Paid Content | Before you sign up to a website to play real money online fruit machines, blackjack, roulette, or whatever tickles your fancy, you should always stop to think whether that site is safe.
Fortunately, the vast majority of online casinos today are perfectly secure, but in my many years of playing, and after some careful digging, I have also come across the names of a handful of iGaming sites that must be avoided at all costs.
Some of these unsafe websites I have found included ones that I randomly stumbled across when searching for somewhere new to play, but most of the untrustworthy sites I am aware of were actually brought to my attention by the experts on the official Ask Gamblers review and information site.
They have a complete list of ‘blacklisted’ sites containing the names of over 30 brands that you should steer clear of. With that in mind, let’s now dive straight in to discover the key tell-tale signs that point to the fact that the site you are about to join isn’t safe.
What is a blacklisted online casino?
A blacklisted site is also sometimes referred to as a rogue, fake or scam website for various reasons, but mainly because it cannot be trusted.
Residents of Charleston will be familiar with ensuring that the sites they’re visiting are safe and secure. Whether they’re looking at Facebook posts about local news and deducing their veracity or looking online at a vendor to see if the product they want to buy will actually turn up at their door, people in Charleston generally understand signs of trustworthiness. And it doesn’t change for the iGaming industry.
In my experience, blacklisted sites are either unlicensed and unregulated by any mid to top-tier licensing authorities – the absolute worst kind of site, or they receive constant complaints from people like me who join them.
The most common complaints are that a site refuses to pay out rightful winnings, takes forever to process your withdrawal, employs many stalling tactics, or doesn’t come good on any of the bonuses it offers.
The other common complaints I’ve heard about are that the wagering requirements (which some people refer to as playthrough, rollover or turnover requirements) are incredibly steep (e.g., 70x times the bonus amount or more, say 200x!) or that their customer service standards are to a very low standard and that their player support agents are either unresponsive, rude, or unwilling to resolve any complaints you have or fix any technical issues you may encounter on their site.
Key tell-tale signs of an untrustworthy site
The overwhelming majority of expert reviews on reputable sites will give them poor reviews, and the player feedback will also be negative. The easiest way to avoid signing up to sites like this is to remember the following tips:
- Never sign up to unlicensed or unregulated sites. Stick to playing on reputable sites that hold licenses from one or more mid/top-tier licensing authorities, such as the UKGC, MGA or GGC, which is based in the United Kingdom, Malta and Gibraltar, respectively. There are many other reputable licensing authorities
- A rogue site will stall when it comes to paying you your rightful winnings, so steer clear of these sites
- Only play on sites with software from well-established, market-leading software providers
- Don’t play on sites that only accept one or two payment methods or ones that nobody has ever heard of
- Avoid playing on sites with bad reviews
- The worst sites will have terrible or non-existent support and even worse customer service standards
- Blacklisted sites also tend to have poor cybersecurity measures
- A dodgy site won’t be fully committed to promoting responsible gambling, whereas the safest sites will have a range of safer gambling tools for you, which help you remain within your spending budget
The easiest way to stay safe is to trust the experts. For example, whenever I’m looking for somewhere new to play, I always go to the official Ask Gamblers review site because they always have the latest honest, unbiased, and up-to-date reviews for the safest and most secure sites.
Take a good look through their blacklisted sites section, which has the names of more than 30 sites worth avoiding, and then check out their top 10 or 20 highest-rated brands with the Certificate of Trust.
Final thoughts
If you decide to join any of the top-rated casino sites, I would also suggest reading and comparing several reviews to find out exactly which website might be the more suitable option based on the types of fruities, scratchies, table and cards, and bingo/lottery-style content you enjoy playing most.
Some sites have better rewards programs than others, more generous promotions for new and existing players with lower wagering requirements, and a bigger selection of online payment methods.
When you decide which one(s) might be worth joining, always remember to read the terms and conditions attached to any offers you receive from them, just to ensure you get the most out of it, and remember to set things like session time reminders, win/loss limits, spending caps, or deposit limits.
Doing so will keep things fun and safe whenever you log in to that site to play your favorite titles.
10/14/25
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