At all online casinos you’re going to have to adhere to a number of rules in order to make your stay both safe and successful. The article has been put together with a number of general rules from across a boatload of casinos, so it should at least give you an idea of what to look out for or who to ask.
Whilst the rules that we have listed below have been put together as a guide, we wanted to make you aware that some casinos may have variants of these rules and not to take them as complete gospel. As ever with these types of articles if there is anything you are uncertain of or you want to know more information about how your online casino interprets these rules, then we highly recommend that you contact them first.
Age Limits
Any form of online gambling will come with a certain age limit in which you are allowed to register, deposit and play. In the UK, you will need to be 18 years or older in order to sign up to any online casino.
Generally, if you are caught playing underage then you could be prosecuted by both the police and the casino you are using a false identity. We must reiterate that the laws and sanctions for under age players at any online gambling outlet will be met with zero tolerance and if you are underage to stay well away. Whilst the prosecution stage for most will come if that player has made a deposit and is playing real money game, we would strongly advise against registering at all until you are of legal age.
Gambling age limits around the world will vary, but nowhere has a lower limit than 18 years. Other countries age limit of note included (age limit in brackets) Germany (21 in some states), Canada (19), Greece (23), New Zealand (20) and Portugal (21).
Minimum & Maximum Bets
The minimum and maximum that you can wager at any one casino will totally depend on that casino and they can vary quite dramatically. For example, the maximum you can stake in one day at one casino could be £100,000 whereas the same max bet at Ladbrokes is just £80,000.
Whilst these numbers may seem especially large to the majority of punters, the limits are put in to try and stop people gambling with too much money. Often the casino can be a tough place to win consistently as a gambler, so these limits are often brought in as deterrence from the casino to limit a players losses for any given day.
As these numbers can range massively from casino to casino, we highly recommend that you contact your casino to find out what the limits are before staking a bet.
Pending & Reverse Withdrawals
When you make a withdrawal online you will find that most casinos will hold your funds for a couple of days before processing it to your bank. This is usually in case you either withdrew the funds by mistake or simply down to processing times from within the casino. Whilst many people will just want to get their funds as soon as possible, you can request to most online casinos to have this ‘pending’ state removed from your account, which in the industry is called ‘flushing’.
There will also be casinos that will allow you to reverse a withdrawal within this ‘pending’ timescale. It’s a simple procedure to complete and should return any funds from that withdrawal straight back into your account to use immediately. This is especially handy if you decide that you want to keep on betting or just simply decide that you don’t want to withdraw your funds.
Withdrawal Limits
The majority of online casinos will likely have a withdrawal limit on either the number of times you can withdraw in a day/week/month or the amount you can withdraw within a day/week/month. This is for two reasons; the first is to reduce the amount of administration work that they need to carry out for each account and secondly to try and keep your money in your account instead of withdrawing it.
There are plenty of casinos who do not have a limit on the amount or the number of times you can withdraw, and these are likely much more reputable than those that do. If you wager frequently or if you wager large amounts, we recommend seeking out these casinos, as they will be much more accommodating in the long run.
No Bots
All online casinos will have a strict policy against allowing bots to play casino games on your behalf. A bot essentially a script that you can run to play lots of games at any given time for as long as you like. The main reason behind is this is the keep the integrity of the games and also to make sure that the user is in complete control of every decision that needs to be made at the casino.
There have been stories where bots have been scripted to play at a certain casino and left to run for several days, only for the user to find out their scripts were actually not correct and all of their bankroll to have been wagered and lost incorrectly.
Game Errors
Unfortunately game errors do sometimes occur on an online casino, usually on slots. These days however, they are very rare, but it’s important to still take action when they do. The best thing to do is try and get a screen shot of the game in question at the time the error has appeared. Take this screen shot to the casino’s customer care team and they should be able to determine if anything has happened out of sorts due to each spin being tracked in a game log.
Most casinos will likely reimburse you for any mishaps, although sometimes its impossible to determine ‘what might have been’ so they are often a little tight. If you feel that you have been duly outdone by their offer then you can always take it up with that casino licensor and regulator to take further steps.
The other side of the coin is what happens when a game error works in your favour. For example, if a glitch in the system meant that you were able to see the dealers cards in blackjack in a game where they’re normally hidden. In this scenario most casino T&C’s require you to report the fault and, most importantly, not to exploit it. Failure to do so could have your winnings voided.