Sports gambling is bigger than ever, and there haven’t been more choices to decide on an online sportsbook. With dependable sportsbooks occupying the same market share as fraudulent ones, it is becoming harder and harder to discern ones that function with integrity from their scammy counterparts.
We created this guide to help you browse the selection process. Scammers may be getting more sophisticated, however there are still lots of important indicators for secure, legitimate sportsbooks.
The Significance of Picking of A Safe Sportsbook
When it comes to sports betting, it’s all for naught unless your sportsbook matches your winnings and deposits.
Say, hypothetically, that you wind up registering with an illegitimate sportsbook, and then make a deposit. While it’s by no means guaranteed that this sportsbook will completely rip you off, there’s a good chance that one of the following issues might happen:
Delayed payouts on your winnings (believe 45+ times )
Absent customer support Canceling/not crediting winning wagers (either partly or in their entirety)
Stealing your money Viruses infecting your computer or mobile phone Needless to say, signing up at safe sportsbook usually means you’ll prevent any of the above consequences. To avoid any of these headaches, it’s your responsibility to hold your sportsbook accountable — do not settle for anything less than the rigorous standards for your gambling experience!
If you perform these checks prior to sending your money over to a sportsbook, you’ll know that your funds (and betting experience) are at the hands of a quality book.
1. Scrutinize Your Sportsbooks’ Permit Any secure online sportsbook will prominently display their working license that ensures that their legal right to function. Sportsbooks licenses ensure that their books are open to legal, third-party audits, and pass examinations to be sure they aren’t defrauding their customers.
If a sportsbook includes a permit from a well-respected area, you can rest easy that it’s wholly legit. This, alone, is a sufficient condition of a legitimate sportsbook.
The most Frequent regions that sportsbooks search licensure in are:
Western Europe
Different islands within the Caribbean Archipelago
Select Native American reservations within North America
That being said, just because you can’t identify a sportsbook license right away does not indicate that it isn’t safe. You’ll have the ability to locate their legal operations license somewhere on their site.
Conversely, if you land on a sportsbook and you can tell it is not licensed, reconsider sending your money to them. Licensing ensures safety, and therefore, we advise that you adhere to sportsbooks who have bothered to jump through the proper legal permissions hoops.
2. They Confirm Your Identity
Within our guide to banking in your sportsbookwe talk about how to successfully navigate the withdrawal procedure, which always includes verifying your identity.
Legitimate sportsbooks, such as such web sites for internet sports gambling, are licensed and controlled businesses. As such, they’re expected to obey the rules and regulations in the region that they hunted licensure within.
These rules always include verifying the identity of their clients prior to sending payouts, which is vital for sportsbooks to stay in accordance with international KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) regulations.
If sportsbooks don’t confirm their client’s identity, they could find themselves complicit in criminal action, cater to individuals who aren’t legally licensed (or old enough) to gamble within their particular state or nation, harm relationships with their repayment suppliers, and also send payments to the wrong person/persons. None of them are good for a sportsbook which wishes to stay legal, and who would like to provide their clients with the highest standards of support.
Unsafe, illegitimate sportsbooks tend to skirt this safety feature, and they do not often need customers to confirm their identity. When a sportsbook is only looking to fatten their own pockets by ripping off customers, they are not likely to be very worried about becoming legally compliant or constructing their own reputation within the market. They’re just trying to get off with your money and vanish!
3. They’ve Got SSL Protection
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) protection is standard security technologies that ensures an encrypted link between a web server and a browser.
That’s a lot of web-specific jargon, but this encryption ensures that all data passed between you and the web site remains private. SSL technology is used by millions of sites across the world to protect financial transactions with paying clients. When sites use this, it is almost impossible for poor actors to steal sensitive financial or personal information.
Obviously, the process of depositing and withdrawing in your sportsbook involves the transfer of sensitive financial information. Therefore, your sportsbooks should be operating an SSL-encrypted connection (for your protection and theirs). Any sportsbook that is not running SSL either is expressly hoping to steal your information, or they do not have some understanding of the most basic facets of online security. Both are reasons to steer clear, and also any sportsbook that isn’t equipped with SSL protection is not worth your time.
How do you determine a site that’s SSL protected? Easy! Just search for websites with https:// at the start of the web address along with a locked icon. That is all it takes!
4. Your Sportsbook Has An Excellent Online Reputation
In case your sportsbook has a solid reputation, you have probably landed onto a secure sportsbook. The more a sportsbook has existed, the safer it is managing your cash. A sportsbooks’ continued presence is evidence of the security. If they had been ripping bettors off, there’s no way they can stay in business.
Each of the sportsbooks we review have proven track record of validity, but if you want to widen your search, there is many different channels you’ll be able to go through also. The subreddit r/sportsbooks is an excellent place to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of certain books inside the betting community.
5. They’ve Got A Responsive Client Service Department
If you telephone, email, and/or send a message to your sportsbook and get a near-instantaneous reply, you’re working with a safe sportsbook.
Customer support departments that are real, responsive, and educated don’t emerge out of thin air. A well-furnished, fully-functional customer support section is expensive to employees, train, and function, and therefore, it’s just safe sportsbooks that can feasibly conduct them.
6. They Are Not Promoting Anything Outrageous
A secure sportsbook is not likely to be supplying bettors outrageous perks which appear too good to be true. Any sportsbook that masquerades as a charitable operation is likely trying to engineer innovative techniques to distinguish you from your cash.
What exactly do we mean when we say outrageous? Well, if you find that the Pats at +1000 about the moneyline — or a 500% bonus deal — steer clear. Ensure that the odds, bonuses, lines, and limits align with industry standards.
7. Well-Developed Interface & Modern UX and UI
Should you stumble upon a sportsbook that has got a fully operational interface, live betting options, a well developed mobile platform, and thoughtful, modern UX and UI, you have definitely found a safe sportsbook. These features are the hallmarks of the maximum quality books, and no book that is spent so much time on supplying bettors with a top-quality experience will be appearing rip you off.
Scammy sportsbooks simply don’t remain in business for very long. Developing a perfect user experience not only takes a huge monetary investment, but a substantial quantity of time too. Obviously, this would prevent them from developing an excellent platform for bettors.
Located A Safe Sportsbook? Start Building Your Bankroll!
Finding a trustworthy sportsbook is undoubtedly the most vital aspect of sport gambling. Now you understand how to find a person, you can brush up on the basics with our betting 101 guides, where we walk you through the fundamentals while demystifying the essential principles of sports gambling which may seem complicated at first blush.
Want to learn more about the business of sports betting and why online sportsbooks operate how they do? Check out our guide to internet sportsbooks’ complicated (but legal) status in the USA.
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