Indicators: Licensing Jurisdiction
The first thing I look for when I visit the website of an online casino I am unfamiliar
with is where it is licenced. Some jurisdictions, most notably those associated with the
UK and her colonies are stricter and in general are a very good indicator of a safe
online casino. Examples of jurisdictions I trust implicitly are
Alderney
and the
Isle Of Man - and the UK itself for that matter.
Gibraltar - as far as I am aware - has never really had to prove itself but has a
generally decent reputation thus far while the Kahnawake jurisdiction has made improvements to it's player
support procedures recently and in general is also pretty reasonable.
Beyond those, I wouldn't take any other jurisdictions as an indicator of safety for the player,
but it doesn't mean they are bad, just cheaper and easier to obtain a licence from and with less restrictions on
operators. The odd one out in all this is
Malta who should in theory have been a good, safe jurisdiction
but have twice been challenged (the first time citing that "gambling debts are not enforceable by law" in
Malta and most recently with liability management following the demise of Purple Lounge in April 2012) and very
disappointingly seem to have washed their hands of any responsibility badly tarnishing their reputation
in the process. From a player's persepctive, a Maltese licence clearly means very little so just be aware that
they may well be reluctant to get involved when/if a problem arises.
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