Are they legit?

Hello and welcome Scroopter. Those are some excellent questions.

I see you're from Australia (me too) so for others reading this bear in mind that I'm considering casinos relevant to you which may not be available to players from other countries such as the USA.

What kind of regulations do they have?
The regulation of an online casino ranges from totally non existent to stringent enforcement of a code of conduct, and it all depends on where (or if) the casino is licensed. We have information on some of the most common licensing jurisdictions here: licensing jurisdictions (also under the Guides menu at the top of the page). In short, the best ones are mainly Gibraltar, UK, Isle of Man, Alderney, and Kahnawake (a Mohawk Indian territory in Canada). So if you are concerned about regulation then you should stick to casinos licensed by one of those jurisdictions. The exact regulations vary between jurisdictions but the main ones to look for is a mediated dispute resolution process, requirements for the software to regularly audited, and financial controls.

How do you know the casinos are fair?
Many of the casinos have their systems audited on a regular basis. The audits test whether the random number generator (RNG) they use is actually random, and also whether the games are paying out within expectation. One body that does this is called eCOGRA. On our reviews, if you see the "eCOGRA safe and fair" logo in the right side column, you can click it and see a payout report. Here is one example from Red Flush Casino:

http://www.ecogra.org/certificates/certificate.aspx?cid=249

The payout rates will fluctuate from month to month as that is the nature of games that use a RNG. But you are able to get a good idea of what the payout rates of the poker machines (slots) are, especially if you compare a bunch of different casinos that all use the same software and games.

How do you know that there is not just someone sitting behind a screen punching in numbers to make you lose if you start to make too much money?

When you're playing a machine at a land based casino, how do you know there isn't a program running or a person in an office somewhere pushing buttons that stops you from winning too much? You don't. You trust that there isn't.

The way I see it is this. Casino games are in the house's favour. An honest casino has no need to cheat you because in the long run they always finish ahead of all the players combined, even though there are some winners and some losers. Loads of people have won multi-million dollar jackpots online, so at what point does "too much" kick in?

The other thing to take into account is the software that the casino uses. The bigger and more well known software developers - eg. Microgaming, Playtech, or Net Entertainment - have tens or hundreds of different casinos all using their software and therefore offering the same games. Most of these softwares have centralised fixed game settings, so the individual casinos have no ability to alter the game odds. If one was able to cheat, they all would. And we know from experience that isn't the case.

You also have the option of playing live games like roulette or blackjack online. You can see the ball being spun or the cards being dealt.

Having said that, there definitely have been cases of online casinos caught cheating. In those cases it is almost always a new casino using previously unheard of software. But in fact the most common way a player can be cheated online is not the manipulation of the games or odds, but a dodgy casino just outright refusing to pay a winner. Sadly it happens and its why we try hard to give an accurate appraisal of each casino we review.

Casino bonuses can be a big source of trouble for new players. Almost every casino will offer you some extra cash depending on what you deposit. However the catch is you have to wager a certain cumulative amount before you can withdraw. So you can't just withdraw the minute you have a big win. I would say if you're just starting out, avoid the bonus altogether.

If you're still unsure of where to start, check out our recommended casinos which you can see at the bottom of the page or the top of our home page. They all have high standards and we have individually checked and reviewed each one. You can almost always play the games in "fun mode" where you don't have to deposit any money, and the fun mode has absolutely the same odds as the real money mode (we blacklist casinos that don't).

Let me know if you have any other questions!

Awesome and thorough information, as always, CL-Ed! 🙂

And, Welcome Scroopter! Please join us in all the forums, and good luck! 🙂

Lots of the RNG casinos have live tables these days. You could try the likes of Betfred, Party Casino, Paddy Power, or Bet365 (Aussies not allowed).

A couple of casinos that mainly concentrate on live games are Dublinbet and Guru Play.

That is a tough proposition for me to be able to answer, but Ed will likely be able to give you a better answer than me. Live betting tables are always a bit more complicated as there aren't as many sites that offer those games.

CL-Ed you had provided great info,thanks for it.

Scroopter wrote:

What I'm after is a casion that has live online tables for roulette that allows Aussies to play. I'm also after the ones that have the highest maximum bet... Do you guys know which online casions fit this profile?

From memory, the highest limit I have seen is at Unibet where they allow up to €100,000 on a single spin, although individual outside bets may be a fair bit lower than that.

Ladbrokes have some high limit tables too but they don't let Aussies play there any more.

Scroopter,

Great advice from Ed,

I play a lot with live games - what he says is top notch info and your thread I hope will encourage him to launch his much vaunted live casino listings page sooooooooooon (as everything else out there Ed is still about as useful as a bikini in Finland)

+1 on the live games page. That would be awesome and a help even for us American players with limited options!